The Glowing Jelly Story

     "It all started about eight months ago. One day we were playing Hide and Seek in the shimmery seagrass garden when we noticed that our mother was rattling around in the kitchen cupboard." She takes a sip of her Banana Cream Coffee, and continues. "Mum could not cook a decent meal to save herself, although we usually eat fresh omelette for dinner every night, so we watched her through the window."

     The pink Poogle joyfully skips over and snatches up her Poogle bubble blower (she would not use any other!) and mumbles a 'Hello' in your direction. "Pfft! Now where was I? Oh yes, mum was in the cupboard. As we watched, she started to stock the cupboard up with food, but not with the usual omelettes and cheap gross foods we eat. No instead she was stacking up jelly, and not any ordinary jelly - it was glowing jelly.

     "We had eaten glowing jelly a few times before, mostly on special occasions, but it just seemed so rare and expensive to us. What a delicious treat! At that moment, Rubinea and I must have squealed with delight a little too loud, because mum turned around and saw us. Then she called us inside.

     "As we walked inside to the kitchen, I thought of the delicious glowing jelly I would be eating for dinner tonight, but that thought was quickly interrupted by mum politely asking us to sit down.

     "'Now girls, I have something very important to tell you.' Mum looked at us both, me still smiling at the thought of jelly. 'I have to go away for a few days for work, so I am buying you some supplies for while I am gone.'

     "At this point Rubinea's bottom lip started to quiver and the tears welled in her eyes (She was known to cry at almost anything), 'You mean, you are going…going to leave us here…alone.'

     "'Yes, my darling, but I think you are both old enough to handle it.' Mum rubbed Rubinea gently on the head. 'Plus I bought you both some special food to eat - glowing jelly. It was selling cheap at the fresh food markets today so I bought you more than enough for the days I will be away.'

     "I felt my jaw drop to the floor. Cheap *gasp* cheap, what does she mean by cheap? I thought glowing jelly was a gourmet food!

     "For the next few days, our mum continued to stock up on the glowing jelly, purchasing it in bulk for 1 Neopoint each at the local market." Zofeya chews on her fingernail for a second before looking back up at you. "Then the day finally arrived, the day when mum had to leave us. I was excited at first because I am almost three, which makes me the eldest, and I was going to be in charge. Then I could eat all the glowing jelly I wanted. Suddenly I got scared; what would happen if something went wrong while she was gone?

     "Mum stood at the front door of our neohome, gave the usual 'be good girls' speech and kissed us both goodbye. Then as she closed the door, we listened for her Cloud Racer to speed away. Rubinea and I gave each other a quick wink, and the race began." Rubinea looks over, hearing her name, but Zofeya does not give her a chance to say anything, "I won of course! And as we opened the cupboard door as quickly as possible, a little note was waiting for us.

      Girls,

     ONLY these jellies are to be eaten. The rest are for something special. Please be good.

     ~ Mum

     "'Something special,' Rubinea excitedly squealed, ' There must be over 100 jellies in there.'"

     Zofeya draws a quick breath "She was right, there were about 105 glowing jellies in that cupboard. Mum came home a few days later, surprised to see we had not eaten the extra jellies. Days after, we continually hounded mum about the jellies and what she was going to do with them."

     "She just snapped at us and said that if we eat too many we will probably glow and then she will be very mad because it cost a lot of Neopoints to paint us all pretty," says Rubinea very quickly, who is now sitting next to you, while Zofeya rolls her eyes in disgust.

     "That was when we noticed mum was coming home unusually later from work, with large parcels she guarded with her life. They were the brown paper bags you get from the food markets, yet she was taking them straight upstairs to her private study. The remaining jellies started to go missing from the kitchen cupboard too. People were also coming by, almost daily, and leaving little packages in the mail."

     Rubinea tugs gently on your skirt and proudly proclaims, "I tried to open one, but mum growled at me, er um oops, I mean she was not happy with me. But I could smell that it was yummy glowing jelly."

     Having sat there quietly for so long, you suddenly speak, "And what was your mother doing with all this jelly, if one may ask?"

     Rubinea opens her mouth about to speak before Zofeya bursts in, "Well, the other day we snuck upstairs to mum's study and saw that there was glowing jelly from wall to wall, floor to ceiling, all stacked carefully on the bookshelves. There was hundreds of it, some with little notes and names attached. And mum was sleeping curled up next to it."

     Rubinea cheerfully says, "I poked her and woke her up! And then she started to yell at us!"

     "RUBINEA!" screams Zofeya. "Mum says she was counting them and must have accidentally fallen asleep."

     "Girls, stop avoiding the question," you state as you impatiently tap your mechanical pen on the blue clipboard that sits neatly in your lap.

     "Oh, right. That would be because," Zofeya tries to speak as fast as she possibly can before your glare freezes her, "It is a sort of a, um, a competition, I guess. And mum wants to collect the most glowing jelly in all of Neopia. Her goal is 10,000 jellies, though she is not sure who she has to beat yet!"

     As Zofeya finishes speaking, you place your coffee cup onto the wooden table, stand up to straighten your black skirt and commence walking towards the garden gate. "I believe I have seen and heard enough for one day. Thank you for your assistance, girls."

     Rubinea starts to sob uncontrollably, and Zofeya takes her into her arms. "Please do not take us away from our mum. We know she loves us very much, and we love her too. Plus…" Zofeya smiles sweetly at you batting her eyelids, "She only has 7,500 jellies to go!"

The End