Can I Call You Mom?

     "Ignore him, Cream," Lina, the human girl, said, grabbing hold of her Speckled Aisha's paw and leading her away from the random event.

     "But shouldn't we see what the event is?" Cream asked, straining her head to see the little Neopet running after them, frantically trying to get them to acknowledge whatever event had just happened. The Chia fell flat on his face before pushing himself back up and hurrying after them.

     "There are no more Random Events, remember?" Lina said, turning sharply around a corner in an effort to lose their follower. "They're broken." She paused, looking back, but seemingly they had lost the Chia. "Besides," she whispered in a low voice. "It's April First."

     She had been expecting it. She had prepared herself for it. She had been determined to stay in the house all day in an effort to avoid any shenanigans that were going to happen today, but it had been fruitless. She had needed to go out on an errand. Any other day, she would have paused to listen to the poor little Chia, but not today. Today she was determined not to be fooled.

     Their house was in sight; Lina pulled Cream forward and finally, they were home. Lina sighed.

     "Phew, we made it. Nothing happened."

     "Um... Lina?"

     Lina opened her eyes; her Desert Aisha, Kimiko, was standing uncertainly in the doorway.

     "There's an Ogrin here. He says that you're fostering him." She paused for a second, before adding, "I thought you gave up fostering?"

     "Huh? I didn't adopt any new pets," Lina said. Then something clicked. She gasped. Perhaps...?

     "What? What is it?" Cream asked.

     "This is it. This is this year's prank." Her eyes narrowed. "I didn't agree to foster any Neopet. Someone paid him to act like he has been abandoned, or maybe he's even a programed robot. Don't trust anything he says." She braced herself. "Where is he? I'll get rid of him."

     "He's in the living room."

     Lina followed her Desert Aisha, and there, sitting on the couch, was a Yellow Ogrin. He was holding in his lap a little Altachuck, which was curiously sniffing an Urchull, a petpet which belonged to one of Lina's other Aishas.

     "Hi," the Ogrin said timidly. "I'm... I mean, my... my name is-"

     "Very funny," Lina said, smiling politely. "This was a good one. You got us." She laughed.

     The Ogrin paled. "What? What?"

     "April Fools, right?" Lina smiled again. "Very funny. We get it."

     "What? Oh... Oh, no, no that's-s-s-s n-n-not it at-at-at all," the Ogrin stammered. "I'm.. I'm.. You see, I'm your new foster pet."

     Lina smiled again. "Very funny," she said for the third time.

     "No! You see, Dr. Death is retiring! I... I..." He looked down. "I have nowhere else to go. All the pets... all the pound pets... they were all supposed to be fostered." He looked back up. "That's what they told us!"

     "You can drop the act. I've seen it before," Lina said, not smiling now. "First it was the incurable disease, then it was the male faerie, now this. Every year it's the same."

     "But... but I'm not tricking you. Honest!"

     "This isn't something that would happen. This is an April Fool's Day Prank. It was expected and even a little bit funny, but we're not going to put up with it all day."

     "I'm being serious!" the Ogrin pleaded. "Someone was supposed to tell you! You were supposed to get a notification! I can't go back to the pound – it's closed!"

     "Okay, fine. Let's just go back to the pound and see, shall we?" Lina said. She shrugged her coat back on. "Come on, let's go." She gestured to the Ogrin. He stood, holding his Altachuck uncertainly.

     "Bring him with you," Lina said. "You're not coming back here, after all."

     The Ogrin trailed out of the door, following Lina. He glanced at his surroundings with wide eyes. Lina watched him, trying to guess his age; he looked about the same age as her Maraquan Aisha.

     "How old are you?"

     The Ogrin jumped, but then answered. "3,454 days."

     "Wow. You're older than even my first Neopets, and I've owned them for over eight years."

     The Ogrin nodded, uncertain how to respond. "I've... I've had Jeremy for just over seventeen-hundred days," he said, referring to his Altachuck.

     "Impressive," Lina said. She glanced ahead; they were just about to the pound.

     "You're sure you're from a pound? You haven't been paid by the Neopets Team to do this?" Lina asked, offering him one last chance to come clean.

     "No... I mean, no to the second question, yes to the first." He took a breath. "I'm from the pound."

     "Okay, well, here we are," Lina said, gesturing towards the building. "It was nice meeting you, Mr---"

     But she didn't finish the sentence. All around them were more owners and more Neopets, clambering to read the sign hammered onto the doorway. It looked hastily done, but there was no doubt about it: the pound was closed.

