Breakfast the next morning went a bit better than the
preceding day that Heilley had been with us. She managed not to upset anyone
by saying something bad or strange. In fact, she dove into her omelette and
didn't say anything for most of the meal. I did wind up passing her the syrup
when she asked Kallisari to do it, but I figured that was to be expected.
It was as we were finishing up that our owner
made his little announcement. "Heilley, you're coming with me today. We need
to get you something better for that room, maybe some personal stuff, and check
out some of the sights around town."
"Hey great, count me in."
He grinned. "I thought you'd like it."
I looked over at Kallisari who was biting her
lip as she realised she wasn't going with him today like she often did. Get
used to it, sister dear, I thought. The new pet always gets the owner's attention
at first. MonoKeras hugged her, predictably enough, and she put on a happier
expression when she realised that her disappointment had been noticed.
I leaned back against the open doorframe and
watched our owner and Heilley disappear down the street. Her red hair gleamed
and rippled, and her little brown paw was tightly holding to his hand. I glanced
inside as I heard a sigh.
"Something wrong, Kallie?"
"I guess not. I wonder if she'll sass him bad
enough so that he'll put her back in the pound."
I allowed myself a small chuckle. "You sound
hopeful."
Kallisari had the grace to look embarrassed.
"Maybe so. But wouldn't it be better to end this sooner, rather than later?"
I shrugged in a noncommittal manner. "Depends,
I suppose. You never really can predict those things ahead of time."
"I guess not, but..... oh never mind!"
I was more than glad to let that conversation
drop, and before too long Kallisari and I were both engaged in the tedious task
of cleaning up after Emerald. Slorgs are known for leaving trails of slime,
and Emerald was no exception. MonoKeras had brought home another potion from
faeries only knew where, and we tried it out. It did a pretty good job of dissolving
the slime, but it was still a big mess that took a lot of time to get rid of.
I didn't even realise how long I'd been at it
until I got a crick in my back. I stood up and realised it was early afternoon
as our owner walked in the front door. He was carrying several bags of stuff,
but....
"Where's Heilley?" I asked.
He grinned. "She's down at the gaming tables.
I staked her fifty points to a round of Cheat and left her arguing with another
Kyrii that looks almost exactly like her."
"Gambling?" Kallisari said in a tone of disbelief.
"I thought you never went in for that stuff."
He shrugged. "I don't, but I had some points
left over from our shopping, so I decided to let her spend it. I figure she's
got some entertainment for her money, if nothing else."
I frowned. "Maybe. But there's some real card
Jetsams down there, you know."
"Yeah, I know. But I figure she can make out
OK. Besides, if she loses maybe she'll think twice before getting into something
again just because someone challenged her pride."
"It'd do her some good to learn a lesson all
right," Kallisari said.
My lips quirked underneath my mask. Kallisari
had missed the whole point. It wasn't how much Heilley deserved a lesson that
interested me, so much as it was our owner freely admitting that she needed
one. I've always thought that air of not really knowing what's going on was
deceptive, and I've told Kallisari and MonoKeras both that on more than one
occasion. You think you're getting away with something and then you find out
that you've been discovered and anticipated long since.
His voice interrupted my thoughts. "Hey, blchocobo,
come on up to Heilley's room and maybe you can help put some of this stuff up."
"OK." I heard Kallisari's disdainful sniff as
I left the room.
We were soon involved in trying to sort out
the surprisingly huge mound of stuff that we'd piled on Heilley's bed. I held
up a Jazzmosis poster. "Wow, this must've cost you a lot."
Our owner glanced at it. "A bit, but not too
bad."
I stared around the room. "Wonder where we need
to put it."
A quick flip of the hand, "that wall there looks
fine to me."
I didn't see that it was any different than
anywhere else, but I took the advice. "I didn't know she was a Jazzmosis fan,"
I mused as I tacked it up.
"I don't know that she is. I think she likes
the black and white look. She called it 'cool retro', whatever that's supposed
to mean. Looks like I'm going to have to start another drawer with hair grooming
items here."
"Why am I not surprised," I muttered to myself.
"When are you going to pick her up?" I added in a louder tone.
"Oh, she said she could get home by herself.
I told her to make sure she got here for supper."
Fifteen or twenty minutes of work later, I finished
the job by placing Heilley's red Kyrii plushie on her pillow and went out into
the kitchen to do some pondering on just what to fix for supper. Heilley's liking
of asparagus flitted through my mind and I shuddered. I personally make it a
rule to never eat anything that I have to squeeze past the gag reflex to get
down my throat. How she stood that stuff was beyond me.
MonoKeras got home from his work a little after
five, and before we knew it the four of us were sitting down to supper. MonoKeras
gave Heilley's empty seat a significant look. "So where's our new little sister
this evening?"
I shrugged, looking at our owner. He looked
a bit worried, and I can't say that I blamed him. "I don't know. She promised
she'd be home in time for supper, but...."
