Note: That this situation is fictional, although I am not.
It all began when my shopkeeper Kaylimane and I noticed food disappearing
from the shop, with only one or two coins in return. I blamed it on the autobuyers,
but decided to let it go. I forgave easily.
But when items like Dark Faeries and Neggs began to turn into a single coin,
that's when I knew I had a problem.
I started to sell food again. Lost Desert food. It wasn't easy to obtain,
but I played the Fruit Machine and eventually began winning. When I looked it
up with the shop wizard I was blown away. A Grakle Bug worth roughly 1320 NP
was selling for two! Furious, I entered the guilty shop.
Bam. It hit me like a wet snowball as soon as I saw the rack. Items I had
been selling since day one were for sale at outrageous prices. The Grakle Bug
was the cheapest there by a long thousand NP stretch.
"Excuse me," I asked the shopkeeper calmly, "but just where do you get all
this stuff from?"
"From someone's shop," replied the shopkeeper, a Scorchio in a baseball cap
with a sleepy voice. The name tag on his shirt read:
Hello, my name is
JAMMS
"Dorothette left the name here for Purrow and Maik... asia...
ashi... can't read the name."
"Asianchick9?" I asked hopefully.
Jamms squinted at the paper in his hand. "Yup, that's the one. Why?"
"That's me," I said with a weak smile.
As soon as I got home with the Grakle Bug in a bag, I looked up Dorothette
in the Neo Pages. Dorothette had three pets: a Scorchio named Jamms157 (the
one in the shop, I guessed), an Eyrie named Maiklehang, and an Aisha named Purrow02.
The Aisha's name rang a bell. I checked my Neopedia.
Purrow? Of course! Purrow was an Aisha thief. Obviously Dorothette wanted
her Purrow to take after the first.
Was Purrow the one stealing from me?
The next day, rather than having Kaylimane watch the shop, I sat down in the
guise of a Dark Faerie.
Sooner or later, a shadowed Aisha came in. "ID?" I asked.
The Aisha slipped me a card.
PURROW02
Owner: Dorothette
Gender: F
Height: 47 cms.
Weight: 50 lbs.
Level: 2
"All right, go ahead and shop." I gave her back the card.
Purrow wandered around the shop. I pretended to be getting something from
under the counter, when I heard the clank of coins on the counter.
I sprang up like a tightly coiled spring. Sure enough, Purrow was sneaking
out of the door.
"Excuse me, are these yours?" I asked politely, holding up two five-NP coins.
"Um, erm," stammered Purrow. "Yes," she finally said, defeated. She sagged
and dropped two Ummagines.
"If you want some of that, you'll have to pay a bit more," I chided.
"I... I don't have any more," said Purrow. "It's in my bank account," she
added defensively.
"Oh. Should I just charge it to your VirtuPets card, then?"
"No, no!" shouted Purrow. "I... I... oh, what's the use? I'll have to tell
Dorothette that..."
"Tell her?" I asked.
"That I don't have anything to bring to the shop today." Purrow seemed crestfallen.
"Tell me more," I ordered.
"Don't turn me in to the police guild," pleaded Purrow.
I pretended to consider this, although I never would. "All right, I promise.
Let's have it."
"Well," said Purrow, taking a deep breath, "it goes like this..."
To be continued... | 
