The Day the Donations Stopped

     The residents of Neopia listened with curious ears. Could this be true? What could have caused our Money Tree to throw in the towel!

     "Every resident of Neopia misuses and mistreats me! And do I ever get any credit? NO!" shouted the Tree. "Not to mention, I'm tired of items that no one wants being placed under my branches! Junk items that simply come back to me in good time! There is no love anymore! And I'm done! That's it! Goodbye!"

     With that, the Money Tree grabbed up its roots and marched past the shocked crowd that had gathered to hear its speech.

     "What will we do now?" questioned a rather worried Elephante.

     "Where will we go for items?" shouted a crazed Korbat fluttering above the crowd.

     "You should have thought about that BEFORE!" yelled the Money Tree from the distance.

     -------

     After a few days, the news of the Money Tree's quitting had spread across all of the land. The faeries in their towers were full of gossip. The Maraquan restaurant Kelp was all abuzz with the news - customers and employees together. Even in the high hills of Terror Mountain, word had been spread of the Money Tree's departure. The sudden leaving of a good friend rocked everyone down to their core.

     As for the Tree itself, it had taken a few days off - relaxing, visiting old friends - before the horrible happened... The Money Tree was bored.

     I left my post due to lack of interest in myself, thought the Tree, but now I am so completely bored and out of ideas that I would give anything to have someone amuse me - even by putting a Broken Fishing Pole under my branches.

     "I know!" exclaimed the Tree, as it jumped up from its spot suddenly, causing leaves to fly and the ground to shake. "The Employment Agency! They would probably have a job for me! After all, I do have years of experience in Customer Service!"

     -------

     "You do have a job coupon, don't you?" asked the faerie sitting behind the desk, as she brushed off fallen leaves from her wing. The employment agency was a big building, filled with hopeful Neopian residents wishing to take part in a job. The top of the Tree's branches brushed the cloud ceiling of the agency, causing leaves to flutter to the ground.

     Thinking, the Money Tree reached a branch into the many leaves atop his bark and pulled out a shiny silver, Brightvale job coupon!

     "Someone donated this awhile ago, but it got lost atop the branches," the Tree said with a smirk.

     "Super," replied the faerie as she began scribbling notes on a pad of paper. "For your first job I need you to bring back 5 exploding powders."

     "No problem! Easy as pie! I used to get those all the time under my branches!" said the Tree, as it began to head out of the door.

     "Wait!" yelled the Faerie, "You know there's a time lim-"

     But the Money Tree was already gone! Thinking to itself that this should be a piece of cake, the Tree hurriedly raced towards to the shops of Neopia Central.

     -----

     As the Tree passed by its old standing spot - the spot where it used to happily sit and accept donations from all across the land - the Tree sheltered its view as to not be reminded of what it used to have.

     A couple of hours of shopping later, the Money Tree emerged from Neopia Central, with nothing in hand, or... er... branch but a Bitten Green Apple.

     This is harder than I thought, the Tree thought. A sap tear began to form in its eye, as the Tree realized that time was up awhile ago for it to complete its job task, and that its old spot was still bare, but still looked familiar.

     The Tree knew that if it returned to the Job Agency, task not completed, it would be very disappointing that the first job it took on, it couldn't complete. The Tree also knew, that if it returned to its old spot as the official Money Tree, all it would ever get would be junk items, and where was the fun in that?

     The Money Tree slumped to the ground and wondered what it should do.

      If only I had a show personality, then I could help out with Better Than You!, thought the Tree. Or even if I was mean and ferocious, I could cover the Snowager on its breaks and holidays... but then again, who would be scared of a tree?

     Everything seemed hopeless to the Tree, who at that moment, only thought of itself as a Junk Collecting Plant.

      All of a sudden the Tree felt a little "tap tap tap" against its weathered bark. The Tree looked down to be face to face with a baby Lupe - not even a year old, the baby Lupe was full of innocence and smiled sweetly at the fallen Tree.

     "Excuse me, Mista' Twee..." said the baby Lupe with eyes wide and full of hope. "I have a Toy Sailboat that I'd like to give to you. I want other kids to be able to pway with it too. I've pwayed with it since I was vewy, vewy small... and now I want to give it to someone who can have just as much fun with it as I did."

     The Money Tree looked at the baby Lupe, who obviously hadn't heard about the Tree quitting the job of donations, then at the Toy Sailboat. Normally, the Toy Sailboat would have discouraged the Tree - it was constantly being offered junk items - or items that the Tree at least considered junk. But for some reason, this Toy Sailboat wasn't junk anymore. It was a gift from the heart. And maybe, all of the other items that the Tree thought were only junk, were too, gifts from the heart. For those who have, to give to the have-nots.

     "I'd be happy to accept your donation young fellow," said the Money Tree to the baby Lupe. A big smile spread across the baby Lupe's face, as he giggled and admired the Money Tree.

     "One day," said the baby Lupe, "I want to be as nice and as friendly as you!"

     "Oh I think you're wrong about that," said the Money Tree. "You're donation here shows how nice and friendly you are, and everyone is thankful - especially myself."

     The baby Lupe smiled once more at the Money Tree, then turned to head away.

     The Money Tree mustered up all of the strength it had been given from this one thoughtful donation, and proceeded to its old spot. Full of pride, the Tree dug its roots back into the ground, and with happy branches, placed the Toy Sailboat at its base.

     "Attention, citizens of Neopia!" shouted the Money Tree, with confidence. "The Money Tree is back in business!"

     All of the shop owners poked their heads out of their store windows, as customers and residents came running out, cheering!

     ---

     It took a while for the donations to start up again, but with every Tombola KeyRing, Bucket of Sludge, Palm Fan and Toy Sailboat (to name a few), the donations continued to grow - as did the Money Tree's appreciation of the smaller, and even "junky", things in life!

The End