"In a Pickle"
By Sharan McQuack, Launchpad's wife.
Loosely based on the story "Mickey Mouse and the Great Lot Plot" in "Disney's Two Minute stories with Mickey Mouse and Friends". In fact, " How Donald learned to fly a plane" was originally inspired by "Mickey Mouse Takes To The Sky" in which an stupid-looking perfect stranger duck named Ducky Lindy teaches Mickey how to fly a plane.
WHY would MICKEY MOUSE's nephews be playing in a vacant lot next to the Money Bin and WHY would they call Mr. McDuck "Uncle Scrooge"? Huh? (Actually, I think they did that a LOT in the 50's, but it doesn't make sense.)
Huey, Dewey and Louie were shocked. The vacant lot next to the Money Bin completely fenced off. One of those horrid "to be built here" signs was in it. Launchpad saw it and shook his head.
The vacant lot was where they played football and practiced baseball.
"Where will we play now?" they asked.
"In the lot the Jr. Woodchucks use for their games! This lot will become my new Pickle factory." Mr. McDuck said.
"But Unca Scrooge- that lot doesn't belong to the Jr. Woodchucks. We have to reserve it for our games. We can't just play there any time we like." Huey said.
"Besides, Mr. McD, the smell of the pickles will get into your money. Not to mention the noise. Will you be able to concentrate on counting money with a smelly, noisy factory next door?" Launchpad asked.
"And the factory will block the view of the Money Bin. You won't be able to see it from the Mansion any more. You know how much you like looking at the Money Bin from the Mansion." Dewey said.
" And you won't be able to see Bad Guys coming to attack the Money Bin from the Mansion, either!" Louie put in.
"Bah! The surveyors said they could fit the factory at the far end of the lot. I'll still be able to see the Bin and still see any bad guys coming! And the new factory will be noise-proof and smell-proof!" Mr. McDuck said.
Just then, a truck pulled up with three "people" in it. One of them said:
"You Scrooge McDuck? We're the surveyors. We've come to start surveying the land so you can build your new factory. "
"Eh? But you're not due here until tomorrow!" Mr. McDuck said.
"One of our clients had to reschedule. We came here early to see if we could start today." the second "surveyor" said.
"How'd you know he'd even be here? Our Unca Scrooge is a very busy man!" Huey asked, suspiciously.
"We didn't. But we have to pass by here to get back to our garage. We figured it couldn't hurt to stop and see if we can get an early start. That way maybe your Uncle Scrooge will hire us to do all his surveying work." the third said.
"Why didn't you call first?" Dewey asked.
"No cell phone. Just a CB radio to contact the garage. Besides, he's here, isn't he? It hardly hurt to stop a minute to see." the first "surveyor" said, smiling.
Neither the boys nor Launchpad liked that smile or trusted these three "surveyors" in the slightest.
"Boys, boys...these kind gentlemen have work to do. Please, start surveying right away so I can get my new Pickle factory built." Mr. McDuck said.
And Mr. McDuck quickly hustled the "surveyors" to work and went back into the Mansion before the boys could start nudging 1) him about their vacant lot again.
The Triplets and Launchpad watched as the "surveyors" started to unload their truck. The "surveyors" quickly got to work clearing the yard and looking thru a transit.(2)
Just as the Trins and Launchpad were starting to wonder if maybe these guys were legit after all, a dart flew from the "lens" end of the transit. The dart flew thru the air and embedded itself deep within the walls of the Money Bin. It used brick dust to camouflage the tiny tunnel it had dug, making the wall look whole.
"Did you guys see THAT?" Launchpad asked.
"Sure did. But Unca Scrooge didn't. He went back to the Mansion. That thing's got to be after our Unca Scrooge's got to warn him!" Huey said.
"He won't believe us! He'll think we're just being sneaky, trying to stop him from building on "our" vacant lot!" Dewey said.
"Maybe if we can get him out here...nah, there's nothing to see! The Money Bin's huge, we'll never find that tiny tunnel before Unca Scrooge runs out of patience!" Louie said.
"Dewey...you're the best hitter. If I pitch you a ball, do you think you can hit that little metal box ?" asked Launchpad, indicting a small metal box attached to the Money Bin.
"Sure..but what good will that do?" Dewey asked.
"That's the Fire Alarm. It sets off the Spinkler System. That's the only alarm on the Money Bin that I know where it's located and what it does. That dart tunneled itself in right under the Spinkler System...someplace." Launchpad began.
"But that's still too big an area to find such a tiny tunnel. If you bop that box with a baseball, the alarm will go off. Your Uncle Scrooge will get out here so fast the Starship Enterprise could not catch him at emergency warp speed nine. And the Sprinklers will start sprinkling." Launchpad said.
"With any kind of luck that dart will be washed out like the itsy-bitsy spider.(3) At the very least, water will run out of the tunnel it dug. And your Uncle Scrooge will see the water coming from a tunnel dug into the Money Bin." Launchpad added.
"Oh! THEN Unca Scrooge will know something rotten's going on here!" Dewey said.
So...Launchpad threw the baseball and Dewey hit it. The ball flew thru the air, and hit the Fire Alarm box smack in the middle. The Fire Alarm went off, the sprinkler system sprayed water and Mr. McDuck sent what could have been an new olympic record for a sprint getting to the Money Bin!
He arrived just in time to see water gushing from a little tunnel in his Money Bin. To see this nano-bot (4) washed out of the tunnel. It was short-circuited by the water and just lay there, helpless. Mr. McDuck also saw the "surveyors" panic and run.
Launchpad threw three more pitches. The boys each hit one in turn, cold-cocking the "surveyors"- who, of course, turned out to the Beagle Boys. The REAL surveyors were not going to due to come till tomorrow.
The real surveyors had been going all around Duckburg, bragging about how Scrooge McDuck had hired them to survey the vacant lot next to the Money Bin. The Beagle boys had heard about this and put a Plan in action to rob the Money Bin.
Mega Byte Beagle had invented the nano-bot dart. He and two of his brothers disguised themselves as surveyors and come a day early.
The nano-bot dart was supposed to wait till dark and then start pushing money in a steady stream out the tiny tunnel. And into a open-bed truck the Beagle were planning to park in the vacant lot, to catch the stream of Money. But thanks to the boys and Launchpad, the plot was de-railed before it started.
And the REAL surveyors never came. Mr. McDuck called up to cancel the whole project. Mr. McDuck had the sign torn up and the fence torn down. He decided the vacant lot would go back to being vacant. And perfect to play in.
The End.
(1) That's Yiddish for "annoying" or "pestering".
(2) It's a special telescope mounted on a tripod that surveyors look thur. It lets them make very precise measurements.
(3) Like YOU don't know that stupid song.
(4)an itsy-bitsy robot, THIS one disguised as a dart