The Birthday Present That Changed My Life

     Opening the other eye, I saw a blurred vision of something that was NOT a Faellie. It had a little blue body, an oval looking head, and a slobbery tongue sticking out of his silly grin. I groaned. NOT A SPARDEL!

      Slowly turning my baby Gelert body toward my owner, puppers 237, I tried to squeeze up a smile. She scowled at me.

      "I know something's wrong. You wearing that "I really don't like this gift, can we please return it?" smile." Darn. My cover was blown. Now it was my turn to scowl.

     Showing my owner an icy glare, I opened my mouth to start an argument.

      "Well, I think you've known that I have been wanting a Faellie ever since I saw one in the Petpet Shop."

      "Well, you know I can't afford one."

      "Oh, yeah? Then how did you afford a baby paint brush for me and a starry for Luke?" Luke was my brother, in case you would like to know.

      "Well, you know I've been saving for a paint brush for McKinley." He was my other brother.

      The whole time the Spardel was still sitting there, grinning. Seeing the there was no reason to keep arguing, I grabbed the Petpet by the bow around its neck and stormed up to my room.

      For the next few minutes, we stared at each other. I think he was just grinning for know good reason, which made me think that I could name him dummy, or something like that. But, no, Mum wouldn't be too happy with that name, so for the next hour, we just sat and stared, him just grinning and I thinking of a name.

      Hmmm, notice how a Spardel could never show it's feelings? Kind of like a puzzle where you need to put the pieces together first? Standing up quickly, I snapped my fingers and I knew what I'd name him. PUZZLE!

      That night I tossed and turned. Lots. I had to find some way to get that Faellie. Maybe if I…no… I could… uh-uh. I sighed. It was HOPELESS! But then, I got an idea. I would just ignore Puzzle. When my owner saw how much I disliked the Spardel, maybe she would get me that Faellie!

      With the plan in mind, I knew it would take motion tomorrow. Sighing happily this time, I fell into a contented sleep with Puzzle's snoring beside me.

      "Missy, time for breakfast! And you have birthday cards to open!" Slowly opening my eyes, it seemed that Luke was shaking me, and, hmmm, a SPARDEL SITTING ON MY BED?!?

     I sat up so fast that I almost knocked my brother to the floor. Quickly picking up Puzzle by the collar, I growled and waited for his groggy eyes to open.

      "Puzzle, no, no, no! Don't get up on the beds! Mostly MY bed!"

     When he opened his eyes, he whimpered and pulled his ears back. He looked almost a bit cute, but no, I wanted that Faellie so bad that I just dropped him to the floor and hoped my brother had noticed.

      Down at the breakfast table, Puzzle still sat next to me. I think he was trying to make friends with me. I groaned, and stuck my fork into the fluffy faerie pancakes.

      "Missy, why don't you take Puzzle outside with you and read your cards?" Mum said. Sighing, I knew I had no choice.

      Outside, I sat reading my cards. There was one, a Gelert with a rose from grandma, a Gelert shaped cookie on the card from my best friend Kchila, a striped Kacheek, so on and so forth.

      THUNK! A ball rolled between my paws. Looking up from my cards, Puzzle sat on his hind legs panting and showing me his cutest face. A first I snarled at him in surprise, and his response was cringing, but I could tell he was not going to give up trying to be my friend. He looked kinda cute, and glancing around to make sure know one was looking, I picked up the slobbery ball and threw it across the yard.

      Barking a happy yip and wagging his tiny tail, he raced across the lawn and fetched the ball. He returned, dropped the ball at my feet, and I could see he was up for another round. Once again glancing about, I picked up the ball and threw it again. This continued the whole morning until lunch. By then, we had become the best of friends.

      "Lunch is hot! Come on everybody!" Puzzle lifted his nose and sampled the air, which I did the same. Licking his chops, I could see it was something good. He raced into the kitchen. He had a good idea.

      I sat down in the wood chair, and Puzzle leaped into my lap. Suddenly casting a worried glance around me, I noticed the whole family was watching me. Seeing that if I still wanted the Faellie, I would have to neglect the Spardel now in front of everyone. I then shoved Puzzle of my lap. He fell onto the floor with a small thump, and then looked up at me with sad, confused eyes. I gave him the same kind of eyes, but I hoped that in them they said I'm sorry, or something like that.

      I could see in every ones eyes sorrow and confusion. Mum opened her mouth to change the subject.

      "Missy, Puzzle looks a bit hungry. Would you like to feed him?"

      "Fine."I opened the cabinet and looked inside for Petpet food. Seeing the blue bag with a Warf on it, I pulled the large bag out and walked over to Puzzle's dish. Pouring the dry, tasteless kernels into the bowl, Puzzle looked at me confused, took a bite, rolled it in his mouth, and spit it back into the bowl. Seeing he didn't like this, I knew that as soon as everybody left the kitchen, I would find him something else to eat.

      Lunch was chicken noodle soup. I ate only the noodles and saved the hunks of meat for Puzzle. I ate slowly so I would have a reason to stay in the kitchen.

