My New Life

by phinna

"This can't be good news," I thought as I sat at our dinner table with my owner and my three sisters. Yet, being a Kiko, I wasn't panicking or anything like cute_chick the yellow Kacheek or ocean_wave the blue Aisha were. They looked really scared. Tropical_shores the green Shoyru was, of course, being helpful and solemn and very calm. She was the oldest and she was very responsible. It really annoyed me sometimes.

So there we were, all sitting at the dinner table half-enjoying our delicious and expensive meals and waiting for our owner, saffron_girl, to tell us whatever it was that she was going to tell us. Saffron_girl stood up. "You all know," she began, "I started high school this fall, don't you?"

There were four nods of assent. "Well, I have to leave early and come home late and then I have so much to do and so little time..........and I talked to may parents and they both think it's the best thing for me to....... No, that's not right. Well, they say I should.............That's not it either. I have to..........to take you all to ................to the............... to the pound............." she trailed off.

"You can each pack a small bag," she said, "and we'll leave tomorrow after breakfast."

Cute_chick and ocean_wave burst into tears. Tropical_shores looked hurt and accusing but didn't shed a single tear. And I felt strangely empty, void of all emotion, all thought. Hollow. In a daze I went to my comfortable room and threw a few things into my suitcase. A green Blumaroo toy, a bag of N & N's that I had under my bed for emergencies, a few books. I stuffed in a key chain, thought about taking my radio, decided it wouldn't fit, then went out into the hall. Ocean_wave and tropical_shores were already there, ocean_wave with a bag like mine so that you couldn't see what was in it, and tropical_shores with a carrying case for her Angelpuss and an old plastic bag crammed with books.

A few minutes later cool_chick came out holding her Rainbow Boom Box and a Kau plushie. "You expect we're going to be able to keep these things once we get to the pound?" asked tropical_shores.

"Probably not," I replied. I still felt nothing, though.

"Oh, well," said cool_chick, "let's just go to bed now."

I went to bed, but I didn't sleep. I stared at the ceiling, thinking that I should be thinking about something, but I couldn't remember quite what it was I should have been thinking. The next morning I got out of bed feeling tired and weird. I ate breakfast slowly, not wanting it to end, but end it did, and saffron_girl got our bags and we walked to the pound.

A kind-looking Faerie in a brown sort of a jump suit went over to us and said, "May I take your bags?"

"I told you so," muttered tropical_shores.

"I don't take them," said the Faerie. "I'm supposed to, but I just can't I always end up giving them back. Of course, usually only runaways come with luggage........."

"What kind of a Faerie are you?" asked ocean_waves, sadness forgotten for the moment.

"Um," said tropical_shores.

The Faerie said, "That's OK, I'm the one-and-only Pet Faerie I watch over abandoned pets and try to make sure they find good homes. However," the Faerie sighed, "there are some............." She left the sentence open ended, but we understood.

We were led to cages, large enough for maybe two pets each, and some had one occupant already, some did not. There were cots and a low coffee table. Outside the cages on one side was a narrow hall, on the other side there was an enclosure with shabby furnishings, some old crayons and drawing pencils, and some NeoBlocks and the like. Some of the younger residents played halfheartedly, while the older ones sat around or slept. It was depressing. I joined some of the other children lacklusterly holding a "Tallest Block Tower" contest, won, and went to my cage.

I had a roommate, it seemed, named 2376034566658781. She had been created, abused, and abandoned, all within a week. It was very sad, and my heart went out to the poor Korbat, but the experience had made her bitter. Though maybe that was the natural way she was. Yet, again, it might have been being in the pound for two years. I decided to leave well enough alone. I was homesick all night, and I desperately wanted to bolt from the pound. It was not that bad, just very depressing. But at least I could feel. It was actually funny, in an ironic sort of a way.

Just days before, I had passed the Pound on my way somewhere, and I had thought to myself, "what a sad little place- good thing I'll never have to go there!" Stupid naive little thing I was, I believed it wholeheartedly. And yet here I was, giggle_girl the red Kiko owned by someone rich, pampered pet who had everything, sitting around with the pets abused by irresponsible owners, the runaways, the pets who had spent their lives in poverty. And saffron_girl had loved me....

"If she loved you, what the heck are you doing here with us lowly abandoned pets?"

The voice behind me made me jump. I hadn't realised I was speaking out loud. But I had been, and 2376034566658781 had heard me.

