The Wooden Meepit Totem

      ‘Aah!’ Cornie jumped in fright and spilled her slushie over her new blouse when she saw her older brother suddenly materialise in front of her. The red Uni glared at the blue Jetsam. Ever since he had received that prank kit for his birthday, Bame had been intolerable, always playing tricks and scaring people. But this was the last straw! She had been saving all week to get this blouse, and now it had been ruined in just a few seconds! She gulped her tears down and stomped off, ignoring her brother’s apologies behind her.

      She burst into her owner’s room and was about to scream about how aggravating Bame was when she heard the doorbell ring. She waited for one of her siblings to answer it but the ringing continued.

      ‘Sorry, sweetie, I can’t hear you,’ Mushie said.

     ‘Rain! Could you go get the doorbell?’ Cornie shouted.

     ‘Sorry, I’m studying for my chemistry test!’ the blue Wocky called back.

     ‘Lizzie, could you get it please?’ she hollered, and then remembered that the blue Acara was at her art class.

      So she sighed and dragged herself to the door. The visitor was a green Skeith wearing a goofy smile on his face.

      ‘Hey, Munch,’ she curtly greeted him.

      ‘Hey Cornie, what’s wrong?’ the Skeith asked, after seeing the state of her blouse and her stony face.

      Cornie hesitated for a while; she didn’t really know Munch that well. But seeing his sincere face made up her mind.

      ‘Ever since Bame received that prank kit, he has been playing lots of tricks, things like making buckets of water fall on your head and placing a whoopee cushion on your chair. Just a few minutes ago, he jumped out and made me spill my slushie on my new blouse. He thinks it is really funny, but I am sick and tired of it!’ Cornie stopped to take a breath.

      ‘Yeah, I know what you mean, I’m sick of it too. He placed a whoopee cushion on my seat at the student council meeting, and it made this really loud sound in front of everybody! His obsession with Meepits is also kind of... scary.’

      ‘Oh sorry, where did my manners go? Please come in.’ Cornie held the door open as Munch walked in.

      ‘Would you like anything to eat?’ Cornie, seeing her guest nod, handed over a mug of tea with three black and purple marshmallows bobbing merrily on top and a plate of tigersquash biscuits and cakes.

     ‘Mushie is going through a tigersquash phase right now,’ Cornie explained. ‘So, why did you come here?’

     ‘Well, I was actually coming here to tell Bame that I would like him to stop playing pranks, as it isn’t very enjoyable. That was the best way I could think of getting him to stop. But now since I can see you are tired of his tricks as well, I have a much better plan.’

     A few tigersquash cakes later, they shook paws to seal their collaboration in the secret plan.

     The next day in Bame’s bedroom...

     ‘Bame,’ Cornie called curtly to her brother from the door.

      ‘Cornie? Oh, I am so glad you are speaking to me. Look, about yesterday, I’m sor–’

      ‘Here.’ Cornie tossed a Wooden Meepit Totem into her brother’s paws and loped off.

      ‘Cornie! Come back! Cornie! Does that mean I’m forgiven? Cornie!’ the confused Jetsam called out to the Uni’s receding tail. Getting no response, he shrugged, placed the totem on his bed and began planning his next prank.

  Later in the evening...

     ‘Okay, Bame and Cornie, I’m going to the Yes Boy Ice Cream concert with Rain, as I have told you a while ago, and Lizzie is staying over at a friend’s house, so you two are going to be home alone. Dinner is in the fridge; just heat it up in the oven. Got to go, be good and I‘ll see you later!’ Mushie waved at her two pets, grabbed her handbag and dashed off.

      The two pets decided to have dinner first. So Cornie opened the door of the fridge, grabbed two steak and kidney pies and handed it to Bame, who slotted them into the oven. While waiting for it to heat up, the Uni turned the neovision on, and the pets sat down and watched the show that came on. It was a documentary on Kau Kau farm, where they got the Kaus from, how they were milked and where they kept the milk.

      During a commercial about scented shampoo for meepits, Cornie stood up and went to the kitchen. When she came back, the documentary had finished and a new show was on. She handed her brother a pie and sat down to watch the new show. It was a horror drama called Meepit Manor. At the end of it, after Star turned it off, both of them were shivering in fright and wondering if it was a good idea to watch the movie before they slept.

