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My name is Cettica and I am a Lenny. Yes, just an ordinary,
green Lenny. I don’t have any special talents, my owner isn’t terribly rich and
there’s nothing out of the ordinary about me at all. But I’m here today to tell
you my story.
Everything was perfect at first. My owner Fishlette,
or Heidi, brought me into the world, not by an accident but because she wanted
a Lenny, and she loved me.
Fishlette was not a rich or perfect Neopian.
She had long blond hair, which she never tied up, and sometimes her nail polish
was chipped but nobody minded because she was such a nice person. She had enough
Neopoints to keep me fed and happy (most of the time), even if that meant occasionally
eating a rotten omelette or going without that green lipstick I'd been wanting.
How does one use a lipstick when one has a beak, you may ask, well you'd have
to be a Lenny to find out.
When Heidi created me, she had known how unpopular
us Lennys are but we were both surprised at the dirty looks we got from pets
and owners. In fact, it was more often the rich, respectable painted pets that
looked down on me than the poor ordinary ones. I didn't care though, I had Heidi
and she had me, and our guild, the Library 4 The Poor, supported us and were
our friends and we were happy.
Well, one day our happiness was shattered. Well,
maybe not for dear Heidi, but anyway ... Heidi had been on one of her regular
trips to the Neopian Pound, where she did volunteer work looking after the disowned
pets. When she came back that day, she bought with her the image of despair
and destruction for us, in the form of a tiny squirming brown Grundo.
"What is that?" I said, eyeing my new
sibling with distaste (knowing quite well what it was).
"Ooo this is Grimlaerian, your new brother!
Isn't he simply adorable?!" she gushed. Adorable? I took all this in.
This... thing standing in front of me with the arms outstretched for a hug,
the dewy Puppyblew eyes and the silly, gooey expression on his face. So incredibly
cute that I felt like retching.
"How are we going to pay for him?" I asked,
ignoring her question. It was grabbing at my beak and I calmly removed
his fingers with a green wing.
"Oh, well I forgot to tell you... we are now
officially poor enough to use the Soup Kitchen!" she said, still with eyes only
for Grimlaerian. I couldn't tell if her last statement was happy or sad.
"Where is he going to stay?" I questioned again.
"He can't stay with us at the Neolodge, he has nowhere to sleep!" I looked around,
there was only one bed and I shared that with Heidi And I didn't think she'd
make him sleep in the cracked basin in the bathroom.
"Ohh, honey," Heidi said suddenly, looking at
me, "we can't stay in the Neolodge anymore! I ... I got a refund and used the
money to pay for adopting Grim. We have to leave now."
Well that was convenient, eh? Where were we
going to sleep? We couldn't sleep on the street, the population already pitied
and despised us at the same time.
"We can stay with Joey200010," Heidi said hastily,
answering my question that I hadn't even voiced yet. Joey200010... I had heard
that name before. Ahh yes, she was the owner of Flowal2000, the little golden
Usul that played Charity in the play The Gold and the Beautiful that
Heidi loved so much.
"You know her?" I asked skeptically. I didn't
mean to sound mean, I love Heidi, but honestly, how could she have been so stupid?
We both knew we couldn't afford another mouth to feed. She wouldn’t even let
me have a petpet.
"Of course, silly!" Heidi said, picking up Grim
so he wouldn't pull my tail feathers anymore. "She works at the Adoption Center
with me." Heidi always said Adoption Center, she thought the word Pound was
negative. She was a positive girl. For example, one time when a ghost had stolen
our last Neopoints, she had just smiled happily at the thought that they would
be donated to the money tree.
"I bet Joey has a Grundo too," I mumbled, starting
to pack my few belongings. My green eyeshadow, my pink toothbrush, my books.
And I couldn't forget my few trophies, which I had worked hard for in the Beauty
Contest. With a shock I realized my whole life could be packed into this green
backpack.
Fishlette packed too, while Grimlaerian gurgled
on the ground. I wondered when we were going to Joey's, and if she'd think we
were rude, just turning up on her doorstep.
We walked all the way to Winding Wood Drive.
It was starting to get dark, and I thought about how defenseless we'd be if
the Monocerous tried to attack us. Especially It, which was stumbling
along behind us. Every so often I caught the reflection of myself in a shop
window. It's no wonder Lennys are so unloved. I had a long, cruel beak, sickly
green colored feathers all over my body and big, awkward feet. Everybody loves
Eyries because they look so... lifelike, even though they have feathers. And
when Jubjubs have big feet they are ooohed and ahhhed over. At least us Lennys
have the intelligence going for us.
