A New Life

      The girl looked down at her Blue Xweetok. "Well. Mala, we-" the girl started to reply. Then she realized that Malatoi had already lost interest in what she was saying. The girl, who, everyone called Rose, thought that it was quite good fortune that her pet always lost interest before Rose could make excuses as to why they were so poor. Rose and Malatoi made a nice income, yet they never had very many neopoints. Their neopoints seemed to disappear overnight! No one knew why.

      “Mommy, can we eat dinner now?” Malatoi asked Rose.

      “We can as soon as I finish cooking it, Mala,” Rose replied to Malatoi.

      “The food smells good! What are you making?” Malatoi asked Rose inquisitively.

      Rose smiled at her pet’s curiosity. She thought that one day Malatoi might make a good detective since Malatoi was so inquisitive about everything.

      “Tonight we are having some vegetable soup and some bread- fresh out of the oven!” Rose exclaimed happily as she put on some oven mitts and opened the oven door. She carefully pulled out the two loaves of bread that she had made. The loaves were golden coloured, and a cinnamon scent was wafting through the air away from the bread. Rose was a pretty good chef, and she knew how to prepare delicious meals. She sold food that she cooked to make money, and even though she was a good chef, she and Malatoi still lived a life in poverty. She didn’t understand why, but she hoped that one day all would become clear on the reasons that made it seem like she was not a good manager of her neopoints.

      “Can we eat NOW, Rose?” Malatoi pleaded.

      “In a few minutes, Mala! I don’t want you to burn yourself with the soup or the bread!” Rose said as she quickly put her oven mitts back on; she had been in the process of taking them off until she had remembered the soup that was on the stove. She carefully turned the stove and the oven off before she moved the pot of soup onto the counter- on top of a potholder, of course. Then she lifted the lid off of the pot that the soup was in and reached up into the cabinet for a wooden spatula. She stirred the soup with the spatula as she glanced at Malatoi, who was sitting on the kitchen floor wiggling with impatience. She grinned to herself. Malatoi was always impatient and easily excited, too.

      "PLEASE feed me now, Rose! I don't want to starve!" Malatoi exclaimed impatiently.

      Rose rolled her eyes. Malatoi was also very dramatic. "Malatoi, I will NOT starve you, nor will I let you burn yourself on the soup. However, the soup is cool enough now, and you may have some," Rose replied smoothly as she got out a large spoon. She also got out two bowls; one that was plastic, which was Malatoi's bowl; and one which was metal, which was her own bowl. She then stuck the spoon in the soup and put several large spoonfuls of soup in both bowls. Then she got some silverware from the silverware drawer and put it down in front of the two seats at the table. After that, Rose walked over to the refrigerator and took some margarine from it. She brought the margarine to the table also. She gently helped Malatoi up into the seat across from the kitchen. Then Rose chose the seat closer to the kitchen as her own- her intentions were, most likely, to not have to move the table to be able to go get a second bowl of soup for herself of Malatoi, as the dining room was quite small.

      "Where is Misty?" Malatoi asked Rose.

      "I don't know where Misty is, Mala. She is probably taking a nap on your bed, or out taking shiny objects from our neighbors, as usual," Rose replied calmly to Malatoi.

      Misty was Malatoi's petpet. Misty was a lazy Angelpuss that enjoyed napping all day, if possible. She also enjoyed finding shiny objects and taking them. Most of Rose and Malatoi’s neighbors had had their jewelry and other valuables taken from them by Misty at least once. Misty hid the objects that she took around the house. If Misty wasn’t lying on top of Malatoi’s bed, then it was almost guaranteed that she was out scavenging for shiny trinkets.

      "Okay, so I suppose that she will be back home soon with some shiny toys," Malatoi mused thoughtfully. "Or she could be under the table right now," Malatoi added as an afterthought as she peered under the table.

      Rose looked under the table too. "Nope, she isn't there. I am sure that she will be home soon. But why don't you come watch some Neovision, if you are done eating your dinner? ARE you done eating your dinner?" Rose asked Malatoi.

      "Yes, I have finished eating my dinner," Malatoi replied as she looked across the table to Rose. "Have you finished your dinner, Mommy?" Malatoi asked Rose inquisitively.

