Carrie and Katie had two friends who were sisters. Their names were Jan and Cassie. Jan and Cassie’s mother’s name was Donna. Donna ran a pet grooming shop. People could bring their pets to Donna’s shop to get a bath, have their nails trimmed or their haircut. Next door to Donna’s shop was a pet store.

Jan, Cassie, Carrie and Katie liked to go to the pet store while Donna was working in the grooming shop. The pet store had lots of different kinds of animals for sale. They had kittens, puppies, fish, turtles, lizards and iguanas.

One of the iguanas was very wild. The owner of the pet store called the wild iguana “Bad Iguana”. Whenever anyone tried to pet Bad Iguana, she would slap the person with her long tail. Getting slapped by Bad Iguana’s tail hurt a lot! It always left a big red welt on your skin that stung for a long time afterward. No one wanted to buy Bad Iguana from the pet store because she was too wild to be a nice pet.

On Donna’s birthday, the pet store owner gave Bad Iguana her as a birthday present. Jan and Cassie were excited about getting the iguana. But, they were also afraid of Bad Iguana because she was so wild and they had seen how hard Bad Iguana could slap people with her tail.

Donna, Jan and Cassie tried to tame Bad Iguana. They fed her well and tried to get her used to being petted. Nothing they tried helped. Then, Donna, Jan and Cassie had to move to a new house. The new house was small and Jan and Cassie had no place to put Bad Iguana’s tank that wasn’t near their big dogs. Bad Iguana was very afraid of Donna’s big dogs. Every time the big dogs got close to Bad Iguana, she would lash out with her tail and slap the tank or the person who was holding her.

Jan and Cassie finally got so afraid of Bad Iguana that they did not want to handle her any more. Donna called Mom and Carrie and Katie. Donna said that Mom, Carrie and Katie could have Bad Iguana if they wanted. Mom, Carrie and Katie went to Donna, Jan and Cassie’s house. They brought Bad Iguana home and set up her tank in the living room.

Iguanas grow fast. Mom had to buy a new cage for Bad Iguana very soon after they brought her home. At first, Mom was afraid that she wouldn’t be able to catch Bad Iguana in the bigger cage. Every day Mom would put warm water in the tub. Then Mom would pick up Bad Iguana and take her into the bathroom and let her play in the water in the bathtub. Bad Iguana would slap Mom with her tail every day. Mom had a red mark every day where Bad Iguana slapped her.

Mom and the girls thought that Bad Iguana was not a good name for a pet. They decided to change Bad Iguana’s name to “Sweetums”. The tip of Sweetums’ tail was always bloody and broken open from slapping people. But one day, when Mom had Sweetums in the bathtub, Mom noticed that the tip of Sweetums’ tail was healed and had begun to grow. That was the day that Mom knew that Sweetums was going to become a tame iguana and a good pet.

Mom and the girls loved Sweetums. Donna and Jan and Cassie were happy that Sweetums had a good home. Sweetums loved Mom and Carrie and Katie. Everyone was happy at how well things had turned out.