The Tale of Two Chias

Carassa pulled over her hood to cover her head from the cold falling snow. “Mik, the line ends way below. A lot of Neopians are coming in today,” she said to her sister, Mika, who was entertaining a purple Shoyru.

“Wow! That means we have a lot to sell today. Rassie, could you bring out another pile from the attic? We just ran out,” the blue Chia said as she pointed to the empty space of the igloo. Everyone waited.

“Okay, Mik.” The yellow Chia ran to the top of the igloo, then placed a handful of books in a box and brought it down immediately. Both of them restocked like crazy.

It was night time now. It was drafty inside the igloo. Both Chias disliked the cold. “I can’t wait to move out, Rassie. It’s really cold here in Terror Mountain. Did you know it reached below -20 degrees C yesterday?” Mika and Carassa always dreamed of living in some place where it’s not too cold and not too hot either.

“Better rest for a while, sis. We have another big day tomorrow.”

The Chias were about to sleep when they heard loud thuds from outside and a knock from the door as well. Mika stood up, turned on their Taelia Lamp and opened the small igloo door.

“Hello, I’m sorry to disturb you, but are you still selling?” a blue Grundo said standing in the cold.

“Well, it’s really late now, mister...”

“I am very sorry, but it’s the only time in Neopia where your shop does not have a line all the way down to the Neggery!” the Grundo persuaded.

“Uh, okay, but only a few items.” Mika ran to the top of the igloo and picked up random items. She managed to pick up a Blue Hissi Plushie, a Melted Chocolate Negg, some hot Fudge, and a Blue Wocky Morphing Potion. The Grundo scratched his head trying to decide what item to buy.

“I’ll take them all!” The Grundo’s loud and deep voice echoed around the igloo. Suddenly, they heard heavy footsteps coming towards the igloo. Then, without warning, crowds of Neopians were now trying to squeeze themselves inside. Carassa jumped up, surprised.

“We’re sorry, but the Garage Sale will be opened tomorrow,” Carassa explained. But the crowd wouldn’t listen and still didn’t move from the line, desperate for a bargain. Mika, knowing what to do, ran upstairs and restocked. The Chias only went to sleep around 2 am – 4:30 AM NST. It’s been like that for days.

The next morning, the Chias hurriedly ate some Sherbet Gravy for their breakfast and prepared for the crowd.

As expected, when Carassa opened the igloo doors, large groups of Neopians were now falling in line. Mika immediately restocked.

This time Mika picked up potions and battledome equipments.

“How did they afford all these things?” said an Acara who whispered to a Kacheek. As the days pass by, Neopians from different places grew curious on how the two Chias managed to afford hundreds—no, thousands of things.

It was another snowy day in Terror Mountain. Mika and Carassa were both busy entertaining Neopians and restocking items.

Around 3 pm NST, a familiar Aisha went into the igloo. She was wearing a brown and white vest and had a camera tied around her neck.

“Hello Mika. Hello Carassa. I am Harper Jones, famous reporter from the Neopian Times. I am famous for getting the latest issues and stories around Neopia,” Harper said as she shook hands with both of them.

“Could you spare a few minutes for a brief interview?” the reporter said as she took out a notebook and a pen.

“Sure,” Mika and Carassa said in unison. The three sat in different chairs, with Harper on the Polka Dot Arm Chair, while Mika and Carassa shared seats on a large Green Bean Bag chair. “The crowd is still deciding which item they’ll buy,” Mika said.

“Okay. So, let me start off by asking... what are your likes and dislikes?”

“Well, I like omelettes,” Carassa said.

“And I like to watch the Poogle Races when were not busy,” Mika said.

“And we don’t really like the Haunted Woods that much,” Carassa said. “When we were having a little holiday vacation there once, Ghost Meepits chased us. They were the most horrifying things we ever saw!”

Harper wrote this down.

“How do you feel when a lot of Neopians come by and fall in line trying to buy something?”

“Well, we feel proud. The more Neopians who come by, the more stuff we sell. The more stuff we sell, the more Neopians save their neopoints,” Mika said, giggling.

“What a wonderful answer. And how do you feel bringing up Terror Mountain’s tourist rate by ten percent?”

“Terror Mountain already has a large rate of tourists, even without me and Mika. Especially on the month of Celebrating.”

Harper wrote down some stuff. Both Chias thought her handwriting was beautiful. “So, tell me... where do you get all these stuff? I know I’m not the only one wanting to know the answer.”

Both Chias laughed. “Well, we’ve been collecting since we were very young. That’s why we have a large assortment of items.”

“Okay. Where will you go when all your stuff will be sold? You said on previous interviews that you will move when the last item gets sold.”

“To state the truth, we don’t know yet. We never put much thought to that, actually,” Mika explained.

“But we can assure you, we still haven’t sold one fourth of our items, even today. You don’t know how much stuff we still need to sell!” Carassa said. This was true, of course.

“Lastly, are you okay with the idea of a twenty-four hour garage sale?”

“Well, our garage sale already is.” The three laughed. “It’s okay for us as long as we get to sleep. We sleep in shifts, though. We are only Neopian after all. We should accept that reality.” Carassa winked at Harper.

“Thank you for sharing your time with me. I just want to say that both of you are actually very interesting. I also want to inform you that your interview will be in the latest issue of the Neopian Times. I am sure that plenty of Neopians will read this article.” Harper stood up. “Oh, before I leave. Could I take a picture of you both?”

“Cool!” The Chias enjoyed photography. I bet you didn’t know that!

“Harper, how about a picture of us with our costumers?” the Chias said. The Neopians hurriedly went to Mika and Carassa’s side. Maybe they like pictures as well. All of them were already smiling.

“That would be great! Stand there,” Harper said as she pointed her finger to a space where the background would be our restocks. Everyone moved automatically.

“Say ‘Pie!’” Harper said positioning the camera.

“Pieee!” everyone said. The camera flashed.