Retold by Chloe L. with a little help from Raven T.

Ever wonder why Magenta and Mr. Jenkins never got along? Here's the whole story. A few shorts stories at a time, 3 or 4 every issue, the whole story will be told. 

Before reading this, I advise you to re-read the second issue of Mr. Jenkins' questions.

The Beginning

One night, a Wednesday, foggy, no visible moon, it was the perfect night for a pygmy chicken to be born. However, not only was a blue pygmy chicken born that night, but so was a hamster. Cute, small, innocent. She was named Magenta. The snake was named Xxxxxx Jenkins. Sorry I can't tell you his first name, he'll eat me. I can tell you, however, that his name is is 6 letters long. 

Xxxxxx did not like his name at all, it reminded him of sweet, innocent little kitty cats, which trashed his attitude quite a bit. So, as soon as he was old enough, Xxxxxx decided that he would go by Mr. Jenkins, or Jenkins among friends. One of these friends was, yes, Magenta. Strange, don't you think? It happened like this.

The Friendship

Jenkins was hungry. Very hungry. A rabbit or a vole sounded particularly tasty, but anything would do. He slithered through the grass, squinting through thick round glasses while searching for food. He said to himself, quietly: Come on Jenkins! Come on! There’s gotta be a yummy snack near here somewhere. Maybe a rabbit. Mmm . . . rabbit. 

Just then Magenta popped out of a burrow. 

"A snake with glasses? I've never seen one before! How strange! I didn’t know their were freakish blue snakes with glasses around here" Magenta laughed. She was a bit meaner back then than now, but hey, nobody's perfect. 

"Im not a snake, Im a pygmy chicken. And don’t make fun of me! I could eat you, a puny fur-ball, with a single bite!" Jenkins said. Magenta cracked up some more. 

"I thought snakes, er, pygmy chickens were SCARY! That didn’t sound quite right. What the heck is a pygmy chicken anyway?"

"I AM a pygmy chicken! And proud of it! I never saw a fur-ball with a birthmark like that!" Magenta who was cracking up more then ever paused and shot Jenkins a wicked look, “Its not my fault I have a slightly green patch!”.

    “Ha! Thats not slightly green! Thats more of a neon! And you insulted my glasses!” 

"I'm sorry, I don't mean to be rude, but it is a rather uncommon sight to see a snake with glasses. I could teach you to see properly if you don't eat me." Magenta offered. After much consideration, Jenkins finally agreed. Magenta jumped up and snatched his glasses then scampered away, Jenkins chased after her for a while and got eventually accustomed to not seeing and thanked Magenta.

    “Now Magenta, lets get rid of that birthmark” Jenkins picked her up and put her in a bucket of ice cold water. Magenta forgave Jenkins because he got rid of her  birthmark (which came from forgetting to put the lid on a permanent marker on and then falling asleep on it) Through this, they became the best of friends.

So, if Xxxxxx/Jenkins and Magenta were such profound friends, what ever happened? you may ask. Well, that is another story, but I suppose I shall tell it anyway. 

The Feud

After a bit, Magenta had eased Jenkins right through his sight problem, and they, as I said, were good friends. Best friends, if you will. Anyway, Magenta had always wondered what Jenkins' first name was. She knew that it was 6 letters long, but, like you, that was all. One day, she began to further pursue the matter. (It's fun to talk all fancy-ish, you should try it sometime.)

"Jenkins?" Magenta began, nervously. 

"Yes?"

"I really do want to know your first name,"

"I've told you, it's too embarrassing."

"I won't tease you,"

"You teased me about my glasses."

"That was a long time ago. And, I did apologize, and helped you, and now, look. No glasses!"

"Look, Magenta, I don't want to eat you!"

"Oh, that again. You honestly can't expect me to believe that, can you? You don't have to eat me!"

"Do too."

"Oh, for crying out loud, just tell me and get it over with!"

"No!"

"Yes!"

"No!"

"Yes!"

"No!"

"Yes!"

"No!"

"Yes!"

"No!"

"Yes!"

"No!"

"Yes!"

"No!"

"Yes!"

"No!"

"Yes!"

"No!"

"Yes!"

"No!"

"No!"

"Yes!"

"Ok!"

"You tricked me!"

"I didn’t."

"Fine, but promise you won’t laugh?"

"Promise."

"OK, it's--it's--it's . . . Xxxxxx."

"Oh, that's it? That's not so bad. It's not like, like, SHELDON or anything."

"I'm sorry, Magenta, but I have to eat you now."

"Yeah, right!"

"No, I'm serious," Jenkins said, sadly.

"WHAT?!?!?!" Magenta exclaimed. And, Jenkins began to slither around the room after Magenta. He really didn't have to. She didn't laugh at him and he could have let it go right then and there. Even he thinks so, although he would never ever admit it. Always a bit of a drama queen/king, Xxxxxx. Because of that trait, his former friend is now his mortal enemy. Sad, really.

So, I believe I owe you one more story. . . How about . . . Oh, I know! How they came to work at TextBunnys! That's a classic!

The Hiring

It had been a while since the whole My name is Xxxxxx, and now I must eat you thing, and each animal was waiting for the other to apologize. The still are, to my knowledge. Anyway, Magenta was grown up and now needed a job. No, most hamsters don't have or want jobs, but Magenta isn't like most hamsters, doesn't wanna be, either. So, she was leafing through the paper one day when she saw a HELP! Wanted ad for an E-Zine. An advise columnist. Perfect! Magenta loved magazines, particularly E-Zines, and all her friends always went to her for advise. After all, who was it who rid Xxxxxx of his blindness? Anyway, Magenta applied for the job. So, to her surprise, did Jenkins. This angered them further, and caused a large argument. Soon Magenta was told she was picked for the job. As she went to Jenkins to brag, she nearly knocked him over. 

"I got the job!!" Each boasted at the same time, "WHAT??" Each was extremely confused. Apparently, there was confusion about who would do the job interview and two people did it. Oops. Anyway, here are some tidbits of the conversation that went on when the correct interviewer was chosen.

"He doesn't give good advise at ALL! It would be all silly answers, and you'd have to ask rather silly questions as well!" Magenta exploded.

"I do not! Anyway, everyone loves a bit of good old random fun, right?"

"No!"

"Yes!"

"No!"

    “Yes!” Then they were stopped. Thank goodness for that. 

"Well, I suppose two advise columns couldn't hurt," Said Chloe, one of the interviewers. 

"No, I guess not," Answered Raven, the other interviewer.

"In fact, everyone DOES love a bit of randomness, so we could have one funny column for the magazine, where you ask silly questions and get ridiculous answers, and one real advise column. OK?" Chloe said, turning to Mr. Jenkins and Magenta. They stared at each other for a long time. Finally:

"FINE! Just as long as I don't have to sit with him, talk to him, talk about him, or even think about him in any way," Exploded Magenta.

"Not like I'm in any hurry to be any where near you!"

"Oh really? I'll bet that's true! You'd love to be near me so you could EAT ME!!" Raged Magenta.

"OK, OK, guys. You're both hired. You fight like this publicly and you're both fired." Now, Magenta and Mr. Jenkins have fought like this in public, many times actually. But, the TextBunnys EZine team is too nice to fire them, their fighting has made them a big hit, anyway . . .

The End (For Now . . .)

And so, that's the last of our stories about Magenta and Mr. Jenkins for now, but tune in next month, we'll have plenty more each issue!