It was a lovely day in the land of Neopia. The sky was bright blue, there were
no clouds in sight and as usual the Neopians were going about their daily business;
buying things, working on their NeoHomes, or playing games with their friends.
Bubbles was a blue Kacheek. He was very handsome. Bubbles lived with his owner
Melanie, in a NeoHome at the top of their shop. Today, Bubbles was out in the
garden, looking at all the horrible weeds. He would normally have helped out
and do some weeding, but he was he was in a bad mood. Melanie wouldn’t let him
go and restock their shop.
"Your spending all your time shopping. Money doesn’t grow on trees you know,"
she had said. Then a thought struck him.
"Well if money grows on the Money Tree then why can’t I grow a Money Tree?"
he thought to himself. He ran indoors to find Melanie. She was serving a customer,
so he hid behind the door, so he could listen to their conversation.
"You’re buying a lot of seeds, aren’t you?" said Melanie curiously to the customer.
"Oh haven’t you heard? There’s a gardening competition, and you can win
a huge prize," replied the customer, who was a green Skeith. He hurried
out of the shop with his bags of seeds. Bubbles thought to himself, This
is perfect. Now I can pretend I only want to enter the competition. Then even
if I don’t win I’ll be able to buy a prize with all my money.
"Mel, can I enter the competition please?" Bubbles put on his most innocent
face; a small grin and looked up, trying to make his eyes catch the light. It
made him look totally adorable. Melanie couldn’t resist.
"OK, Pumpkin, but take the seeds on the bottom shelf. The top ones are
very expensive." Bubbles did as he was told and ran out to the garden.
He began to plant his seeds: Digging and shifting the soil aside. He was soon
very tired. Then he began to remove all the weeds around the seeds.
After what seemed like forever, he finished and stopped to sit down and admire
his work. He got up to go inside when he heard a high pitched noise, "Tweet,
tweet. Tweet, tweet."
He looked around but couldn’t see anyone.
"Tweet tweeeeeet!"
He got up and wandered around. There on the floor he saw a yellow, baby Pteri.
She had fallen out of her nest. He looked up at the trees to find out where
her nest was situated. He found a small nest with two little yellow heads peering
out. Bubbles knew the baby Pteri would never be able to get up the tree to its
brother and sister, so even though he was exhausted after his gardening, he
began to climb the tree, holding the little bird very carefully.
He reached the nest and placed the little bird back with its brother and sister
just as their mother came flying back. She was rather big and he was scared
so he climbed began to climb down the tree. But he was so exhausted, he fell
down. As soon as he reached the ground he heard a small crack, a jolt of pain
and could remember no more.
When he awoke, he was lying in his bed with Melanie mopping his head with a
wet flannel. "Oh, thank Borovan you’re OK," she exclaimed, "that
was quite some fall."
Over the next few days, Bubbles remained in a lot of pain and was very poorly.
He was very anxious about his garden. A week later, he asked Melanie if she
would carry him to the window. She gave him a pat on the head, and very carefully
lifted the Kacheek, slowly carrying him to the window. He clambered onto the
window sill and looked out at all of his plants. They weren’t at all beautiful.
On the contrary. There were caterpillars all over the leaves, which had eaten
away at them, leaving them full of holes.
Every day after that, he asked Melanie to take him to the window. On the third
day of this, he spotted the Pteris. They were all trying very hard to learn
how to fly. Bubbles sat and watched them in delight.
The next day the Pteris were being taught how to hunt for food, and Bubbles
watched, entranced. Those little birds were beginning to eat all the caterpillars
that had been ruining all his plants.
By the next day, they had eaten all the caterpillars. Bubbles was feeling a
lot better, so he asked Melanie to take him outside. He sat down on the bench
looking at all his plants, thinking about all the hard work he’d put into them,
the sadness he’d felt when they were ruined, and the joy brought back when he
saw the Pteris helping him out.
New leaves had begun to grow. The garden was looking beautiful. It was all
thanks to the Pteris. When the winner was announced at the town hall… can you
guess who it was? Yes, it was Bubbles. And guess who was outside, cheering him
on. It was the Pteri family.
When Bubbles arrived home, he found money all over his plants. Those cheeky
birds had picked them off the Money Tree and hung them on the leaves. Bubbles
was ecstatic. Poor little Bubbles. He was so happy, let’s not spoil it. So if
you see him, don’t tell him.
By the way, if you’re wondering what Bubbles did with all his money; he bought
Melanie a present for a looking after him for all that time and he even had
enough left over to buy some warm winter clothes for the Pteris. Wasn’t that
sweet, you all?!
The End | 
