An Average Plushie

      The shop bell tinkled. With my button eyes I saw a young Zafara with her petpet Angelpuss following close behind. I felt all around me the other plushies tensing in anticipation, hoping to be bought, though none of us were able to move. The Zafara went to the Cybunny shopkeeper.

      "I'm looking for a Zafara plushie that looks just like me," squeaked the young Zafara. If I could sigh, I would've. The first customer I'd ever seen wouldn't buy me. Oh well, plenty more where that came from. As the shopkeeper showed the child where the Zafara stuffies were, the bell chimed again. This time it was a gruff-looking green Skeith. He seemed very jittery.

      The shopkeeper went to the Skeith's aid. "How may I help you?" she asked politely. The Skeith looked over his shoulder.

      "I'd hate my friend Tyson to see me in a plushie shop, so you can you make this quick?" he whispered rapidly. "My name is Gravel." I would've definitely laughed if I was given a voice.

      The shopkeeper looked slightly puzzled, but agreed to help him.

      "My Usuki's head came off, and I need you to sew it back on," the Skeith mumbled, holding out his two front paws revealing a headless Usuki with cotton coming out of the neck in one paw and its head in the other, forever smiling. The shopkeeper smiled brightly and took it to the back.

      "You can come out here too if you want," offered the shopkeeper. "So you don't get seen by your friends." She winked kindly. The Skeith looked relieved and followed her.

      I was amazed at the shopkeeper's kind heart. I was glad to be under the close watch of such a saint.

      The Zafara youngster had, by this point, left without buying anything, disappointed at not finding any red plushies. And about half an hour later, Gravel and the shopkeeper emerged from the back room, the Skeith grinning widely and holding his Usuki - completely intact - closely to his chest.

      "Thank you very much, miss," he beamed.

      "What a polite gentleman you are," grinned the shopkeeper whilst showing him out. However as soon as the Skeith went outside, he returned to his grumpiness and hid his Usuki away from anyone's eyes. I had only been sitting on this shelf for one day and already I was absorbed in the interesting stories customers brought in with them, and took out. I was loving every minute of it.

      The last customer of the day was another Skeith of a red shade this time. He also seemed rather nervous.

      "Psst!" he hissed to the shopkeeper in a low undertone. "I'd hate my friend Gravel to see me here in a Plushie Shop so could you please make this quick? My name is Tyson."

      I honestly don't know how the shopkeeper managed to keep her smirk under control. The situation was utterly hilarious to me. This was Gravel's friend!

      "What seems to be the problem?" asked the shopkeeper, keeping her mouth small as if she opened it up too wide she would start laughing. But she really didn't want to hurt poor Tyson's feelings.

      Like déjà vu, Tyson pulled out a headless Usuki with the head in his other paw. The shopkeeper put on a sympathetic face and ushered Tyson to the back room. I could feel little vibrations - very little - from the plushies around me as if they were giggling.

      A little while later Tyson and the shopkeeper came out of the back room and into the shop. Tyson was smiling in a way similar to how Gravel was just minutes ago with the Usuki held above his head. He thanked the Cybunny and walked out the Shop and became gruff again.

      "Those two boys," mumbled the Cybunny, sighing happily. She went to the counter, ready to close up. She picked a bunch of receipts clipped together, added up the totals of her sales for the day and wrote the sum down in a notebook. Then she put the receipts and notebook in a drawer behind the counter, emptied the till and put the Neopoints in a safe. Then she locked up, turned off the light and the shop was plunged into an eerie darkness. The sunlight outside and gone below the horizon and feeble twilight sky shone through the window. It was kind of scary for me, my first night in a shop, no-one to look after me, by myself. Except for the hundreds of other plushies jam-packed in the many shelves, but I still felt quite alone not being in the factory surrounded by workers carefully stitching me up and sewing on accessories.

      It was a long night, filled with still shadows and waiting. It took me a very lengthy amount of time before I noticed all of the plushies were on their sides, as if they were asleep. I tried to push myself over feebly. Oh well, at least it would give me something to do for the rest of the night. Learn to lie down. It should pass the time.

      ***

     It worked. It only seemed like about half an hour later that the sun arose and the benevolent Cybunny shopkeeper was sauntering up to the door. She unlocked and it looked around at the shelves and laughed quietly.

      "I honestly don't know how you get like that," she giggled, straightening the plushies again and making them stand up straight. It was kind of weird that she talked to us like living things.

