Suspicious Looking Visitors

POOH

"Hum, dum, de-dum," hummed Pooh. He had just finished pot #8 of his 10 pots of honey. With a sigh, Pooh realized that while he should have been completely content, he was not. Something was wrong. He looked around his tree for an outward sign of what was the matter. He couldn't see anything, and he couldn't grasp what he meant, exactly, but nonetheless Pooh knew that all was not well. There was a sinister feeling--a smell in the air of something foreboding.

"Oh, bother," said Pooh. "I guess I'll just have to go and talk to Christopher Robin about it." So he stumped over to Christopher Robin's treehouse. It was a cold, foggy winter day, and no one was about but he, yet somehow he got the feeling he was being watched.

When he arrived at Christopher Robin's treehouse he was happy to see Christopher Robin outside and busy working on something. He stumped over to Christopher Robin's side. "Hullo, Christopher Robin," he said.

Christopher Robin jumped, obviously startled. Then he settled down. "Oh, it's you, Pooh," he said, relieved. "Silly old bear, coming up from behind like that. You sure did make me jump."

"Er, Christopher Robin," Pooh began disconcertedly.

"Yes, Bear?" Christopher responded. He was obviously not giving Pooh his whole attention. He seemed intent on getting a piece of string through a hole in a little tin can.

"Well, it's like this, you see," Pooh began. He paused, then started again. "Actually, it's a little more like this." He rubbed his nose and continued. "Well, it can't be that certain, if you know what I mean." Then he stopped and paused. "So, you see, what it all comes down to is I don't know what it is."

Christopher Robin stopped shoving string through the tin can and looked at Pooh. "Silly old bear," he said lovingly. "I know what it is. And that's why I've devised this simple Tool for Communication in Emergencies." Holding out the tin can and the string, he said to Pooh, "What do you see?"

"I see some string and a tin can, Christopher Robin," said Pooh, puzzled.

"Exactly!" triumphed Christopher. "And do you know what it makes? I'll tell you. Together with another can, it makes a Telephone. Here, I'll show you what I mean." Then Christopher Robin attached the string to another tin can, and handed one of the cans to Pooh. "Now hold the can to your ear, Pooh."

Pooh did so, and was surprised to hear Christopher Robin's voice clearly through the can. "Now take this back to your treehouse, Pooh, and see if it works from there." Pooh ambled back to his treehouse, and as the string was very long, it covered the distance. He held the can to his ear, and once again Christopher Robin's voice came through clear as a bell!

"So what do you think, Pooh?" Christopher Robin asked through the can.

"I will always come to you, Christopher Robin," Pooh responded, "for Help during Germanskies--or whatever that long word was you said."

PETE

Pete shivered, rolled over, and awoke. It took him a minute to realize his surroundings. It was just before sunrise, and he was in the middle of a cold and dark meadow. Slowly, he remembered where he was: the Meadow Without an Exit, where that evil fiend Moneymakers had trapped him and Sam. For a few seconds he felt paralyzed with hopelessness and despair. Then he looked to his side and noticed that Sam was still with him. There was still hope, then.

Some rustling in the bushes caused Sam to awake. Pete turned to see what had caused the rustling. It was Moneymakers.

"Relax," Moneymakers said soothingly. "I'm not going to hurt you guys. I'm here on direct orders from my superior."

Here Sam had to laugh. "Your SUPERIOR? That's a good one, Moneymakers. Aren't you the guy in charge?"

Suddenly Moneymakers looked like he was about to cry. "I was once, Sam," he said, almost nostalgically, "you remember--back when I owned the plane business." A single tear dripped from his left eye.

"I remember," said Sam patiently.

"All that has changed now," Moneymakers continued. "I work for a nice fellow, now. He is very caring. He has high ambitions. And I like my work. But sometimes, I just wish...." Here Moneymakers turned away. "That is all," he choked, struggling to get the words out.

Pete and Sam exchanged puzzled glances. "What's the guy's name, Moneymakers?" Pete asked.

Suddenly Moneymakers' mood changed drastically. "What's it to you?" he growled. "That's confidential info. Anyhow, let it be known that I don't take anything from anybody. What I came here to say is, Pete, you have the opportunity to be a leader in our organization. Ha!--as if you could handle it."

"What organization?" asked Pete, puzzled. "I don't understand."

"Oh, you will soon, Pete," said Moneymakers menacingly. "You will soon. I'll be back here tomorrow to take you to the official interview. Heh heh heh...."

"But--but--" Pete stammered as Moneymakers retreated into the fog.

