Ten clams. That was all. Clams saved one and two at a time by spinning the skater and trying in vain to fly that blasted balloon. She kept her clams in a jar in the apartment that she rented over a cheese shoppe in Myville. She counted them again. Only six clams to buy a present for her BF. And the next day was Christmas. There was clearly nothing to do but move her budget priced head to the ratty old couch and cry.

All alone on the roof of the Sun Spot sat the head of a boy. He was looking rather sad. And the fact that he could only afford a single left ear, leaving him horribly lopsided, didn't help. " :-( ," he typed to nobody in particular. Tomorrow was Christmas and he only had five clams. He thought of his wonderful GF and his heart sank. She worked so hard to earn clams and never spent any of them on herself. She went without fancy hair buns or glitter and got by with a donated pair of off-sized glasses with beady eyes. Christmas was the very next day. He recounted his 5 clams and typed, "sigh."

Many hours had been spent imagining what they would buy each other at Akbar's. She had wanted so much to purchase a brand new right ear for him. And he had been saving for a pair of Ocean Green, Glitter-Streaked Eyelashes. But, somehow neither one of them had managed to save enough clams for their gift.

His thoughts turned to his ear. He liked it. In fact, he loved it, and he desperately wanted another one. He knew he might have half a chance at being good-lookin' if he were more symmetrical. But then he thought of his GF again, and decided that he had the rest of his life to be symmetrical. He took the bus to the Trading Post and slammed his ear down on the table. "Take it! The love that I have for my GF is more important than this stupid ear!" Then he took his round head and his clams to Akbar's and purchased the eyelashes that he knew his GF would adore.

She looked at herself in the mirror and took a deep breath. "It's now or never," she thought. She hurried down the winding road to Whyville Square. When she got there, she asked everybody she could find, "Would somebody like to buy these eyes and glasses?" Finally, someone took pity on her and offered to buy them.

She didn't even blink when she took off her eyes and glasses and sent them to the person. As soon as she got the ClamGram, she bumped her way to Akbar's, where he gave her what he promised was the most perfect right ear money could buy.

She clutched the ear to her heart and pointed her head in the general direction of her BF's house. Twelve hours later, the Whyville Taxi, having almost flattened her in the road, dropped her off at her BF's door. Her remaining two clams just paid for the cab.

Unable to find the doorbell, she called her sweetheart's name, intermittently thumping her head loudly on the door. Where was he?! She couldn't wait for him to open his present!

He was sitting comfortably in front of the fireplace, his back to the front door, earless and happy. He did wonder occasionally where she could be. He couldn't wait for her to open her present!

Later that night, he opened the door to throw the cat out and saw her there, eyeless and freezing. He looked in horror at her. "Darling, where are your eyes?!" he cried and led her toward the warmth of the fire.

"I've traded in my eyes for your Christmas present! I don't need eyes or dorky glasses to know how special you are to me! You are more important than any old pair of beady eyes! You'll never guess what I got for you!"

He nodded, smiling, and thought to himself, "What is she saying?"

"Here is your present!" She gently pressed his new ear into place.

Quickly taking the ear from the hanging plant (courtesy of Grandma's Charity Bin) where she'd mistakenly stuck it, he put it in its correct place on the right side of his head. It was a perfect fit and he was momentarily overjoyed. Then, he remembered her sacrifice.

He ended up having to open her present for her, sick inside as he tried to describe the delicate lashes that would never grace her eyelids. "Well, there are two... and they are pretty fluffy. They're long and shimmery and laced with glitter..."

Before he could utter another word, she squealed with delight, "FUZZY HAIR CLIPS! That's EXACTLY what I wanted! How did you know?!"

After he explained to her that they were Ocean Green, Glitter-Streaked Eyelashes, not Fuzzy Hair Clips, she smiled happily and said, "It doesn't matter that they're eyelashes. They'll look perfect as air clips anyways. I just know they'd be gorgeous!"

So, for the rest of the evening, they sat together by the fire. She, talking into the wrong side of his earless head, and he avoiding the unsettling gaze of the false eyelashes she'd carefully arranged in her hair. But most important of all, they were together, and they were happy.