When we arrived, Heidi knocked on the door.
I was surprised to see a much younger girl, of about only thirteen open the
door with a big smile and let us all in. Grimlaerian followed Heidi loyally,
and I held back. I wanted to see what type of pets this Joey girl had besides
Flowal2000.
As if on cue, downstairs her four pets flew,
hopped and walked. Joey introduced us all. There was Rofal2000 the silver Shoyru,
the prankster of the family with his Halloween Doglefox Rover that never left
his side. And Flowal the skunk Usul who was wearing a pink feather boa. She
was the actress/model and smiled warmly at me. She must have had a paint job
since her work on Gold. Then there was Grundioy the spotted Aisha who
stood there quietly. And finally Annalisaca the bouncy baby Cybunny who was
looking at us all curiously.
"Now," Joey said, "I'm afraid we only have one
guest room, Fishlette you can have that. You other two will have to share a
room. It will only be for a while, until the extensions are finished."
I couldn't be left alone in a room with It!!!
Flowal2000 must have seen the horror that crossed my face because she quickly
said, "Joey, I'll share a room with Cettica."
You couldn't believe how grateful I was. Grim
was going to share a room with Grundioy. We all went upstairs to get unpacked.
"I'm afraid the house is a bit small ... we're
redecorating," Flowal said as she opened her room. Small? This house was like
a mansion to me! I gasped as I saw her room. It was decorated in a Tiki theme,
bamboo wallpaper and coconut furniture. Two fresh bamboo beds rested against
the wall, I assumed one of them was mine.
"Yeah ... sorry it's a bit messy," she said
blushing. I hadn't even noticed the clothes and Usuki scattered on the carpet.
Immediately a little Bearog came over and leapt into my wings. "That's Rabbit,"
she said laughing. "Where's your petpet Cettica?"
"I... uh... I don't have one," I said, sitting
on one of the beds. She looked at me sympathetically. Heidi was saving up her
Neopoints to by a petpet for me, before she spent it all on Grim. "That's too
bad. Hey do you want to put on some jewelry? We're going to the Gourmet Food
Club tonight and we always dress up," she said, going through my backpack for
some jewelry that I knew wasn't there.
"Umm ... I don't have any jewelry either," I
said, feeling small. She looked at me for a moment, then ran downstairs without
saying anything. I sat there miserably, thinking I'd offended her somehow. Not
that I'd have normally cared, but since I'd be living with her Faerie Queen
knows how long I didn't want to start off on the wrong paw.
But a few minutes after the door burst open,
she came in grinning holding something in her paws. "I've fixed both your problems!"
she squealed happily. I looked closely and saw she was holding a Wadjet!
"Ooo, thank you," I breathed, taking it in my
wings. Suddenly, it slithered up and clung around my neck like a necklace.
"I found it in our Safety Deposit Box. See,
you don't need jewelry!" she said smiling. "Do you want me to do your makeup?"
Thankfully, I did have makeup. Heidi and I both
believed in good grooming so we had a fairly limited supply (as opposed to none).
I sat there while this beautiful skunk Usul applied my green eyeshadow and brushed
my feathers. It amazed me that somebody I had only known for 10 minutes could
be so nice!
Then there was a knock at the door. It was Joey
and Heidi, all dressed up. We then went to the Gourmet Food Club.
When we came back it was almost midnight. I
had the warm feeling of food in my belly, and the Wadjet curled sleepily around
my neck. The rich pets had still treated me like an inferior that night, but
since I was with Joey and her pets they weren't sure how to take me. There was
another Lenny, Leon3o_753 there who had kept looking at me over his golden juppie.
Grim had been content eating Grundo Food. It still irked me that Grimlaerian
was cooed at and I was passed food to without even the courtesy of eye contact.
I settled into bed that night, taking my Wadjet
off my neck and placing her beside my head on my pillow.
"Cettica," Flowal gasped, "you haven't given
your Wadjet a name!!"
I looked at the snakelike thing. "How about
... Jewel?" I said softly. Jewel hissed happily.
I laid down and looked at the posters on the
wall. There was a signed poster of Twisted Roses, several Usuki ones, and a
poster of Chet Flash, as well as many colour photos of Flowal, doing her modeling.
I closed my eyes, amazed at how comfortable it. I had never even had a bed to
myself. Things were looking good for us all, but still, we had the problem of
shelter and food. We couldn't ask to live with Joey200010 forever. And I did
have one more problem ... the problem in the form of a brown Grundo.
To be continued...
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