MY VERY OWN OCTOPUS
By
An octopus could play catcher at the kids' ballgame, help clear the table and pick apples and put away its little owner's toys, carry umbrellas for all the little boy's friends, stump everyone on Halloween, and ""whenever I fall and cry or hurt myself my octopus would always be there to. . . hug me and hug me and hug me and hug me and hug me and hug me and hug me and hug me!"" So the little boy, who can't have a pet, dreams of the ideal one--in another string of uninspired variations on a theme that was first trotted out in Most's If the Dinosaurs Came Back (1978).