The Tale of Cutie Cucumber

      "You look kinda dizzy!"

      "She just fell off the roof!"

      "It was her own fault."

      "No, it wasn't."

      "ARE YOU ALRIGHT?"

      A yellow Poogle, blue Cybunny, red Mynci, and a snow Bruce were all standing around a lump in sweetie_me274's garden. It wasn't really a lump at all. It was sweetie_me274.

      No one called her sweetie_me274, because it was rather long and complicated. Christine did just fine. And, just five minutes ago, Christine had been atop the roof of her Neohome, retrieving a bouncy ball that her Poogle had unintentionally kicked. Now, the Poogle's cheeks were bright red.

      Then she had lost her balance, and grabbed onto the ball for support. It hadn't worked. She and the ball had come tumbling down. The garden was soft and grassy, but it wasn't much to cushion that kind of fall. The girl was dazed, her eyes open, but not focused and rolling back in her head.

      "We have to get her to the hospital," Snow Angel, the Cybunny, said, biting her lip. "She could be really hurt. The hospital's just down the street."

      "She's fine!" snorted Graphie, the Poogle. "I fall off my bike and land in the garden all the time. And I'm perfectly normal."

      The Mynci shot her a skeptical look. "Sure," Karina began, her voice soft. "But Christine didn't fall off her bike. She fell off the roof. Bit of a difference, no?"

      "Fine, be that way. But how are we going to get her to the hospital?"

      "I'll help!" squealed the Bruce, Cutie. "Now, stand back. I am a trained professional!"

      "Cutie," Snow Angel said, shaking her head. "This could be serious. We need to get her to the hospital. She could have a lot more than a bruise. Come on guys, help me pick her up. Now!"

      "I don't need help getting up!" snapped Christine. Her eyes were square, she no longer looked dazed. She picked herself up and brushed of the grass stuck to her shirt. Then, she squinted on her four pets.

      Karina took a sigh of relief. "Christine, you're alright! Thank Fyora!"

      "Christine?" Christine asked, scratching her head. "Who's Christine? I'm Cutie. Cutie Cucumber."

      "I'm Cutie!" wailed Cutie. "You're Christine and you're our owner!"

      "Owner? Bah! I don't own anything accept the cucumbers. You know that, Johnny."

      "Johnny?"

      "Who's Johnny?"

      All of Christine's pets stared at her. She was out of her mind, she was insane. "It must be because of that fall," Graphie added, finally.

      "What fall?"

      "She IS out of her mind. Let's get her to the hospital." Snow Angel stretched her paw out to her owner. Christine, or Cutie Cucumber, accepted it.

      "Sure!" she said, beaming. "What's the hospital?"

     --

      Doctor J.R. Theodore II was in the main lobby when Cutie, Snow Angel, Graphie, and Karina all arrived at the hospital, dragging their delusional owner behind them. He was a particularly shaggy blue Gelert, and stared at them for a moment before walking towards them.

      "May I help you?" he asked.

      "Our owner Christine, she fell," Cutie answered, pointing to her owner who was waving into thin air. "Off the roof. Now she thinks she's Cutie Cucumber."

      "And who are you?"

      "I'm her pet," the Bruce sighed. "Cutie."

      "Cutie Cucumber?" the doctor said, scratching his ear.

      Cutie slapped her forehead. "Just Cutie. Cutie_2509 if you want to be exact. And this is Karina, Graphie, and Snow Angel, really Karina364, GraftonitePoogie, and Snow_Angel274. But that's beside the point. I don't know who Cutie Cucumber even is!"

      Doctor J.R. Theodore II nodded. "I see. I'm Doctor J.R. Theodore II."

      "Long name," Christine said. The doctor raised his eyebrow.

      "You're Christine, are you?"

      "No. I'm Cutie Cucumber."

      "Of course. Good afternoon, Mrs. Cucumber. How may I help you?" he asked, trying to treat her as kindly as possible.

      "I don't know. Little Johnny over there, and the rest of them, all took me here."