     "No way!" Lina said. "Man, they really are taking this prank pretty far. Closing down the pound!" She shook her head, then peered closer at the sign. "Hmm..." She glanced at the Ogrin again. "You... you really are from the pound?"

     "Yes," the Ogrin said, hugging his Altachuck a little closer. "I am."

     Lina whistled. "Wow. Talk about taking it too far. Closing down the pound and everything..." She shook her head.

     "Well... are you hungry?" Lina asked. Now that she accepted that the Ogrin was from the pound, she could clearly see the signs; all of her other adopted pets had them too. The skinniness, the shaggy fur, the slightly harassed look in their eyes. This Ogrin was watching her warily, with a hope that ate away inside of her. Guilt began to creep in that she had doubted his story.

     "I'm... I'm dying of hunger, actually."

     "Let's go get food," Lina said, leading the Ogrin back the way they came. She bought him a nice big bowl of Space Rock Soup and watched as he carefully spilt a little on a plate for his petpet to lap up before digging in himself.

     "So... you actually don't know about this prank?" Lina asked.

     "It's not a prank," the Ogrin said in between slurps. "I'm supposed to stay with you until the pound reopens."

     Poor thing, Lina thought. It was obvious to her now that he actually believed it. What a cruel thing to do. But it was all just a prank. Tomorrow he would have to be sent back...

     "I'm sorry, I never listened to your introduction," Lina said. "My name is Lina – all my pets call me that. What is your name?"

     He paused. "I'm ThunderClap37."

     "ThunderClap37, huh?" Lina said. "We'll have to give you a nickname. All my pe-" she stopped herself. "I mean, I always like giving nicknames to pets I just met."

     "People usually just call me Thunder." He pushed his empty soup bowl to the side; Jeremy the Altachuck crawled inside it to lick up the remaining bits of broth.

     "Thunder..." Lina said, trying it out. "Yeah, I guess that's really the best nickname you can get out of ThunderClap37." She saw that Thunder was done eating and stood up. "Come on, then, Thunder. You can stay with us for... for the night, at least."

     ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

     Thunder had taken a bath and gotten cleaned up; he really was a handsome Ogrin. He stood out in the household, though, being the only Neopet that was not an Aisha.

     Lina welcomed him with open arms, worried that he might get the wrong impression of her from her earlier treatment of him.

     Still, she wondered what was going to happen when this April Fools Day prank was over, when the pound opened up and he realized that he had to go back.

     She made the couch up like a bed for him to sleep on; she had not prepared a room for any new pets and thus there was nowhere else for him to sleep. He stood in the doorway and watched her.

     "L... Lina?" he asked. She turned to look at him. "I'm sorry. I know you didn't ask for a new pet, and I understand if you want me to go back to the pound when it reopens, but... but..." He took a deep breath, stealing himself to commit to what he was about to say. "Can... can I call you Mom?"

     The question caught Lina off guard; her breath rushed out in an audible "woosh." "I'm sorry," Thunder quickly stammered. "I know... I know none of your other pets call you that, not even the ones you created, and it's okay if you don't want me to live here, but—"

     "Okay," Lina said. Her face split apart in a wide smile. "Okay. You can call me Mom." She rushed up to the Ogrin and caught him in a wide hug.

     "This was the best April Fools Day ever."

     Thunder smiled, slightly in awe, and hugged her back.

     "Thanks, Mom."

     ~~~~~

     Lina woke up early the next morning, bleary eyed but unusually excited. It took her a moment to remember why:

     She had a new pet!

     She rushed to her neohome, eager to see Thunder. When she opened the door, though, he was gone.

     The blankets and sheets were neatly folded on the couch, and a message was scribbled on a piece of yellow notepad paper:

     Thank you for everything. Someone just told me that the pound is open, and that it was all just a prank after all. Still, yesterday was the best day of my life.

     ~Thunder

     Lina read the note quickly, then turned around and ran out the door. It wouldn't do, she thought. She couldn't just let him go.

     The pound was busy; apparently, she wasn't the only owner with the same idea. She rushed to the pink Uni at the adoption desk.

     "Please," she asked, breathless from running, "ThunderClap37. Is he here?"

     The Uni entered the name in the pound system. "Yes, look in cage M9."

     Lina sprinted through the pound, passing by many different species of pets. But finally, there he was.

     "Thunder!"

     The Yellow Ogrin looked up; his eyes had the watery look of someone trying to hold in tears.

     "Mo... I mean... Lina?"

     Lina smiled and opened the cage. "Come on. It's time to go home."

     Thunder blinked, surprised. "Re... Really?"

     "Of course." She grabbed his paw and walked him out of the pound, beaming at the sight of him. "And, by the way, you can call me Mom."

The End