      As they did the dishes, Bame’s keen ears picked up a slight rustle.

     ‘Cornie, did you hear that?’

      ‘What?’ Cornie asked, secretly grinning. Munch’s plan was working!

      ‘Meep.’ The sound came from Bame’s bedroom.

      ‘ARRGH!’ Bame cried and ran behind Cornie. Looking up at her indifferent face, he asked: ‘How can you be so calm? Did you hear the meepit?’

      ‘Meep. Buy Fire and Ice Blade. Meep.’

      ‘Let’s go check it out,’ suggested Cornie.

      Bame looked at his sister in a new light. He never knew that she was so brave.

      ‘Meep. Meep. Meep.’

      ‘Well, if you’re that scared, I’ll go first,’ offered Cornie. The Jetsam fearfully nodded. As Cornie passed the front door, she noticed a piece of paper. She picked it up.

     Hey Cornie, I’m sorry, but Mum suddenly got sick, and I need to stay home and look after her. Therefore, I can’t play the prank. Maybe another time, talk to you soon.

     ~Munch

      Cornie read it, and then reread it. If Munch couldn’t come, then who was making all those noises? As she thought hard, a thought came to her mind. No way could that happen... but still... She realised with a sinking feeling that it could be a real meepit!

      ‘Hey, what does that piece of paper say?’ Bame asked, coming behind her silently.

      ‘Nothing, just an advertisement for Hubert’s Hot Dogs,’ Cornie replied, scrunching it up into a ball and chucking it into the rubbish bin. Then, with her brother behind her, she crept, frightened, into Bame’s room.

      BANG!

      ‘C-C- Cornie, t-that sounds like t-the b-back d-d-door!’ stuttered Bame. ‘Look, the totem that you gave me is gone!’ he exclaimed, pointing to an empty spot on his bed. Spinning around, he noticed that his Meepit Lamp, Meepit Chair, Meepit Drawers and Meepit Poster were in random places. With great suspicion, he flung open his wardrobe door. He found his Meepit Plushie draped over a clothes hanger, and his Meepits Win! T-Shirt hanging from the top shelf. As he pulled it down, the wooden meepit totem came tumbling down as well.

  An hour later...

     When Mushie and Rain came home, they found Cornie and Bame clutching each other and staring in horror at the totem in front of them.

     ‘Hey, what’s wrong?’ Rain asked, waving his paws in front of their petrified eyes.

     Cornie burst into tears of relief at seeing her owner, and explained what Munch had planned with her.

     ‘Bame has been really annoying since he got that prank kit, playing practical jokes and all that. So Munch and I planned to mess up his meepit stuff and make spooky noises. But then I found a note from him and he said he couldn’t come, and then we started hearing these weird noises and found Bame’s stuff all messed up,’ Cornie sobbed.

     ‘I’m sorry; I never knew you hated my pranks so much! Next time I’ll think about my pranks before I play them,’ Bame promised.

     ‘I have an idea. Why don’t both of you go to sleep first, and in the morning, I will go see Mango and ask for an explanation about this incident concerning her pet. I am sure wooden totems do NOT come to life,’ asserted Mushie firmly.

     ‘You can bring your sleeping bag over and sleep in my room if you want,’ Lemon suggested.

     The next morning...

      Mango, Munch, Lizzie, Cornie, Lemon, Bame and Mushie agreed to meet up in the park for a picnic. Lizzie, Tara and Mintie (Mango’s other pets) had been filled in on the details of the night, and were very interested to hear what Munch had to say.

     So after a lovely tigersquash picnic, Cornie decided to broach the Meepit subject.

     ‘So, Munch, I can see that Mango is obviously not sick. We would like to hear the whole story.’

     ‘Hehe, I pranked you guys! The banging door was me going out! You guys are so clueless!’ Munch laughed. His voice faltered off as he saw the expressions on the siblings’ faces. Without a word, all four of them dived on him.

     A few minutes later, it was a very battered green Skeith that emerged.

The End