|
Although it was January, the sun was shining brightly
over Neopia. A light fog presided over the busy city, but even so it could have
been mistaken as summer.
In the center of town, buzzing with activity
was a beautiful park filled with all sorts of lush trees and flowers. While
normally they would have lost their leaves or wilted by then, they remained
in bloom due to the unusual heat spell.
"Beautiful weather we're having, isn't it?"
a Christmas Scorchio commented to his owner.
"Too bad winter isn't like this every year!"
Another pet exclaimed, chuckling.
Neopets and owners everywhere were talking about
it, wondering what the cause for it was and making plans to go to Mystery Island
while it was still nice.
"Uggg," groaned a Faellie from atop a baby Gelert's
back. "When's it going to snow? So much sun isn't good for a petpet."
The Gelert laughed. "Aw, come on Trini. Lighten
up and enjoy it while it lasts."
"Honestly, Trin. I don't see what you're so
cranky about," a rainbow Tonu said as he walked alongside the Gelert.
"Now, now, Puppy_Trix, Ramoose_," a teenage
girl said. "Let Trini be grumpy if she wants to be."
"Thank you, SeaZ0ne," the Faellie said.
"At least someone respects my ways."
The Gelert shook her head in amusement. "You're
one of a kind, Trini."
"That's for sure," Ramoose_ said. "Neopia would
be a disaster if there were two of you."
SeaZ0ne heaved a sigh. "Be nice," she instructed.
Nevertheless, the shadow of a smile could be seen in her face. Her pets were
always giving each other a hard time and they all knew it was in good fun.
A silence settled upon them as they followed
the path winding throughout the park until suddenly Puppy_Trix shouted, "Look!"
and raced forward. Trini lost her balance and was thrown to the pavement, but
the Gelert didn't falter. Instead, she stopped a few yards ahead of them to
peer at something on the ground.
"What is it, Puppy?" Ramoose_ asked as they
hurried to catch up.
"Yeah, what was that all about?" Trini asked,
dusting herself off and flying up to where Puppy_Trix was standing.
The Gelert seemed oblivious to the arrival of
her family, but continued staring down at the object in front of her with curiosity.
The others followed her gaze and furrowed their brows, for on the ground lay
a most peculiar object. It was round, about the size of Trini, and a creamy
sort of color with slightly darker spots scattered across the shell.
"Oooh! An Easter egg hunt!" Ramoose_ exclaimed.
"Is it Easter already?"
"No, it's not Easter," SeaZ0ne said. "We just had Christmas!"
Trini nudged at the egg with her foot. "Then
what's it doing here?"
"Trini! Don't hurt it!" Puppy_Trix cried.
"It looks like it's been abandoned," SeaZ0ne
said.
"Abandoned? It's an egg!" Trini exclaimed. "How
do you abandon an egg?"
"Trini," Puppy_Trix began. "This is no ordinary
egg. A Neopet is going to hatch from it."
"Cool!" Ramoose_ shouted. "Can we keep it, SeaZ0ne?"
SeaZ0ne looked doubtful. "I don't think so. You
guys give me enough trouble as it is. Why don't we just take it down to the
Lost and Found."
"But, SeaZ0ne, we can't just leave it to strangers,"
Puppy argues. "It needs love and care at this stage of its life."
SeaZ0ne seemed to waver and Puppy_Trix pushed
on. "Let us take it home and care for it while we track down its owner." The
Gelert paused, then added, "Please?"
SeaZ0ne broke. How could she turn down a plea
like that? "Oh, alright. You guys win, but just until we find its owner."
"Aw, SeaZ0ne, you're the best!" Ramoose_ exclaimed.
"Under no condition am I giving up my corner
of the room," Trini stated firmly.
Puppy_Trix rolled her eyes. "Don't be silly."
"Come on, now. Let's get the egg and head home,"
SeaZ0ne said.
**********
"What's it doing?" Ramoose_ asked anxiously as SeaZ0ne opened the door to their
Neohome and let them in.
"Still nothing," Puppy_Trix said exasperatedly.
"Just like it's been doing the last five times you asked me."
"Aaw," Ramoose_ said as he followed Puppy_Trix
inside and to the kitchen.
"What do you expect it to do?" Trini asked.
"It's an egg."
"Well, isn't it supposed to do something?"
Ramoose argued. "Like hatch?"
"All in good time," Puppy_Trix said. "Now, we
need to keep it warm. Do you have any old blankets, Ramoose_?"
Ramoose_ nodded and retreated to the bedroom
he shared with Puppy to look for them.
"Well, it looks like you've got things under
control," SeaZ0ne said to Puppy_Trix. "I'll just be in my room reading." And
with that she left Trini and Puppy in the kitchen.
"It's not very attractive," Trini said bluntly.
Before Puppy_Trix could argue with her, Ramoose_
returned with a stack of towels. "Here you go, Puppy," he said, setting them
on the kitchen table.
"Thanks, Ramoose_," the Gelert said. She carefully
set the egg down on top of one of the towels and wrapped it up. "Now, now,"
Puppy_Trix said soothingly. "You just stay right there."
"Where do you expect it to go?" Trini retorted.
"It doesn't have arms or legs."
Puppy_Trix glared at Trini. "You could be a little
more helpful, you know."
Trini frowned. "It's an egg!"
"Hey, Puppy, what should we feed it?" Ramoose_
asked as he rummaged through their cupboard. He held out a can of baby food
and asked, "How about this?"
"No, Ramoose_. It doesn't need to eat anything,"
Puppy_Trix said.
"You're just gonna let it starve?"
"What would it eat with?" Trini asked. "It has
no mouth."
"Oh, Trini, give it a break!" Puppy_Trix exclaimed.
She adjusted the blanket around the egg and cradled it in her arms. "Say, Ramoose_,"
the Gelert began. "Would you mind bringing that old lamp we have in our room
out here?"
"Sure," Ramoose_ said and he disappeared to
their bedroom, returning moments later with a rusty lamp in his hooves. "What
are you going to do with it?" He asked as he set it on the kitchen table beside
the spare blankets.
"Well," Puppy_Trix said as she set the egg down
on the blankets and positioned the lamp so that it shone over it. Then she turned
it on and said, "The light from this lamp should keep the egg warm so that it'll
hatch sooner."
Ramoose_ nodded in understanding.
"It's an egg," Trini said again.
**********
"Trini, why don't you make some found posters?" SeaZ0ne suggested later that
afternoon.
"Oh, that's a great idea, SeaZ0ne!" Puppy_Trix
exclaimed.
"What should I put on them?' Trini asked skeptically.
"Well, you can write, 'FOUND: one egg in Neopia
Park.' Then you can draw a picture of it and write underneath, 'Contact SeaZ0ne
at…' and then put our address. Here," she said, handing the Faellie some paper.
"Oh, okay," Trini said, taking it. She sat down
at the kitchen table, grabbed a loose pencil and began to scribble.
Only a few minutes passed before Trini flew over
to SeaZ0ne and handed her a finished sign.
"Done already?" SeaZ0ne asked in surprise.
Trini nodded and hovered over SeaZ0ne's shoulder
while she examined it.
"Where's the picture?" SeaZ0ne asked.
"It's right there," Trini said, pointing to
a hastily drawn oval in the middle of the page.
"But, Trini, you can't even tell what it is,"
SeaZ0ne said, squinting at the picture in hopes of getting a better look.
"Sure you can," Trini argued. "It looks just
like it."
"Let me see," Ramoose_ said, hurrying over to
look.
SeaZ0ne held the paper out for him to see.
"Oh," Ramoose_ said. "Well, it's..."
"What?" Trini asked.
"Uh, never mind," Ramoose_ said. "Come to think
of it I have to go do something." And he hurried out of the room.
"Hmph," Trini grunted. "I don't see anything
wrong with it."
"Here, I'll help you," Puppy_Trix said, coming
to the rescue.
"Now there's a good idea," SeaZ0ne said. "Thank
you, Puppy."
***
"Alright! That's the last one," Puppy_Trix said, adding a final sheet of paper
to a tall stack on the table.
"Finally," Trini said. "There's no way we need
that many posters."
"We'll see. Let's go hang them up around town,"
Puppy_Trix said. She picked up the stack and headed for the door, Trini flying
behind her and then landing on her back.
"SeaZ0ne! We're going to hang the posters up
around town!" Puppy called.