      I hadn't managed to lie down during the night so she didn't have to do anything to me.

      The Shopkeeper unlocked the doors and set up for another day at her shop. Today Neopia Central was very quiet so she had to wait patiently for a few hours before anyone came in. Today's first customers were a pair of Usuls, a mother and her young daughter clinging hands.

      "Hello, sweetie," cooed the shopkeeper.

      The Usul toddler giggled and shied behind her mother's back.

      "She gets very scared at night and we're looking for a little companion for her so she can stop bothering me when I'm sleeping," intervened the mother sourly.

      "Well, you've come to the right place!" shrilled the shopkeeper. Mother looked back bitterly.

      The shopkeeper went down to the toddler's level and asked, "What kind of plushie are you looking for, poppit?" The little girl came into view from behind her mother and pranced around the many shelves looking for the perfect plushie. I could just tell it was going to be me. But I'm sure all the other plushies in the store felt the same.

      "Don't knock anything over, Mig," warned Mother. She growled under her breath and rushed over to her daughter who was about to touch a little Usul plushie. She was obviously very protective.

      Mig and her mother peered around the shop for a long time, Mother refusing to let her daughter touch anything. Eventually they came around to the Scorchio section, and I tensed. Mig's smile and broadened and she pointed. "That one!" she shrieked. I couldn't believe it. She was pointing at me!

      "Very well," sighed Mother snobbishly. She reached and pulled me off the shelf. I was practically jiggling with excitement but of course I couldn't move. She put me on the counter.

      "How much would like for this?" she asked reaching for her purse.

      "Oh, let's say just 480 Neopoints," offered the shopkeeper.

      Mother looked close to laughing. "Is that all?" she mumbled. The shopkeeper nodded uncertainly.

      "If you're sure," sighed Mother, plopping her large purse on the counter next to me. It was obviously full to the top of Neopoint coins, and she took out a select few and handed them to the shopkeeper, who put them in the till. The shopkeeper didn't feel bad at all for not making a higher offer, I could see that. She was just happy with what she had.

      As Mother handed me to Mig, I realised something. I was leaving the watchful eye of the shopkeeper, and I would no longer see the interesting tales that came into the shop day by day, however few I saw. I knew I would miss it all, but I got what I had always wanted ever since I was manufactured. A home.

     ***

     The Usul family took me a mansion situated in a secluded area on a luxurious hill with trees and bushes brimming perfect green. The mansion was pure white and, I estimated, must be one of the tallest buildings in Neopia Central! This place would have its own postcode.

      I could only see all of this because Mig clutched me close to her chest very tightly, pushing all my stuffing to my head and almost causing it to come off. But luckily she loosened her grip when we got into the stunning house and put me down on a petite bench.

      "Aren't you going to play with your new friend?" insisted Mother. She looked down at me on the bench at winced slightly. "Ugly little thing, isn't it? No wonder it was so cheap."

      I would have attacked her if I was given the ability to use my limbs.

      Mig looked outraged. "He is not ugly!" she shouted, seizing me off the little bench and grasping me to her chest again. I liked her better when she wasn't squeezing me. "Jooby is the cutest and sweetest plushie in all of Neopia!"

      Jooby? Why Jooby? I didn't like that name at all. It was too... squishy. I wish I could speak so I could have my own name.

      "Okay, if you say so," sighed Mother in exhaustion.

      Mig grinned and ran upstairs. The many stairs. I imagined Mig and her Mother and whoever else lived here were very fit as they would have to climb up and down these stairs at least twice a day, considering that their rooms are upstairs. There were hundreds upon hundreds of polished white marble stairs. It seemed everything in this house was made out of marble.

      Finally, after literally five minutes of clambering upstairs (though it seemed no hassle to Mig) we reached the top landing and proceeded to the little girl's room. When she opened the door (needless to say, it was made of marble) I couldn't believe what I saw. The room was absolutely enormous! It would be at least two times bigger than the Plushie Palace.

      Mig entered and sat me down and a miniscule chair next to an equally small table. Three other plushies, two Usukis and a Gelert, were sitting lop-sidedly on chairs opposite me. I noticed everything was an annoying shade of pink. The four-poster bed, the posters, the chandelier, the lamps, desks, everything was pink.

      Mig was now setting up five plastic tea cups and saucers with a teapot. Oh no! I thought. A tea party! Let me out now! Scorchios weren't meant for tea parties, however artificial we are!

