>
>
> VII
TOM: Chapter Five, Part II.
>
> PADDY MUSKRAT'S BLUNDER
CROW: [ As Emily Litella ] 'What's all this about Paddy Muskrat's bladder?'
>
> Sometimes Grumpy Weasel found the hunting poor along
> the stretch of stone wall that he called his own
JOEL: Maybe Grumpy should take up gathering?
> ---though of
> course it really belonged to Farmer Green.
TOM: [ As Grumpy ] 'I own it by virtue of working the hunting grounds! Read your Locke!'
CROW: [ Pointlessly hostile ] *You* read *your* Locke.
> And though he
> disliked to wander much in strange neighborhoods,
JOEL: ... he likes the way his existing drives the Nextdoor biddies crazy.
> once in a
> while he visited other parts of Pleasant Valley.
CROW: Sometimes he wanders all the way to Simply Passable Hill or Mediocre Brook. Once even to Disappointing Meadow.
JOEL: Mister Meadow Mouse likes it.
>
> It was on such an excursion to the bank of the mill
> pond
TOM: o/` Down by the old mill pond ... o/`
> that he caught sight, one day, of Paddy Muskrat
CROW: I want to call him Paddy O'Muskrat for some reason.
> ---or to
> be more exact, that Paddy Muskrat caught sight of him.
JOEL: You know a caught sight is the most dangerous of all.
>
> Now it was seldom that anybody spoke to Grumpy
> Weasel.
CROW: And when they did it was about who has the deed to the garden wall.
> On the contrary, most of the forest-folk dodged out
> of sight whenever they saw him, and said nothing.
TOM: Wait, nobody likes Grumpy Weasel, nobody likes Fatty Raccoon, does Arthur Scott Bailey have any protagonists he *wants* to spend time with?
> So he
> wheeled like a flash and started to run when somebody called,
> "Hullo, stranger!"
CROW: He's being visited by the Barbara Lewis?
>
> One quick backward glance at a small wet head in the
> water told Grumpy that he had nothing to fear.
JOEL: In hopes that Saint Nicholas soon would be here ...
>
> "Hullo, yourself!" he retorted "And you'd better not
> call me 'stranger,' because I'm no stranger than you are."
TOM: Well, how strange are you?
CROW: Anyone who boasts about how strange they are is about as strange as white broccoli pizza.
>
> Well, Paddy Muskrat---for it was he who had spied
> Grumpy Weasel on the bank of the pond---
JOEL: No, not *that* Paddy Muskrat, the other one.
> saw at once that
> whoever the slender and elegant person might be,
TOM: Nick Charles?!
> he had the
> worst of manners. Though Paddy had lived in the mill pond a
> long time, he had never met any one that looked exactly like
> the newcomer.
CROW: Isn't that how newcomers work?
JOEL: Not if you're clones.
CROW: Oh.
> To be sure, there was Peter Mink, who was
> long-bodied and short-tempered,
TOM: [ As Peter Mink, from far off ] 'Hey! Why pick on me?'
> as the stranger appeared to
> be. But when Paddy inquired whether the visitor wasn't a
> distant connection of the Mink family (as indeed he was!),
CROW: [ As Emily Litella ] 'The *Pink* Family?'
> Grumpy Weasel said, "What! Do you mean to insult me by asking
> whether I'm related to such a ragged, ruffianly crowd?"
TOM: 'Ruffianly'?
>
> Somehow Paddy Muskrat rather liked that answer,
JOEL: 'Ruffianly', yeah, we got us a stranger who says things like 'ruffianly'.
> for
> Peter Mink and all his family were fine swimmers and most
> unwelcome in the mill pond.
TOM: Just ... just because he doesn't like Peter Mink doesn't mean he can't swim.
>
> And perhaps---who knew?---
JOEL: It is a crazy, mixed-up world.
> perhaps the spic-and-span
> chap on the bank,
CROW: Felix Otter!
> with the sleek coat and black-tipped tail,
TOM: Puttin' on the ritz!
> was one of the kind that didn't like to get his feet wet.
JOEL: That he was wearing his swimming trunks suggests otherwise, though.
>
> Then Paddy Muskrat asked the stranger a silly
> question.
TOM: 'If you could trade tongues with someone, who would it be?'
> He was not the wisest person, anyhow, in Pleasant
> Valley, as his wife often reminded him.
CROW: Oh you know women, always reminding you of the existence of wiser muskrats in the valley.
> "You're not a distant
> relation of Tommy Fox, are you?" he inquired.
TOM: Tommy Fox, the lowland tenrec?
>
> Grumpy Weasel actually almost smiled.
JOEL: [ As Grumpy, hollering in pain ] 'AAAAUGH!'
>
> "Now, how did you happen to guess that?" he asked.
CROW: [ As Grumpy ] 'Because, man, if that idea ust popped into your head you're a sack of doorknobs!'
>
> "Because you've got such a sharp nose," Paddy Muskrat
> replied.
JOEL: You know what they say, sharp nose, warm heart.
> And he was quite pleased with himself, for he
> thought that he wasn't so stupid as some people thought.
TOM: Oh ... oh, honey, please, sit down before you hurt yourself.
>
> "Any other reason?" Grumpy Weasel inquired, stepping
> to the edge of the overhanging bank.
CROW: Look out, Paddy, it's a trap!
>
> "You don't like to get your feet wet," Paddy Muskrat
> said.
TOM: Objection, assumes personality traits not in evidence.
> And feeling safe as anything, he swam nearer the spot
> where the stranger was crouching.
JOEL: Just think of being the phone company guy walking Paddy through moving his SIM card.
>
> Paddy saw, almost too late, that he had made a bad
> blunder.
CROW: Can't you even tell a cabbage from a lettuce?!
> For without the slightest warning Grumpy Weasel
> leaped at him.
JOEL: Aaah! Snuggle party!
> And had not Paddy been a wonderful swimmer and
> able to dive like a flash,
TOM: What, *nekkid*?!
> he would never have dashed,
> panting, into his house a few moments later.
>
> "What on earth is the matter?" his wife asked him.
CROW: [ As Paddy ] 'NOTHING! Nothing, uh, nothing ... listen, we don't have any holes on us, do we?'
>
> "I've been having a swimming race with a stranger,"
JOEL: Seems more like a diving race to me?
> Paddy explained. "I don't know his name. But I do know that
> he'd just as soon get his feet wet as I would."
TOM: [ As Mrs Muskrat ] 'Why would you want to get his feet wet?'
>
> "Well, why not?" Mrs. Muskrat inquired. "That only
> shows he's sensible."
CROW: He can see, hear, smell, touch, *and* taste!
TOM: Can't trust a stranger you don't ever lick.
>
> "Does it show I'm sensible, too?" Paddy asked her.
JOEL: I don't know, can you be licked?
>
> "Certainly not!" said Mrs. Muskrat.
TOM: D'oh!
- End of Chapter 7
--
Joseph Nebus
Math Blog:
https://nebusresearch.wordpress.com
Humor Blog:
https://nebushumor.wordpress.com
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