NC2 - Hobbit Ribbon (standard:other, 933 words)
Author: Freya Griffin	Added: Jun 24 2005	Views/Reads: 3294/2220	Story vote: 0.00 (0 votes)
The latest member of the Ribbon Family adopted by Jack

Hobbit Ribbon 

by Freya G 

Since the Ribbons kids could remember, mother was always so strict about
having had to buy things. She never quite believed in the economical 
trade system. 

Most of the things they had at home, except for the house itself which
was bought from the developer, were home-grown or self-made; excavated 
from the neighborhood's disposal center, or a prize from a hunting game 
in flea markets. Not because they don't have any money to buy new ones, 
but simply because mother and father believes that recycling is one of 
the many things human can do in repaying their debts to mother-nature. 
For the Ribbons, consumerism is the axis of all evils. 

Kids at school would make fun of the Ribbons kids for wearing
second-hand stuffs, or for not having the latest toy or whatever trend 
available for kids their age. Susan was quite okay with the 
name-calling. Although once she proceeded with punching a boy in the 
mouth after being called ‘garbage girl'. The boy lost a tooth, the 
cafeteria was in riot, father got called to the principle's office, and 
Susan had to stay in her room for a week. The good thing that came out 
of it was nobody called her garbage girl again. 

Jack, on the other hand, didn't handle it as good as Susan did. In
second year, he broke down in tears when every boy in his class had the 
latest merchandise of the morphing robot squads that had became a big 
hit on tv. The drama continued with Jack refusing going to school the 
next day. 

Mother and father had a talk and decided to let Jack stayed at home. He
was quite happy the first day of no school. The second day winded up 
slow. By the third day, Jack voluntarily woke up early and went back to 
his old classroom. He still complained about not having the most modern 
toys like his friends did, but mother always succeeded in pointing out 
what's necessary and what's not in one's life. 

Ever since Jack's drama, the house became TV-less. 

And so, the Ribbons kids were trained hard to be eco-warriors since a
very, very tender age. 

One day, at age 8, Jack discovered that his classmate, Steven, age 8 and
a half, owned a pet rabbit. Being cotton white, it was promptly named 
Snow. The rabbit was wonderfully friendly to humans. Being a natural 
naturalist, Jack decided to ask for a pet rabbit to his parents. 

“Steven has one!” 

“You will get bored with it soon, and then we have to bother finding a
new owner for the poor rabbit,” was his father's reaction. 

“But Susan has her goldfishes! I want a pet too!” Jack is never known as
being meek. 

“Susan takes care of her goldfishes and she already has them for two
years.” 

“I can take care of my rabbit. I will feed it, and play with it, and
clean the cage.” 

Mother intervened the debate since father was about to lose one
argumentation away. 

“If you want it so much, you will have to know where to get it, will you
able to keep it for a long term, how much it will cost us for as long 
as it stays here with us, will you be able to fix it, and make really 
sure that you won't get bored of it and to never abandon it.” And said 
it with one breath. 

Basically Jack wouldn't want to settle with a no. With his mind set on
owning a pet rabbit, Jack launched a week full of research. He reported 
his progress of findings to his mother everyday. 



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