The time; The late 50’s. The place, Big City, U.S.A. At this time, stores close at 6:00 p.m. sharp. Customers are herded out of the stores like cattle. A nearby calendar indicates that the date is December 22nd, one week away from Christmas. Fred Smith sits at his desk, where he can be found six days a week, nine hours every day. Being as busy as he was, Fred never got a chance to do his holiday shopping. Knowing this, Fred’s boss came up to him and said, “Fred, I’ve seen you work hard these past few weeks, take today off at 5:30 and I’ll also give you a bonus. “ Fred was ecstatic over this, and immediately upon his arrival at home, he asked his wife and kids what they wanted for Christmas. Mr. Smith requested a new party dress, and the kids asked for a brown and white puppy.

Christmas eve came along and Fred was still at his desk. At 5:30, his boss emerged from his office, walked up to Fred “Fred, take the rest of the night off, it’s 5:30 and I’m sure you’ve got some shopping to do.” Fred then dashed out of his office, turned a corner and ran down the street to the nearest department store. Quickly, he bought the dress for his wife, had it gift-wrapped and was on his way 15 minutes later. He had 15 minutes left until closing time, and Fred then headed for the nearest pet store. He came up to the owner and said, “Do you have a brown and white puppy for sale?” The man replied, “I’m sorry, but we’re fresh out, it’s Christmas, you know, “ Disappointed, Fred then ran to the next nearby pet store, which was three blocks away, and posed the same question to that store’s manager. “Sorry, fresh out, “ was again the reply. Fred had two minutes left now, and was getting desperate. He came upon the last pet store in Big City just as the “Closed” sign was being hung up. Fred pleaded desperately with the owner to open the store. He pleaded, “Do you have a puppy for sale?” The old man said, “No, but I have something a lot better than a puppy, come with me.” Fred could do nothing other than follow the old man, and did so.

Into the back room they went, and from a top shelf in one of the man’s cabinets, the old man removed an old, dusty, shoe box. He blew the dust off and opened the box. There inside sat a small ball of fur, about the size of a baseball. Fred stared at it with a puzzled look on his face. “What is that?” he asked. “That’s a Rarie, “ the man replied. Fred asked what a Rairie was and all the man said was “That is....” “Ok, I’ll take it,” Fred said.

The only instructions the man gave for the care of the Raire were to make sure that it got a slice of breath and a glass of water each day. Fred took it home and put a ribbon around it, in the hopes of pleasing his kids. The next morning, Brian and little Peggy came down to their living room and were surprised to see not a cute, furry puppy, but a cute furry ball. It immediately jumped onto Brian’s shoulder, and he fell into love with it right away. It’s fur was now silky and smooth.

Time passed, and everything seemed fine until the Smith family noticed that the Rarie was growing slightly larger each day. Soon the small shiny white ball was the size of a small boulder, and began eating three loaves of bread and three gallons of water each day. Finally, the Rairie grew to the size of a small automobile and Fred was getting nervous. It now consumed ten loaves of bread each day, along with ten gallons of water. Fred then decided to get rid of it.

After searching through the yellow pages for hours, Fred finally found what he was looking for. So Fred called up the ‘Claw’ to come and haul away the Rarie. The driver of the ‘Claw’ came up to Fred’s house and said, “Der-What’s the problem-Hey?” Fred replied “My kids’ pet has gotten out of hand and I want you to dump it somewhere.”

“Nope, nope, it’s the kids’ pet, kids’ pet, I can’t do that to the pet; but if you was to come with me and show me where to dump it, then I’ll do it.”

Fred agreed and the two men were on their way.They then drove along the highway and as they did so Fred noticed a large cliff on his side of the roadway.
“Stop here,” Fred said.
“Alright, “ the man said, “but that’s a long way to tip a Rarie.”

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