Gold Streak the Meerca stood before her full-length mirror. Every so often,
she'd shake her head, and give a long, drawn out sigh...
"Siiiiiiiiiiiggggggggggggghhhhhhhhhhhh........."
Her mother, Jessie, couldn't figure out what her problem was. After this had
been going on for about ten minutes, Jessie couldn't take it any longer.
"Goldie! What in the world is wrong with you?" she snapped. "For goodness
sakes, it's Christmas time! Try to be happy!"
Gold Streak jumped, a bit frightened. "Oh... nothing. I was just wishing...."
"Wishing what?" Jessie asked.
"Oh... Wishing that I was painted Faerie..." Gold Streak confessed, playing
with her long tail shyly.
"Now, Goldie... Don't fret about your looks. You are a very beautiful golden
Meerca. Why would you want to be painted Faerie? A lot of Meercas in the world
don't have enough money to buy a Gold Paintbrush," Jessie said, sitting next
to her sad little Meerca.
"Yes, I know... I just wondered why we aren't as rich as Nina's family..."
Goldie said, looking into the mirror again.
Oooooh, Jessie thought to herself. Nina was a local Meerca, who had
the privilege and pleasure of being painted Faerie. Jessie sighed. "Now, Goldie,
we aren't as rich as some, that's true. But I want you to listen well in school
today.... Miss Honeydew's teaching something special. You'll learn something
very special about the good things we can do at Christmas."
"For what?" Goldie asked.
"You'll find out," Jessie said mysteriously, giving her littlest pet a hug
before she went downstairs.
"I'll find out???" Gold Streak said skeptically, looking one last time into
the mirror.
As she walked to school with her big brothers, Phantom the Kougra, Tek the
Gelert, and Alixcor the Eyrie, Gold Streak found her pack to be very heavy.
"What have you got in there?" Phantom asked, for Gold Streak was falling far
behind.
"Oh, just some toys," Gold Streak said, trying to brush it off. But soon
it became apparent to her big brothers that their little sister had stuffed
her school pack too big.
"C'mon, Goldie. Give me some stuff. I'll carry it in my pack," Alixcor offered.
"We'll all carry a bit."
Gold Streak reluctantly opened her pack.
All her brothers gasped. "Crikey!" Phantom yelled. "That must be about fifty
plushies you got stuffed in that little pack!!"
Tek was nearly doubled over with laughter. "What made you bring all your toys?"
Gold Streak's eyes filled with tears. "It's show and tell today. I wanted to
bring all my plushies."
"Why?" Alixcor asked.
The little Meerca started to cry. "Because Nina has a giant collection and
for once I wanted to have something better than hers!"
Tek stopped laughing. All the brothers were solemn. "You know.... My friend
Adeliie hasn't got any plushies at all. You should be happy that you have so
many," Tek said. "Adeliie's mum doesn't have enough money to buy her and
her brothers toys this Christmas. She'd be happy with even one Fuzzle."
Gold Streak nodded her head. "I suppose so..."
"Come on. We're going to be late for class unless we hurry up," Phantom said,
picking up the entire pack with his strong teeth.
Phantom carried the back pack for Gold Streak, and they all ran towards the
school.
Gold Streak was in a separate class from her brothers, since she was the youngest.
So all alone she carried that overstuffed pack into the school.
She was the last student to arrive, though she wasn't late.
She self-consciously dragged the pack to her desk, and tried to stuff it under
it. Red-faced, and feeling very sorry for herself, she looked over at Nina and
saw that she had over three bags full of stuff under her desk.
The teacher, Miss Honeydew the Kau, smiled kindly at the class.
"Today, after show-and-tell, we're going to learn about what we can do to help
the poor and homeless this Christmas," Miss Honeydew said. The whole class
started to whisper... "What homeless?"
"How can we help?"
"Can I have a snow cone?"
"Now class, behave. I'll answer all your questions after we have show-and-tell."
Miss Honeydew called out the names one by one, starting with Anthony Agoodfriend,
the cute fire Meerca from across the street. Gold Streak had always liked him,
but she was frightened that Nina would be his girlfriend, since she was painted
faerie.
Anthony smiled at everybody, and did a show and tell about his PetPet Oddo
the Gruslen. Goldie clapped loudest of all when Anthony was done.
Bo Bo Bing the Blumaroo (Miss Honeydew called out names in alphabetical order)
was next.
Bo Bing delivered an astonishing and disgusting show and tell about the moldy
apple he had found under his bed last spring. There wasn't much applause for
him.
So it went, down the line. Gold Streak was glad that her name was high up in
the alphabet. Miss Honeydew finally called her.
Gold Streak stood up, a little frightened.
But then Anthony Agoodfriend smiled at her. Filled with sudden energy and happiness,
Goldie began to dig out her plushies one by one, explaining how she got them,
what their names were, and where she kept them in her room. Fifty-six plushies
later, everyone was clapping at how well Goldie did.
Beaming, Goldie returned to her desk. Anthony was grinning at her, and Goldie
smiled shyly.
Miss Honeydew looked at her chart. "Hmmm.... Nina Teena, you're next."
Goldie watched as Nina stood up haughtily, and recruited the help of Patrick
the Poogle and Geoffry the Grarrl to carry her overflowing bags to the front
of the class.
