Rodger the Food Snatcher

It was a beautiful day in Shenkuu, besides the fog, and an Aisha named Alice was taking a walk with her petpet Chompy, who was a Niptor. They went to the Exotic Foods Store and grabbed a basket full of things. When they left, a big tail came around and whacked the basket out of Alice’s hands.

      "Oof!" she exclaimed as her Purplum Buns and other foods were scattered among the ground. She looked up to see a big Skeith named Rodger pick up her Tigerbuggle Sushi and eat it in one bite. Chompy growled and bent down, ready to attack Rodger.

      "Heh, cool your jets. I didn’t do anything," he said, picking up some Lotus Rice and eating that too, in one bite.

      "You just tripped me so you could get my basket of food!" Alice snapped. She picked up her basket and started picking up her food.

      Rodger snatched five Seaweed Wrapped Dumplings and put them in his pocket.

      "Hey, you give those back!" Alice yelled in anger and frustration. She was going to be late for dinner if he kept this up.

     "Give what back?" asked Rodger with a smug smile on his face. Chompy ran over and ripped Rodger's pocket open with his teeth.

     "Those," Alice smiled, "are mine." She picked them up before he could get his greedy hands on them and stuffed them into her basket and hurried along to her neohome.

      X

      The next day when she went to the Exotic Foods Store she kept her Niptor at home for she had a plan to stop Rodger's constant food snatching.

     Alice stuffed Dung into her Lotus Rice for that was Rodger's favorite. When she walked out of the shop, this time her basket was snatched right out of her hands and was gone like that. She did not expect him to TAKE her basket. "Darn," she thought, "now I won't get to see his expression." She saw him rushing past other neopets with her basket. He looked back at her and stuck his tongue out. Alice smiled and waved.

     Rodger did not come to the Exotic Foods Store the next day.

      X

     Alice ended up writing an apology letter to Rodger because she thought she had done a good thing and told her mother. Her mother scolded her and told her to say sorry. Alice went up to her room and started to write a letter.

     "Dear Rodger,

     I am very sorry that I put dung in-" She stopped. Why was it her fault he stole her basket? She crumpled up the letter and threw it in the trash can. She flopped on her bed and took a nap and had a dream.

     She was at the Exotic Foods Store and Rodger was there and Chompy and the store owner.

     “Why did you steal all that food?" the shopkeeper asked. Alice was confused. She looked over to Rodger who was behind the owner. "WELL?!" He screamed. Alice trembled.

     "I didn’t steal anything," she told the Nimmo.

     He pointed down to her basket. "THEN WHAT IS THIS?!" he yelled pulling out a Strawberry Satay with the word, "STOLEN" in big black print. Alice looked over to Rodger who had a big black pen in his back pocket.

     "Rodger wrote that!" Alice yelled, pointing a finger at Rodger who did the same at the same time. The owner looked puzzled.

     "So you’re admitting it then?" he asked, raising an eyebrow.

     "Huh? What? No he did it!" Alice pointed at Rodger again and again he pointed back. Then she realized when she talked he moved his mouth, he was standing the way she was and there was an odd beam of light coming off him. She stepped closer and he mimicked her movements. She reached out as did Rodger and touched cold.

     It was a mirror. She had become Rodger

     "AHHHHH!!" Alice screamed, leaping out of bed. Her mother came in.

     "Are you OK?" she asked Alice.

     Alice felt dizzy from falling off the bed. "Yeah, just a dream," she said in a calm voice, so she couldn’t scare her mother. Her mother gave her a worried glance and then left. Alice sighed and sat on her bed and started another apology letter.

      X

      The next day Alice took a basket full of goodies to Rodger's house and the apology letter. She walked up the brick steps and rang the doorbell.

     "DONG DING DING DING," the door bell screamed. Alice put her hands over ears. The door swung open and a big blue Skeith stood in the doorway.

     She spied the food and letter and asked, "Are you one of Rodger’s... friends?" She said it like she was trying to remember if he had any friends. Alice didn’t think he had any either.

     "Er no, I'm here to say sorry," Alice said with a sheepish look on her face.

     She looked confused, then realization came, then anger. She spat between her teeth, "You’re the one who put dung in my little boy's food?"

     Ok, now Alice really wanted to throw away those nice goodies and the letter, but she knew the guilt nightmares would come back.

     "Um, HIS food?" Alice asked.

     "Yes, his food that he put down to go to the bathroom, then came back, ate his food, then realized what he had just ate!" She was steaming now.

     "Ms...." Alice left the question in the air.

     "Ms. Dwadling," she spat.

     "Ms. Dwadling, that was my food and yes, there was dung in it and I expected him to take it because he takes food all the time." Alice's voice started to rise.

     BAMM! She had slammed the door in her face. Alice put the goodies down and the letter and walked away. Chompy jumped out of the bushes and followed her home.

      X

      When home, her mother asked if Alice had given Rodger the goodies and letter.

     "Ms. Dwadling slammed the door in my face so I couldn’t give it to him directly, so I left it on their doorstep." Alice sighed. Her mother nodded and Alice went to bed. This time there were no guilt dreams.

     The next day when Alice went to the Exotic Foods Store with Chompy, she looked for Rodger. She asked the shopkeeper if he had seen him.

     "As a matter of fact, he was here just a minute ago and gave me this message for you," he said and handed her a manila envelope.

     Alice gave Chompy it and told him to open it carefully. He ripped it to shreds. But somehow the letter inside stayed intact and he carefully handed her the letter with his teeth.

     She looked at it in confusion.

     "Dear Alice,

      Thank you for sending me those yummy goodies (I had to check for dung, though) and the apology letter. I really appreciate the gesture, and I am sorry to for stealing your basket too (I gave the shopkeeper that too), and I explained to my mom and I am sorry for the lie. I hope you accept my apology.

      -Rodger"

     Alice looked to the shopkeeper and he handed Alice her basket. "He seems to have changed..." the shopkeeper pondered.

     Alice knew he changed, changed for the better. She smiled, thanked the shopkeeper, then ran quickly to Rodger's house, left some Lotus Rice on the doorstep, and went home with Chompy skipping behind her.

     Alice never got bugged by Rodger ever again.

The End