Click, Click, Click...

     "100 NP," was grunted as an answer. I still wasn't sure... "Why don't we just go over to the Wheel of Mediocrity? That takes a little less time, right?" The Quiggle shrugged his shoulders and sipped some hot dung.

     "Only 100 NP! I'm sure it won't take that long, and haven't we already spun that wheel?" Giselle got a curious and pleading look in her eyes, and I decided to give in.

     "Well... alright. But if it takes too long, we'll have to give up, okay?"

     "A-okay with me! Yes!" the Ogrin exclaimed as I handed over the neopoints. She turned to me and asked, "Can I spin it?"

     Nodding, I suddenly felt some anxiety. What if she spun it hard, and it kept on going and going and going, so that we missed the concert! Snapping back to reality, I had no time to warn her before I heard the fast, repetitive clicks of the wheel, which whizzed around and around before us.

     "Cup of dung? Sit down on the straw chairs right there, no need to stand up..." the wheel keeper muttered, grabbing two steaming cups and gesturing to some bales of hay.

     Giselle made a face at the mention of the "beverage" so I quickly declined the offer. Sitting down, I made a stealthy, quick glance toward the concert hall, which was taking ticket holders. "No use looking over there - sold out, that concert," the Quiggle said, who had somehow caught my so-thought hidden glance.

     "Really? Oh, I thought maybe..." Giselle looked a little crestfallen. I knew she had wanted to see M*YNCI play, and so I had bought these tickets when she was asleep one night. I turned my eyes on the wheel, which continued spinning round, spinning, spinning spinning. "Who's playing?" my neopet questioned.

     "M*YNCI," was the reply, which made Giselle look even more forlorn. It made me sad to think about her being depressed, and that stupid wheel kept clicking! Why did I let her spin it?! Click, click, click, click. I checked the Quiggle's sundial. It wasn't that late yet, there was still a chance to see it.

     My stomach made a noise, so I pulled out some food that the two of us bought at the Tyrannian food store. Hmm... Which looked most appetizing? I asked Giselle, and she replied, "You mean, which looks least dangerous? Hmm... how about the cactus leaf for me?" She munched on it hesitantly and then swallowed.

     "How'd it taste?"

     "Like water. Didn't its description say 99% water? I need something else..."

     I rummaged through the inventory and found a hot burnumup and a nautilus. "I like spicy things, so I'll take the hot burnumup, and you take the nautilus..." I divvied out the food and we each took a bite. My mouth burned! Oh!

     "Yum! This is like candy!" Giselle smiled, but upon seeing my reddening face, she looked frightened. "Was it too spicy? I'll get you a drink!"

     I was too busy fanning my mouth to see where she went, and grabbing the mug she brought over to me, I drank it immediately without looking to see what it was.

     Uh-oh. Spitting out the hot dung, which did in fact heal my burning mouth, I said, "Ick! Well, at least it got rid of the burn."

     "Sorry..." Giselle said sheepishly. "It was the first thing on-hand..." I told her it was okay, and I found a bit of omelette to chew on to get rid of the hot dung flavor.

     Click, click, click, click. Giselle looked at the spinning wheel, and asked me what I thought the prizes might be. "Well, the paint brushes are obviously paint brushes, but since you can't be painted Tyrannian, we don't really need one..."

     She suggested that we might sell it for another paint brush, and I agreed. "What color do you want to be painted?"

     She shrugged and asked what colors there were for Ogrins. "Well, maybe when we travel to Neopia Central, we can look at the Rainbow Pool. They have all the different colors listed there.

     About ten more minutes passed, and then I asked the Quiggle how long he had been taking care of the wheel. "As long as it's been around" was his short answer. I thought that it had to be a very tedious job. I know I didn't like sitting around here waiting for it to stop, and he has to watch it every day!

     "Did you like the giant omelette today, Giselle?"

     "Yeah! Why is it there, though?"

     "Apparently, hundreds of years ago a humongous dinosaur laid a humongous egg, and when it broke open it baked in the sun, and it is still baking today. My favorite kind of omelette is the pepperoni, but we got BBQ today. I'm glad you liked it."

     "That's strange... Is there any other thing around Neopia like that, that gives daily portions of food?"

     I smiled and gave a secretive wink, but said nothing.

     The sky was getting darker, and just above the mini golf course the horizon was getting red and orange. I looked at the wheel, which was still going around as fast as ever.

     Giselle looked over at me and said, "Well, good thing we didn't have any tickets for the concert, or else we couldn't have kept the wheel going. They're admitting everyone now."

     Click, click, click. No sign of stopping, and after another twenty minutes I lost my patience. There was no time to watch the wheel! Grabbing her hand, I said, "The wheel's been going an awfully long time; just look at the sun!"

     "What about it?" She furrowed her eyebrows and looked at it, trying to find something about it that I saw and she didn't.

     "Just look at its position! It's close to the horizon, which is getting dark blue now. How long have we been waiting?"

     "When did you spin the wheel?" The Tyrannian Quiggle put up his arm and looked at the sundial.

     "About 2:39 NST." I had looked at the Quiggle's sundial then to check when the concert would start.

     "Hmm... It's 5:57 NST right now. So you folks have been here... three hours, 18 minutes."

     A bewildered look crossed Giselle's face. "Three hours?!" She turned to look at me. "What should we do?"

     "Well..." I pulled out the tickets that had been in my pocket all day. "I have a surprise for you!"

     "M*YNCI tickets! Oh my goodness! Thank you so much!" She grabbed them from my hands ecstatically.

     "We'd better hurry over, Giselle, or else we might miss the show." Getting up, we made our way over to the concert hall, leaving the wheel to spin, spin, spin.

     Just as we got into the line, I heard a yell from behind us from the Quiggle. "The wheel stopped! Get your prize!"

     The two of us looked at one another. "I'll keep this spot; you go ahead and get it."

     "Naw, we'll just go in." Giselle smiled, and started to make up the distance between the pet in front of us who had been walking ahead. I grinned, shook my head at the monotonous afternoon we had had, and followed.

     ---

     The Tyrannian Quiggle saw the two enter the Concert Hall. "Aw well, I guess they don't want this paintbrush anyway."

The End