After Moneymakers was out of sight, Pete turned to Sam. "I don't understand this," he said, confused. "I thought Moneymakers was the head honcho. This thing must be bigger than we think! But tomorrow, when I get to meet that dude with no name, he better watch out. I'm gonna tear him to pieces!"

Sam was smarter than Pete, and calmer, too. He knew that whatever the reasons the "organization" had for picking Pete, one of them had to be that Pete was not a conniver. Pete was too dumb to make plans, but he readily followed orders. "Listen, Pete," said Sam. "You're going to do well in this interview tomorrow. We want you to be a leader."

"HUH?" growled Pete.

"I know it doesn't make sense now, Pete," said Sam, "but hopefully it will soon. You see, as a leader you will possibly get more chances to make decisions. You might be able to find us a way out of this place. Sort of like a traitor to the cause. Do you get it?"

Once Pete understood Sam's reasoning, he liked the idea, and agreed to do well in the interview the next day.

EDDIE

It was also early morning at the Alligator Smugglers' Hideout, where Eddie lay sleeping. Lola Lizard and Happy Harry were already up, even though it was only 6 am. They were busy playing a complicated game, the winner of which got to drink coffee out of the huge grandfather-sized alligator coffee mug.

"Ah HA! You lose that round, Harry," Lola shrieked in glee. "Now the score is tied at 2-2. Time for sudden death!"

A downcast Harry got ready for sudden death. He did not like sudden death. The winner of sudden death was the one who could play dead the most suddenly, and judging was very subjective. There were often bitter arguments about who won. Nonetheless, he wanted that coffee mug, so he got ready....

Suddenly there came a knock at the door. Harry answered it, and a toothless alligator entered. He introduced himself as the Caped Toreador, and said that he had a case for Eddie. But neither Lola nor Harry liked the look of the newcomer, so they told him that Eddie was out and that they did not know where he was.

The alligator pointed a paw at Lola and Harry, making them shiver. "You LIE!" he screamed. "He is in this house sleeping, and I'm going to find him."
A slightly disturbed Eddie woke up to hear commotion on the stairs. "What's going on?" he mumbled to himself. Suddenly he was looking into the eyes of the toothless alligator. "What's going on?" he yelped, louder this time.

Once Lola Lizard and Happy Harry had regained their senses, they rushed up the stairs to see what they could do, and if Eddie was in any danger. When they reached his room there was no sign of him or the toothless alligator anywhere. They searched far and wide but found nothing. Finally, they knew that there was nothing further that they could do, and that they would just had to wait to see what would happen next. Suddenly, drinking out of the alligator coffee mug didn't seem so important anymore.

RABBIT

It wasn't a good gardening day, but nonetheless Rabbit always got up early to see what was going on in his garden. On this particular morning Rabbit was more busy complaining than he was doing anything else. "And these carrots," Rabbit grumbled. "Someone keeps trampling over my carrots. I've got to do something about this. There's no concern for people's property around these parts. And these radishes--pitiful.... Hullo, what's this?"

Suddenly, Rabbit was face-to-face with an alligator dressed in a business suit. "Don't worry, I won't hurt you," said the Alligator. "My name is Greg. Can you tell me who the leader is around these parts?"

Rabbit had been about ready to scurry off into his hole, but this was the type of question he couldn't bear not to answer. "Well, Greg," he said nonchalantly, "there are those who would say that Christopher Robin is our leader, but there are also an equal amount, I dare say, who would call me their leader. I'm awfully important around here, as they say. What can I do for you?"

Here Greg paused, as if he were choosing the right words to say. "It has come to the attention of the Federal Investigation Bureau (commonly called FIB) that two alligators were kidnapped around these parts. Do you know anything about this?"

Rabbit responded, "I know only what I've heard. The alligators' names are Pete and Sam, and they were kidnapped while trying to save my dear friend Pooh and the Grey Donkey Eeyore."

"Such is what I'd heard as well," Greg agreed. "I'm hear to conduct an investigation, and see what we can do to get those alligators back. Do you mind if I stick around a while, to see what sort of information I can dig up? Eventually, we might be fortunate enough to organize a posse and go in and save those alligators."

"You seem like a sensible fellow to me," said Rabbit. "Go ahead. I would be very much appreciative."

And so it was that a new fellow by the name of Greg joined the Hundred Acre Wood for a while, much to Christopher Robin's dismay. Christopher Robin talked to Pooh about it over the Telephone, and he said, "I do not like what's going on here. Something is building up here that is not right at all. But I don't know what to do about it just yet."

CUMBERCUTTER

Pete and Sam continued to bide their time in the Meadow Without an Exit. Little did they know that secret spies were watching their every move. Moneymakers had many akryteses that worked for him. The one that happened to be on duty when Sam told Pete his idea, about how Pete should behave in the interview, was CumberCutter. At the mere mention of foul play, CumberCutter's ears perked up significantly.