      The poor doctor looked bewildered. "Who's Johnny?"

      "The pumpkin, of course!" Christine pointed to Cutie, beamed happily, and began spinning in circles.

      "I see your problem," Doctor J.R. Theodore II said. "Come with me, and she'll be in tip-top shape soon enough."

     --

      "She seems to be suffering from short-term Amesyhia," Doctor J.R. Theodore II was wearing a pair of glasses and had a clipboard in front of him.

      "Ame-whaty-what?" Graphie asked, cross-eyed, her tongue sticking out.

      "Memory loss," Karina told her sister. "But its only short-term then, right? She'll remember who she is and all that soon, right?"

      The doctor nodded. "Of course!" He blushed. "I think," he added in a whisper. Three pairs of eyes (Cutie's, Karina's, and Graphie's; Snow Angel was waiting with her owner in the lobby).

      "So what do we do now?" Cutie asked.

      Doctor J.R. Theodore II smiled. "That's the easy part. Just do things like you always do things, and make her feel comfortable. Do things she might remember. Bit by bit it will all come back, I promise."

     --

      "Christine, what would you like for lunch?" Karina asked. As the oldest, and for the most part, the smartest, she had taken the role as of the house.

      Christine did not answer. "Unless you call me by my proper name, and not this nonsense one you have made up, I will not answer." Karina sighed.

      "Cutie Cucumber, what would you like for lunch?"

      "Well done, Johnny. You're such a good pumpkin. Now, I would like chicken sandwich on two slices of toast with butter, raspberry jam on the side, well-done nachos, and some apple pie like Harold used to make it." Karina and her siblings stared at their owner, or what had become of her.

      "Jelly it is then," Graphie replied, holding a plate steady as her sister plopped a spoonful of strawberry jelly on it. She slid it across the table to Christine, and she sniffed it.

      "How am I supposed to eat this?" she asked. Graphie tossed her a spoon, and luckily, she caught it. She just gaped at the spoon, unsure of what to do with it. Finally, she threw it back at Graphie, who dropped it on the tiled kitchen floor. "Could I please just have a knife?"

      Snow Angel opened a cupboard and thrust a knife in Christine's hand. She began to cut the jelly into bite-sized morsels, which she then stabbed and ate. She wore a look of satisfaction on her face.

      "Penny, you should really try this," she said, staring at Graphie.

      "Christine…er…Cutie Cucumber, I hate to tell you this, but my name isn't Penny. It's -" Karina and Snow Angel gave Graphie angry looks and Cutie covered Graphie's mouth with her hand. She sighed. "Sure, Cutie Cucumber."

      Christine handed her Poogle the knife, and she took a bite of the slimy jelly. She swallowed hard and handed back the knife, giving her owner the thumbs up as she tried not to wince.

      "This is going to take some getting used to," Snow Angel muttered.

     --

      Christine had been Cutie Cucumber for about a week. By then, she had renamed the whole family. Cutie and Graphie were, of course, Johnny and Penny. Snow Angel was Alice, and to her dismay, Karina was Hubert Phyllis Rachel Paul. Even their petpets had new nonsense names.

      Until now, they had managed to live off the food that they already owned: jelly. But today was the day all four pets were dreading. It was the day that Christine would have to go shopping.

      They would all accompany her, of course, but this would make a difficult task. Karina, or Hubert Phyllis Rachel Paul, had taken control of the money, and her siblings were going to look after their owner and make sure she didn't get lost or anything.

      "Food shop straight ahead," Snow Angel said, dragging Christine behind her.

      "I love food. Especially peanut butter."

      "Great," Graphie muttered, taking the lead and walking through the doors to the shop. "Anyway, we just need a loaf of bread. I'll get it."

      "Nonsense, Penny. I'll get it," Christine said. To everyone's dismay, she headed right towards the shopkeeper and smiled brightly.

      The Chia shopkeeper recognized her instantly. "Morning, Christine. What do you need? We just had a restock."

      "You too? My name is not Christine."

