Quiet. Nice, relaxing quiet. Alex sat at his breakfast table, eating his first meal whilst reading the newspaper. Alex lived alone, ever since he upped roots and left his parents a year ago, and he has adjusted well to the independence. He took a slurp of orange juice and turned the page. "Sport. Sport." He mused, scanning an eye over all the results. His favourite soccer team had won as expected, he was pleased to note, but he hadn't won the bet on the horse-racing. Ah, well, it was only five bells. He took a mouthful of oatmeal and turned to the news section. He stopped in mid chew when he saw an interesting article. It wasn't very big, but it had caught his eye. It read:
Rumours abound that a special Dingloid, neither Wee, Mega, Mini, Squat, Regular nor Tall, a species of Gyroid, has been found buried deep in the ground. This comes from a town called Churchill. Our local palaeontologist, Blathers, said, "Gyroids are indeed a mystical race. It seems that this particular Dingloid, as it were, was around at the time of the Ancient Romans, as it was found in a burial tomb containing Roman accessories, including this fascinating-" Alex skipped a few lines of boring dialogue, "this Dingloid could, indeed, have special powers! Who knows?" Blathers works for the Farway Museum.
Alex crunched his breakfast thoughtfully. He finished his juice, washed up the cup and bowl, and went upstairs to change out of his pyjamas. He scanned the row of shirts thoughtfully, and chose the arctic camo shirt. He pulled it over his head, and felt ready and refreshed for the day. He left his house for the sunshine of California in winter.
He was walking to Nook's shop to inspect the daily wares when he encountered Roald. Roald was notorious for being suspicious, and above all, gullible. He seemed to be very excited. He noticed Alex and waddled over.
"Hi Roald, what's new?" asked Alex kindly.
"Did you read that article in the newspaper, b-b-buddy? The one about the... er... Dingloid?"
"Yeah, I did. Why?"
"It was so interesting, how it said that it had special powers! I wonder what special powers, b-b-buddy!"
Alex laughed heartily. "Did you believe a word of that, Roald?"
Roald smiled, blushing. "It might be true..." he murmured.
"There's always a chance. See you around, Roald." said Alex, continuing his walk to the store.
"Yeah, later, b-b-buddy."
'Feel free to browse, but try not to carouse!' Alex read the familiar slogan as he entered the store. This was repeated by the chubby raccoon behind the counter. Alex glanced round and saw something that would go well in his house.
"How much is this Spaceman Sam?" he asked hopefully, thumbing the bells in his pocket.
"It's a true bargain," replied Nook heartily. "Only 2,800 Bells!"
Alex expressed happiness. He had brought just enough with him. "Could I buy it then, please?" he said, taking a bag of bells from his pocket and holding them out.
"Yeah, sure." Nook picked up the space suit, and I immediately it turned into a small leaf.
"That's so handy," said Alex. He hadn't had this at home, but he had got used to it by now.
"Isn't it!" agreed Nook, taking the money and giving him the leaf.
"Thanks." said Alex, taking it. "See you around, Nookmeister!" Nook waved cheerily as he left the store. Outside, he stopped and smiled. He couldn't understand why some people thought he was a crook. He was as nice as pie, and he knew he hadn't been overcharged. In fact, in the Christmas Catalog sent by Jingle, he had seen the very same item priced at 3,200 Bells! He began to wander home through the snow laden trees.
When he reached home, he remembered that he hadn't checked his mail. How had he missed it with that beeping noise coming from it? The first letter was from Stinky, thanking him profusely for the pineapple bed. Alex smiled. Good old Stinky was always so nice. When Alex had heard that Stinky didn't have a bed as the last one had collapsed, he had decided that Stinky deserved a good turn. The next note was a gas bill, and the next was a letter from the Farway Museum congratulating him on completing the fossil collection at the Museum. The last was from Jingle, reminding him to order his presents soon. Alex brought all of them in and pinned them on his letter-board. He did this with all his letters, and when it was overflowing with notes, he took down the less important ones. He decided that these were important.
