Uptown Gelert: Part Three by shelleylow |  |
He looked once more at the driving rain. It was the sort of weather you wouldn’t
turn a Lupe out in, if you liked Lupes that is. "I pity any pet out in this
weather," he said aloud, and all of a sudden, he caught sight of a shape moving
through the falling drops. It was no more than a yellow smudge, but as it got
closer, Jazz could see that it was a Gelert. The Gelert looked up into Jazz’s
face, and, with a shock, he recognised the soft brown eyes, the sleek, pretty
face.
"Kalaia?!"
Jazz helped Kalaia in through the door. Her fur was soaked through and through
with the rain, so much so that it lost its golden colour. She was once more
a yellow Gelert. She was shivering, too.
Jazz let her lie down by the log fire while he ran to fetch a towel. Wisely,
he did not ask her any questions yet, although his mind was burning with them.
Where had Kalaia come from? Had she run away? What had happened to Rexon? What
had happened to her owner?
Only when Kalaia was toweled dry and wrapped in a blanket did Jazz pursue the
mystery.
"Kal, what happened to you?
Kalaia looked at him with weariness.
"The Neopian Stock Market crashed the day after we talked," she replied, tiredly.
"My owner lost all her money. And she didn’t want to face the embarrassment
of getting her food from the soup kitchen, nor spend money on feeding a pet,
so she abandoned me at the pound."
"She abandoned you? You, her Gelert with the ‘finest qualities’?"
"Yes, she did. She said that Rexon and his owner wouldn’t have me anymore because
they didn’t want a poor Gelert." She shuddered. "Jazz, it’s horrible in there.
We’re given this green slop for food that even the Meercas won’t touch, we have
tiny little cages where there’s not enough room to move one’s ears … it’s really
bad.
I managed to get out, though. Every morning this nice Lenny comes in to clean
our cages. So I spilt my food on the floor and while she was cleaning it, I
just zipped out.
"When I got out, I wanted to go and find you. But I didn’t know where your
house was. I tried to find your scent, but then it started raining and washed
any scent that might have been there away. So I’ve been living out of dustbins
and trying to find you ever since. And now, I have." She paused for a moment.
"Do you think your owner would take me in?"
"Of course she would! I know Tara, and she’d always help a creature in need.
She’d love you! But do you think that you’d mind living in a tiny house and
eating from the soup kitchen after what you’re used to?"
Kalaia smiled. "I don’t think I’d mind at all."
The two Gelerts curled up happily in front of the fire. They were together
now, and Kalaia no longer had an owner to rule her life, to live it for her.
They could be together for always. Eventually they drifted off to sleep, and
that was how Tara found them when she returned home.
Half a year later…
In the park, on a grassy field somewhere in Neopia, a family played. There
was a young dark-haired girl, probably about sixteen years old, and her pets.
There was a magnificent green Gelert, tall and strong. A smaller, slender yellow
female, who was no less beautiful. A blue Aisha, more quiet and mature now than
when he was a kitten. And, dashing over the grass, full of boundless energy,
four small Gelert puppies. They were all colours, red, blue, yellow and green,
and they chased their owner, their uncle, each other and their proud parents
with no sign of fatigue.
The little family spent the day at the park, climbing trees, playing in the
fields, exploring forest trails and lastly, watching the sun setting from a
hilltop in a myriad of purples, golds and reds, turning the clouds to shades
of rose and vermilion. As night fell, they all set off for home, very tired,
but very happy. There would be warm soup for dinner, fresh from the pot, and
they would enjoy it more now that they were hungry from playing all day. It
didn’t matter that they weren’t rich. None of them wished for a mansion or of
being a millionaire. As it was, they were perfectly content as they were.
The End |
