Hilly Haha's New Pet Poem by Roy Davenport

Most children have pets like big dogs or small cats
But HaHa pets are different, like Bumblebees or Gnats
Some HaHas have beetles with green stripes, or red
Maybe even an earthworm named Harry or Fred.

One day Hilly HaHa brought a new pet home from school
It followed her home which she thought was real cool.
But when it picked up a chair and started to chew
Her Mom put her foot down and said “this just won’t do”.

“What is that thing that you’ve brought into our house?
I never seen such a thing, it’s too big for a mouse.
It’s not a fish or an eel because it stands on four feet.
What in the world do you call it and what does it eat? ”

Hilly just shrugged and said “I really don’t know.
It started out small at first, then it started to grow.
It eats everything, it ate my books and my shoes.
It ate Papa’s garden hose and the HaHa Daily News.”

The neighbors were called to see if they had a clue
What Hilly’s new pet was, and what they should do.
They gathered around it as it ate a metal toy truck
Then someone spoke up and said, “it looks like a duck.”

“It’s definitely not a duck, just look at its’ claws.
It’s more like a dog, except it doesn’t have paws.”
“I’ve seen pictures, said someone, I think it’s an ape.
But the tail is too long and its’ head’s the wrong shape.”

“Could it be a tiger that just escaped from the zoo?
No, a tiger has orange stripes and this thing’s dark blue.”
“I’ll bet it’s an elephant, I’ve heard they’re real big.”
“Except for that curly little tail like you see on a pig.”

Then it ate half the sofa and her Papa’s easy chair,
And got a good bit bigger and began to grow hair.
Then it lay down on the floor and fell sound asleep
And its’ snoring shook the house and tickled their feet.

Twilly HaHa who worked at the school as a teacher,
looked all through the books to identify the creature.
But no where could she find a picture or a word
To describe this thing that looked part animal, part bird.

Then I guess what we have is a unique kind of pet
We’ll have to have a name for it that no one forgets.
Lets call it a dogpigelephantigerapeduck………
But Hilly said 'no, I think I'll just call him Chuck.”

RDavenport (c) 2004