Bring Your Own Petpet to Work Day

     The day began quite normally, sleeping till the last minute, rushing to get dressed and grabbing a cup of Marquan Blend Coffee and a Breakfast Hot Dog, and running out the front door. Right as I crossed the threshold, I heard Giggles exclaim, “Wait for me! I’m coming along today, remember?” Oh, yeah! In my sleepy haze I had completely forgotten.

     “Well, come along then!” I replied. We quickly made the trek to the NT headquarters. As we approached the entrance, I saw several of my coworkers walking in with their Petpets.

     Sandra from HR was holding her Angelpuss and loudly saying, “What a good girl!” Clearly trying to draw everyone’s attention to her Petpet. Giggles and I both looked at each other and rolled our eyes. Unfortunately for Sandra, the majority of the attention was on Nico, the Altador Cup correspondent, who was dancing next to his Disco Kookith to the hit song Dancing King from the BAAB album.

     Passing through the crowd, we entered the building and I escorted Giggles to my cubicle. “Well, this is it! What do you think?” I asked.

     “This is where you spend all day? In this drab and boring cube!” Giggles said disgustedly. Ouch. My cubicle isn’t boring! I have a Cheery plant right next to my beloved typewriter.

     Offended, I responded, “It’s not drab, it's simple. I also go out and interview famous and important Neopian figures too, remember? I have to focus on writing; my office can’t be too distracting.”

     “Well, what am I supposed to do all day?” Giggles inquired. Hmm. I had not thought that through. I stood up and looked at my next door neighbour, Walbur, to see what he and his Petpet were doing. As I peeked over the divider, I saw Walbur sitting in his chair typing away, and his Pile of Soot placed directly next to him on his desk. I made eye contact with it, and it gave me a pathetic look. Poor thing. Looks like Walbur had some bad luck at the Petpet Lab Ray. Well, that was certainly no help.

     “Why don’t you have a look around the office, while I start writing my next article?” I instructed Giggles. Hopefully that will keep him occupied for the time being. Satisfied with my answer, Giggles happily wandered off.

     A few hours later

     And… done! First paragraph is finally completed! I should take a break and maybe check on Giggles, I thought to myself. Suddenly I heard a scream. Sandra from HR busted out of her office and shrieked, “Where’s my baby? Where is my Angelpuss?”

     “Wait a minute, where is Groove, my Disco Kookith?” Nico frantically said.

     “Miss Henrietta, where are you?” I heard Walbur say. Wait a minute. His Pile of Soot Petpet is missing too? Gradually, the whole office was filled with all the employees calling out for their Petpets. People were lifting furniture and opening storage closets. I even saw Walbur digging through the dustbins. I was stuck standing in a stupor at the sudden and instant chaos that had erupted in the building. I shook my head out of my daze and joined in the search looking for Giggles.

     Amidst the frantic search, the Editor’s office doors bursted open. “Has anyone seen my White Weewoo?” The Editor’s Petpet was missing too! This was a major problem. Not only was everyone missing their Petpets, but if the Editor could not find his Weewoo, then the Neopian Times would not print any new issues. That Weewoo helps him to focus and edit all of our articles.

     Sandra rushed past me in all the clamour running for the telephone to call the Defenders of Neopia for their aid. Nico fell to the floor and started to sob, “He will never dance again!” Walbur was head first in a trash can throwing everything out, in a desperate search to find Miss Henrietta. Meanwhile, Kassidy Kantkeepasecret, one of our investigative journalists, was taking notes on her notepad of the situation, while also participating in the search. I shook my head in disappointment. Of course she would take advantage of the situation and use it for an article.

     Suddenly, a loud booming laugh rumbled through the whole building stopping everyone in their search. “It’s coming from the top floor!” Sandra exclaimed.

     “That’s the VIP lounge.” The Editor said. “No one should be in there! It is only for celebrities when they are here for an interview!” Everyone rushed up the stairs in a hurry to see what the commotion was and hoped that their beloved Petpets were there.

     As we all tumbled through the door to the VIP lounge, we were met with quite a scene before us. All of our missing Petpets were singing and doing choreographed dance moves to the music from that new disco musical, Papa Dia. But they weren’t the only ones in the room. Watching them thoroughly entertained and laughing, was none other than King Skarl.

     Once our Petpets finished their song, the Editor quickly stepped forward, bowed his head, and said, “Your Majesty, I had no idea you had arrived so early! I am terribly sorry if our Petpets were a disturbance. It was Bring Your Petpet to Work Day, and things got out of hand.”

     “HAHAHA. They weren’t a disturbance at all! My, they were the greatest act I had ever seen. I have never laughed like that before.” Ah, so that was the source of the booming laughter. But, wait! That means our Petpets did the impossible. They made King Skarl laugh. But not just laugh, laugh so hard that it shook the entire building.

     King Skarl continued, “It has been such an enjoyable day here. I thank you for your great hospitality. And this one, he was the mastermind that got all the Petpets together to do this performance!” He said as he pointed a finger to Giggles. I instantly smiled, and grew tremendous pride.

     “And this Petpet has such a beautiful voice.” King Skarl said to Miss Henrietta. Walbur fell to his knees and wept in awe at his companion. “And let us not forget the dance moves! This spunky little fellow choreographed the whole show!” Groove started to do a happy dance in elation of his recognition.

     “You go, Groove!” Nico cheered. Sandra scoffed at the compliments, clearly annoyed that nothing was said of her Angelpuss. The Editor escorted the King to his office to discuss further matters with his little White Weewoo flying behind, while the rest of us quickly ran to our Petpets. Despite all the mess and chaos that had occurred just moments before, none of us were mad at them. They had come together and created something beautiful.

     And so, dear readers, the next time your workplace has a Bring Your Petpet to Work Day, be prepared for any outcome. It could be an ordinary day, or it could bring something new and beautiful that you would have never expected.