Normal

     "...Qually, what are you talking about?" Rosie, his sister, asked him, putting down the book of paint samples she was looking at. "It's summer! You don't have any homework."

     "I need to keep my brain in shape all year long. Stopping for even a day is unacceptable," responded the starry Kacheek dully.

     Rosie, a speckled Ruki, gave Qually a look of pure disgust. "You're sick."

     Qually just looked at her and rubbed his nose.

     The Ruki rolled her eyes and started flipping through the paint samples again. Silence passed for several minutes before Qually finally jumped out of his seat. "You're right, I'm being absolutely ridiculous," he decided.

     "Of course I'm right," Rosie agreed. "You know, if you want, I can teach you how to be lazy, irresponsible, and act silly. What do you say?"

     The Kacheek thought for a moment. "Well, you are the expert...." he muttered absentmindedly. He nodded. "Okay! Teach me to be lazy, irresponsible, and silly!"

     Rosie smiled. "Perfect. Now...go in your room and sleep," she instructed.

     Qually stared at his sister with an appalled look on his face. "Sleep? But it's nine in the morning!"

     "Qually," Rosie responded, "you'll have to trust me on this."

     Sighing, the Kacheek dragged himself upstairs and collapsed on his bed to take a nap.

     * * * * *

     It was around noon when Qually awoke again, feeling oddly refreshed. He hopped out of bed and went downstairs. Directly in front of him was a pile of clothes scattered across the floor. The starry Kacheek's mouth dropped open at the mess and he immediately began gathering up the clothes.

     "Drop them, Qually!" Rosie ordered, appearing around the corner. "The lazy and irresponsible Neopet does not bother picking up clothes simply because they are there to pick up. Doing so just wastes precious time that could be used for lounging."

     Qually dropped the clothes guiltily. "So, you're saying I should just walk by this catastrophe on the floor like it doesn't exist? But, it would be there forever," he argued.

     The speckled Ruki shook her head. "When you need an article of clothing that's on the floor, then you pick it up, but only then. Eventually, everything will be gone. It makes sense, right?"

     "Your logic is unbelievable," Qually responded. After a minute he perked up. "I think I need this yellow jacket, and this sock, and, oh yes, I definitely need that pink sweater today!" he continued on quickly until all of the clothes were bundled up in his arms, then he darted back up the stairs.

     Rosie hit her forehead with a hand and made a face after her little brother. She wandered into the kitchen and began scanning through cabinets. "What do you want for lunch, Qually?" she called loudly.

     The Kacheek made his way into the kitchen. "Oh, I don't know, what about peaches and a cheese sandwich?"

     "Hmm...Is the sandwich pre-made?"

     "No..." Qually answered.

     "Then we can't have that. How 'bout a cheese omelette and peaches?" Rosie suggested.

     Qually said that sounded fine to him and went over to a basket on the counter to grab a few peaches to cut up.

     "Qually, what are you doing? Put those back. Cutting up fruit is way too much work. We get the canned versions around here," Rosie informed him and threw a can of peaches to him.

     Making a face, Qually opened up the can and dumped some peaches onto two separate plates. His sister had already set the omelettes on the table, and was waiting for him. He sat down and began cutting up his omelette.

     "Just use your fingers," Rosie told him, picking up her own omelette and taking a huge bite.

     "That's really impolite, Rosie," Qually reminded her. The Ruki gave him a look that showed she didn't really care and the Kacheek gave in.

     It only took a few minutes for the two to finish this simple meal in silence, and Qually jumped when he suddenly heard a loud slurping noise coming from across the table.

     "What are you doing?" cried Qually to his sister.

     The Ruki was leaning over her plate where the peaches had previously resided with a straw stuck in her mouth. She paused for a moment and responded, "Drinking up the peach juice."

     "That's disgusting! Normal people just wash that part down the sink," Qually informed his sister, wrinkling his nose as she continued drinking up the peach juice.

     "Well, normal people aren't very much fun, are they?" Rosie retorted. "You should try this. It's better than you'd think."

     "No, it's gross."

     "Qually, as your teacher I demand that you slurp your peach juice through a straw this instant," she ordered.

     The Kacheek sighed, knowing he could never disobey a teacher and grabbed a straw from the middle of the table. He glared at his sister in the you're-going-to-pay-for-this kind of way and stuck a straw in the peach juice wearily.

