The Woes of a Jelly Pet

      Kevin could smell jelly. But that wasn't unusual, because he and his two sisters, Nina and Anabelle, were all Jelly pets, and their owner, Charles, was obsessed with jelly and stuffed it in every space he could possibly find.

      Rolling out of bed, Kevin staggered out of his bedroom, down the hallway, and down the stairs. His sister, Annabelle, a Jelly Uni, was already awake, and looked as though she had been for several hours. She was brushing out her mane with a green glittery brush.

      "Hi," he said groggily, and she replied by saying, "Charles is jelly hunting again."

      Kevin wasn't surprised. This was a something their owner did often. It involved running from shop to shop rummaging through the shelves, and screaming, "Jelly!" when he found something.

      Nina, a Jelly Shoyru, was wiping splotches of jelly from the counter. In reply to his greeting, she said, "Jelly and cereal for breakfast again." Kevin stifled a groan. They ate jelly and cereal for breakfast every morning. After breakfast, all of them went to the Games Room to earn neopoints. Charles was willing enough to play games, once he realized that if he had no neopoints, it meant he wouldn't be able to buy any more jelly. However, since he was absolutely horrible at every game he tried to play, the pets had taken over a long time ago.

      Kevin, playing Bumble Beams, suddenly stopped. Annabelle paused her game, which was Faerie Bubbles, and watched him. She was the youngest of the three pets, with a pirate Kadoatie named Milly.

      "What's wrong?" she asked. "Losing at Bumble Beams?" She smiled mischievously at her brother, and he scowled at her. Nina was on the other side of the Games Room, playing Kookia, and didn't notice their conversation.

      "I'm doing surprisingly well," he told her. "I was just thinking about Charles."

      "Yeah, wishing you could stop his jelly obsession?" Annabelle rolled her eyes. "It won't happen, sorry to say." She turned back to her game, a clear sign that the conversation was over. Still, Kevin pressed on.

      "But if we could just figure something else out that he likes, then maybe he wouldn't keep jelly everywhere," Kevin argued.

      "Mmmmm-hmm," his sister said. She clearly wasn't listening to a word he said.

      "We could stop eating jelly very morning," Kevin said loudly. She turned, after pausing the game, her face interested.

      "And what is your plan?" she asked, sounding doubtful, but Kevin knew that if it would somehow keep them from eating jelly every day, she was in.

      "We could bring him places. Like, show him all the cool avatars you can get. Or bring him to the battledome. Maybe he'd become an avatar collector, or a battler. Or maybe he'll become a famous Neopian Times Writer, or a..... Or something else." Annabelle blinked.

      "Yeah, a famous Neopian Times Writer, I can't envision it," she said. "But I'll help. It'll probably end up with Charles in another obsession, though." The last sentence was said in a warning tone. "And don't be surprised if this all ends with me saying 'I told you so.' "

      Kevin shrugged. He turned back to his game and groaned when he found that he forgotten to pause it.

      *

      "Charles!" Kevin called, flapping through the house in search for their owner.

      "Is this a good idea?" Annabelle asked, trotting after him.

      "Yes," he told her.

      "Whatever," she said in an unconvinced voice.

      "You hurt me with your lack of faith," Kevin said, and she replied with another, "whatever."

      "Why are you looking for Charles?" came Nina's voice, and Annabelle skidded to a halt to avoid running into her as the Shoyru confronted them. She held Lolly, her Tyrannian Kadoatie, in her arms.

      Quickly, impatiently, Kevin explained. She too looked as though she thought the plan were likely to fail, but she simply adjusted her glasses and pointed to their owner's bedroom door, which was closed. They scuttled past, and entered after knocking. Charles was bent over a pile of jelly.

      "Fire Jelly," he said, "Blueberry Jelly, Banana Jelly, Chocolate Jelly-"

      "Hi, Charles," Kevin said loudly, and their owner looked up, an expression on his jelly splotched face that meant, 'Why are you disturbing me?'

      "Um, hi," he said. "Do you want something? I'm busy-"

      "Counting jelly," Annabelle interrupted, "Yes, we know."

      "We wanted to know if you, uh, wanted to come to the Book Shop with us," Kevin said. "For, uh, fun." Charles blinked at them.

      "Yeah, but I'm busy, I'm counting my Jelly, I really need to-" He stopped, and took a bite of jelly, looking suspiciously at his pets. "Wait, the Book Shop? But you don't like reading."

      "Yes, I do," Kevin protested.

      "Oh." Charles looked at them in bewilderment. Annabelle groaned, clearly unimpressed with her brother's skills.

      *

      Kevin cast anxious looks at Charles, who was standing idly at the door of the Book Shop. His eyes were half closed so that he looked both extremely bored and half asleep. Annabelle gave her brother a disgusted look.

      "You brought him to the Book Shop so he could stand around being bored?" she asked, glancing the at books lined on the shelves.