"Why should I pour out my sob story to you?"I sneered. "Why would you care?"

War was declared.

"Are all rich pets like this, or are you unique?"

"I bet your mother was a swamp ghoul and your father was Dr. Sloth, "I muttered. To my surprise she looked like she was about to cry.

"Are you all right?" I asked.

"I'm fine," she spat. "Like you care. Hey, are you here for real or are you just slumming?"

"Well, what do you think?" I replied, and went out to the enclosure to look at its one battered book again.

When the Pet Faerie brought dinner, I asked her why the book hadn't "poofed" yet.

"It's a library-bound copy," she said absently. "They're spelled to stay as they are without disappearing."

Tropical_shores was, of course, the first one of us to be adopted. Her new owner was a kind-looking young woman with one other Shoyru trailing behind her. I watched her as she conversed with her prospective owner, feeling a bitter jealousy that I never really feel. Not under normal circumstances. I watched tropical-shores's new owner signing the papers. I watched the Pet Faerie send her off with her belongings, and I got gloomier. Cool_chick went next, so it was just me and ocean_waves. I waited.

Months passed, and the winter holidays came. There was an air of anticipation in the air, and everyone was trying to be on best behaviour for the "Christmas rush" customers. Ocean_waves went home with a 10 year-old girl who looked like a new owner. Even 2376034566658781 got adopted by a scary-looking guy with 2 Korbats already. Very gothic, all in black, lots of tattoos. They were the perfect match. When they left, she looked......happy. No one seemed to want me.

On Christmas Day we all got cheap chocolates and the young ones got key chains. I sulked. Who would want a little red Kiko who acted unkikolike? I chided myself. Act bouncy and bubbly, and you'll be outta here. But I couldn't. Some months later, a scared blue Poogle was in & out of my cage- she was quickly adopted. This only served to make me feel more inadequate. I ate little, slept little, and didn't really do anything during the day.

Summer came and I perked up a little because summer, to me, had always meant swimming. And one cool summer night, there were footsteps down at my end of the corridor. A Halloween-colored Peophin went ahead of her owner, looking in all the cages, conversing with all of them. They reached my cage. I tried to look cheerful. I've got to get out of here, I thought, and this girl looks nice. I could go with her.

"Hi!" said the girl.

"Hi!" said the Peophin "I'm Jade," the girl said, "and this is falling_jewels, my Peophin"

"Do you like to swim?" I blurted.

"Yeah!" they said in unison, then burst into laughter. We talked a little longer and then.......

"Closing time!" said the Pound manager.

"But I know who I want to take........"

"No time to sign the papers, I said out! And I mean Out!"

"OK!" sighed Jade. Then she turned to me and said, "Well, I'll see you tomorrow."

I couldn't believe it. She wanted me to be her new pet! I slept just as much as I ever had since going to this place, only it was much better sleep, much less fall-into-bed-tired from-being-depressed sleep.

The next morning, as soon as the pound opened, she was there with falling_jewels. "Hi! I came early 'cause my NeoHome is in Maraqua, and we have to get an early start. Do you like raspberry milkshakes?"

"Oh Yeah!" I replied. I noticed that falling_jewels already was drinking a vanilla one, and Jade had a chocolate for herself.

"Here." She handed me the milkshake and I drank it, trying not to slurp. Much better than pound food! She let me out of the cage, and we left the pound into the bright summer sunshine.

"Here are your things," whispered the Pet Faerie, shoving my bag towards me. "And by the way, I spelled your books so they wouldn't 'poof'."

I opened the bag. Everything was there. "Hey!" I said in surprise. "The N&N's are still good!"

"That's cool,"said Jade, "but maybe we should wait a while. Wait 'till we're home."

"Will I have my own room?" I asked.

"I'm sure we can arrange that," Jade said, "right after breakfast."

Breakfast tuned out to be lemon sprinkle donuts and apple juice. Once we were finished, Jade said, "Now we go home."

I studied her. She looked, just for a minute, like saffron_girl. But the hair was shorter and darker, and she had no glasses and hazel eyes. Why had I thought she looked like her? Maybe the kindness in her face.......I felt tears well up in my large Kiko eyes. If you keep looking for the twin of your previous owner, I scolded myself, you'll never be happy.

"Come on, giggle_girl!!" said falling_jewels excitedly. "We're going home!"

And so, between my new sister and my new owner and I went to the dock to catch the boat that would take me home at last.

The End