Hit the Road: Part One

by aishachick100

"I'm so t... t... tired," said Purrows the red Aisha sleepily, stifling a yawn, "What time is it, anyway?"

"Hmmm..." whispered her friend Fionnavar (a spotted Aisha), glancing at her watch, "Three in the mornin', it looks like."

Purrows groaned. "Okay," she said groggily, "I'll get my stuff ready. Where's yours?"

Fionnavar felt around in Purrows' dark bedroom for a bit, and then she found it- a small duffel bag. "Right here," she whispered, "I have my sweater, my hat, and I think about... four hundred Neopoints. It's all I'll need."

"Yeah," agreed Purrows, "where are we going, anyway?"

"As far as two hundred Neopoints will take us...I want to save some," replied Fionnavar, "Now get ready!"

Purrows gathered up a sweatshirt and a photograph of her and her owner. Purrows knew she would miss her very much, but there was a better world awaiting away from home. She put this into a small pink bag and then whispered to her friend, "Let's go."

Purrows, having planned this before, knew exactly what to do. She padded over to her bedroom window. Quietly she opened it, and without a backwards glance she gracefully leapt into the top branches of a nearby tree. Fionnavar landed shortly after, wobbling a bit before she gained her balance on the narrow branch. Purrows chuckled at her friend and they shimmied down the branch, their bags clamped between their teeth. Bap! They hit the ground with a soft thud. Then, nodding to each other, they headed out across the meadow by Purrows' house towards the food shop.

They needed supplies, and they couldn't risk stealing from their fridges at home, because both of their owners had bedrooms in a nearby room. "I still can't believe we are doing this!" exclaimed Purrows, when they were safely out of earshot of her house.

"Me neither! But we are NEVER going to get out in the world if we don't start now," explained Fionnavar.

"I know. And we'll come back in a month or two, or whenever our money runs out."

The two Aishas reached the store. Because it was such a ridiculous hour of the morning no one was there, so they stocked up. "Where are you going at this time of night?" asked the shopkeeper as he was totaling up their bill.

"Oh, just out for a midnight stroll!" Fionnavar piped up, noticing the confused look on the shopkeeper’s face. Purrows eyed her unbelievingly. A midnight stroll? How much worse could you GET? She rolled her eyes.

"All right, then," said the shopkeeper, handing them their bags, "You be careful! It's frightfully hazardous out there!"

Fionnavar looked at him strangely, then realized he hadn't believed her. He winked at them. "Thanks," said Purrows, taking the bag of groceries. She grabbed her friend around the arm and dragged her outside.

Realizing that there weren't too many better excuses her friend could have come up with, she didn't throw her usual temper. They walked in silence to the harbor, just as the sun was coming up. "Happy Valley," Fionnavar told the ferryman at the edge of the dock, glancing at the list of ferry prices tacked up on a nearby pole and realizing that it was the farthest they could afford to go, "and make it quick, please."

The ferryman, an aging Koi with a pipe and a bushy white beard, eyed them carefully. "Just out for a morning tour!" said Purrows, trying to sound casual.

"Eh, that'll be a hundred n' fifty Neopoints," said the Koi in a raspy voice, "hop on!"

The Aishas hopped aboard the ferry by the dock along with the Koi. "Ar, th'trip to Happy Valley is a six-hour one. Here'll be yer room," explained the Koi, leading them to a small cabin.

"Thank you," said Fionnavar.

She realized they were the only ones on the ferry. The Koi didn't go away. "Thank you," repeated Fionnavar.

The Koi cleared his throat and held out his fin. Fionnavar rolled her eyes and deposited a tip. The Koi smiled. "Thank y'kindly!" he said, and sauntered off to his cabin.

Purrows and Fionnavar looked at each other and grinned. They closed the door and sat down in the cabin to plan where they'd go after this. "I can't wait to see everything in the winter world! I've never seen snow... let's spend the whole day... what's that word again? Oh yes... sledding!" said Purrows excitedly.

"Slow down! We are going to have to get some sort of job...we only have...umm...(here Fionnavar did some quick calculations on her fingers) not as many Neopoints as we had before! That's hardly enough to get us through a week... and we have to get home, too. That'll be another few Neopoints," pointed out the Aisha.

"Yeah..." said Purrows, gloomily. She hated work.

"Well, think of it this way!" said Fionnavar, trying to cheer up her friend, "It'll be an adventure! I'll bet you've never worked selling Snow Chia Pops!" Purrows smiled.

"Okay, okay... it'll be fun. What else will we do? We'll need a hotel!" said Purrows, suddenly realizing she had forgotten a very important part of their adventure.

"No fears," said Fionnavar, grinning, "I looked in the travel brochure for this place in case we ended up going... they have a few cheap Youth Hostels that we can easily afford."

"Wow," said Purrows, amazed at her friend's thoughtfulness, "I would have never come up with that!" Fionnavar grinned.

"Hey," she exclaimed, looking at her watch, "It's 7:30. Want some breakfast?"

"Sure!" said Purrows, suddenly remembering she was very hungry. Fionnavar brought her bag of groceries up from the floor.

"Let's only have an apple... we'll want to save," pointed out Purrows.

"Good idea," agreed her friend. Purrows reached into the bag, and used her claws to halve a ripe red apple. She handed half to Fionnavar, who bit in hungrily.

To be continued...