I read this short story years ago so the details are hazy but it is about an alien who is talking to someone else (presumably another alien) about his pet. All this time it is assumed that the aliens are people and the pet is an alien. Then at the end you finally "see" the pet in the cage and realize that the captured one, the pet, was the human all along. I believe it is a fairly short story and it can't be newer than 10 years since I believe I read it about ten years ago.
-
1I don't think your story is there, but tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pmwiki.php/Main/HumanPet may be relevant (warning, TV Tropes link).– FuzzyBootsCommented Oct 19, 2021 at 16:30
-
1Maybe "Youth", an Asimov short story?– Clara Díaz SanchezCommented Oct 19, 2021 at 16:32
-
It is "Youth" thank you!– Raeee_MarieeCommented Oct 19, 2021 at 16:41
-
Glad to help! As this is a duplicate of another answer, it will be closed as soon as you confirm that "Youth" is correct by clicking on the green check-mark. This is not to say your question is bad though, only that it is a duplicate of another one. Welcome, and I hope you stay around!– Clara Díaz SanchezCommented Oct 19, 2021 at 17:11
-
@FuzzyBoots Is the "Warning: TV Tropes" trope explicitly included as a trope in TV Tropes?– LexibleCommented Oct 19, 2021 at 18:47
|
Show 2 more comments
1 Answer
This sounds like "Youth" a short story by Asimov, first published in 1952 and later collected in "The Martian Way and other stories.
The story centers on two children, Red and Slim, who find two alien creatures and keep them secretly as pets, concealing them from their parents. The twist at the end is that we discover that the children are actually the aliens, and the creatures they are keeping are humans.
The full text is available from the Internet Archive.
answered Oct 19, 2021 at 17:01
