The Past Revealed

      The Usul finally looked at him and triumphantly said, "There are sixty two thousand, four hundred eighty-nine potatoes in the sack!"

      Alton pulled out an envelope that had the number of potatoes in the sack on it. He looked smug as he said, "Actually, there are sixty two thousand, four hundred eighty-eight potatoes in the sack."

      The Usul stomped off angrily. "Next in line, please." Alton said as a young Kacheek with sunglasses stepped up. This Kacheek looked familiar. "Arr, you can only guess me potatoes three times a day!" he said.

      She smiled. "I'm not going to guess how many potatoes you have. I want to interview you for the Neopian Times."

      Alton looked at her. "All right, ask away," he said.

      She asked her first question. "Why do you like potatoes?"

      Alton thought about it. He couldn't tell the truth, could he? About Hanna's Princess, and that mysterious stranger? No. That was too personal. He stuck with, "They are delicious."

      "Oh," said the stranger. She sighed, and asked, "Do you have a family?"

      He couldn't tell the truth here either. He couldn't talk about Hanna without crying. He wasn't as tough as he looked. "Um, no," he answered.

      She asked another question, a question that worried Alton. "Can you tell me... about your past? You know, where you used to live, and such?"

      Alton sighed. "It's a long story," he said. He had never told it to anyone before. But before he knew it, he was pouring out his long - and sad, yet happy - story...

      "I was an orphan in Brightvale. My father had died when I was four of a terrible disease. That same disease took my mother when I was nine. After my mother died, I had to take care of my little sister. Her name was Hanna. My mother admired Hannah, the Usul. My mother thought she was brave to face Kanrik from the Thieves guild. She named her only daughter after Hannah, only without the second H. Hanna was so lovely, with glassy blue eyes and fluffy fur."

      "Hanna and I, though poor, lived a happy life together. I had a small job helping the shopkeeper at the Scrollery that earned me enough money to get by. Hanna helped our neighbors with odd jobs."

      "One day, in the Scrollery, a young Peophin named Morsimina arrived. That horrid Peophin claimed she was a professional Shopkeeper's Assistant. She had lived in Maraqua before it had been destroyed by the Whirlpool. Or so she claimed. Later I found out that she had lived in Neopia Central, not Maraqua. And she had been fired from her job at the pound, not a shop. I told what I had discovered to the shopkeeper. But she didn't believe me. She thought I was lying because I was jealous of Morsimina. The shopkeeper fired me - and hired Morsimina."

      "Now all the money Hanna and I had was the money in my bank account - not much, and the money Hanna had earned for doing odd jobs. When the landlord came knocking on our door, we did not have the money to pay the rent. We were evicted!"

      "For two days, we lived the life of a homeless Neopet. Luckily, we found an abandoned tool shed on the side of Brightvale Castle. King Hagan allowed us to live in it if we helped do odd jobs around the castle."

      "One day, Hanna came home from working in the kitchens, with a moldy - a very moldy - potato. She said that the potato would be her new petpet. I felt guilty that we could not afford a better petpet for her. But Hanna became attached to the potato, whom she called Princess. You would've thought that one could not find a better companion than a moldy potato."

      "But everything changed. One day, Hanna came home, yelling, 'I've gotten a job! A real live job!' I asked, 'What is your job?' She smiled. 'I found a job writing articles for the Neopian Times!' I was so happy for Hanna! But then she started packing her bags."

      "'Where are you going?' I asked. She looked at me. 'Silly Alton! There isn't a Times office here in Brightvale or Meridell. So I'll have to move to the Central.' She was so happy that she forgot about me."

      "May I interject?" asked the Kacheek.

      "You already have," Alton grumbled.

      "She hasn't forgotten about you."

      Alton looked at the Kacheek. "You know her? Is she fine? Is she happy?" A rush of words came out.

      The reporter motioned for him to continue his story.

      "In Hanna's rush to leave Brightvale, she forgot Princess. I found Princess later, shoved underneath the fuzzy blanket that Hanna had also forgotten."

      "It was too painful to stay in Brightvale, after all the memories of Hanna I had. Everywhere I went, there were memories of Hanna. I couldn't even pick up a copy of the Times without seeing an article's title written in big, black, letters, and underneath, a smaller line: Article written by Hanna Moughbry."

      "One day, I got so upset at my loss, that I picked up Princess and threw her out the window of the shed. I didn't even open the window. The glass shattered. Princess rolled to the bottom of a hill, and stopped in a cucumber patch. I watched as a little Aisha picked it up and took it inside to clean off the mold and eat."

      "I ran inside and cried for all the things I had lost - my parents, my job, my house, and now Hanna."

      "I decided it was best to leave Brightvale. Forever."

      The reporter looked at Alton with wide eyes. "Aren't you ever going to go back to Brightvale?"

      "Not until Hanna comes back," said Alton.

      "Oh," said the reporter. "Go on. This story is getting good."

      "Once again, I was living the life of a homeless Neopet. I was hoping I could make my way to Meridell. But now it was winter."

      "I walked down the muddy road. My big, black, boots squished the mud. The snow was brown and slushy. Yet the wind howled on."

      "I wrapped my threadbare blanket tighter around me. My blanket was filled with holes. I shivered every time a gust of wind came my way."

      "No one was out, except for me. In the window of one cottage I saw a family of Zafaras drinking hot chocolate. Oh how I wished I could join them! Then I saw a Bori in a cloak walking towards me."

      "He looked at me. He handed me a sack... a brown sack. I wasn't sure what was in it. Then he got a long black overcoat out of his knapsack. Without saying a word, he gave it to me - and disappeared."

      "I never got to thank him. I opened the sack. Inside, there were lots of round potatoes."

      "Hunger called. I ate a potato, and then I realized I should save them for later. I dragged the sack behind me, on my way to Meridell... and towards a new future."

      "What happened after that?" asked the reporter.

      Alton shrugged. "That was eight years ago. I made my way here, to Meri Acres Farm. I set up my potato counting booth with the potatoes that stranger gave me. Now I'm so famous I'm in the Neopedia. And all of this would have never happened if one certain Bori hadn't decided to be generous that winter day."

      Suddenly, the reporter's sunglasses slipped off her nose. As she bent down to pick them up, Alton caught sight of her eyes. Their color was... glassy blue.

      Alton began to cry for all the lost time. The reporter began to cry, too. "Don't worry. I won't leave again. I'll stay with you the rest of my life," said the reporter.

      For Hanna had come home. To stay.

The End