      "Then what is it?"

      "Cutie Cucumber. And I need six jars of peanut butter," she smiled. The perplexed Chia nodded as she went to fetch peanut butter. She returned, nearly collapsing under the weight of the jars. She thrust them in Christine's hands.

      "That will be 1,200 Neopoints," she said.

      Christine beamed. "HUBERT PHYLLIS RACHEL PAUL!" she yelled as loudly as she could. An embarrassed Karina rushed to her owner and handed over the money. As the Chia put the peanut butter in a bag, Karina whispered:

      "One loaf of bread, too, please." She handed over 300 more Neopoints. Seeing the look on the shopkeeper's face, she knew what had happened. "I'm sorry. She's…a little confused. It should be sorted out soon enough."

     --

      The food shop incident still fresh in everyone's mind, they took sighs of relief when they woke up one morning and Christine was sleeping in. All four siblings, and their four petpets, were outside. The petpets were running around, and the sisters were playing catch with the same bouncy ball that Graphie had kicked on the roof just over a week ago.

           "I miss Christine," Snow Angel wailed. Being the youngest, she missed her owner the most.

      "She's still here," Cutie pointed out dismally. "She just has no idea who we are and she thinks she's Cutie Cucumber."

      "I miss her!" Snow Angel screamed again, walking away, covering her eyes, her ears drooping. She began crying. "We might never get her back. Ever."

      Cutie walked over to her sister, tears swelling in her own eyes. Karina went to comfort her as well, and Graphie was left alone with the ball. A pang of guilt in her heart, she sighed. She was so upset to hear the footsteps getting closer…

      As hard as she could, she kicked the ball towards the house as she went join her sisters. Then, all of a sudden, just as she grasped Snow Angel's paw, there was a bang and a thud. The ball flew up in the air and landed, of course, on the roof.

      But the peculiar thing was that Graphie had kicked the ball at the house, and straight at the house, so it should have, if anything, bounced back to where Graphie had kicked it. Obviously, it hadn't. It had bounced off something else.

      On the ground, beside the door to the house, was something, the something the ball had bounced off of. A lump. No, not just any lump. Christine. Forgetting their worries, the four pets darted to their owner, their hearts pounding. Again, her eyes were open, but they were rolling. She was breathing uncomfortably.

      "Cutie Cucumber!" Karina yelled in panic. "CHRISTINE!"

      "Is she okay?"

      "I kicked it really hard."

      "How could you?"

      "IT WAS AN ACCIDENT!"

      "What was an accident?" asked a familiar voice. To everyone's surprise, the voice came from Christine. She was sitting up, a bizarre expression on her face. She smiled at her pets. "What's wrong?"

      "Nothing, Cutie Cucumber," Snow Angel sighed, seeing her owner was fine, but still didn't know who she was.

      "Cutie Cucumber? Who's that?" she asked. "Neopia to Snow Angel…"

      "CHRISTINE!" all her pets yelled with delight. They trampled her with hugs as she laughed, with no idea whatsoever of what was going on.

      After a moment, the hugging stopped, and her pets just smiled. "We were so worried," Graphie said. "We thought you'd never get your memory back."

      "What?"

      "You thought you were Cutie Cucumber," Karina explained.

      "You guys, you're so silly. Making up a joke to make me laugh, again?"

      He pets were in disbelief. She didn't remember a thing, and she wouldn't believe them. Finally, Cutie sighed. "Maybe it's best if she doesn't know," she whispered.

      "I guess," Graphie whispered. "Let's go play ball, then." The four of them, still in shock, headed back to play, when they remembered the ball's fate.

      "We can't," Karina said, saying what everyone was thinking. "It's on the roof, remember?"

      Christine beamed. "No worries, I'll get it." She got up and was about to fetch the ladder when all four of her pets stopped her in her tracks. Their faces were white and pale.

      "NO!" they shouted in harmony. Christine raised an eyebrow. Cutie hesitated for a moment, before coming up with an excuse.

      "Let's just have lunch instead."

The End