"Here's our home," I said to Sugar. "Right now we rent a room in this
person's NeoHome, but soon I'm going to get us all a wonderful place on Mystery
Island."
"Sounds wonderful," Sugar said in a most gratifying way.
Twiliyte went out to get a pizza for a celebration. Then we settled back on
our big fresh bamboo bed to eat. We were all silent, just enjoying our time
together. Then, out of the blue, Sugar said, "I feel so bad...I mean, so happy
you guys adopted me...I'd only been in the pound for a little while in a huge
cage of pets waiting to go into permanent cages. From them I learned that as
more and more pets get abandoned, the pound gets more and more cramped. Soon
it's going to be practically overflowing...And some of the friends I made while
I was at the pound are still in there. I can't bear the thought of leaving them..."
Twi coughed and looked at me expectantly. I sighed. "Okay, Sugar," I said slowly,
contemplating my next move, "I can't save all those pets. But maybe one more.
Let's go."
We walked into the pound for the second time today. "Back again?" the pink
Uni asked, "You're not reconsidering your adoption, are you?"
"Definitely not!" I said, grabbing Sugar's paw, "Sugar_Snap14 is great. I'd
never get rid of her or Twiliyte. We want another."
"Great!" the Uni said. "I'll come with you. I have to feed the pets dinner."
"We'll help," Sugar volunteered quickly.
"Fantastic," the pink Uni said.
"Come on."
As we fed the pets, we peered into each cage, assessing every single pet.
"I'm leaning toward a cute little Usul, because I love Usukis," Twi said
to Sugar, "What do you think?"
Sugar nodded. "Usuls are really nice. That would be fine with me."
"Me, too," I said as I spied a Grarrl.
We stayed at the pound for an hour, but we just couldn't seem to find a pet
that was suitable. They were all fighting and quarreling over their food.
"Sorry you have to see them like this," the pink Uni said with a sigh. "They're
so much better between meals."
"I understand," I said, ushering Twi and Sugar out.
"I just don't understand," Sugar said sadly as we left the building. "They
all seemed so nice before."
"I know," I had said, trying to comfort her. "We're just tired and it's hard
for us to see the good sides of them. We'll come back tomorrow, I promise."
The next morning, I woke up and shrieked. Sitting on my bed was a big, blue
Lupe. "What are you doing here?" I screamed at him, "Get out of my house!"
"I...uh, came home from the pound with you..."
"WHAT?!" I said, astonished, "Me and Letsgoweruleiknow came home with you.
We just wanted one night's decent sleep. I know we're not the right pets for
you. We'll go back right now."
I sighed. "Okay," I finally agreed, "We were going back anyway. I'd love to
adopt you, but you're right, you're not the right pets for us. What's your name?"
"Myopic_Spence_66," he said, "But you can call me Spencer."
"Nice to meet you," I said, taking a deep breath.
"Girls," I called softly, looking at t he mattress on the floor next to me,
"Wake up. Time to go."
Twi groaned and rolled over. Sugar hopped out of bed. "Eek!" she screamed,
looking at Spencer.
"Calm down," I said quietly.
By now, Twiliyte was sitting up and looking at Spencer--horrified. "It's okay.
This is Spencer. He'll tell you why he's here on the way back to the pound."
"Where's your friend?" I asked Spencer.
"Under the bed, too scared to come out," Spencer admitted.
"He's a red Shoyru. His name's too long, so we just call him Reddy."
I nodded in understanding. "Reddy, come on out," I said. "Let's go. We'll get
omelettes for breakfast."
Soon we were once again in front of the Adoption
Centre, finishing our omelettes.
"You two wait here," I said to Spencer and Reddy, "I don't want Dr_Death getting
mad that you escaped. I'll get the pink Uni to help you, okay? Just play around
while we find a pet to adopt."
Spencer and Reddy nodded in unison.
"Good." I said, "Come on, Twi and Sugar."
As soon as we stepped in, the pink Uni rushed over. "Back so soon?" she asked
eagerly, "That's great. Come with me."
We walked into the door and immediately, Sugar rushed over to a blue Kougra,
less than two days old.
"Are you okay?" she asked tenderly. The Kougra nodded. "What's your name?"
Sugar asked.
"Taculi. People call me Tacky...it makes me sad," Taculi informed her.
"Oh. I'm sorry, hon. I'll just call you Tac, okay?"
Taculi smiled.
"Please, Stevie...I know you just got a Kougra, me, but..."
"I know," I said. "Come on. I'll tell the Uni about Spencer and Reddy."
Taculi seemed jubilant with joy. "I was hoping and hoping you would come,"
she admitted to Sugar softly.
"We were looking for you really hard," Sugar replied.
"You two had better not leave me out," Twiliyte whined, but there was a smile
on her face.
Epilogue: Sugar_Snap14 has settled down nicely and know makes a full time job
of being the oldest pet in our family. She likes exploring Neopia with Spice
and visits her friend, the green Pteri who painted her, all the time. She takes
it upon herself to take the best possible care of Taculi and she shelters her
youngest sister as much as possible. She's pretty healthy and eats lots of fruit.
Her all-time favorite thing, though, is visiting pets in the pound. "I go every
day and bring them chocolates. I tell them about life in the outside world and
I try to convince people to adopt from the pound. I want all those pets to have
happy stories to tell!" she says.
Twiliyte still loves her sisters, even though they're both Kougras. She spends
hours every day the books I buy her, and often she comes with me to the bookshop,
waiting for it to restock. She takes a course or two at the Training School
every day and occasionally she takes one at the Swashbuckling Academy. When
she's not studying, she's exploring. She goes everywhere with Nia and writes
about everything she sees in her diary. She's started a collection of Usuki
Dolls, too. She says, "When I have time, I play with my Usukis. I keep them
in a friend's gallery, but I go over there after I'm finished school for the
day to play with my Funky Diva Usuki, Crystal. Usukis rule, but school is my
number one priority."
Taculi enjoys being the baby of the family. No one's ever called her "Tacky"
again (at least not to her face) and she's happy about that. She likes being
blue, and has no intention of getting painted. She plays with Chloe, her Baby
Fireball, all the time, and tags after Sugar like a shadow. One of her favorite
pastimes is reading books I that Twi's already read or the ones she doesn't
want. She hates fruit, and always sneaks it to Sugar. She prefers sweets, and
has a way of getting whatever she wants. She's totally recovered from being
in the pound. "Pound, Stevie? I was in the pound? Oh yeah, I forgot. Sugar sorta
says it was a bad dream that I should forget about. Twi says, 'Don't forget
about it, it was an important experience. Tell me about it so I can write it
in my diary.' But then again, that's Twi for you. Sugar's way more down to earth.
Sisters!"
The End | 
