The Weewoo Nest

     I hear that they’re something of a sight to behold, as only a few Neopians have ever laid eyes on them. Well, wouldn’t it just be an amazing turn of events if an undesired, repulsive creature like me could be one of those revered few?

     Maybe if I see a Weewoo then I’ll make some more friends. Most Neopets that I’ve met don’t seem to like me very much. They say that I’m too gross to be around. But I don’t mind; they just don’t know me very well. I’m sure that if they got to know me they’d see that I don’t really bite, and I’m actually quite friendly. But I never get much of a chance to meet other Pets in Neopia.

     I’ve never been to Neoschool, so I’m not too educated, but I do have a loving Ma and Pa. I’m sure they never chose to have a creepy Mutant, but that’s what they got, and they never forsake me for it.

     They picked me up at the pound one day, since I was the only one available for adoption. I could see that they’d much rather adopt a Faerie Uni or an Island Quiggle, but they took me anyway. They’ve always treated me nicely too; I even get spoiled some. We live a comfortable life, even though Pa and Ma don’t make tonnes of Neopoints.

     Pa works hard in the fields of Meridell: picking corn and ploughing the land. Those fields are a wonderful sight. When the wind blows across the golden stalks of wheat, it looks like the sea as gusts of air ripple through them.

     But I’m never allowed to go into the fields. Pa’s boss tells me that I’d just damage the produce with my gigantic, clumsy feet. I don’t blame him though. We’ve all got to work for our Neopoints.

     Pa likes to take me fishing when he’s not away at work. I’ve never caught anything before – besides driftwood or shoes. But those shoes do come in handy. They fit me pretty good, and it beats having to buy new ones, even if these do have holes in them.

     Fish don’t tend to like me too much though. One look at me, and they jump straight out the water. Seems as though they’d rather suffocate than take another glance at me. But I like fishing none the less. Pa always catches enough fish for both of us, and he doesn’t ever get angry with me when I break the rod. He just gets some seaweed, and ties it back together all good as new.

     Pa even helped me to build my Weewoo nest. It’s not anything special really; just a few pieces of Neopian Times paper all rolled up and scrunched together. But it does look mighty comfortable for a little Weewoo to sit in.

     I don’t even think Pa was too mad at me for ripping out a few extra pages of his Neopian Times collection. I did feel awful bad though, like I was ripping up a part of history. That’s what the Neopian Times is – history. All of those stories, comics and articles, there isn’t anything more special than reading through all those. They make up the history of our whole world, and without the Neopian Times, I do reckon we’d be a lot worse off.

     The writers do have mighty fine imaginations too. All those stories that span the whole world, and more. I just don’t know how they manage to come up with it all. But I guess they’ve all been educated some.

     Even those artists are amazing. I bet most of them haven’t ever seen a Weewoo, but they draw one just as if they had. Yes Siree, that Neopian Times is one first class piece of words. I do hope that it never ends.

     And I’m willing to bet that it’s the only thing that’s going to coax a White Weewoo out of its special hiding place. That’s where Pa got the idea of using paper from the Neopian Times as a nest. He even put the finished lot onto a nice branch in a tree in our Neogarden. It looks all nice and pretty-like, just sitting there and flapping its paper in the breeze. I sure know that if I were a Weewoo, I’d be flying over there quick as I could.

     But I guess that isn’t how it works.

     When Pa is away at the fields, I sit under that tree every single day. I’ll darn well make sure that I don’t miss a White Weewoo perching in our homely tree.

     Ma says that I shouldn’t sit out there for so long, since I’ll catch a cold. But I told her that I haven’t ever seen a cold, so how could I catch it? I wouldn’t ever try to catch one on purpose, so I can sit out there for as long as I want.

     I haven’t seen a Weewoo yet, though. Seems like they’re very secretive little creatures. But I won’t give up. Pa always says that to give up is to accept failure. I don’t want to be a failure as well as a Mutant, so I guess I’ll just have to keep watching that nest.

     There was one time when I was sure that there was something out there. It was in the middle of the night, so Ma refused to let me go. I could hear fluttering and flapping, just like wings. I knew it was a White Weewoo, but there weren’t nothing I could do to see it.

     Pa said that it was probably just the nest in the wind, but I knew better. I just knew it was out there. It made me more certain than ever that I would see one soon.

     It rained the next day. And not just any rain, it was a real downpour. I tried to go outside to save the Weewoo nest, but Ma stopped me. She said that I would definitely catch a cold if I went outside. I tried to tell her that I wanted to catch the nest, which wasn’t a cold, but she wouldn’t accept that as an answer.

     Instead I watched as the paper from Pa’s Neopian Times collection meshed together. The ink ran and weaved into words so that the sentences were jumbled and warped. The paper fused together. The whole nest seemed to get bigger. Ma said that was because the paper had absorbed the rain. I didn’t understand how it could absorb rain when it didn’t even move, but Ma always knew stuff like that.

