2731. No pets © Bruce Goodman 21 May 2023

Mr Claude Appleton was the teacher at a single teacher school way in the country. There were about twenty students – all daughters and sons of local farmers. Mary was one such pupil. Like most of the pupils – in fact all of them – she didn’t greatly dislike Mr Appleton but she hated the way he made rules about everything. There were rules for playing outside, there were rules for when it rained, there were rules about every possible thing under the sun… One of Mr Appleton’s pet hates – strange for a rural teacher – was his dislike of pets. He disliked the way the children often talked about their pets. In fact he made yet another rule about it: No talking about pets. Robin had a pet calf that was always the topic when he spoke. Angela had a pet canary. Wilfred kept ducks, which he said weren’t pets but egg-laying farm animals for his mother. Mary had a little lamb. Contact Author Back to Index Next Story Previous Story