     He quickly found that his sister was right, and peach juice was even more delicious than the peaches it came from. All too quickly, all of the juice was gone. He carried the dishes over to the sink and turned on the water so that he could start washing them.

     "Now, Qually, the same rule applies to dishes as it does to clothes. Pile everything into the sink, and then when we run out of plates, grab one and wash it then," Rosie told him as she threw her dishes into the sink.

     "Eww," Qually commented, disgusted.

     "Did I lead you wrong with the peach juice?" Rosie asked. Her little brother shook his head. "Exactly, so I'm not going to steer you wrong here." The Ruki led him out of the kitchen and through the door outside.

     "Today, I want to paint the grass," she informed him and grabbed some paint cans from the front porch.

     "You want to paint the what?" Qually asked her, raising an eyebrow.

     "The grass. I have four different colors; red, yellow, blue, and white. This way, you can mix and match. Here's a paint brush. You can start over there, and I'll start back here," she instructed Qually, handing him supplies.

     "But, this doesn't make any sense. Who would want to paint grass? It's stupid!" the starry Kacheek fought, dropping the paint brush.

     "Exactly. It's silly, and pointless, and a minimal amount of work. This is exactly why we want to do it," Rosie answered.

     The Ruki stuck her brush into a red can of paint and began coating the grass with it, ignoring the rest of Qually's protests.

     "Ugh," Qually sighed, finally picking up his paint brush and joining his sister in painting the grass.

     About a half of an hour later, Rosie got up from her own work, an array of purple, red, and yellow colors, to check up on Qually. "Haven't you even started yet?" she asked in frustration.

     "Of course I have. That whole section is painted," he said, pointing to the green grass in front of him.

     "You...you...painted it green?" Rosie commented, dumbfounded. "But, why?"

     "Because it looks nice, and grass is supposed to be green," responded the Kacheek logically.

     The speckled Ruki sighed and ran over to dip her brush into red and blue, so she could have purple paint. Then, she returned back to her brother's painted section and began running around in it, getting random splashes of purple paint all over. "See? That's much better," she said while trying to rub paint off of her feet.

     "What are you doing? It's ruined!" Qually cried. "How would you like it if I ran over to yours and threw paint all over it?"

     Just to prove his point, the Kacheek raced over to his sister's painted grass and began drawing white and green stripes across it.

     Rosie yelled, "Hey!"

     Qually looked up and chuckled, now dotting the grass with blue paint.

     Rosie grabbed her brush that was dripping with purple paint and began adding it beside the green mess her brother had painted, laughing with her brother.

     Having finished with his older sister's grass, Qually grabbed the can of red paint and ran around the lawn, randomly dumping it behind him.

     When that got boring, he quietly snuck up behind his sister and tipped the can, pouring red paint over her head.

     Red paint dripped down over her eyes and Rosie turned around sharply, dropping her brush so she could grab the white paint can.

     She gripped the handle tightly, stood back, and swung the can forward so that white paint flew through the air towards her brother. Qually laughed and began running, grabbing a new paint can so he could fight back.

     For over an hour brother and sister had a paint war, coloring the grass and themselves at the same time. Neither could remember having this much fun with the other one before.

     When at last all of the paint had run out, and a truce had been called, the two of them collapsed on the porch steps, gasping for breath. They scanned the yard, admiring the masterpiece they had made. Splashes of paint of all colors decorated the grass, making a sort of mixed-up rainbow.

     "This is pretty much the coolest lawn I have ever seen," Rosie decided after a few minutes of silence. She tried rubbing paint off of her arm.

     "Yeah," Qually agreed happily. "And that has to have been the most fun I've ever had doing something so silly."

     "Me too." Rosie smiled. "So, you want to go and pick up all of those paint cans and brushes?"

     Qually didn't even have to think for a minute. "Nope."

     "But it looks so messy! What will the neighbors think?" Rosie asked jokingly and laughed.

     Qually chuckled with her, knowing he didn't care.

      Just at that moment a yellow Quiggle and a blue Yurble were walking down the street and stopped in front of Rosie and Qually's Neohome.

     "Wow, look at that!" the Quiggle said, pointing at their lawn. "It's so weird."

     "Yeah," the Yurble agreed. "Normal people don't paint their lawn. Come on, let's go." The two continued back down the street, talking in whispered voices.

     Rosie looked at Qually, laughing. He smiled, relaxed, and yelled after them, "Well, normal people aren't very much fun, are they?"

The End