      Mig poured imaginary tea into the cups and passed them around to all the 'members' of the party.

      "Here you go, Maggie, Fluffy, Kawi," she purred, saying the plushies names in turn. "And I would like to introduce you to a new member of our family, Jooby."

      Of course, she got no reply. I was beginning to wonder why Mother had said that Mig was lonely at night, having about 70 different plushies piled around the room that I could see.

      Mig fed the tea to us at this point. I almost shuddered. The point of all of this eluded me. It actually scared me a bit. Imagine buying fancy plastic cups for plushies! I was, frankly, surprised they weren't made of marble.

      ***

     The days wore on and so did the tea parties. I was thinking I would enjoy a new home, but it definitely wasn't at all what I expected. My owners were complete snobs, without a care in the world except themselves. I doubt they would even donate a pile of sludge to the Money Tree.

      That wasn't the worst of it, though. Mig had stashed me in a pile of old plushies in the corner of her bed. It was extremely uncomfortable and I don't know why she put me there because you couldn't see me among all the others enveloping my space. And, contrary to the mother's belief, she slept fine. I feared I would spend the rest of eternity here, until someone carelessly ripped my head or tail off and I would be thrown out onto the cold street.

      Mig was also very popular at school. She had friends over often and they would pick random plushies and threw them to each other, often missing them. Typically, I seemed to be a favourite among throwing.

      One particular drizzly day, however, Mig and one of her atrocious friends were hurling me around the room, laughing hysterically with the window open. Mig missed me and I went plummeting about ten metres to the ground. Mig and her friends looked out the window and began chuckling again. They returned to the room and throwing another poor plushie.

      For me, I was so glad I wasn't designed to feel pain. I had fallen in a pool of mud and I was soaking wet with the rain. I didn't believe that Mig or her Mother would come out and get their perfect fur all wet just to retrieve me.

      The hours dragged on. Countless Neopets walked by, huddled in their raincoats or clustered under their umbrellas, dry. It was ages before anyone noticed the lonesome Plushie in the mire. The Neopet was an optimistic homeless Acara, with a patched-up thin leather coat. I don't know how she managed to stand the cold.

      "Hey, little fella!" the itinerant Acara said, picking me up in wonder. "How did you get stuck out here in the icy air?" There were two things I immediately liked about this person. She had a way with words. And she spoke to me as if I was a living thing. I like that feeling.

      The front door of the mansion opened, and Mother was on the doorstep staring daggers at the Acara. "Get off my property, you scum!" she screeched. I noticed she didn't even step out of her house.

      The Acara smirked at Mother Usul and walked away. I heard the door slam. The rich Usul family was the complete opposite of the shopkeeper at Plushie Palace. They weren't happy with what they had; they wanted to build on their 'perfection'. If that's what you can call it. Whereas the shopkeeper was just making a healthy living, enjoying her adequate job without fuss, content with her direction in life. I noticed that in the Acara too, who was carrying me down the street.

      She took me to the very centre of Neopia Central where the Rainbow Pool and the Money Tree was. She sat down among the scurry of Neopets hurrying towards the Money Tree to get free stuff as well as shelter.

      "Goodbye, little fella," the Acara said, beaming brightly at me. "I've had a fun few minutes with you." Then she set me down at pile of items among the Money Tree and walked off.

      I hardly even got a chance to see her figure disappear when I was snatched by a white paw. Odd, why did this paw look so familiar?

      "I love the Money Tree," said the Cybunny shopkeeper. "I can get free stock." She look at me and began wiping me down pathetically.

      I was so joyous that of all citizens of Neopia that this angel had come to rescue me. I'm not sure if she recognised me or not, but I didn't care. I was under the dry and comfort of the Cybunny's umbrella, and I entered the safety of her shop once more.

      The Cybunny went out the back and ran me under water for a few minutes. I thought it was one of the last things I needed, being the outside so cold, but at least it got me clean. She then stitched up some of my 'wounds' I had endured during my stay at Mig's house.

      "My, what a battle you've been through, eh?" muttered the shopkeeper, chortling to herself.

      When she had finished, she returned me to an empty spot on a shelf. It wasn't the space I had gotten used to, but I looked at it from the better side. I could see the tales customers brought in from a different perspective.

      So here I was yet again. A not-so-average Yellow Scorchio plushie, sitting proudly on the shelf at Plushie Palace, waiting for the welcoming bell to tinkle and let another clientele's story unfold before my eyes.

The End