Kacheek Tales: Volunteering: Part One

I rang the doorbell and rocked on my feet as I waited. The door swung open and Mrs. Williams was standing there, looking worse for wear. Her gray hair resembled a Whoot's nest and she had the overall air of someone very frazzled. I spoke up in my Aww-I-Feel-Very-Sorry-For-You voice saying, "Well good morning Mrs. Will-" before she cut me off.

"Ahh, good, you're here Cunchicka. The list of things for you to do today is on the counter in the kitchen and all the Petpets should be inside somewhere. My Wocky and I are going to Mystery Island for the day, so if you need anything, you won't be able to call us. Here are the keys, have a nice day. Oh, and good luck," She said flatly as she shoved keys into my hand and swept out of the house with a green Wocky at her heels.

"A-a-alright," I stammered. "Bye!" This whole thing didn't look very positive at the moment, and I cautiously peeked around her door. I slipped through the door crack and shut it behind me. When I turned around and glanced at the room, I was completely flabbergasted. Imagine your most extreme worst-case scenario and multiply it by…oh about by four million and you are close to the way this house looks. There was spilled milk and broken pottery shards strewn across the floor. Petpets were crawling on the curtains, under the couch, and half-way up the walls. My mouth dropped to my knees as I began walking around and surveying the place. Noils, Babaas, Feepits-you name it- were everywhere. In bathtubs, on top of dressers, under sinks, stuffed in a clock, and there was one shut in the refrigerator eating up all the pie. Lillie was going to owe me fifty Iced Borovan Cakes and all the Brightvale Berries I could eat after this was done.

I carefully shoved and waded my way to the kitchen looking for the list that Mrs. Williams had left me. The counter looked as if the Rubbish Dump was on the top of it. There was no way I was going to find it in here. I shifted through the pile, and cringed as stuff started avalanching to the floor. It took me twenty minutes of searching to realize that it wasn't on the counter anymore. I put my hands on my hips as I stood and gazed around the kitchen looking for it. Ah-ha! There it was! A dirty Bloopy who badly needed a bath was chewing on the corner of it. I sprinted over and pried it from his mouth. "No!" I told it sternly as I held an un-slobbered corner of it between two fingers. "Yuck!" I muttered to myself as I shook it out to get most of the spit off. Luckily, or maybe unluckily, it was still readable. I pulled myself to a sitting position on the counter and began reading it:

Dear Sucker…I mean Kind Wonderful Soul,

1. Feed all of the Petpets.

2. Make sure all of the Petpets get a bath.

3. Put all of the Petpets down for a nap.

4. Clean up the entire house.

5. De-weed and water my garden.

6. Mow the lawn.

7. Trim up the bushes.

8. If you have any time left than paint the house a nice shade of light yellow.

9. Send up a prayer to Fyora because you are NEVER going to get all this done.

Ha, ha! I tricked you so good. You're not getting paid unless you get numbers

1 through 7 all done!

Your Nice, Sweet Old Lady,

Mrs. Williams

I made a face and crumpled up the letter, then stuck it into my jacket pocket. And Lillie called this meanie a "nice, sweet old lady". I'll show her. "I'm going to get every one of the things on this list checked off if it's the last thing I do," I said out loud. Of all the things to promise myself, this was probably the stupidest. Ah, well.

I started with number 9 on the list and asked Fyora to help me out here. Even the trash in this house was way over my head. Then I hopped off the counter and went to the pantry where food is generally kept. I guess Mrs. Williams, or her Wocky for that matter, didn't know this general rule. The shelves were completely bare except for cobwebs accenting the corners. I slammed the door and stalked over to the cabinets above the counters. Nothing. So I checked the refrigerator. Totally empty.

