The Valentine Miracle

     "How on earth am I ever supposed to get gifts for my friends?" asked Azazorra, standing at the counter of the store.

     The shop keeper apologized, and explained that he was not sure what the supplier was going to send in each delivery, and therefore it was impossible for him to determine when the items would be back in stock, to let her know ahead of time.

     Feeling disheartened and somewhat frustrated, she decided to go to the food store for a quick snack. On the way there many Neopians marveled at her and asked where she had found her Faerie Paint Brush as they too wished to be painted Faerie. Azazorra was a very friendly faerie Acara and with all the stops she made on the way to the food store she didn’t realize how long it had been. When she arrived there was a sign on the door. She quietly read it to herself.

     "Sorry, we are sold out of everything! We get restocked every eight minutes or so, so please come back soon."

     "Oh no!” she exclaimed. “And here I am, so hungry too!”

     Hungry and frustrated, she turned away from the food store, and headed over to the health food store. She wasn’t particularly fond of health food, but at least she knew they would have some kind of food there. Here, she found some organic fruit and ate it. When she was finished, she headed back to the gift shop. She was now full up and happier, and feeling more determined to be there (when ever it was that the shop was going to get restocked!) in order to get a Valentines gift. When she arrived, she was not prepared for what she was about to see!

     There were Faeries, JubJubs, Kaus and Lennies all happily walking with valentine gifts. Great pop up cards, candies, flowers, and even some beautiful rings. She couldn’t believe it! What beautiful gifts! Shiny, tasty, pretty, cute! With a glimmer of hope she ran to the gift shop, but when she arrived there - this sign was the only thing left.

     "Sorry, we are sold out of everything! We get restocked every eight minutes or so, so please come back soon."

     “I can’t believe this!” stated the Acara with great sadness. “I was only gone for five minutes; how could this happen?”

     She bit her lip, trying not to cry, but the tears started rolling down her face.

     “What is the use of having a million neopoints to buy gifts if I can never find what I want?”

     Once again, the desperation began to set in. It was less than a day before Valentines, and she didn’t have a single gift purchased! Feeling unhappy, she decided that it was best if she just went home and took a nice nap.

     “I’ll just go take a nap, and maybe when I wake up, this day will start to get better.”

     When she woke up from her nap, there was hope in her eyes. She decided that no matter how long she had to stay at the gift shop; she would buy ten gifts. This was just a temporary set back. It was now her time to leave the gift shop with bags full of Valentines presents. Or at least, so she thought.

     On her way back to the gift shop the dark faerie appeared out of nowhere, and put her on a quest to find her bouncy ball. She hurried to the market place and went from shop to shop in search of it; but they were extremely expensive. After thirty minutes of searching she decided to buy the next one she found.

     “Ten thousand neopoints for a bouncy ball? There must be some mistake,” she thought.

     Nevertheless, she purchased the ball, knowing it is never wise to make the faeries mad - and made her long journey to Faerieland. Once the quest was complete, she headed back to complete her own quest!

     On her way back to Neopia, she stumbled on a Main Codestone. The excitement of her findings was lessened slightly, when she encountered two ghosts who stole 100 neopoints from her to put on the Money Tree! It seemed like bad luck was following her everywhere she went. The Pant Devil appeared and suddenly, her organic grapes disappeared! Now what would she have to eat for a snack later?

     “What else can possibly go wrong today?” thought the Acara.

     When she got to the gift shop there was a large crowd, and an even larger commotion. She fought her way through the crowd to discover that the Valentines items had just arrived! She tried to purchase the Silver Valentines Ring but a Blumaroo beat her to it. Then she spotted the Pop up Valentines card, but she mishaggled. Finally she got a hold of a bottle of love and quickly paid two thousand neopoints for it.

      “One down and nine more gifts to go,” she thought.

     Instead of going home, she quickly put the gift in her safety deposit box and hurried back to the store. She was browsing the gift shop when she saw it; a single pop up valentine card. Quickly she purchased it for fifteen hundred neopoints. As soon as she purchased it, five Mysterious Valentines Cards came in stock. She went to purchase one, but out of nowhere came a crowd of pets rushing toward the cards. As she ran to the display she threw herself on a card; but she was too late.

     Tired, unhappy and somewhat bruised, she sat outside the gift shop waiting for another restock. Hours went by with plenty of restocks but none of them had any Valentines items. It was starting to get cold so she walked into the store.

     “I will give you two thousand neopoints for the bottle of love,” she said.

     She looked around but she was the only one in the store.

     “One thousand nine hundred and ninety for another bottle of love!” she said.

     The shop keeper accepted her offer. Before she could purchase another one other pets were crowding the store and placed their bids. Once again the Valentines items were all sold out.

     She now had four gifts securely stored in her safety deposit box. She was happy with her progress but was getting worried that she would not be able to buy the gift she wanted the most out of all - the Silver Valentines Ring for her very best friend, Simba. She vowed to herself that she must not lose hope. She decided to take a chance, and wandered over to the wishing well. She threw in 500 of her rapidly decreasing neopoints into the well, closed her eyes and made her wish.

     On her way back she stumbled upon a piece of a treasure map and quickly picked it up from the ground. Though she was happy she found a piece of a map, her heart dropped at what she just saw. Out came a Scorchio with a Silver Valentines Ring.

     “Oh no!” she cried.

     She ran in the store and asked where the valentine rings were, but once again she was just a little bit too late.

     As the hours passed, it got colder and darker in Neopia. Little by little she kept crossing names off her list until only one remained; Azazorra. As she saw her name she remembered how beautiful the silver ring had looked. She was distracted from her thoughts by the cries of the Kadoaties in the Kadoatery. She hadn’t realized it was so late. Azazorra headed home, and crawled into bed.

     “One hour left until Valentines, and I still don’t have my Valentines present,” she thought unhappily.

     She fell asleep shortly after, without meaning to. It was early morning in Neopia, when she was awoken by a delivery of a box of chocolates for her. Slightly sleepy, and still very disappointed about not being able to get the ring that she wanted, she took a deep breath and started sending out the gifts to her friends. Just as she sent out the last gift she ran into her good friend Simba the faerie Yurble.

     Simba smiled and waved, and said to her, “I wanted to thank you for being a good friend and for the Mysterious Valentine Card you sent me,” and opened his hand, revealing a lovely surprise. He held out his hand, and tears of joy started rolling down Azazorra’s cheeks.

     “How did you know I was hoping for a Silver Valentines Ring?” she cried.

     Simba laughed, and said gently, “I overheard you talking to yourself yesterday, and I just knew I had to get one for you.” Simba was happy he could give something very special to a good friend on Valentines Day.

     Azazorra smiled, hugged him and said, “Simba, you are my Valentine Miracle, for a true friend is a precious treasure.”

The End