     Pa came to sit next to me as I stared out of the window. He got to take the day away from the fields, since he couldn’t work properly in the rain. I was glad to have him around, since he always sat with me, and didn’t stop me from doing things like Ma did.

     He tried to tell me that the nest would be better, because with the paper all stuck together it would look more like a nest, but I knew that was wrong. Weewoos would love the Neopian Times, and now that its papers had been all ruined, and the stories and pictures were all messy and unreadable, no Weewoo would want to go near it.

     I didn’t want my search for the White Weewoo to end, and I think that Pa was curious about it too. He said that we could build a new Weewoo nest and put it higher up in the tree when the rain stopped.

     I was more determined than ever to find a Weewoo now. I’d make sure that the nest was much better than last time. Pa even said that he’d give me some special Neopian Times paper from an anniversary issue to use.

     I felt a bit bad about that, since the anniversary issues were always so wonderful and special. The stories were so well crafted, and the comics were very funny. I liked the pieces about Weewoos the best. So much effort always went into the special issues, and I knew that it was worth a lot of Neopoints – not that Pa would ever sell his collection. Only I was allowed to look at his issues.

     But Pa told me that he could get more of the anniversary issue, so he said it’d be OK to use some of the pages.

     I knew that if anything were going to lure the Weewoo out, it’d be an anniversary issue of the Neopian Times.

     Pa said that I could pick any stories I wanted to take out and use to make a nest, so I chose my favourites. They were all articles, stories and comics about Weewoos.

     I’d heard that the White Weewoo was a vain creature, so I figured that making the nest out of Weewoo related pieces would attract the Petpet. It was the perfect idea; even Pa said that it would work.

     I knew that if Pa believed it, then it must be true. Pa would never lie to me. He even predicted the day when I would catch my first fish. I never even knew that I’d caught it; it just appeared in my bucket. Pa said that it had jumped in there. He’s so smart.

     Ma said that she could use some of the paper to make a Weewoo out of it. She’s always been good at origami. Ever since she read an article about doing it in the Neopian Times, she became an expert at making it.

     Pa said that that would be a great idea, since then the Weewoo wouldn’t feel lonely in the nest, and would have a friend.

     I didn’t want the Weewoo to feel lonely. I didn’t have any friends but I had Ma and Pa, so I was never lonely.

     I told Ma that it would be perfect for the Weewoo nest. I found a very special Weewoo comic about friends and family, and gave it to Ma, so that she could get to work.

     It didn’t take long for Pa and I to finish making the nest. It looked even better than before, that was for sure. Ma brought over her origami Weewoo too. It looked just like a real one, apart from the writing all over it. She’d even managed to add in a beak and eyes.

     I placed it carefully into the finished nest, and admired the whole product.

     It looked great. Ten, no, twenty times better than the last one. And best of all, we’d all contributed to it. Pa’s Neopian Times collection, Ma’s origami Weewoo, and my nest-making skills. Everything was perfect.

     By the time that it was all ready, the rain had stopped, and it was sunny once again. Pa took our new nest outside and replaced the old one with it.

     Ma said that it was still too cold and wet to go outside, so I promised that I would sit by the window and wait for a Weewoo to appear.

     ...And wait.

     ...And wait.

     Still nothing came, and the next day, when the sky was a lot brighter and the ground had dried up, Ma said that I could go outside to the tree.

     I sat underneath the tree, with my head inclined upwards and my back leaning against the trunk so that I could relax in the day’s sun, while still keeping a look out for the White Weewoo.

     I could see Ma’s origami Weewoo poking out the top of the nest, looking peaceful and happy.

     It was then that something else popped up from the nest. Another white head, but this one wasn’t covered in writing. I blinked a few times to make sure that what I saw was true.

     A White Weewoo, sitting in my nest. The very icon of the Neopian Times was staring at me from high in the tree.

     It was the day that I’d been waiting for. The little Petpet gave a quiet woo, winked at me and then disappeared just as quickly as it had appeared.

     I couldn’t believe my eyes. Had I really just seen a White Weewoo? Had that really just happened? I knew that I couldn’t have been dreaming, or just imagining it. I was no writer, so I didn’t have the imagination to see Weewoos where there weren’t any.

     I had just seen a Weewoo from under the Weewoo nest in our tree.

     I ran to Ma and Pa to tell them what I’d seen. I could tell that they didn’t really believe me, but I knew the truth. If a Weewoo had come to our Neogarden once, it was bound to again, and I would be there every time that it did.

     If it weren’t for the Neopian Times, this would never have been possible. I’d be sure to read every single issue from now on with Ma and Pa. Their help was invaluable too.

     I am no brave explorer. Nor am I a courageous adventurer. I’m not even a magnificent searcher. I’m just a little Mutant Bori, and today I’ve seen a White Weewoo.

The End