He went up to the top floor of his house, and fingered his chin thoughtfully. His top floor was set in space. He had designed his own starry floor at the tailors, which gave the illusion that one was floating in space. In the room he had a few asteroids, a flying saucer, a lunar lander (one of his most prized possessions), a lunar rover, a rocket, two satellites, a space shuttle, a space station, and now a Spaceman Sam. He decided to put it next to the Space Shuttle, and it looked as though it was about to get in. The walls, too, were of a space theme, it was a lunar horizon, stretching far into the distance. He smiled satisfactorily, and descended the stairs.
Alex stood outside his house and breathed in the fresh air. He was in a charitable mood, so he decided to help the animals for the morning. He quickly perused his map, and noticed that Paolo was nearest. He made his way there. Paolo was standing outside shaking trees. He turned at the crunch of footsteps in the snow and hailed his friend.
"Hi there! Why are you here this fine day, pal?" he said loudly.
"I'm just fine, Paolo. Need any help with something?" queried Alex helpfully.
Paolo's face lit up. "Yes, there is something. My little sis really wants a bug for her birthday present, and I'm determined to get it for her. Problem is, I kind of promised," Paolo shuffled his feet. "And I'm not much of a bug catcher myself..."
Alex knew his friend well, and smiled. "Yes?" he said encouragingly.
"D'you think you could catch a bug for me, pal?" Paolo blurted.
"Sure, just leave it to me, my friend." grinned Alex.
Paolo's face lit up. "Wow! You're great, pal. See you later."
The young mantis crawled quietly through the snow. He thought he could hear a tiny sound, but dismissed it. Alex had made the noise, and was now creeping silently towards his prey. He was almost overwhelmed to hum some dramatic music, but realised that this would make the bug alert of his arrival, so he just concentrated on the mantis. He raised his net above his head, and brought it down, whistling, through the air. The first the mantis knew of it was being suddenly caught up in some sort of...spider's web?... and being lifted high into the air. Alex looked at the mantis appreciatively. It was a nice, sleek one. He put it in a jar with small air holes, and began to make his way back to Paolo.
Paolo was still shaking the trees in vain. He said without turning round, "Had any luck yet? I haven't, pal..." his eyes widened as Alex brandished the mantis in the jar.
"Pal, you're a star!" he cheered, carefully taking the jar and pushing his face close to it. "My little sis will be so pleased! I gotta thank you with something." He pulled out from his pocket a wad of paper. "How about writing paper?"
"Yeah, that would be great Paolo. Thanks," Alex said as he took the paper.
"No, thanks to you, pal!" smiled Paolo warmly. "Merry Christmas!"
Alex scanned the map again. He saw Gruff's house nearby, and headed there. Gruff was just coming out of his house when Alex arrived. He seemed to have got up on the wrong side of bed. He spoke grumpily until Alex offered his services, where he visibly brightened.
"Since you offered," he said, "I think Carmen has my glasses case, but I don't know why. She doesn't even have glasses! Maybe she likes the pattern on the case." He chuckled at his joke, and continued. "Will you do that for me, bleh-eh-eh?
"Yup, mark it done." said Alex warmly. He set off to Carmen's house. Carmen wasn't there, but there was a note on the door, it read, "Out at Gwen's house." So that was where he headed.
The door was opened immediately after Alex's polite knock, and there stood Gwen.
"Could I speak to Carmen, please?"
"Yes, wait a second, h-h-hon." In a minute or so, Carmen appeared in the doorway.
"Hi there, Alex what do you wish with me?"
"This might sound weird," stated Alex, "but do you have Gruff's glasses case?"
"Oh yes, I do." Carmen said guiltily, taking it out of her pocket. "Could you return it for me, bumpkin?"
"You took the words right out of my mouth," smiled Alex amicably, taking it. "Don't worry, I'll apologize for you!"
Carmen thanked him, "It's so kind of you, bumpkin."
"No problemo," beamed Alex "See you."
"Well done," muttered Gruff pleasantly. "Thanks a lot, bleh-eh-eh. I suppose you deserve this," he produced a leaf, "for your troubles."
"Cheers, Gruff, ciao." Alex took the leaf and departed.
When Alex got home, he checked his bedside clock. 1:00! Yikes! Where had the morning gone? He began to prepare his lunch. No matter what some people said, he thought, as he discovered that the leaf was a famous painting, which he had been wanting to get for ages, California is the nicest town on earth.