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It was a dark and stormy night. The wind was howling outside
and the trees shook with the tremendous force. It was raining heavily too. Jamie,
a shadow Lupe stared out of the window in disappointment. The whole family had
planned a trip to the shops that night but it was foiled by the weather now.
"What are we going to do?" Jamie's sister, Jessie
a Faerie Kougra whined. She hated rainy days. Their other sister, Dory a purple
Kacheek was sprawled out on the carpeted floor keeping herself occupied by doing
a jigsaw puzzle. The rest of them, including their owner, Sandy a fair-haired
teenager just sat and stared blankly into space.
"Want to put the last piece in my puzzle?" Dory
asked trying to be helpful. When no one answered, she shrugged and placed the
piece in herself.
"I know!" Jamie clapped her paws together. Everyone
stared at her. "I know what we can do," she said excitedly. "Let's bake cookies!"
She had been having an irresistible urge for cookies.
"NO!" Everyone yelled. Jamie looked annoyed.
"Why not?" she inquired.
Sandy rolled her eyes. "Jamie the last time
you tried to use the oven you nearly burned our Neohome down! I don't think
I can really afford another Neohome, you know."
"Just a suggestion," Jamie muttered and went
back to her thinking state.
Outside, the wind howled even louder and the
storm turned worse. It was going to be a long night...
***
An hour later...
"This is hard," Jamie snapped the paperback
copy of A Tale Of Two Lupes that she was reading. "I always knew reading was
boring but I never knew it could be this boring."
Jessie, who had her nose stuck in Poetry For
Peophins said, "I don't mind. Want to hear a poem? Roses are red, violets are
blue, Peophins can swim, and so can you!"
"Corny," Dory groaned from her place on the
floor. She was working on a 100-piece puzzle this time. Jamie could make out
the head of a Gelert already. Dory was an expert on puzzles that was for sure.
"I can't read any longer!" Jamie declared. "Mum,
what else can I do?" She looked expectantly at Sandy who looked stumped.
"Um... you could... erm..." Sandy paused for
a while. "How about drawing a nice picture?"
Jamie sighed. "It has to be better than reading
right? Anyway, I'm desperate." She collected her drawing materials and settled
beside Dory on the floor.
As she drew, the storm went on but it was warm
and cozy inside. Sandy had even lit a small fire in the fireplace and dimmed
the lights.
"How's this?" Jamie held up her drawing paper.
Everyone stopped what they were doing to look.
"Ooh! Nice apple!" Jessie said nodding to show
her appreciation.
Jamie frowned. "It's not an apple, it's
a cherry," she corrected. Jessie looked surprised.
"Oh! Um, nice cherry! I just love the way you
draw those... leaves," she said uncertain of what else to say.
Jamie waited for the rest of their comments.
"Er, I think the round line you draw for the
cherry is very nice! Very, um, detailed," Dory managed to splutter. Jamie beamed.
"Ya think so? Me too! What do you think mum?"
Jamie turned to Sandy who was trying her best to find something she could say
about the... cherry.
Silence.
"I think it's time for some hot chocolate!"
Sandy said brilliantly leaping up. Her three pets stared at her in awe.
"Great idea!" Jamie hollered. "Let's go guys!"
Jamie, Jessie and Dory made a mad dash for the kitchen. "Come on, mum! We want
hot chocolate!"
Sandy sighed in relief. At least she didn't
have to give any more weird ideas or comments... for now.
"Coming!" Sandy ran to join them.
And the storm continued...
***
"'...And they lived happily ever after. The End.'" Sandy finished too soon.
Everyone groaned.
"Another one please mum?" Dory begged holding
up a book in her tiny paws. Sandy shook her head.
"I'm beat. I've already read you guys three
books," Sandy reminded them.
More groans.
"So what should we do now?" Jessie said in her
brightest voice. Jamie and Dory exchanged glances.
"I know!" Dory exclaimed. "How about a treasure
hunt?" No one disagreed so while Sandy hid the clues and the treasure, which
she claimed to have although no one really believed her, everyone else waited
on the sofa patiently.
"Okay!" Sandy came trooping back down the stairs
from where she had gone up five minutes ago. She handed each of them a slip
of paper. "Here's your first clue."
They wasted no time and hurriedly looked at
the clue and went off to find the next one. The clues were pretty easy, and
soon the three of them had found the last one.
"I'm getting nearer to da treasure!" Jessie
cackled in a pirate's voice. Jamie pretended to swipe an imaginary sword around.
"No! The only one who is getting da treasure
is I! Aye!" Jamie replied.
"You two are hopeless!" Dory laughed. "'Hurry
up, if we find it together maybe we can share the treasure or something.'" They
read the last clue together:
There's something in storage
Locked up tight
In a place where there's a window of light
If you can find it
Then you will see
The treasure there
To you from me!
"A window of light?" Dory looked confused. Jamie
and Jessie had no idea either. Just then, Sandy walked past drinking lemonade.
"Last clue already huh? Too bad that one is
hard," Sandy teased. Jamie shook her head.
"Nah it's easy," she boasted. "We're just taking
a break."
Sandy smiled. "A break eh? Well, I forgot to
add there's a time limit for the hunt and it should end about," she pretended
to check her watch, "ten minutes time."
"Hey, that's not fair!" Jessie protested. Sandy
shrugged.
"Well I would have given you more time but since
you're just taking a break, I assume you guys know the answer already. So it
should be a breeze. Enjoy you break," she grinned and slipped away.
The minute she was gone, the three of them sprinted
around the room, searching for the treasure. This went on for about two minutes.
"Okay stop!" Jessie ordered. "We have to think.
This isn't going to work."
Jamie panted. "Window of light... locked up
in storage... window of light..." she repeated. Then suddenly it hit her. She
stared at her sisters and they cried out in unison: "The window seat!"
In perfect rhythm, they raced toward the living
room to the window seat and started searching around it.
Jamie looked everything frantically running
her paws over the wooden seat trying to see if there was any opening or anything.
Jessie and Dory were doing the same.
Just as Jamie was about to give up, her paw
caught on to something. She grasped it and realized it was a lid of some sort.
"Guys!" she said excitedly. "I think I found something." Jessie and Dory came
over to help her.
"Oh my gosh, the old seat can be opened up!"
Dory squealed. Jamie grabbed one side of the seat.
"On my count," she ordered. Jessie held on to
one side and Dory another. "One, two, three!" she said, and they yanked up the
seat with all their might. It creaked, then slowly heaved opened. Beneath the
seat, there was a box of some kind and a letter attached.
"We found the treasure!" Jamie cheered. They
pulled the box and letter out, put the seat down again and sat down to see what
the treasure was.
Dory unfolded the letter and read:
"Congratulations! You have found the treasure!
Thanks to teamwork and success, you can now enjoy... this!" Dory read. She paused.
"What on earth is 'this'?"
"We're about to find out right now," Jamie informed
her. Everyone watched in silence as Jamie tore the wrapping paper of the box
and slowly opened the flaps at the sides.
"Cookies!" Jamie squealed.
"Yum," Jessie and Dory hummed.
They brought the cookies triumphantly to Sandy
who wasn't at all very surprised that they had found the treasure.
"Congratulations," she said her eyes twinkling.
"Enjoy the cookies with some milk I have in the kitchen and then its bedtime."
"Great," Jamie agreed. "I usually hate bedtimes
but not this time! I'm tired out. Hopefully the rain will be gone by tomorrow
and we can finally go shopping."
"Sounds like a plan," Sandy agreed and they
headed for the kitchen.
And the storm rages on...*smiles*
The End
Author's note: Hope you like it!
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