Disclaimer: I don't own Hamtaro!
Chapter 9:
Howdy's Little Scheme
Hamtaro ran over to the clubhouse with three cans of paint. He saw Bijou on the pathway with carpet piled over her. She wobbled and Hamtaro knew that she was going to fall. He set the paints down and caught Bijou as she was falling. Bijou looked at him gratefully and Hamtaro thought, Why is her face red? Maybe she's mad at me for pushing her.
Hamtaro gave a smile and Bijou grinned and said, "Merci, Hamtaro. Zee carpet vas a little heavy, no?"
Hamtaro nodded and offered, "Maybe you could let me carry the carpet?"
"But vat about your paint?"
"Uh," Hamtaro confessed, "I haven't really gotten to that part yet."
Bijou smiled at his cluelessness, but Hamtaro took the carpet out of her hands and held the paint handles with his mouth. Hamtaro tried to smile at Bijou, but he couldn't since the paint handle was in his mouth.
They both walked to the clubhouse to find everyone there but Howdy. Everyone brought in what they were supposed to and they got started right away.
Howdy was at his grocery store selling as much as he could. He had enough money for two computers and three TVs, but Howdy had a different plan. He said goodbye to his parents and walked to the clubhouse.
Once he got there, Howdy opened the door to see everyone there. The clubhouse was halfway finished by then. Immediately everyone noticed the missing ham-ham and greeted him. Howdy put his acting skills to the test.
"Ham-ha," Howdy greeted sadly.
"What's wrong?" Hamtaro asked.
"Oh, its just it looks like I don't have enough money for all you folks and your fancy electronic stuff," Howdy faked.
"Oh, no!" They all yelled.
"Yeah, I know," Howdy said, trying not to chortle.
Hamtaro stepped up and said, "How can we help?"
"Weeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeelllllllllllll," