Getting A White Weewoo

Angello yawned and rubbed his eyes, fumbling around for his alarm clock before he eventually turned it off. "Hmm...time to get ready for work..." he stood up and stretched before grabbing his thick-lensed glasses and going over to his closet to put his work outfit on.

His outfit consisted of the standard mail carrier jacket and trousers, a pair of older but polished up boots, a blue cap, a pair of gloves (to be careful while handling mail, of course) and finally a mail carrier bag, essential to his everyday work.

He headed out the door of his home cheerfully and to the post office, to begin his workday. He had been at the post office for a couple of months now, and already had exceeding results compared to those who had worked there longer than him. Most had never seen such a dedicated and excited mailman, and wondered why he liked this job so much.

Angello walked into the post office, earlier than some of the other mail carriers had been. The secretary at the front desk, Linda, smiled as he walked in. "Well, you're up bright and early. What's got you so excited today?" Angello hopped up to the desk with a grin on his face. "Wellll, as of yesterday, I delivered my 850th piece of mail, and you know what I get today if I deliver at least 50 pieces of mail?"

Linda looked at him with one eyebrow raised. "Hmm...let me see the bonuses at certain mail delivered thresholds again..." She pulled a long list out of her drawer and began to look over it.

"Ah, there we are... you mean getting a White Weewoo at 900 pieces of mail, yes?"

Angello smiled brightly. "Yup! I'm super excited, I've never owned a Petpet before...ooh, I wonder what I'll name them? Probably depends if they're a boy or girl, if they're a boy-" Angello stopped himself and shook his head, before going into a long tangent about names he liked for Petpets.

"Anyways, I'm off to grab some mail and go on my route for today. Bye Linda!" Angello waved his hand before heading off to the back where the mail was held.

Angello carefully grabbed some mail off the tall shelves where it was held. He stood on a stool, barely able to reach some of the higher stored mail. One of his coworkers, Red, had walked in while he was doing so. "Hey Ang, no surprise to see you here so early." he chuckled. "You seem to be taking more mail than usual, what's up?" Angello turned from the shelves and looked at Red. "I'm ready to deliver 50 pieces of mail today to get that bonus!" he smiled.

"Huh? Oh, you mean the Weewoo, right? I passed up on taking that when I hit that bonus, I'm no fan of critters running around. Usually too noisy, I'd be better off with a pet rock." Red smirked. "But, you seem like the type of guy to love one of those things flying around with you right?" Angello nodded. "Yeah, Weewoos just seem *so* cool...such elegance and grace, representing the Neopian Times..."

Red scratched his head. "I think they're just birds, but sure. Hope your route goes well today Ang, see ya!" Red said as he walked out of the room waving, heading off to his route. Angello waved back excitedly. "See you later Red!" Angello almost fell off the stool from all the jumping around he was doing.

Angello grabbed the last piece of mail he could stuff into his bag, and put it over his shoulder, walking out of the room. "Seems like a heavy bag you got there, hm?" Linda remarked, watching him wobble slightly as he went towards the post office doors. "Ah, I'm fine Linda! I'll be back here in no time, you'll see!" Angello pushed open the doors, and undid the chain on his bicycle on the racks at the front of the post office, before hopping onto his bike and taking a look at his route for today.

"This will be a piece of cake!"

*****

Angello had delivered most of his mail without much issue. He delivered things like letters about events, confirmations about winning a contest, letters back and forth between penpals, all kinds of stuff. Of course, he never opened any of the mail, he was simply accustomed to the familiar packaging certain types of mail had for things.

He had also delivered packages for things such as won auctions and items at the trading post, and gifts sent to others. He dealt with some of the lower-valued items sent, as the higher-valued ones like stamps or rare paint brushes were handled by the veteran mail carriers of the post office. He was sure one day that he'd be able to deliver these items as well, though.

He hummed happily riding his bicycle, knowing there was one more letter to be delivered for today. He was along a forest trail path, apparently around where the last piece of mail had to go to. "899 pieces of mail delivered as of now...time to see again where the 900th goes to!" He pulled out the route map for the day and, completely oblivious to his surroundings at that moment, hit a tree root jutting out of the ground on the path.

