A New Friend...?

     "Hey, Wind! What'd you learn at school today?" asked Hayley.

     "Gah, nothin' much," Windax answered simply. She trudged upstairs into her neat, bright and book-filled room, flung herself onto her bed that had pictures of White Weewoos all over its comforter and took out a pencil, her notepad, and Poogle Poetry, a book she'd checked out at the library. Windax then opened the book for a spark of inspiration and began to write her own poetry. She was a writer, and planned on being a famous one when she grew up.

     Just then, she heard a soft tap at the window.

     "It's a hot, late-spring day," she thought aloud, not looking up from the book. "There's bound to be Moaches and Fleafs bumping against the window."

     Then, as if on cue, a rather large ixi acorn crashed through the window, leaving a pile of shattered glass on the floor before it. She looked at the mess on the floor and cried, "What in the name of Dr. Frank Sloth is going on?"

     She looked up at the window. Sitting on the windowsill was the cause of this disaster. She just stared in awe as a little Urchull looked up at her with an innocent look on its face.

     "I'm gonna call you Pansy," she said and picked up the little Urchull, ran downstairs, and told Hayley about the coincidental happening and her new friend. If she was lucky, maybe Hayley would let her keep it and she could brag to her friends about her new responsibility - caring for her new petpet Urchull.

     - - -

     "I'm gonna call her Pansy!" Windax exclaimed as Hayley examined the furry little critter with a look of acceptance in her eyes.

     "I'm all for you meeting a new friend, but what are we going to feed it?"

     "There's a ton of acorns outside I can feed her, and I promise I'll feed her every day and play with her and clean up all her poopy! Please please PLEASE let me keep her! Pretty please?" begged Windax with a look on her face one just couldn't say no to.

     "Well... all right. I kind of like the idea of you finally taking responsibility. Welcome to the family, Pansy." said Hayley and watched as Windax clung to her leg thanking her with great expression, Pansy sitting on her head.

     - - -

     The next day, Windax and her siblings came home from school to a big, shocking surprise. The living room looked like a meteor had hit. Books and papers were scattered all over the floor, tables were lying on their sides, and the couch had been ripped in some spots. Knick-knacks had fallen off of the shelves and landed on the floor, wall decorations and pictures were torn down, and the photo albums were all on the floor, photos scattered all around the room. They stared, their mouths hanging open as little Pansy sat in the middle of the room, completed her work of art by laying a doodoo on the floor, and stared up at the three Poogles as if asking, "Well? What do you think?"

     "I'll get the vacuum cleaner," said Origantu and headed for the closet.

     "I'll sew up the couch," said Sanyaiid with a look on her face that told Windax that she was lucky she wouldn't spill the beans on Hayley.

     "I'll do... everything else," said Windax and sighed in relief that Hayley was working late at the Neopian Pound that afternoon. The pets got to work and cleaned the living room with great effort. There had to have been at least thirty books scattered all over the floor. Windax had actually found some things amongst the books that she had lost quite some time ago, like a battered Aisha plushie that Sanyaiid used to play with when she was a lot younger than she was at this time, a couple of collectible cards that Origantu had abandoned long ago, a few candy wrappers, some rubber bands (she could give these to Hayley for her rubber band ball), and a few poems she had hidden not too long ago and had forgotten where they were. When you're a writer/poet, you need to conserve your work and complete it before it is shown to others, right? She had also found some bills and letters of Hayley's. She was hanging up a poster that was torn down when all of a sudden she was jerked backwards into the air for a few seconds, then thrown to the floor on her bottom.

     "You be lucky we don't tell," said Origantu. "That thing is your responsibility, after all." He had taken the head off of the vacuum cleaner and sucked her tail up in the tube. She wanted to pout, but she was trying to be mature about this whole situation. She just sighed and got back to cleaning.

     She had picked up all of the tipped furniture and put everything else away. Origantu had left with the vacuum cleaner and Sanyaiid was quietly sewing up the couch with her perfect, flawless stitching and Windax was left to clean up the big pile of poo. Sanyaiid burst out in laughter as Windax scooped it up with a dustpan and scrubbed at the floor with a few wet paper towels.

     "Origantu, you're missing it!" she cried, still laughing. However, he was too busy with the vacuum cleaner on the other side of the room. Windax drug the pile into the bathroom, dumped it into the toilet, washed the dustpan out in the sink, and returned to the living room, embarrassed by her own family. At least Hayley didn't have to see this.

     - - -

     A couple hours later, Hayley came home and was amazed at the cleanliness.

     "You guys did a great job keeping the house clean while I was at work! I'm sorry I had to work late and leave you guys home alone; we were busy today. With the pound being reopened not too long ago and a flood of pounders, adopters, and transferrers demanding the attention of us staff members, even if we weren't in charge of the desks, it was pretty hectic. I'm sorry. But overall, I'm impressed that you all took responsibility. To celebrate, let's all go to Pizzaroo for dinner tonight."

     The Poogles sighed in relief. And Windax felt good inside that she mentioned the r word - describing she and her siblings!

     "Thanks, Mum," said Origantu (the only one who referred to Hayley as his "mum").

     "But... where's Pansy?" asked Sanyaiid with a look of worry. Suddenly, a loud crash was heard in the backyard. Hayley ran up to the window and let out an ear-pinching shriek. The Poogles went to see what was wrong, and there was Hayley's star tree, chopped down and lying on its side with Pansy sitting next to it, enjoying a hearty meal of its stump.

The End