Half a Million

Amy’s Tale – Serena’s Passion

I tried to be as quiet as possible but that was hard to do with all the girls in my room. Serena and Raye were at it again, arguing over something that both wanted to see but probably neither could understand. They will always be like that but they are the best of friends. I wish I could be like that with someone some day, just able to say or do anything with him or her and know that they love me no matter. Lita, as always, was in the kitchen preparing a meal for all of us. She is so quiet at her work, always producing a meal that is better than the one before – one day she will make a fortune cooking for others but now, we have her to ourselves.

Mina? She’s away with her family, she is so happy and since she has taken the cats with her, Luna is not arguing with Serena about her duty. Even for a cat, she can get bothersome at times. Serena will grow into her responsibilities; she just needs a little time.

What am I doing? Serena said that she heard of this “nifty” web page at school and just had to find it. So, it lies on my shoulders to fulfill her request, well, I guess that what friends are for in the long run but seeing the joy on her face is worth the effort.

Ever since Naoko-kun started to write about the exploits of the Sailor Warriors, Serena has been her biggest fan collecting everything that was produced. Sometimes I think that she has a huge ego, collecting Sailor Moon material, since she is Sailor Moon, but she collects everything … every doll, picture or writing. She holds them dear to her, treasuring each with a passion. She is Sailor Moon’s biggest fan.

She heard that there was this site, some Sailor Moon Image Archive that had hundreds of pictures, music, video, and stories. She just had to find it to see what it looked like. I started a word search for “Sailor Moon”, wow; so many sites with Sailor Moon on them. I better limit my search a bit, better not let Serena see this page, I never would be away from my computer if she knew that this many existed. Let’s see, “Sailor Moon Image Archive”, there that should limit it more. I think that’s the one, “Anime Hideaway Sailor Moon Image Archive”.

“Will all of you be quiet? I think I found it.” As the gathered over my shoulder, I click on the link. Comes up fast, good an index on the side. If this person had everything that he says on his links, well, he may have too much time on his hands. There are images, music, desktop themes, fan art, fan fiction, contests, and so many more things. Serena is going out of her mind. She doesn’t know where to start first; there are so many things she wants to see. “Serena, we don’t need to see everything at one time – here, I’ll bookmark the page for you so we can go back to it as much as we want.”

She looked over the page to see where she wanted to go first. As she was thinking, I noticed that the site was running a fan art contest to celebrate the five hundred thousandth hit to the site. At the rate the counter was moving, that would be within the next few months. Five hundred thousand hits, almost five thousand hits a week, I would love to work on a page that had that many hits. Must be popular with everyone. Maybe that’s the secret to a website, serve everyone, and leave no one out. Have pictures, music, and all those things for everyone; hit all the popular areas. Look, a bulletin board and a newsletter telling what’s new on the page.

Serena poked her finger at the screen, “Let’s see the new fan art for the contest”. I glared at Serena and she slowly moved her finger from the screen. “Sorry, Amy, I forgot. Never touch the screen. Bad girl, bad girl.” She looked at me and hugged my neck. How can you stay mad at someone like her, she doesn’t even realize how charming she can be at times. I click on the link she wanted. Her eyes immediately fell on a pencil drawing of the Moon Princess. Myself, I marveled at the talents of these artists. So many different ways of seeing us, each with their unique observations of how people see us, presented to the world on one page.

We spent the next two hours looking at all the pages. Serena was in her element; it was like … shopping for her. Raye just stood there with her arm holding Serena back from the screen but with a large smile on her face as she looked at Serena.

The doorbell rung and Lita went to answer it. “Hi, everyone” was all Mina said as she walked into the room. Her family poured in with the cats. Luna jumped on my shoulder, “Oh, Serena is at it again. She must have some kind of problem, always needed to boast herself up by looking at pictures of herself.” It started a shouting match between Serena and Luna with Raye just adding to the fire.

Half a million hits, I thought to myself. I’ll come back and give it a better going on when everyone leaves. “Everyone, dinner’s ready.” shouted Lita form the kitchen. The fight broke up with those words; Serena loves eating as much as fighting with Luna and Raye. Well. I better get me a sandwich. I’ll just download some of these pictures while I’m away eating. Maybe I get a disk of them burned for Serena. Yes, that would be a good birthday present for her.

I felt two loving arms hug me from behind. “You were always the most thoughtful of all the Sailors.” He said as he offered me his hand to walk to the dining room. One out of a half a million, now I knew what I was thinking when I was at the website. I was part of something special, a small part that made up the whole but like all the rest, I was so special that I was counted, a number all to myself.

Here’s to you, Art, and the next half million hits. Maybe someone can do a picture of Amy at her computer with all her friends around to go with this story.

Nova