Little Lost Gruslen

     Tomorrow was the 25th day of hiding, so the Grundo movers would be taking the day off to celebrate Grundo Independence Day. The 26th day of hiding they would deliver the boxes to Whimsycallie's new NeoHome at 1930 Sakhmet Main Street, Lost Desert. That gave Whimsy and her pets two nights of relaxation at The Mountain Lodge. There they could recover from packing before they began the job of unpacking. Whimsy visualized herself sitting in a hot tub on a deck, surrounded by snowy mountains, drinking a tangy red melon slushie. She was really looking forward to that.

     Now she just needed to gather up her pets, the petpet carriers, and overnight bags. Then they would say "see you later" to Aaurelia. Aunty Ari would be glad to finally have her guest rooms back. They would all miss her, but it would be good to have their own home.

     Whimsy walked to the lovely pink guestroom where her pets had been staying. She saw a ball of multi-colored fur rolling around the middle of the floor. J Thorn, her desert Poogle, and Razzlerose, her fire Zafara, were wrestling again. Britabubbles the faerie Kiko, flew around the other two giggling. Whimsy shook her head at their antics. Sikira, her Christmas Cybunny, looked up from his book. Whimsy whistled to get the pets attention. "Okay, you guys. Lets get ready to go. Brita did you check the water for your Searex? I think he might need a little more." Whimsy and Brita were walking into the bathroom for fresh water when Razzle hollered, "Mom, my Gruslen is not in his carrier."

     "Look for him! Check under the bed." Soon everyone in the house was searching all the rooms. They looked under beds, couches, and desks. They searched behind curtains, and potted plants. After thoroughly searching Whimsy decided he just wasn't in the house. "He must have gotten out when the movers were here. Let's check the yard and gardens. Be sure to check the gnome garden and the gazebo."

     All through the search Razzlerose became droopier and droopier. By the time they finished searching the gardens, her big dark Zafara eyes were full of tears. "I love my Gruslen. Where can little Grumph be?"

     Whimsy tried to comfort her pet, "Don't give up hope, Razzle. Lets go inside. We will make up some posters and check the neighborhood. Maybe one of the neighbors has seen him."

     Sikira the Christmas Cybunny stayed with Razzlerose at the house in case Grumph came back. Britabubbles, a faerie Kiko, flew from yard to yard looking. J Thorn the Desert Poogle gathered up several neighborhood Neopets to form a Gruslen search group. Whimsy the distraught owner hung up the posters around the neighborhood, but they had no luck. It was dark by the time they were done going door-to-door and hanging up posters. Razzle was openly sobbing now. Her brothers and sister were worried and upset too. Whimsy gathered them up. "Come on. We'll eat something. We'll sleep here tonight. We can go to The Mountain Lodge tomorrow. Maybe in the morning someone will answer one of the posters, and we will go to the petpet shop. Maybe someone will have found him and left a message. We can put up a poster there too."

     Whimsy had fixed her pets a quick dinner of thistleberry sandwiches and apple juice. She got them bundled into their fuzzy jammies, and was tucking them in. She had already tucked in Thorn and Brita. She was spending a few extra minutes hugging Razzle and calming her down. Sikira walked up with his arms full. He was holding his yellow Stego. "Razzle, you can sleep with Lemon Tart tonight." Sikira set the Stego next to Razzle's pillow. The Stego nuzzled her. Its green wings gently flapping. "See his wings will dry your tears. It always helps when I am sad."

     Whimsy smiled at Sikira and gently tugged his long Cybunny ear, "That is very sweet. I am sure it will help. Night night Razzle. Lets get you tucked in too Sikira." Whimsy tucked in her last tired pet and dimmed the lights. She hoped tomorrow would end happier.

     The next day was a lovely sunny day in Neopia Central. It seemed a shame that even the sunshine couldn't raise their spirits. The pets were up early begging to search the neighborhood again. "We have to give the neighbors a little time to wake up. Have some cereal first." Whimsy put on a cheerful smile. She could at least try to keep their spirits up, "Look we have Crunchy Kacheek Cereal."

     While the pets were out rechecking the neighborhood for the missing Gruslen Whimsy made arrangements for the move. She arranged to have the other petpets and the overnight bags delivered to The Mountain Lodge. That way they could concentrate on finding Grumph the Gruslen Whimsy could hear Razzle's plaintive call, "Grumph, Grrrruuummmpphh." Whimsy hoped they found the Gruslen She didn't want Razzle's little heart to break.

