If Wishes Were Fishes

     “Imagine if we suddenly dug up something amazing,” Brian’s brother, Adell, remarked all the time. “We’d be rich!”

     “Just what ‘amazing’ item are you thinking of, son?” their dad would ask, and Adell would just shrug.

     “I don’t know, something like a chokato, I suppose,” Adell would say sometimes.

     Brian knew they’d never dig up a chokato in their small farmland, but he did hope to live better someday. Their shack was falling apart, and the food was scarce and minimum. They usually collected donations from other farmers. Alton Moughbry was very generous with his large sacks of countless potatoes.

     One day, after two hours of hard work picking off the rotten berries, Brian noticed something tiny sparkling in the bushes. He pushed aside the leaves and leaned over to find...

     “A faerie!” he gasped. The only faerie he’d ever seen had been Illusen. He never had enough neopoints to complete one of her quests, so they never talked or met. But Brian had heard about faeries—and their extraordinary magic.

     “Oh!” squealed the glittering Earth faerie. She flew in front of Brian’s face. “My, my, don’t you look ratted and poor!”

     “Well, all I’ve eaten today were some berries,” Brian confessed.

     The Earth faerie was sympathetic. “No neopet should starve!” she declared. “I’ll batch up a feast for you right now!” Then her shiny eyes lit up. “Wait a minute; I have an even better idea. Why not grant you poor thing three wishes?”

     Brian clapped his paws. “A wish! A wish!” he exclaimed. “A wish for me, a wish for Adell, and a wish for Papa. Thank you so much!”

     The Earth faerie put a finger to her mouth. “Shh, don’t let Fyora know about this. We faeries typically aren’t supposed to go around just handing out free wishes. That’s the Wishing Well’s job, though it doesn’t do a very good job in my opinion. Always dozing off... However, I feel really bad for you, so...” She rested on a leaf. “What’s your first wish, then?”

     Brian thought and thought. He pondered. He wondered. Should I wish for a petpet? Should I wish for a new hat? “I wish for a piñata filled with candy!” he said at last with confidence.

     “As you wish!” the faerie agreed.

     Suddenly, a gigantic Meuka piñata appeared in front of them. Greedily, Brian broke it open. Out streamed colorful candies of all shapes and sizes. He nibbled on a lemon neodrop and said, “Thanks!”

     The Earth faerie nodded. “You still have two more wishes,” she said, winking. “What will it be?”

     Brian knew he should give his next two wishes to Adell and his father, but two whole wishes! That was way too good to resist. One more wish wouldn’t hurt, he thought, and so he made a second wish.

     “I wish to be a Halloween Kacheek!” he said.

     Instantly, his boring yellow fur turned green. He gasped, too thrilled to speak.

     “Why—why thank you,” he stammered unbelievably. “This—this is awesome!”

     “You only have one more, and then I’m off,” the faerie reminded him.

     “What?” Brian was mad. “I don’t want one more! I want lots more!” He smirked as he commanded, “I wish for five more wishes!”

     “That’s an illegal wish!” the Earth faerie cried. Having no choice, she sighed and clapped her hands. “You have five more wishes. Seriously, don’t wish for more wishes, okay? I need to go sometime!”

     Brian nodded excitedly. “I wish for...” he started, but his brother called for him from the shack.

     “Brian!” Adell called. “It’s time for dinner!”

     “In a minute!” Brian fumed. Then he grabbed the faerie and hid her in his pocket. “Come with me! I’ll wish for something at the table.”

     When Adell saw Brian clearly, he shrieked. “What happened to you?” he shouted. “You’re Halloween!”

     “I’ll explain later,” Brian assured Adell and his father.

     Brian, Adell, and their father sat on the cracked wooden floor, eating hungrily out of bowls of berries—except for Brian, who wasn’t that hungry after all that candy. After two bowls, Brian decided to tell them about the faerie.

     “Look,” he said, taking out the tiny Earth faerie and holding her up for them to see. “This faerie agreed to give me three wishes. I wished to be Halloween, and I am one now. I wished for a giant piñata, and I got loads of candy and sweets.”

     “What was your last wish?” Brian’s father asked eagerly.

     “More wishes!” Brian said triumphantly.

     Adell leaned over and tapped the faerie. “Can I have a chokato?”

     The faerie nodded and clapped her hands. A giant, juicy blue chokato materialized. Adell whooped and yelled, “This is my dream come true!”

     But Brian didn’t want to share his wishes. They were his, not Adell’s or anyone else’s. He frowned.

     “You can wish for a new house,” Brian’s father suggested.

     Brian shook his head quickly. “Dad, Adell, these are my wishes, and I plan to use them!” Then he had an idea for his next wish. “I wish we had one million neopoints!”

     The Earth faerie rolled her eyes, but she said, “Done.” Ten full bags of neopoints appeared in front of them. “You have three more wishes,” she warned.

     Brian’s father spoke. “I wish for a bigger neohome, with central heating and the top insurance. Oh, and nice bedrooms for us all. We’ve been sleeping on this dirty old floor for ages now. Some top-of-the-class furniture wouldn’t hurt, either.”

     Their shaggy old shack was instantly replaced by an all-stone, two-story neohome. The dirty wooden floor beneath them was replaced by a neat, white carpet. A warm, cozy fireplace sat in the corner. Adell and his father hugged and celebrated. They ran upstairs to check out their bedrooms.

     “Whoa, I have a Robo Chia in my room!” yelled Adell. “I heard they were super-expensive!”

     Brian went to check out his bedroom. A dried bamboo bed, a Babaa wardrobe, some beanbags and posters...it was the room he’d always wanted. Why didn’t I wish for this? he thought foolishly.

     “We cannot thank you enough,” Brian’s father told the faerie, returning from his bedroom.

     “I wish for two petpets, a Slorg and an Angelpuss!” Adell suddenly yelled. They appeared beside him. The Slorg snorted and the Angelpuss meowed cheerily.

     “You have one more wish,” the faerie said, ready to take off. “Hurry up and decide, please!”

     Brian was upset. Why did his brother and father have to use up all his wishes? Then he realized he’d already had four wishes to himself...he decided to give a wish for all of Neopia, a kind wish, a generous wish. But what would he wish for? More shops? Inflation will go up. Another Money Tree? No way, the old one was crowded enough from what he’d heard.

     “I wish... I wish...”

     What would you wish for?

The End