      "I finished my dinner a long time ago," Rose replied as she looked down into her empty soup bowl and her plate that had had bread with margarine on it. Both her soup bowl and her plate were empty. Rose stood up, then helped Malatoi to get down from her own seat. Then Rose picked up Malatoi’s bowl, plate, and silverware and brought them over to the sink. She brought her own silverware and dishware over to the sink, also. She cleaned the plates in the sink, then dried them off with a clean dishtowel. After that, she went to the living room, where Malatoi was watching Neovision.

      "Mala, will you go straight to bed after this program, please? I would stay up and watch it with you, but I am practically asleep on my feet. I am going to go ahead and go to bed, and if you will go to bed by yourself tonight, then you can watch this program," Rose said sleepily to Malatoi while stifling a yawn.

      "Of course I can, Mommy! I shall go right to bed after this program, Mom, I promise," Malatoi replied responsibly.

      "Thank you, Mala," Rose replied as she tiredly climbed up the steps to her bed, which was on the second floor.

      "You are welcome, Mommy," Malatoi whispered quietly as she watched Rose walk up to her bedroom.

      Malatoi watched the Neovision program for another thirty minutes, at which point the program ended. Then she quietly turned off her Neovision set and started to walk up the stairs- her bedroom, like Rose’s, was located on the second floor.

      Just then, she saw something white near the top of the stairs. Her heart started beating faster as she started getting scared... Then she realized that it was just Misty.

      “Thank goodness it is just you, Misty! You scared me!” Malatoi exclaimed in a whisper to Misty.

      Just then, Malatoi noticed that Misty had something in her mouth. It was Rose’s purse! What was Misty doing with Rose’s purse?

      Malatoi looked at Misty suspiciously. “Misty, I think that you may have been taking Rose’s money all these years! You show me where you put the money in the morning,” Malatoi whispered to Misty as Malatoi continued walking to her bed. She climbed into her bed, and she fell asleep in less than thirty seconds.

*

      She awoke to having Misty on her head. She carefully moved Misty off from her head, and she rubbed her eyes as her eyes adjusted to the sunlight that was streaming in through her bedroom window.

      "Oh!" Malatoi exclaimed as she remembered the events of last night. "Show me where you have been putting Mommy's money the past few years!" Malatoi said excitedly to Misty as she threw back her blankets and jumped out of her bed.

      Misty reluctantly walked out of Malatoi's room as Malatoi followed her. Misty led the way outside. She walked down the front steps, and then she pointed underneath the steps. Malatoi looked underneath the steps.. She gasped at what she saw. There were at least one-hundred thousand neopoints underneath the steps! Malatoi dashed up the stairs to the top of the porch. She grabbed the door and ran through it- she was at the top of the steps to the second floor by the time the door closed. She banged on Rose's door.

      "What is it?" Rose asked groggily. Rose was NOT a morning person.

      "Come see! Come see what I found!" Malatoi said with such great enthusiasm that Rose came out of her bedroom.

      "Follow me, Mommy!" Malatoi said while dashing down the steps. Then she held the door open for Rose. Rose gingerly followed Malatoi out the door. She looked around.

      "What exactly am I supposed to be looking at?" she asked Malatoi.

      "Look under there!" Malatoi exclaimed and pointed underneath the steps.

      Rose walked down the steps and looked underneath the steps and gasped. "Where did this come from?!" she exclaimed while looking under the porch steps.

      "This is why we are so poor, Mommy! Misty has been taking your money at night for years! She has hidden it down underneath the porch!" Malatoi practically screamed in excitement.

      "So now we don't have to live a life of poverty anymore! We can have a nicer Neohome, although we still won't have a very luxurious life... but now I can afford to get you a sibling from the pound to play with too," Rose calmly stated.

      "Yay! Thank you so much, Mommy!" Malatoi exclaimed happily.

      "Thank YOU, Mala," Rose said as she picked Malatoi up and carried her into the house to go get some bags to put all of the neopoints in.

      Then, after filling up several bags full of neopoints, Rose, Malatoi, and Misty all walked off towards the sunrise to go to to the pound and give another pet a new, happy life.

The End

Thank you for reading my story!