A Lenny in a Biscuit Suit

     “There’s nothing new,” the Lenny moaned. “The Neopian Times has gotten to be boring.”

     “Boring?” said her grandfather, an old yellow Lenny. He set down his copy of the newspaper. “How can the Neopia Times be boring?”

     “It’s all old news,” Tiggy told her grandfather. “And I get bored every week with the same layout.”

     “Ahh,” her grandfather said, “I suppose you’ve never looked closely at the Neopian Times, now have you?”

     “I do every week,” Tiggy said.

     Her grandfather walked over to her. “Lookie here,” he said. “In the background. What do you see?”

     Tiggy squinted her eyes. “A pair of boots, a Weewoo, a Slorg, a pencil- so?”

     Her grandfather pointed at something. “Now what’s this, my dear?”

     Tiggy looked closely. “A Lenny in a Biscuit Suit?!” she asked.

     “Aye,” her grandfather said. “Do you know how this came to be?”

     Tiggy shook her head, sensing a story was coming on.

     Her grandfather settled down into a chair. “Well, it all started in Year Two. Back then Lennies weren’t a very popular pet- most people didn’t like them because of their long legs.”

     Tiggy was proud of her long legs. She glanced down at them, then back at her grandfather. “Go on,” she said.

     “The Lenny wanted to prove that he was good. So, for Halloween, instead of buying a costume, he decided to make one himself.

     But by Halloween night, he had not finished. He managed to finish it somehow, but headed out trick-or-treating about two hours late.

     He dressed himself up in his biscuit costume and set out. All the Neohomes had their lights off because they assumed the trick-or-treaters were gone.

     The Lenny knocked on all the doors, but he got the same response: They had run out of sweets and biscuits long ago.

     The Lenny sat down under a tree and started crying. His Halloween, his perfect Halloween, was ruined.”

     “That’s a horrible story!” Tiggy shouted.

     “Be patient,” her grandfather said. “I’m not done. Now, where was I? Oh yes.

     Some of the Lenny’s friends passed by, stuffing themselves with sweets. They laughed and laughed at him, which made the Lenny even sadder. What could he do now?

     Pretty soon, someone else walked past. The Lenny tried to hide his tears, but the Neopet walked over anyway.

     ‘Dear boy,’ the Neopet said. ‘What is making you cry so?’

     ‘No one likes me!’ the Lenny replied through his tears. ‘Everyone thinks I’m a baby because I’m a Lenny! And I tried to make a costume, but...’ His costume was ruined now, stroked with tears and mud.

     Well, the Neopet yanked the Lenny up. ‘Come with me,’ she told him.

     The Lenny followed, pausing once to yank off his costume and discard it in the Rubbish Dump. The strange Neopet led him into a dark Neohome. The Lenny began to feel frightened, but the Neopet lit a candle. The Lenny saw this Neopet was also a Lenny, a red Lenny with long legs. Just like him.

     ‘Dear boy,’ the red Lenny said. ‘What is your favorite colour?’

     ‘I like Faerie, ma’am,” the Lenny replied.

     ‘Hmm...” the red Lenny said. ‘I will see what I can do.’

     The red Lenny rummaged through her Safety Deposit Box until she found what she was looking for: a Faerie paint brush.

     When the red Lenny pushed the paint brush into the Lenny’s hand, he gasped. ‘I can’t take this!’ he said.

     ‘Dear boy, please,’ the red Lenny begged. ‘You need it.’

     So the Lenny took the paintbrush, dripping with wet paint. ‘Can I... can I paint myself?’ he asked the red Lenny.

     She nodded. ‘Dear boy, just be happy.’

     So the Lenny ran off and straight to the Rainbow Pool. He grabbed his paint brush and painted himself, then trudged home.

     His mom gasped when she saw her son, but he just smiled slyly and went to bed. The next day at school, everyone gathered around the Lenny, admiring his Faerie figure.

     He was very surprised at the sudden change. See, back then, it was VERY rare for pets to be painted. Neopets reached out to touch his soft feathers. Others asked how he had gotten so rich, rich enough to be painted. The Lenny felt he had to tell his story, so he did. No one believed him. No one could be rich enough to just give out paint brushes...