Nina stood triumphantly, and Goldie could've sworn that the stuck-up Meerca
had stuck her tongue out at her. Nina opened one of her packs, and picked out
a gorgeous doll. It made Goldie and all the other girls in the class gasp. But
Nina continued to pull out doll after Fuzzle after plushie, each more beautiful
and well-kept than the next. Goldie hung her head. Her collection was not even
half as nice as Nina's.
A whole half-hour later, Nina was finished. Three gigantic piles overflowed
in the room, with some plushies falling onto the student's desks.
"That's a wonderful collection, Nina. You must be very happy," Miss Honeydew
said, as Patrick Poogle and Geoffry Grarrl picked up the toys and stuffed them
back into the packs.
"Actually, these old toys are nothing. I'm going to throw them all out and
buy completely new ones for Christmas," Nina said, flicking her tail haughtily.
Goldie mouth fell open. Nina wasn't happy with her toys? She was going to throw
them away? She looked over at Anthony. Anthony seemed disgusted and angry, and
for that, Goldie was glad.
Miss Honeydew smiled. "It's time to learn about how we can help the poor and
homeless," she said.
"How can we?" Anthony Agoodfriend asked, raising his hand.
"Well..." Miss Honeydew began. "..Instead of throwing away your empty pop cans,
you could take them to the recycling plant and give the money they give you
to certain charities that benefit the homeless. Or instead of throwing away
old clothes, you could give them to the homeless or to the salvation army. Also,
you could donate money to the money tree, or give canned goods to the soup faerie
to help her make delicious Christmas soup for poor pets. Also, there is a dreadful
shortage of toys for Christmas presents."
The pet's minds came alive with all these possibilities. "My mum has a bunch
of old blankets in her cupboard!" Bo Bo Blumaroo called out. "I have a bunch
of clothes that are too small for me... Maybe I could donate them?" Anthony
Agoodfriend said.
Goldie thought about it. "I have fifty-six plushies. Surely I could give some
of them away for Christmas presents..."
Goldie heard Nina talking to her friend, Pricilla the Poogle. "I'm not giving
away any of my toys, for all those dirty homeless pets to wreck. No way."
"I thought you said you were going to throw your toys away!" Goldie accused
Nina. Nina stuck her nose up. "So? That was then. This is now. I don't want
any other pets taking my toys."
"You don't even love your toys!" Goldie yelled.
"So What????" Nina screamed.
Miss Honeydew came running. "Girls, stop fighting. It's Christmas." Goldie
gave Nina one last furious glare, then started to sort through her toys, picking
out a couple of her favourites.
"Miss Honeydew?" Goldie raised her hand. Miss Honeydew smiled. "Yes, Gold Streak?"
she asked. "Um... I think I'd like to give all these toys, for Christmas presents."
"Oh, That's lovely, Gold Streak. But just take them home for today. Tomorrow
Principal Hapablap is coming to take all the classes donations to the homeless
shelter. You could even wrap your donation up in a pretty box, if you'd like."
"Oh, Yes, Miss Honeydew." Goldie grinned.
"Gold Streak, you have a heart of pure gold." Miss Honeydew smiled. Nina rolled
her eyes, but Anthony was beaming at Goldie.
Phantom, Tek and Alixcor chattered excitedly about what they could bring and
donate on the way home that afternoon, but Gold Streak was silent. She was thinking
about how happy her toys would make a lot of homeless and poor pets.
"Well, I have some toys that I never play with," Tek said. "And I have
that boom box that I don't need anymore," Phantom offered. "What about
my old baseball cap, signed by the one and only Kauvara Kau?" Alixcor said.
"That's great!!" Phantom chortled. "What about you, Goldie?"
"Yeah Goldie, what are you gonna donate?"
Gold Streak looked up. "Oh... I was going to donate all my toys."
"Wow! All of your toys?" Phantom breathed.
"Well.... I'll keep a few of my favourites," Goldie said.
"But what about Nina? Don't you want a collection greater than hers?" Tek asked.
"I was thinking about that today... Nina has so many toys, that she doesn't
have time to play with them all. They're all unused. So I was thinking, if having
a collection of toys bigger than Nina's means that I am as selfish as Nina is,
I don't want a big collection. I'll be happy with three or four." Gold Streak
smiled. "You see, I used to be jealous of Nina. But now I realize, under that
faerie painting and behind all those well-kept toys, she's just selfish. And
I want to help people this Christmas."
All her brothers laughed and hugged her. "Goldie, you're awesome!" they cried.
Suddenly Anthony Agoodfriend ran up, and stood in front of Goldie. "Hi, Goldie.
You wanna go get a slushie?" he asked. Goldie blushed. "Sure," she said.
Tek, Phantom and Alixcor laughed, and took Goldie's back pack.
"I think it was really great of you to offer all your toys," Anthony said,
as Goldie and him walked towards the Slushie Shop.
"Yes, well, it is the season for giving, after all." Goldie grinned.
Anthony laughed, and gave Goldie a kiss on the cheek.
The End
All of the students in the school donated over a thousand Neopoints worth
of goods. Gold Streak got the prize of a new Christmas doll for her donation,
the largest of the class. Goldie's donation helped over twenty pets have a happy
Christmas. Don't forget to donate some toys or books to your guild's donation
drives!! Thanks! Merry Christmas! | 