     As soon as everybody left, I walked over to Puzzles dish and scraped the hunks of meat out of the bowl and into his dish. He dug in. Smiling at me, I could see he wanted more. Yipping a little laugh, I smiled as he yipped, rolled over, and jumped for more.

      "Missy! You have one more gift!" Wagging my tail, I signaled Puzzle to follow me. In the living room was McKinley, my Lupe brother was holding a box triumphantly.

     Rushing into to the room, I grabbed the box from his paws and ripped the wrapping paper and lifted the lid. Inside was a white Flosset plushie. I squealed.

      "Ohmigosh, it's a Flosset plushie! I said while hugging it. My eyes drifted to the card. Looking up with watering eyes, I said: "McKinley, how could you afford it? Thank you so much!"

      "Aww, it's nothing. Oh, and Mum would like to take you out to dinner. She's sorry about yesterday. You know, Puzzle," he said, nodding his head to the Spardel.

      "Oh, its fine," I said. Grabbing Puzzle by the collar and the plush in my paws, I raced upstairs to get ready. I set the adorable plushie on my bed, changed into a pink fuzzy sweater, and left Puzzle in the room. On the way out, I closed the door.

     Big mistake.

      We went out to the Golden Dubloon. We said our apologies and laughed, and then Mum let me pick any food I wanted. It was great!

      When we got home, I ran up to my room and opened the door. I gasped.

      "Puzzle, how could you?" Puzzle sat in the midst of white stuffing. Judging by the golden halo in the corner, I knew what he had chewed. Tears gathered at the corners of my eyes. Glaring at the Spardel who tried to look as innocent as possible, I picked him up by the collar, stormed outside, went over to the Petpet house, and hooked his collar to the chain. He glanced up, rolled on his back, and wiggled like he was forgiving every mistake on earth. But I showed no mercy. Running back up to my room, I sat on my bed and cried. I went to bed early that night.

      Around 1:00, I felt someone shaking me. Looking up into the eyes of Luke, I glanced around the room. Something was missing.

      "Missy, you might want to look at this. You left Puzzle out all night."

      Puzzle! I had forgotten about him.

      "That's not the only thing. He's gone, and its raining!"

     I was wide awake now. I sat upright and leaped off the bed. Opening my closet, I got out two flashlights and two raincoats.

      "We're going out to find him."

      "Are you mad? Mum would never approve. She would say wait until morning, the we'll all go out and look for him."

      "I know, but we have to go out tonight. He could be in danger. Wake up McKinley, and I'll go get Kchila and Moonlight." Moonlight was my faerie Lupe friend. "Meet me at the corner street."

     Five minutes later, I had Moonlight and Kchila with me. Luke and McKinley were already at the corner street. We all had flashlights and raincoats on.

     I started giving out orders.

      "McKinley, you search in the woods. Kchila, you…"

      "Wait, can I choose where I go? You know I don't like dark places." I glared at Kchila.

      "It's good you said that because I was about to give you the alleys. So you can have the market place. Moonlight, since you have wings, you can have the mountain tops. Luke, you and I will search near the streams. Okay, every body, lets move out!"

     The rain made me even more nervous. If he WAS by the streams, they could overflow and Puzzle would drown. Me and Luke picked up the pace.

      The beams of the flashlights searched all the shadows, nooks and crannies. Still no Puzzle. Then something blue caught my eye. It was Puzzle! I barked to Luke, and then I ran over to puzzle. His fur was wet and matted, but by the expression on his face, I could tell he was happy to see us.

      Back inside the house, I crawled into bed with Puzzle in with me. Everyone had gone back home, and I had my Petpet with me.

     The next morning, my owner stood over me with a happy face.

      "Wake up, Missy, I have a surprise for you at the Petpet Shop! But you need to bring puzzle." I got up, yawned stretched, and slowly put on a purple sweater. I put Puzzle in a crate and walked down stairs with Mum.

      In the Petpet Shop, the Usul shopkeeper cheerfully took Puzzle out of his crate and into a cage with some Puppyblews and Warfs. That woke me up.

      "Hey, what do you think you're doing?" The shopkeeper looked confused.

      "Why, I thought you were going to trade the Spardel for a Faellie."

     Mum must have seen my eyes cross. She knelt down to explain.

      "You see, this morning I got a call that there was a Faellie here, and it wasn't cheap. So I worked out a deal with the shopkeeper. Trade the Spardel for the Faellie."

      "But…but… I can't!" I blurted out. "I love Puzzle! He's the best Petpet I've ever had! I can't give him up!"

     Mum looked stunned. The shopkeeper shrugged her shoulders. "First time someone ever looked up a Faellie. She simply gave me Puzzle. I hugged him.

      "Are you happy now?" Mum said as she brought me in a hug.

      "Yes!" How could I not be with the best Petpet ever?

The End

Authors Note: Okay, this took two months to do! This is a true story, no kidding.