My Pet Rock

Mel just sat on her lounge staring into the face that was drawn on a rock, the glued on eyes were those googly ones that wobbled around.

She had no idea why she kept it around, there was no sentimental value to it. She’d gotten it in a box of bric-a-brac from a garage a few years ago, and had slowly thrown out everything else from that box, everything except this strange pet rock which now lived on her coffee table.

She had no idea why, but looking at it’s goofy, plastic eyes calmed her down when she was in this kind of mood.

She had just finished a giant row with her now ex-boyfriend, Harry.

It had ended with her smashing his electronic keyboard over his car, and then throwing the individual keys that had fallen off at him as he drove off.

Not much better than how it started, she was finding a mutual friend’s number from Harry's phone, so the friend and her could organise Harry's surprise party and instead she found texts and pictures from a girl he worked with, clearly showing they were more than 'work friends'.

“Good riddance! He was a jerk anyway!” She blurted out, addressing the pet rock.

The pet rock did not reply, it simply continued to stare at her with no sentience or emotion.

Deciding that she needed company, she called her friend Bec, she could always count on Bec to be there when she needed company or someone to vent to about everything. She dialled and waited a few rings before Bec answered in her usual manner.

“Go for Bec.”

“Hey Bec, you free? Can you come round?” Mel asked, trying not to sound too emotional.

“Sure babe, what’s up? How’s Harry?”

“Um… we just broke up.”

“What! I’ll be there in ten, put the kettle on.” She said before hanging up.

Good old Bec, thought Mel as she walked into the kitchen to fill the kettle, she put it back on it’s base and switched it on. As she was walking back to the living room she saw the decorative letters that her mum had given her last month for her and Harry's one year anniversary. They were a hand carved three piece set of wooden letters that read M & H, she had no idea what to do with them now, no one would want just the H and even if they did, what would I do with the others? She thought.

She sat back down on the lounge and looked at the pet rock again.

“You’ll never leave me for another woman, will you Steve?” she asked the rock.

The pet rock, who was now called ‘Steve’, remained motionless and silent.

Fantastic, you’re now falling for your pet rock, seriously Mel get it together. She inwardly berated herself as she laid on the couch, she quickly nodded off, tired from the emotional fallout of the day.

Mel awoke in the middle of the freezer section of her local supermarket, still in the clothes she fell asleep in. She quickly moved away from the freezer section, but as she walked past the ice-creams a young man asked her for her opinion on flavours.

“Excuse me miss?” He asked politely, “which do you think is better, choc-mint or vanilla?”

She was briefly lost in his eyes, which were a pale blue that reminded of the ocean after rain, he had short combed back hair and a short, well kept beard. But his voice was the most alluring aspect, he had the most beautiful Irish accent, almost like a lullaby.

“Umm… I personally think Butterscotch is the best flavour." She said, brushing her hair back and smiling.

“Oh Really? Well who am I to ignore a beautiful lady’s opinion on ice-cream? Butterscotch it is then.” He said, reaching for the tub of Butterscotch ice-cream.

“Are you from around here?” She asked as they walked out of the freezer section together.

“No, I’m just visiting some relatives, I’m from Dublin... well Whitehall which is just outside of Dublin."

“Wow, I’ve never even been outside of New South Wales. It must be great to travel overseas.” She said.

As they continued to walk towards the checkout, he mentioned he was leaving in two days and seeing as she was now single, why didn’t she come to visit. Mel didn't know what made her blurt out that she had broken up with Harry to this total stranger, and was surprised at his interest in her.

She was trying to find an excuse not to go apart from money, when she noticed the girl on the checkout looked exactly like Bec. Tall, with brown hair tied up in a ponytail, beautiful big hazel eyes, then she spoke, “Mel?”

“Mel? Mel? Wake up Mel.”

Mel woke up to Bec’s face right in hers, “There you are. You were out for it, hope you don’t mind me coming in, but the door was unlocked and you weren’t answering.” She said heading back to the kitchen.

“I presumed you wanted tea? Just made one for us.”

“Yes please,” Mel said, rubbing her eyes, “I just had the weirdest dream. There was this guy, he was from Ireland… he was perfect.”

“Well, it’s nice to see you got over Harry so quickly, but then again I never liked him much anyway.” She said, putting the drinks down on the coffee table.

“What’s that?” She asked, pointing at Steve the rock.

“That’s Steve,” answered Mel, “I was venting to him before you got here.”

After a long venting session and quite a few tangential discussions ranging from celebrity crushes to what superpower they would choose and why, the two eventually decided to put on a DVD and have a good cry.

“What do you want to watch? Something that we’ll cry at?” Asked Bec, looking through Mel’s DVD collection.

“A Muppet Christmas Carol? Toy Story 3? They always make me cry.” Said Mel to the strange reaction of Bec.

“I’ve got it!” She said, pulling a DVD case out of the shelf, “The Hunchback of Notre Dame! I haven’t watched that in ages and it’s a massive tearjerker from the opening song.”

“Yeah Okay, sounds good,” said Mel, “Hey did you know the guy that plays Maj. Winchester in M*A*S*H is the voice of the Deacon at the beginning?”

“No I didn’t, and that’s why I love you, cause you’re a massive nerd.” Said Bec teasingly.

The smile on Bec’s face dropped when she opened the DVD case, showing it to Mel. “It’s empty,” she said as she began to check the cases of the other movies they thought about.