There was an extra-big cushiony couch sitting by the window in the kitchen so I went over there to sit down and think about where I was going to get enough food to feed X-amount of Petpets. When I eased myself onto the chair, I heard a crunch, and felt lumps under the cushion. I crinkled my forehead and climbed off of the couch to pull up the cushion. There, in this sofa, was enough food to feed half of Mystery Island. Oh, how silly of me. I forgot to look under the cushions first for food. I was beginning to think that all the rumors were right and Mrs. Williams really was insane. I shook my head and began pulling food out and running over to set in on the counter by the sink. By the time I had gotten what seemed like enough for the amount of Petpets running around here I pulled out the five pizzas and opened the oven to put them in. But I forgot. The oven is where you store the towels, not cook the food. I grudgingly grabbed the towels and through them on the floor so I could cook the pizza. While that was warming up, I cut up all of the carrots and prepared some bolts and screws in bowls for the robotic Petpets. I set those on the floor and whistled. It seemed like hundreds of mechanical Petpets stampeded through the living room and attacked the bowls. I dumped the carrots and some mushy peas on plates for the other pets and set those on the dining table. It had to be the longest one ever made in Neopia. It took up the space of three rooms across and had more chairs then the rest of the street owned put together. Gingerly pulling the pizzas out of the oven, I set them on the table as well and stepped back to let my charges stuff their faces.

While they were occupied I decided to start cleaning the bedroom so that they would be ready to take a nap as soon as possible. I was already sick of this job and it had barely started. I tried to push the door to the bedroom open, but it wouldn't budge. I grit my teeth and used all my body weight to bang against it. It creaked open just a few inches, but it was enough for me to slide my way past. My shoulder was throbbing, though, and I limped as I walked in and stared at the room. It wasn't a bedroom. It was a Neopian hazard waiting to happen. Junk was sitting everywhere and it was so dusty that tears came to my eyes. I sighed and half-swam to the other side to the curtains so that I could open them and let some light in. It didn't help much, as the windows were so dirty you could barely see through them. Shrugging, I decided to start with the biggest bed in the middle. I pushed everything that was on it to the floor and carefully began to make it up. When I was done, a smile crept onto my face. Then I heard a BANG in the kitchen. My good feeling evaporated instantly and my shoulders drooped. Sounds like the Petpets were done eating and were up to more mischief than I could handle…again. That was it. I needed reinforcements and quick.

I ran over to the bedroom door as fast as I could without tripping and bolted it tight to keep the monsters out. Picking up the phone, I dialed a number and waited while it rang. "Please be home, please be home," I murmured to myself. A sigh of relief escaped me when somebody answered. "Hello, this is Toby, how can I help you?" the voice said.

"Hi, Toby! It's me, Cunchicka," I said anxiously. Toby was a fire Scorchio and my best friend in the whole world, even though I had just met him a short time ago. "I need your help really bad. I'm in way over my head here. This is a code 87543963,"

"What's a code 87543963?" Toby asked, confused.

"Nevermind. I don't really know, but can you help me?"

"Of course I can! Where should I meet you?"

"I'm at Mrs. Williams' Neohome. Ring the doorbell when you get here so I know when I should unlock myself from the bedroom, OK?" I told him quickly.

"Why are you lo-" Toby started to say, but I had already hung up.

Scratching my head, I decided that as long as I was stuck in here, I may as well do something productive. I started out by opening the closet and quickly stepping aside, so that I didn't get buried under tumbling toys. Much to my surprise, nothing fell out at all. I carefully peeked around the door and raised my eyebrows. There was nothing in the closet at all. Then I shrugged reasonably and decided that of course there wouldn't be anything in the closet. Everything was on the floor. I began by scouring the room for all of the plushies I could find and lined them up neatly, by species, on a shelf. I'm a little bit obsessive when it comes to perfection I guess. It ended up taking up half of the shelves, but it was worth it. Next, I picked up all of the leftover toys and neatly stuffed them, if that was possible, wherever they would fit in the rest of the space in the closet.

I flinched when I heard glass shatter somewhere outside of the door and screeches from the Petpets. It sounded like a rough one out there, and I felt quite content standing by myself, protected from them. Then I heard a quiet ding, and realized that it must be the doorbell. I gulped and reached for the door handle, swiftly unlocked it, and peered out of the door. It was worse than I expected it to be. With only a half hour of not being supervised, the Petpets had managed to completely destroy a quarter of the house. More than ever I was glad that I had asked Toby to help. I opened the door to let myself out and then made a point of shutting it behind me so that the little beings didn't get in there and mess it up again. Making a run for the front door, I quickly swung it open, ushered Toby in, and shut it.

"Cunchicka, what's going on in here?" Toby asked with wide eyes. "It's worse than my nightmare about the Peanut Butter Slushie that tries to eat me and I'm trapped in the toy box, and-"

"I know, I know," I said, cutting him off before he began ranting about this dream he had once a week. "This whole house is totally out of control, so can you please help me?" I asked, pleading him with my eyes.

To be continued...