      "I'll go talk to him." Kevin sighed. He flew over to Charles. "Uh, hey Charles."

      Charles looked at him as though he had just been insulted. "There isn't any Jelly here," he snapped.

      "Um, well, no," Kevin said, "but I thought you might want to know that if you read enough books to your pet, you could get the Neopian Book Award."

      "You don't like reading," Charles told him. "I need to get back to my jelly," he said this with a frown.

      "There might be Jelly Books here!" Kevin said desperately. There was a spark of interest in Charles' eyes.

      "Books made of jelly?" he asked.

      "Books about jelly..?" Kevin said slowly.

      Charles stormed out the door. Annabelle joined the Korbat.

      "Attempt number one of breaking Charles of his jelly obsession," she said, "Failed."

      *

      "I don't think the Battledome is catching his attention," Annabelle whispered. Kevin sighed. She was right. Charles was slumped on a bench, watching the fight idly with the same expression as the day before: eyes half closed, his face bored.

      "Isn't this fun?" Kevin asked his owner, in a voice that suggested otherwise.

      "No," Charles told him. He fished a half eaten jelly from his pocket, and stuffed it in his mouth.

      "Don't think it would be fun to have us fight in the Battledome?" the Korbat asked.

      "No," said Charles, narrowing his eyes at his pet. He swallowed loudly, pulled another jelly out of his pocket, and took a bite. Kevin wondered how deep those pockets were.

      "I do," Kevin said. Annabelle looked at him, or more like glared at him. He grimaced.

      "You'd probably get smashed," Charles said dismissively. He squished a bit of jelly between his fingers. "Kind of like that." Kevin racked his brain for something else to say.

      Charles began eating more jelly, and Annabelle whispered, "He's not cut out to be a battler."

      *

      "Charles!" Kevin practically shouted into his owner's ear. Charles looked up, annoyed.

      "Do you need something?" he asked.

      "I have something for you," Kevin said. "And no, it's not jelly."

      Charles took the thing in his hands, which were sticky from counting Jelly. "What is it?" he asked, warily, looking at it disdainfully.

      "The Neopian Times," Kevin said.

      "Neopian what now?"

      "Neopian Times," Kevin said. Annabelle sighed behind him, and he glared at her over his shoulder. "You know, the newspaper." Charles' face was blank.

      "Oh," Kevin said. "Well, just read it."

      "Anything to do with jelly?" his owner asked. "Can you eat it?"

      "Uh, no, not really," the Korbat said, wincing at the image of Charles stuffing the Neopian times into his mouth that had just come into his mind.

      "Oh." Charles looked at it, as if wondering what to do with it.

      "You read it," Anabelle said helpfully. Charles shrugged, and tossed it over his shoulder.

      "Poisonous Jelly, Mint Jelly..," he said, and the two pets backed out of the room.

      "There's still hope," Kevin said.

      "If he didn't even know what to do with it, he can't be a Neopian Times writer," Annabelle snapped, and once again, Kevin knew she was right.

      *

      "The Food Shop?" Anabelle grumped.

      "Yes," Kevin snapped, equally annoyed. Charles lagged behind them, poking and prodding stones to see if they were jelly.

      They reached the burger shaped shop in almost no time at all, and in front of it was a giant stand with a sign that read, 'BISCUITS.'

      "Look, Charles," Kevin said. "Biscuits. Want to try one?" Charles looked disdainfully at the stand.

      "No," he said, but Kevin was already busy purchasing a few biscuits. He shoved one into Charles's hands.

      "Yuck," said Charles, pushing it back into Kevin's paws.

      "Just eat it, okay?" Kevin said, practically throwing it at his owner. "You can... Eat them with jelly." There was a look of interest on Charles' face, and he took a cautious bite. There was a glimmer of surprise, then he stuffed the rest in his mouth. This didn't surprise his pets. He had always had bad manners.

      "Like it?" Kevin asked, eagerly.

      Charles just shrugged, and Kevin and Annabelle exchanged disappointed looks.

      *

      Charles had gone out.

      Nina, Anabelle, and Kevin were sprawled in the Living Room. They were all despairing.

      "There's no way Charles will ever break his obsession with jelly," the Uni moaned, shaking her head. Her jelly horn jiggled.

      The front door opened, and they poked their heads over the back of the sofa. Charles was munching something.

      "I have an announcement!" he said, through a mouthful, walking into the middle of the room. They all looked at him for about five minutes, until Nina reminded him, "You had an announcement?"

      "Oh, yeah." He paused then grinned. "I have decided not to be obsessed with jelly anymore!"

      His three pets stared at him, shocked, then Kevin smiled.

      "Really?" he asked in excitement.

      "Yup," Charles said.

      They cheered, but it was cut short as he added, "I like biscuits better."

      There was a silence.

      "Biscuits for dinner!" Charles said, gleefully, skipping into the kitchen. They stood in shock, and then Annabelle hissed, "I told you so."

      Kevin groaned.

The End