MonoKeras snorted. "And you just left her somewhere
to do whatever? You've been without a youngster in this house for too long."
"Oh yeah? When you were her age, you were out
fighting a war!"
MonoKeras grimaced. "OK, OK, point made. But
still, where is she?"
"I don't know," our owner repeated before adding,
"..but I plan to find out!" He stood up, dropped his silverware onto the table,
and strode towards the front door. I heard him open it, but instead of simply
closing it, his voice carried back into the kitchen loud enough for us all to
hear. "And where have you been?"
"Oh, out playing. I wanted to do a couple more
rounds, but you said be home for supper..." Heilley walked into the kitchen.
Her long red hair was matted with sweat, but she had a wearily triumphant look
in her eye.
"So I did. Well at least you got here, even
if you are a little late. Any luck?"
Heilley laughed. "It ain't luck, it's skill!"
With that, she lifted up two trophies and plopped them on the table. I stared.
They were both shaped in the form of a Kyrii One was bronze and the other silver.
MonoKeras whistled. "Out playing cheat, were
we?"
"Out winning at it, guy. Don't forget to add
that last part."
"Then why no gold trophy?"
Heilley shrugged. "I didn't have time. I'll
get that one tomorrow morning. Those house players are pitiful once you learn
how the game works."
Our owner was looking at the trophies in a bemused
fashion. Kallisari was looking rather depressed, and MonoKeras had that neutral
expression and intent look that he gets when he's on a case. I decided to interrupt
his questioning. I laughed a bit before chipping in with, "You sure sound confident
of yourself, Heilley."
"Well of course! In fact, I think I'll publish
a guide on how to play cheat. It'll be a best-seller, and I'll make a fortune!"
Our owner interrupted Heilley's bragging. "Good,
but before you become a famous authoress, go wash your paws and come have something
to eat."
"OK," she chirped. She picked up her trophies
and started to leave the room. "I need to find some place good to mount these,
too."
"Why don't you have them bronzed?"
Heilley's eye rolled back towards MonoKeras.
"Ha. Ha. Very funny- not."
He snickered as she left the room while Kallisari
let out a pent-up sigh. "What sort of slang was that, anyway," she groused.
MonoKeras shrugged. "Search me. She's got her
own vocabulary."
"And a mouth to use it, too," I added. But my
tones were so soft that they were muffled by my mask and no one paid any attention
to me.
Heilley was soon back and eating with the rest
of us. She was obviously on an adrenaline high as she chattered about her games
and her opponents. We heard all about what a rotten player the other Kyrii was.
I made appreciative noises, but inwardly grinned at her indignation. I wondered
if her distaste for this Capara was caused by the fact that they were too much
alike and that she didn't like the competition. MonoKeras reached the same conclusion,
and lost no time in pointing it out to Heilley. She treated the whole idea with
disdain, and carried on with her tale.
She went to her room immediately after supper,
claiming a need to rest before her "big day tomorrow".
After she was gone, Kallisari sighed sadly.
"Well that was an 'interesting' meal. Tell me, dear, did we miss a single thing
about how to play cheat?"
MonoKeras resumed that thoughtful expression
that I'd interrupted earlier. "Actually, yes. She never said what she did with
her winnings."
"Her winnings?"
MonoKeras grinned at the ragged chorus the rest
of us responded in. "Yeah. No one here ever played Cheat before, did you." We
all shook our heads. "Uh-huh. Well if you're good at it, Cheat is a nice source
of income. You get points every time you catch a house player cheating, and
more points if you win a round. The amount gets higher with each round. Of course,
you need at least fifty points to start your first round, but..."
"I gave her that," our owner interrupted.
"Really? Well you might ask for it back. Unless
she's spent it all already, I'd guess she's got somewhere between five hundred
and a thousand Neopoints in winnings stashed somewhere."
A soft whistle came from the head of the table
as MonoKeras' little bombshell hit us. I couldn't help but remember Heilley's
admission that she could hide "a lot of things" in her hair, and began to understand
just how true that actually was.
Kallisari shook her head. "She really is holding
out on us, isn't she. No wonder I didn't trust her. All that money, and we're
not supposed to know a thing about it, are we."
MonoKeras gave a slight shrug. "I guess not.
She sure didn't mention it."
"Hmph. Are you going to let her get away with
that???"
Our owner blinked at Kallisari's indignation.
"Get away with it? What's that supposed to mean?"
"Why, her keeping all that money without us
even knowing she's got it! Aren't you the one that handles all the money around
here?"
"Well not quite all, MonoKeras has his own business..."
"Oh, that! I mean our recreation. Every time
any of us wins anything anywhere, you're the one that keeps it. Why not now?"
I sucked in my breath as Heilley's bitter words
from the night before echoed in my mind. 'Nothing is owned by a pet, you know
that.' I looked at Kallisari and sadly wondered if my denial that we weren't
like that had been wrong after all.
To be continued... | 