His bike swerved and fell over, with him falling onto the side of the road and dropping his mailbag. He groaned as he slowly got up, brushing some of the dirt off on his uniform. "Ugh...what a bad time to try and read something." He realized his glasses had fallen off as well, and he was as blind as a Korbat without them. He began to frantically search around for them, not noticing the odd sounds near him coming from the trees.

After he finally found them, he put his glasses back on and looked at his route map again. "Well, I guess I am around the place right now..." He looked around the dense forest and didn't seem to find any homes. He turned around and saw his mailbag on its side, opened. He grabbed the bag and looked inside, only to find the last piece of mail he had to deliver gone.

"...h-huh?" He began to worry and dug around inside the bag to see if it had been pushed inside somewhere. Nothing. He started to look around the place where his bag had landed and he had crashed, nothing. He began to go into a panic. "Oh no, where did the mail go? I can't go back and say I lost it after being careless, that's the look of a bad mailman..." He shook his head. "I'll find that letter, I'll prove my worth as a mailman! No letter shall go unaccounted for!"

After he stopped speaking, he heard a noise that he hadn't paid attention to before. It wasn't like a regular bird call, it was very distinct...and then it hit him. The sound of a Weewoos call had filled the air, one described by many as a most haunting melody. "Wee...woo...wee...woooo..." Angello turned around to see a stunning White Weewoo making the call, with something in its mouth: a letter.

Angello gasped. "H-hey! You, give me back my letter, please! I need it!" The Weewoo turned its head, and flew off down the path, sticking near the trees. Angello gave chase after it, still asking it to stop. "C'mon, I need to give that letter to someone here! If you give it, I'll get you a grub. How does that sound?" The Weewoo then flew right into a more rough part of the forest, one with only a faint outline of a trail. Angello pushed through branches and bushes, trying not to trip over anything again.

Finally, the Weewoo stopped at the fence of a house in a clearing, one he was very surprised to see. The house was wooden, painted a clear white, with a picket fence surrounding the yard full of flowers and trees. He heard some of the same familiar Weewoo calls near this house again. He saw a Xweetok near a patch of flowers holding a watering can. The Weewoo Angello had followed flew over to her and dropped the letter by her side. "Ah, thank you. I was waiting for this letter."

Angello walked over to the Xweetok, nearly completely out of breath from running. "H-hi...are you...the person...who lives here...?" Angello held up the route map which was now slightly dirty and crumpled, pointing at the last spot for delivery. The Xweetok nodded. "Why, yes, I do live here. What happened to you?" Angello shook his head. "I-I was delivering mail for today, and I got really excited, because today is the day I can get a White Weewoo if I have 900 pieces of mail delivered...and when I was going down the forest path here, my bike crashed and that Weewoo took my letter..." The Xweetok looked at the Weewoo perched on the fence.

"Oh, him? He's one of the Weewoos I take care of here. I have some more White Weewoos in the back there, I'm known for taking good care raising them. I'm known usually as Wendy the Weewoo keeper." Angello looked at her confused. "Really?" She nodded. "Yup, I'm considered one of the most reliable people for taking care of Weewoos. Most people get them because they look cool, but once they realize the call they make is really loud, and they do it every day around dusk, they get sick of them. I take care of a good bit of unwanted Weewoos here."

Angello smiled. "Aw, well, that's nice. At least I got that letter, to you, heh..." Wendy smiled and opened the letter, that was sealed with a red wax seal. "Hmm...ah, good to know then." She put away the letter in her pocket. "That letter was for the list of mail carriers eligible and wanting a White Weewoo for delivering 900 pieces of mail." Angello blinked. "Really? That letter? So you're the one who gives them?" She nodded. "Yup, and it seems you're now eligible as well, yes? Since you're here, you may be able to pick out a certain Weewoo to get, if you are going to accept one."

Angello felt his hat move and looked up to see the Weewoo that was sitting on the fence now on his hat. He laughed a bit. "I think I already know which one is right for me."

The End.