"Hmmm," mused CumberCutter. "This sounds like an interesting morsel to tell to the boss." Off CumberCutter slithered to reveal the espionage to his superior. He found Moneymakers sitting atop a high rock.

"Ah hum", said CumberCutter.

Moneymakers looked up, startled. "Ah, CumberCutter, it is you," he said. "What tidings do you bring?"

CumberCutter told Moneymakers the whole story--about how Sam intended to have Pete play the part of an obedient employee in order to use him to their Benefit.

"Well, then, that's a good bit," agreed Moneymakers. "Well, listen carefully, and I'll tell you what we're going to do. We're going to let Sam play his little game. And we're going to let Pete get his high position in the organization. But, here is the catch. He will only have a PUPPET position. And he will work directly with the Toothless Alligator."

Here Moneymakers paused, and a slow smile came to the faces of both Moneymakers and CumberCutter. For the Toothless Alligator was a creature greatly to be feared. Long ago, when the Toothless Alligator was yet young, the Toothless Alligator had--you guessed it--lost his teeth. And to this day, as a result, the Toothless Alligator is resentful, because all alligators MUST HAVE TEETH in order to be respected in alligator society.

"Ah, yes, Moneymakers," CumberCutter agreed sinisterly. "You're very clever. Pete will never guess that he's getting himself into an even worse mess by trying to be sneaky."

"If Pete and Sam want to play hardball," Moneymakers agreed, "that's what they're going to get."

With that, Moneymakers went on his way, chuckling to himself. For Moneymakers had long hoped that his friendship with the Toothless Alligator would help him someday. Now, he had a plan that would requite all of the times that the Alligator Smugglers had gotten the best of him. Pete was going to be sorry he had ever messed with Moneymakers and his clan. For the Toothless Alligator had ways of making other alligators feel very, very uncomfortable. And Moneymakers had a suspicion that the Toothless Alligator wasn't about to let him down with Pete.

THE TOOTHLESS ALLIGATOR

The Toothless Alligator, as you may recall, disappeared with Eddie in the third chapter. Lola and Harry searched long and hard for Eddie, but they could not find him. What Lola and Harry failed to notice was that the time machine was gone as well.

You guessed it, the Toothless Alligator with all of his conniving wisdom had forced Eddie into the time machine with him, and they had gone for a little vacation.

Inside the time machine, the Toothless Alligator made himself comfortable. "So, little guy," he began. "You're scared, huh?" Obviously, the Toothless Alligator was enjoying himself.

Eddie scrunched himself closer into the far corner and shut his eyes. "Maybe, if I pretend I'm not here, I won't be," he thought. "What can I do to get out of here?" There was indeed no way out for the poor little alligator, and seeing this, Eddie began to sniffle.

"So!" the Toothless Alligator menaced. "You've never been abducted by an evil, gruesome, UGLY toothless alligator before, have you?"

Slowly and cautiously Eddie shook his head. The experience was already far removed from reality, and Eddie had no bearing on what he should do or say next. "N-n-n-no, I haven't been ab-abdicated before, and I DON'T think you're ugly." Given the current situation, that was the best Eddie could do.

"Well--huh." gruffed the Toothless Alligator. Eddie's backhanded compliment had caught him off guard. "Well, I-uh-don't suppose you think I'm okay-looking, do you?"

Eddie looked the Toothless Alligator over. The Toothless Alligator happened to have his mouth closed at the time of the looking. "You're okay-looking," Eddie said.

"Well, yeah. Yeah, I guess I am. Yeah, after all, you're right. I AM handsome. And you're not that bad of an alligator, after all." And with that, the Toothless Alligator smiled across the time machine at Eddie.

But this happened to be the first time that Eddie had gotten a good look at the Toothless Alligator while his mouth was open. And Eddie began to scream. At the first sign of the scream, the Toothless Alligator's heart sank back into his shoes. And he once again became surly and angry. This time, however, the letdown was more than he could take. Without thinking, he lunged at Eddie. Eddie barely had time to get out the words, "You haven't got any teeth EITHER?" before the Toothless Alligator was at Eddie's throat.

Fortunately, the Toothless Alligator heard Eddie's question in time, and he was able to turn his aggressive lunge into a Look-I'm-Closer-to-you-so-that-you-can-see-I-have-no-Teeth type of gesture. Eddie promptly responded by showing the Toothless Alligator that he had no teeth either. Suddenly, the Toothless Alligator was much more friendly towards Eddie. Eddie decided not to say that the only reason he had no teeth was because he was still a baby.

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