Molly's Story: Part Four

     “Let’s go to the exotic food store. I’m starving!”

     “Me too.”

     “Yeah, me three!”

     The first two Draiks glared at the third one.

     “Gosh, little sisters are so annoying,” said the first one.

     “Yeah, they come up with really bad jokes,” said the second one.

     “Well, little sis,” said the first Draik. “Don’t expect us to pay for your food. You can buy it yourself.”

     The first two Draiks headed off with the younger one following them, whining about not having enough neopoints to afford any food.

     ‘Gosh, I am hungry. Perhaps I can follow them to find out where this food store is,’ thought Molly.

     She followed them, and when they came to the food store, there was a large crowd of Neopets.

     “Welcome to Exotic Food, ladies and gentlemen! Come buy all your food here! Shenkuu’s greatest quality at amazing prices!” came the voice of someone who was advertising.

     “Yeah, amazingly expensive!” grumbled a Techo to his friend.

     ‘Wow,’ thought Molly. ‘I am in Shenkuu. Amazing. Even if my life isn’t great, at least I have travelled around Neopia a lot. I started in the Haunted Woods. Then I went to Mystery Island. Then Terror Mountain. Then Neopia Central. Then the Lost Desert. Now here.’

     “Oy, you! Clear off!”

     Molly looked up and saw an angry Nimmo chasing her, waving his arms around crazily. She yowled and ran into some nearby bushes where she watched the Nimmo go back to his shop. When he was out of sight, Molly crept up behind the baby Draik she had followed earlier.

     “AAAAAAAAHHH! HEEEEEEELLPPPP! There is a horrible thing trying to steal my food!”

     Molly ran off and hid behind the bush again while the baby Draik ran around in circles crying and making a big scene over it.

     “Where did it go?”

     “What did it look like?”

     “How big was it?”

     “Was it the Pant Devil?”

     Everyone was asking the baby Draik questions and Molly thought it would be best to get away from the food shop and try somewhere else. Looking around her, she saw that there were a few houses nearby.

     ‘Perhaps I can get something from somewhere there. Maybe there are some food scraps in their bin or something,’ thought Molly.

     “Hey, psst! You!”

     Molly turned and saw an eye blinking at her from the middle of a thick bush. She warily moved towards it and squeezed her way inside, not knowing if it was really a good idea. When she made it to the middle, Molly could make out the shape of another meowclops.

     ‘Not so bad,’ she thought.

     “Hey, you remember me? We were in the box in the cupboard together.”

     While he was speaking, Molly recognised the second meowclops, the one who had been given out just before her.

     “Hey! I remember you. What are you doing here?”

     “Well, I got stolen from my owner by the Grundo Leader and he dropped me here. Now I am living by myself and getting my own food and stuff. What about you?”

     “Well,” replied Molly, settling down on the ground next to the other meowclops. “It is a long story. My first owner was really mean and slightly crazy. He lent me out to people a lot and kept me in a really cold and dark shed. Then I escaped from him and hid on a ship that took me to Terror Mountain. When I was there, I got stuck in the snow and two annoying Acaras picked me up. They took me back to their home and sold me to some Aisha who lives in the Lost Desert. Then the Pant Devil stole me and he accidentally dropped me here. Now I have been trying to get hold of some food. No luck so far.”

     The other meowclops stood up and turned to face Molly. “Wow, interesting story for someone who wanted a boring life. Anyway I can help you with the food. I have lived here long enough to know how to get it out of bins.”

     “Well, you seem to have had little adventure for someone who wanted to be a pirate! Anyway, can you show me how to get hold of some food then?”

     “Yeah, sure. Follow me.” The second meowclops led the way out of the bush and headed over to a nearby house.

     “We are getting food from there?” asked Molly with surprise. The house looked like a clean one that would not have a whole stack of food scraps lying about.

     “No. We are just passing through it because it is quicker than going around.”

     “Okay then,” said Molly as they jumped over the fence surrounding the yard.

     “Well, we could stop here if you know how to catch Goldys from a pond,” he suggested.

     “No, I don’t. I don’t really like water much. I would rather not try, to be honest.”

     “It’s okay. I don’t like water either. I fell in last time I tried.”

     Molly chuckled at the thought. “Well, you wouldn’t have made a good pirate then!”

     ---

     The smell of food was getting closer. Round the corner, a bin came in sight. Moving nearer, she saw that it was actually a few bins. Inconveniently, they all had lids on. Which one was the smell coming from? After a sniffing for a minute around the bins, it turned out to be one right in the middle.

     Scrambling up, Molly started to work on the lid, trying to get it off. The other meowclops (whose name was Joe) had shown her a few tricks, but they didn’t seem to be working.

     “Use a stick as leverage.

     Bowl the bin over.

     Tie something to the handle.”

     Joe’s voice ran through her head listing the ways to get the lid off a bin. Looking around her, Molly could see a stick. Leaping down from the bins, she grabbed it between her teeth. She jumped back onto the bins and tried to use the stick to lever the lid off. It was no good, though, because the bins were too close together.

     ‘Hmm. I can’t bowl the bin over either. It is in the middle. Perhaps I can tie something to the handle...’ thought Molly, gazing around her. ‘But what?’

     “Having fun there?”

     Molly jumped and turned around. Joe was sitting on the ground next to the bins. At his feet was a rope that he must have brought with him.

     “I saw these bins myself and went off for a rope. You must have come just after I left. Oh well. We can always share.”

     Joe jumped onto the bins and after scrabbling around for a moment, he managed to produce something that vaguely resembled a knot.

     “Umm, Joe?” said Molly, noticing a small problem.

     “What?”

     “It might work better if you tie the knot on the handle.”

     Realizing his mistake, Joe scrabbled around for a few more minutes before managing to tie the rope to the handle properly.

     “Here,” he said, handing the other end of the rope to Molly. “Jump down and pull. Hopefully the lid will come off.”

     Molly jumped down and gripped the end of the rope tightly with her teeth. She pulled hard and with a jerk the lid came flying off the bin, landing on top of her. Conveniently it was a large lid and Molly was not at all hurt, just extremely shocked.

     “Are you okay?”

     Something pushed itself against the lid, attempting to push it.

     “I don’t know. I think so. Just hurry up and get this thing off of me!” Molly yowled.

     “I will in a minute. Someone is coming. They must have heard the noise. Just wait there. I don’t think they will see you.”

     ‘Yeah, right,’ thought Molly. ‘Until they decide to put the lid back on the bin. I’ll just have to make a run for it.’

     “Who’s there?”

     Molly cringed under the lid as a sharp voice sounded from very close to her.

     “Hey. What’s this? Someone has been scavenging around the bins.”

     Molly prepared to make a dash for it as the footsteps of the speaker came nearer. There came a slight scrabbling sound, as if someone was having a bit of trouble gripping the handle. Then the lid was lifted, and suddenly dropped again when the speaker saw what was under it. Molly tried to run, but something feathery gripped her sides and lifted her up.

     “Hmm, what have we here?”

     Molly recognised the speaker to be a green Lenny. She started to struggle, but the Lenny held her in a firm grip.

     “Joe! HELP!” Molly yowled as the Lenny started to take her away.

     Joe came running at the Lenny, but when he saw that it was going to pick him up too, he stopped. Realizing what would happen if Joe tried to help, Molly yowled at him to run. Her last view before the Lenny entered a nearby house was of Joe hiding behind the bins, watching her sadly.

To be continued...