"Okay, be back in time for dinner!" SeaZ0ne
hollered back.
"Wait for me!" Ramoose_ hollered, galloping
up to them. "I want to come too!"
**********
"How about here?" Trini suggested from atop Puppy_Trix's back.
"Why, of all places, would we hang a poster
on a garbage can?" Puppy_Trix asked.
"A lot of people would see it," Ramoose_ pointed
out.
"Fine," Puppy said resignedly. Ramoose_ and
Trini high-fived as Puppy_Trix hung a poster on the side of the trash can.
"Oooh! I have a great idea!" Ramoose_ exclaimed.
"Let's hang a poster in the window of the sandwich shop!"
Puppy_Trix shrugged. "Okay. What gave you that
idea?"
Just then Ramoose_'s stomach gave a loud growl
and he said, "I'm hungry."
**********
"Time for bed!" SeaZ0ne exclaimed that night after they had eaten dinner and
told her all the places that they had hung posters.
"Okay," Puppy_Trix said, eyeing the egg still
wrapped up below the light on the kitchen table. "Just let me say good night
to the egg first.
"Alright," SeaZ0ne said, "But make it snappy."
Puppy_Trix nodded and began singing it a lullaby.
"Aw, Puppy, what're you doing that for?" Trini
groaned, holding her large ears.
"I'm singing it to sleep," Puppy_Trix said defensively.
"It doesn't have ears!" Trini moaned. "We
do!"
"Now, Trini," SeaZ0ne started.
"Okay, okay," the Faellie said before she could
say anything else. "I'll go get ready for bed while Puppy sings the egg to sleep.
"But I don't see how it can sleep, anyway." Trini muttered as she headed to
their bedroom. "It's an egg!"
**********
The next morning SeaZ0ne, Trini, Puppy, and finally Ramoose_, woke up one at
a time to find that the egg was just as they had left it.
"It should have hatched by now," Puppy_Trix
said with concern. "Any normal egg would have!"
"Maybe it's not a normal egg," Trini said. From
behind them, Ramoose_ added eery sound effects.
"Very funny, you guys," Puppy_Trix said. "But
I'm really worried."
"Oh! Let me get that!" SeaZ0ne said, jumping
from the table after they heard a knock on the door. "Maybe it's someone responding
to your posters."
Puppy_Trix, Ramoose_, and Trini waited in the
kitchen as SeaZ0ne opened the door. On the other side stood an anxious woman,
dabbing at her eyes with a handkerchief.
"Where is he?" She asked, letting herself in.
"Where is who?" SeaZ0ne asked, following the
woman, who had made her way into the kitchen.
"My Pteri. I saw your poster," she said, waving
one in front of SeaZ0ne's face. "Where's Bobby?"
"Bobby?" Trini whispered to Ramoose_. "What
kind of name is that for an egg?"
"An egg?" the woman repeated, appalled. Then
she caught sight of it, wrapped up beneath the light and gasped before hurrying
to pick it up. "Bobby! What have they done to you!"
"I tried keeping it…" Puppy_Trix paused. "Bobby,"
she corrected, "warm so he would hatch sooner," she explained.
The woman looked horrified. "Hatch? Warm?" She
shuddered. "This isn't just any old ordinary egg, my dear! This is my baby Pteri!"
Puppy_Trix was speechless but Trini said, "You
spent all that NP and your pet's an egg?"
"Your manners are dreadful," the woman said
to Trini. Then she turned back to Bobby, who was cradled in her arms and said,
"Oliver's been worried sick."
"Your manners aren't the best either," Trini
said. "And who's Oliver? Bobby's pet rock?"
"Yes, as a matter of fact he is," the woman
said. "Now if you'll excuse me…" she said, pushing SeaZ0ne and Ramoose_ out
of the way as she headed for the door.
Trini slammed the door closed behind them as
the woman mumbled, "Bobby, you poor thing, you've probably got a fever. Sticking
you under a lamp like that. I dare say!"
"Some people!" Trini exclaimed. "An egg for
a pet and a rock for the egg." She shook her head. "That's just… weird."
THE END
Author's Note: Thank you so much for reading my story! I'm grateful that
so many of you enjoy reading about Trini and her family! Please feel free to
Neomail me with any comments, criticism, or other thoughts.
| 