     So the Lenny wrote a story for the Neopian Times, explaining this act of kindness so everyone could hear about it. It was published, and Neopets from all over began to talk about this kind, kind Lenny. But mostly they talked about the lucky Lenny who had received the paint brush.”

     “I would love to be faerie!” Tiggy cried out. “That’s my dream.”

     Her grandfather shushed her. “Tiggy, I’m not done yet.”

     “Go on, then,” Tiggy said, smiling. “I want to know what happens!”

     “Okay,” her grandfather nodded. “Since this was such a kind Neopet, the popularity of Lennies began to increase. And all the Neopets wanted to do something to honor the faerie Lenny. Since there had been a story about it in the Neopian Times, when they got their new layout, they decided to have the Faerie Lenny in the Biscuit Suit printed as part of the background.

     When the Faerie Lenny saw this, he shook his head. He wrote in a letter to the editor, telling him to take that out. Instead, put the red Lenny, the one who had helped him, in the Biscuit suit.

     The editor shrugged and changed this. The Faerie Lenny grew happy and wanted to visit the red Lenny again.

     But to his great disappointment, the kind red Lenny had moved to a new Neohome! The Faerie Lenny spent days searching for her, but she was nowhere to be found.

     Over the years, the memory of kindness began to fade. There seemed to be no kindness in Neopia now. There were greedy Neopets, only caring about getting rich.

     But a great many years later, the Faerie Lenny, now very, very old, while shopping one day in Neopia Central, saw an old and familiar face. He rushed over to the very, very, VERY old red Lenny.”

     “He found her?!” Tiggy burst out.

     Her grandfather smiled, and went on. “The red Lenny seemed to be confused for a moment, but when she remembered the old face, she broke into a wide grin.

     The Faerie Lenny had one question, though. ‘Where’d you go? I wanted to visit you so badly!’

     ‘Ahh,’ the red Lenny said. ‘That is my little secret. I left, though, to get away from the crowds and bustle. I didn’t want to be famous. I wanted to live a very quiet life, away from all the other Neopets.’

     ‘Why?’ the Faerie Lenny screeched. ‘I looked for days for you! I just wanted to say thank-you again! You’ve changed my life so much!’

     ‘And you mine,’ the red Lenny said back. ‘You’ve put me in the Neopian Times every week. There I am, in the background, smiling back at you whenever you read the newspaper. Dear boy, you have changed my life more than I have changed yours. I must be going now.’

     And with that, the red Lenny walked off. The Faerie Lenny stared back at her, yelling, ‘Wait!’ but she continued on. Soon she was out of sight.

     The Faerie Lenny took a seat on a nearby bench. He felt different now; changed. He looked up and didn’t see the world in quite such a bad way. He saw the Money Tree giving out donations to poor Neopets; he saw an older Kougra handing biscuits to younger Neopets; he saw the Rainbow Pool and the happiness there.

     And suddenly he wanted to be a part of it. He went home and dug a Split Paint Brush out of his Safety Deposit Box, and trotted back to Neopia Central.

     Heading over to the Money Tree, he saw a dirty blue Kiko looking over the food the Money Tree had. All it had was some Dung Jelly. With a shudder, the Faerie Lenny watched the poor Neopet eat it.

     ‘This is my act of kindness,’ the Faerie Lenny decided, and he walked over to the Kiko. He handed the paint brush over to him.

     ‘Oh, is this for me????’ the Kiko squealed. ‘Thank you so, so, so much, Mister!’

     The Faerie Lenny trotted home a few minutes later feeling so much better than he had this morning. With a smile, he wondered what the world would be like if everyone showed this kindness.”

     There was a silence. Tiggy sat for a moment, staring off into space. Then-

     “Grandfather, I think I’m going to go give my Electric Kau Plushie to the Money Tree.”

     Tiggy got up and began walking to her room to get it.

     Her grandfather smiled. That red Lenny in a Biscuit suit in the background of the Neopian Times wasn’t just for show. It was there to remind everyone to be kind and show kindness to the whole world.

The End