     First they headed to the petpet shop. They checked the notices there. They found one Gruslen listed. It was a pirate Gruslen, not a regular Gruslen They went to check just in case, but it wasn't Grumph. They left a poster with Usul shopkeeper at the petpet shop. She promised to reach them if she heard of any found Gruslens.

     The rest of the morning and into the afternoon was spent searching every nook and cranny they could think of. They looked inside and outside. They walked many of Neopia Central's streets. They asked shopkeepers and pets if they had seen a loose Gruslen They stopped at the Money tree and asked. They wouldn't want him mistaken for an unwanted petpet put up for donation. They checked the hospital in case he had been injured. They wandered through the shops of the Neopian Bazaar. Everywhere they went they asked about Grumph the Gruslen and hung more posters.

     In the late afternoon Whimsy called a halt to the search. "Okay, we have got to go. We must reach The Mountain Lodge by tonight. We will go by the petpet shop and check one more time. Then we will stop Hubert's Hotdogs for a quick bite before we leave. Aunty Ari will let us know if Grumph gets found after we leave."

     It was a discouraged and bedraggled group that dragged into The Mountain Lodge that night. Whimsy was worried about Razzle. She tried to get her to eat a little more at dinner. The Lodge served good food, but Razzle just wasn't interested. It wasn't long before they all fell into their beds exhausted.

     In the morning Whimsy tried to get the pets excited about the move. "All of your new furniture is already there, and the great house warming gifts Aunty Ari got you. Your lovely Tyrannian fur rug is there, Sikira." Sikira thought his white Cybunny fur would look very distinguished against the brown fur rug, and he was excited to have this very grown up touch in his rooms. "Brita, the nova lamp and Snorkel beanbag she got you are already there." Brita loved anything cute and pastel. She had been so excited when she got her faerie wings. Aunty Ari had complemented her telling her how nice Kikos looked in faerie colors. "Thorn, your handsome Anubis arm chair is in your sitting room, and Razzlerose, your green sofa is sitting in your bedroom." Aunty Ari had carefully picked out just the right gift for each pet. She truly was a great Neofriend, and had earned her Aunty title.

     "Remember how your rooms are all arranged around the courtyard? You will have plenty of room to play and garden." In their new NeoHome they each had a two room suite. There were several shared rooms, kitchen, living room, rec room. It was all arranged around a lovely large courtyard. There was still a lot of work arranging and landscaping. There was also plenty of room for an upstairs expansion. Their home was a project of love.

     Moving without all of them happy wasn't the homecoming they had imagined but they were doing their best to cheer up. Razzlerose was still very upset, but she was trying to not to spoil things for the others. Sikira, Thorn, and Brita were excited in a muted kind of way. Everyone was putting on a cheery face as they walked up to the entrance of their new desert home. Until they got inside the entryway, the sight of three full petpet carriers and one empty one was just too much for Razlerose. She ran to her new room in tears.

     Whimsy decided to get the rest of her family settled. They were busy going from room to room oohing and ahhing over all the new things, desks, beds, chairs, stained glass windows, and more. When Whimsy left them they were excitedly going through their boxes looking for their favorite older things to unpack. If only Razzle could be sharing their joy.

     Whimsy walked into the bedroom. She set on the edge of the bed and brushed the damp fur away from her Zafara's eyes. "I know you are worried and miss your petpet. It is okay. We all understand." Razzle snuffled and tried to quit crying. Whimsy patted her back and encouraged her. "Why don't we find the box with your favorite red bean bag chair you will be happier sitting on it. That looks like the box there." Whimsy pointed out the box to Razzle.

     Razzle got up and started opening the box. When she finally managed to get the lid off her face lit up. "Mom look!" The giggling Zafara dumped over the box. A very drowsy Grumph the Gruslen stretched looking insulted. "He had the most comfortable ride here." About that time the other pets ran in. Razzle picked up her petpet. Her brothers and sister surrounded her. They were all hugging and patting Grumph. Soon the hugfest turned into a wrestling match in the middle of the floor.

     Whimsy grinned and shook he head. As she turned to walk out of the room she thought to herself, "Now THIS is what I had imagined moving day would be like!"

The End