Wow! A Mossy Rock... Wow!

     Being a Gelert, I loved my owner for who she was. An earth faerie, but a poor one. It wasn't her fault, she just wasn't very good at games, that's all. I was an only neopet. "My perfect little green Gelert," she would say.

     I ate up my breakfast eagerly and swiped my tongue around my mouth satisfyingly and then took a bite out of my carrot and pea omelette. I wrapped the rest in some tin foil and put it in the pantry for later.

     "How about a trip to the market?" Jade offered. I wagged my tail aggressively. After Jade had slipped on her coat, she took my paw and began flying toward Neopia Central.

     Finally, we reached our destination and headed toward the marketplace. "Strawberry jelly, please," said Jade once we finally reached the shop wizard. The shop wizard pulled out a long list and handed it to her. "C'mon, Sam, there some over there for 1 neopoint," she said, pointing to a shop toward the front of the marketplace.

     "Thank you," said Jade after she had purchased at least ten pieces of jelly and a couple of omelettes.

     I continued to browse through the aisles of the shop when I came across an aisle stuffed with petpets. "Hi there, I'm Sam," I said to a floud. Then I walked toward a slorg. "Well, aren't you a cute little fellow?" I said.

     After talking to a ghostkerchief, an anubis, a turtmid, an angelpuss and a warf, I could hear Jade calling for me. She finally reached the aisle and smiled as I played peek-a-boo with a babaa. "Oh, Jade! Just look at these adorable petpets! Aren't they just the cutest little things? Can we get one? Please, please PLEASE!" I begged.

     Jade just shook her head. "No, no, no, Sammy; they are much too expensive," she answered. I drooped my tail in disappointment.

     After saying goodbye to all the petpets, I trudged across the main aisle in despair. Then I spotted a rock with a price tag that read, '2 NP'. "Oh boy, Jade! Just look at this! It's a pet rock for the cheapest price in all of Neopia!" I exclaimed as I ran happily toward the rock.

     Jade looked at it uneasily. "Uh, Sam that's not a--"

     But I just scooped up the rock with my mouth and trotted happily toward the checkout counter. "2 neopoints please," said the shopkeeper. Jade shrugged and placed 2 neopoints onto the counter. The shopkeeper dropped them into the cash register and then nodded farewell to my owner.

     "I think I'll name him... Mack," I said once we had reached our small cloud cottage. I glanced out the window. It was almost nighttime. I picked up Mack and headed toward the basket Jade got for my birthday one year. I set him down on the soft blue blanket and snuggled up next to him as I began chewing on an old boot.

     "Time to get up, Sam," said Jade the next mourning. I stood up tiredly when I realized how cold it was. "Brrrrrr!" I shivered when I caught sight of my rock in the basket. "Oh dear, you must be freezing," I said as I scooped him up and looked around the house when an idea popped into my head.

     I trotted toward an old box stuffed with old things that weren't really useful at all but we kept them just in case. I pulled out a piece of wool and a piece of barbed wire we managed to get from the money tree. I wrapped the wool around Mack and then bent the barbed wire over it so it stay on. "There you go, your own little coat," I said.

     Later that same day, I was outside playing with a blue bouncy ball out on the sidewalk when Leo, a wealthy (rather mean) green Lupe came stalking by. "What in the world is THAT?" he said, looking at my rock.

     I smiled proudly and answered, "It's my very own pet rock."

     Leo threw his head back in laughter. "That? A pet rock? You have to be blind to think THAT is a pet rock. It's a mossy rock, not a pet rock," said Leo.

     I almost fell back in surprise. A mossy rock? This couldn't be! I ran back inside with my rock in embarrassment. "A mossy rock, that's what this is?" I asked Jade.

     She shrugged nervously. "I tried to tell you, but you wouldn't listen," she replied.

     I trudged back to my basket and lay down beside Mack. "Don't worry, Mack, I will always love you, even if you're not a real pet rock," I said as I dug my nose into my paws and finally dozed off to sleep.

     By the time I woke up, it was dinner time. I looked up to find that Jade had left a plate with some dried apricots, a strawberry artichoke, a sausage and pepperoni omelette and some apple juice along with a note attached to the side. After gobbling up the food, I read it.

      Sam,

      Gone shopping. I'll be back by 7:00pm. Be good!

      OXOXOXOX,

      Jade

     By 7:00, I was cleaning the house when Jade burst through the door carrying bags of groceries. "Oh good! You cleaned up the house! How sweet of you," she said once she spotted me dusting the dresser. I dropped the duster and trotted over to where Jade was standing. She kneeled down and pulled items out of the bags when she finally pulled out a black bow tie.

     "It's for Mack; I know how disappointed you were, so I bought it for you."

     I wagged my tail at the sight. "But how did you afford it?" I queried.

     "Oh, I just bunched up my neopoints and got it for you," Jade answered. She picked up the bow tie and flew over to where Mack sat in the basket. She scooped him up and clipped on the bow tie. "Oh, doesn't he look handsome?" exclaimed Jade as she showed me Mack.

     I wagged my tail even harder.

     "But that's not all," she said, flying over to the grocery bags and pulled out more accessories, like a little hat, a mustache, googly eyes, and many other little things to put on Mack. "I talked to the seamstress at Uni's Clothing and she made all of these little clothes especially for Mack. Oh, you're going to have so much fun!" Jade exclaimed.

     I gathered all of the little accessories and carried them to my basket and began attaching them to Mack. Whenever we went shopping, I would dress Mack up in a T-shirt; when it was time for bed, I would dress him up in pajamas; and when it was cold, I would dress him up in a fancy coat.

     One day I was playing with Mack outside when a shoyru came flying past. "What's that?" he said, pointing to Mack. "Oh, this is Mack, my mossy rock," I replied. The Shoyru kneeled down to take a closer look. "Cool! Where did you get it?"

     I told the Shoyru all about him as he stared happily at my mossy rock, my petpet.

The End

Hey! If you're reading this, it's my first publication in the NT!!!