It was just another day, like usual, for Calvin. He was out shopping with his parents. As always, Calvin was griping and complaining. On the way home, they stopped at the party store.

"Why are we here?" asked Calvin.

"We are going to buy balloons and decorations for your birthday party tomorrow" his mom replied.

"Oh yeah! I totally forgot!"

Once they got home, Calvin told Hobbes all about his birthday tomorrow. "It's going to be great! Cake, presents, balloons, everything!"

When Calvin was going on and on about his party, Hobbes thought to himself "Oh, man! I forgot to get Calvin a present. I better go get one. But Calvin is my best friend, he deserves something REALLY awesome.

Late that night, when everyone was asleep, Hobbes tiptoed out of bed and left the house. He got into the wagon and sped off down the road and into the city. He skidded and swerved as the people in the cars said "What the heck is a stuffed animal in a wagon doing out here?" Later on, Hobbes reached downtown. It was brightly lit with neon signs and lamp posts. Hobbes parked the wagon in a parking lot and got out. "Now what should I get Calvin for his birthday? Maybe an action figure or something."

Hobbes looked in the windows of closed stores. He saw cool stuff. A box of crayons, a kite, a board game, a RC car, but what should he get for Calvin? As Hobbes walked along, a pair of eyes peeked out of a trash can and watched him. Hobbes looked back, and the eyes quickly hid again. Hobbes walked up to the trash can and opened the lid. He looked inside "Hello?"

POP! A cat jumped out of the can so fast a bunch of trash flew out.

"Who're you?" the cat asked "Never seen you around here before."

"I'm Hobbes" said Hobbes "What are you doing at the bottom of the trash can?"

"Oh, looking for dinner. You can't get an easy meal in this town, y'know. By the way, I'm Shreddie. "

"Nice to meet you. I'm looking for something for a friend of mine."

"Then you found the right guy. Come with me."

Shreddie took Hobbes into an alley. There was graffiti on the walls and broken windows.

"Spooky." shivered Hobbes.

Once they got to the end of the alley, there was a row of empty trash cans. Shreddie jumped up onto them.

"Welcome to Shreddie's Gift Shop of Valuable Stuff." he announced. He reached behind the cans and pulled out a box full of leftover bits and bobs. "Have a look from our clearance bin, sir. All products have been chosen with quality. Everything must go!"

Hobbes dug around in the box. There were Happy Meal toys with parts missing, empty lighters, a sock, a broken watch, a few dead bugs, half-eaten corn dogs, and even a dirty diaper!

"Ewwww! Where did you find these?"

"Like I said, they've all been chosen with quality. I got these from my supplier, an old buddy of mine."

"Can I go see him?" asked Hobbes.

"Uh, I guess so..." stammered Shreddie "But if you have a complaint about the merchandise-" he pulled out another box with a hole in it "You can put in our customer service box."

"No, let's just go see your friend."

Hobbes and Shreddie walked across the city until Shreddie caught the whiff of something good. They followed the smell towards a night club across the street.

"'Club Hot Lips'" Hobbes read from the sign.

"I come here for dinner a lot. Come on, let's eat!"

They snuck inside through the air duct. The two friends heard laughter and loud music.

"Are you sure we should be doing this? Are you even 18 or older?"

"Just trust me, Hobbes. I score here all the time."

The air duct lead them to the kitchen where there was lots of good food. They immediately seized it. They started to eat when all of a sudden, a chef saw them.

"Hey! Get out of here, you mangy cat!"

He charged at them with his rolling pin. Shreddie picked up Hobbes and the food with his mouth and scrambled up the air duct again. Once they were safe outside, they ate.

After dinner, the two cats came to an old warehouse at the edge of the city. They walked inside the building, it was very dark. Then they came to the center of the warehouse, where a big gray cat was.

"Welcome back, Shreddie." it said "Who's your friend?"

"He's Hobbes." said Shreddie "Hobbes, meet Al."