Those were empty too. In fact all of Mel’s DVDs had been removed from the cases.

“That bastard Harry! He’s taken all my DVDs! I’m going to kill him!” Mel screamed.

Mel curled into a ball on the couch and began to sob, Bec went over to hug her and try to comfort her and get her to calm down.

“Hey, how about we go to the shops? We’ll get some Shh-nackies and pick up a DVD there. How’s that sound?”

“…Okay, I suppose some chocolate is in order… but I’m not changing out of my PJ’s!” Mel said with conviction.

“I’d expect nothing less from you my dear chocolate deprived Princess,” Replied Bec with a bow, “however I do insist that you at least put your coat on. It is a bit cold out there tonight.”

“Yes mum.”

“Oi, I’ll have none of that attitude, or no treats for you young miss.” Bec threatened with a joking manner.

They both burst out laughing after a few moments of silence, and headed out the door. Just before shutting the door behind them, Mel leaned back in to look at Steve one more time.

She thought he had moved slightly but figured it must have been while they were messing with DVD cases.

“We'll be back in a bit Steve, don’t go anywhere!” Laughed Mel as she locked the door behind her.

Steve the pet rock simply stayed where he was, not moving, not speaking.

They arrived at the shop and picked up a shopping basket and started making their way to the chip and lolly aisle. Picking up a variety of treats including, microwave popcorn, Malteasers, gummy worms, and a block of Cadbury milk chocolate.

They quickly stopped at the stand full of DVD’s and decided that the best option there was The Lion King, after that they proceeded to the freezer section and made their way to the ice-cream area, as they did Mel thought she saw the man from her dream as he just went out of view at the other end of the isle.

She ran down and around the corner, but there was no one there except an old lady buying cat food, and a man with what looked like a trolley full of assorted cheeses. He’s going to have wicked nightmares, she thought, and then headed back towards Bec who was standing at the ice-cream looking thoroughly confused.

“So? What was that about? Did you see the muffin man?” She joked.

“No… I thought I saw… Never mind.”

“Okay... So what flavour do you want?” She asked.

“I’ll stick to my favourite and get Butterscotch, yum, yum!”

“Nice choice, I think I’ll spice things up a bit tonight and go for the triple choc.”

“So Bec? Do you think dreams can sometimes be premonitions?” Mel asked as they approached the checkout.”

“Not really,” she said as she started scanning everything through the self serve checkout, “but then again, I’m not a dream doctor or anything. I’m just a recently graduated teacher that has no teaching work as of yet.”

They discussed the pros and cons of teaching degrees versus arts degrees as they walked back to the car. It was only a short five minute trip from the shops back to Mel’s. Bec put the radio on as they drove home, it tuned in mid news story.

"…The boy was found on the main street of the small normally peaceful town on Thursday morning. Police are following a few leads, a man was seen acting suspiciously before leaving the town shortly after the grisly discovery-"

“That’s enough depressing news for one night," Bec said switching the radio off. They made the rest of the short trip in silence, until they parked outside Mel's place.

"Now let’s get inside and Hakuna Matata it up!” Bec said.

As they entered the flat, Mel went to unpack the shopping in the kitchen while Bec put the DVD into the player. Mel had just put the popcorn in the microwave to cook, put the ice-cream away in the freezer for later and was putting the lollies and chocolate onto a plate.

Soon enough they had freshly made teas and their snacks ready to go, and made their way to the lounge to watch the movie. Just after the stampede scene had finished Mel paused the movie. Neither minded pausing when they had to as they had both seen the film many times before.

“Time for some ice-cream?” Asked Mel, through a few sniffles.

“Sure, I’ll go get them,” replied Bec, wiping some tears away.

While Bec was getting the ice-cream, Mel took another look at the letters on the shelf, then looked toward Steve the rock.

She got up and picked up the H and threw it into the bin, placing Steve the rock down in its place.

M & Steve the rock, she thought, thanks for everything Steve.

“Hey, did you notice the promotion on these containers?” Asked Bec, interrupting Mel from her thoughts.

“What promotion?”

“There’s a promotion to win a trip to Ireland.” Said Bec, handing Mel the butterscotch tub.

Mel’s ears perked up at the mention of Ireland, she quickly grabbed the tub and ripped off the lid to find the promotion code on the inside of the lid. She copied the code into her mobile and texted it to the number, Bec was giggling at Mel’s over-enthusiasm.

“You’re a bit keen aren’t you? I mean what are the odds of winning a trip to Ireland?”

“Bec don’t you see, I had that strange dream where I recommended butterscotch to that guy from Ireland and he said I should go there, and now there’s a chance to win a trip there from a butterscotch tub of ice-cream! It’s fate or a miracle, or… magic!”

Mel’s mobile buzzed with a text, she looked at the message for a moment without saying anything. Then burst with excited screams and started jumping up and down.

“NO WAY” Bec screamed, joining in Mel's jumping.

Mel hugged Bec and they continued their celebrations for a minute, then they both started to calmed down.

“This is unbelievable Mel! I can't believe it!"

“I know! Oh, I’ve got to call mum and tell her, come on you can video call her with me,” said Mel as they ran to her room, “can you believe this Steve!” She said to the rock as they past, patting Steve on the head.

The pet rock stayed silent, still motionless next to the wooden letter blocks reading M &, but once the girls had left the room...

Steve winked one of its googly eyes… and smiled.