A Fortune Told

     "Hmm…I'd have to say cloud!" I responded excitedly as we hurried to the bank. We had finally earned enough money to paint Chan after months of excessive gaming, selling, and buying in bulk instead of in luxury.

      My three pets had agreed that Chan deserved to be painted first, because she was oldest and the only girl. Even though we had agreed, the other two decided to stay behind and sulk, while we went to the Rainbow Pool. We entered the large Neopian Bank and headed straight for the long line of people trying to deposit or withdraw money.

      Chan was anxious and started to circle around me to work off her nerves.

     "Alex! Can you believe it's finally time for me to be painted?!!" she shouted uncontrollably. I was so happy I didn't even care about all the other Neopians who stared at us without a word. I grinned and scratched her head to calm her down. We finally arrived at the desk where the large, green Skeith looked at us wearily.

     "Hello Madam, welcome to the Neopian Bank. Would you like to withdraw or deposit?" he said with a yawn. "Withdraw, all of it!" I said with a squeal. I had never spent this many Neopoints at one time, even when I got the lab map. Prices for paint brushes had gone up so much that this was a big buy, and I grabbed the four bags of Neopoints he handed to me surprised at how heavy they were. Chan and I scurried away to the Trading Post ready to bid for her cloud paint brush.

     We just made it to the dock, where the boat went to Mystery Island. I saw other Neopians eyeing my bags of Neopoints and I greedily squeezed them tighter and stuck my tongue out. Chan looked at me like I was crazy and apologized to the unsuspecting travelers. "What?" I asked her. "You saw them looking at my Neopoints!"

     Chan ran off the boat before I even got up and shouted, "Come on, Alex! This is the best day of my life and you're taking a lifetime!"

     I muttered under my breath as I picked up the heavy bags and dragged them behind me. We were on our way to the Trading Post when we passed the Island Mystic. The strange Kyrii was peeking out of his tiny grass hut and I slowly rolled my eyes.

     Chan, being the perfect little princess (Here is where I gag), walked to him smiling and said, "I'd love to have my fortune told."

     I groaned and poked my bottom lip out waiting for her to get done. The Kyrii danced around like the funny little creature he is and said, "Elephantes have sticky fingers!" and closed the door in her face. She walked towards me with a strange look on her face. When she told me what he said, I laughed.

      "Chan! I've always told you that Mystic was crazy! What does your fortune have to do with unclean Elephantes?" I said, chortling. She nodded and grinned saying, "Yeah! You're right! He's just crazy."

     We quickly walked to the Trading Post where we saw many different booths with Neopians offering their items. We walked to Jhuidah the faerie and she said, "What are you looking for?" We told her and she said, "Try booths 400, 567, and 11. They are the cheapest options for a cloud paint brush." We thanked her and went to Booth 11.

     We sighed as we saw a Krawk leave with his owner holding a cloud paint brush. We grew tired as we neared 400, but not in vain as we saw the cloud paint brush on the shelf behind the Neopian in the booth. We went up to it and I said to him anxiously, "Hi! We'd love to buy your cloud paint brush."

     He nodded and handed the cloud paint brush to us and said, "230k." I nodded and placed the four bags on the counter. He counted them amazingly quick and shook his head yes. Chan squealed and grabbed the paint brush out of my hands. I followed her back to the dock not quite as excited as she was, realizing how many Neopoints I had just handed over to someone. I saw in the windows of a shop we were passing how white my face was. I tried to swallow the fact as I watched Chan prance around and sing a little song.

     We reached the dock about twenty minutes later and climbed on to the boat. The boat ride back home would be a little long, so Chan laid down the paint brush by her side. She slowly drifted off to sleep smiling and I did as well.

     I heard the horn being blown and jerkily woke up to see Chan staring at her paint brush happily. Around five minutes later, we left the boat and headed to the rainbow pool. As we neared it, I said excitedly, "OK Chan! You ready?" She nodded and said, "Yup! I've got my paint brush right..." she stopped.

     "Alex!! My paint brush! I left it on the boat!" she screamed. I stopped in my tracks and felt the blood drain from my face. "Wh-what?" I said, choking. Her eyes filled with tears as she dragged me back to the boat

           We saw the boat and a couple of people leaving it. I started to ask owners while Chan asked Neopets if they had seen a cloud paint brush on the boat. They all said no and after every person was asked, we looked at each other with a hopeless look in our eyes. We sat down with our backs to a large tree and Chan sobbed. "I-I'm so sor-sorry Alex!" she said, tearfully. I was still in a state of shock, but I shook my head at said, "Oh Chan, it was an honest mistake. It's okay. We'll be able to buy another one soon enough."

      I felt a tap on my shoulder and looked up to see an Elephante smiling at me. "Is this yours?" she said, and handed over the cloud paint brush.

      Chan and I gasped and I said, "How did you know?!"

      "You looked like you just lost something that cost a lot of money," she said with a giggle. We thanked her profusely and I looked at Chan with a grin.

      We ran towards the Rainbow Pool, and this time I held the brush! I shuffled back and forth from one foot to the other as I watched Chan meekly step into the big, swirling rainbow colored pool. The Technicolor fountain beamed down upon us with all its glory and Chan said, "Okay, I'm ready." I nodded and held the broad handle of the cloudy brush and touched it to Chan's furry back. It suddenly appeared as if it was leaking across her body and soon it was all over her.

      When all that was left of the brush was a handle, I nodded for her to get out and she happily leaped out of the pool. "How do I look?!" she squealed with happiness. I clasped my hands together and my eyes got real big and I said, "Just great!" She giggled and licked my face.

      When we were walking home, in between looking at herself and saying thank you for compliments from random people she said, "You know what I realized? The Island Mystic was right! There was an Elephante with sticky fingers today! Only not meaning dirty, but taking something that didn't belong to her!" I smiled at this revelation. "Well I'm glad she returned it!"

      As we turned down our street, a young girl passed us with a baby Elephante in her arms. The baby cooed at us and suddenly grabbed my hair. I yelped and the owner quickly said sorry. I nodded and rubbed my head and felt a sticky spot where the Elephante's paw was. Chan and I looked at each other and burst out laughing, realizing even though the Island Mystic's fortune came true, he was an old coot after all.

The End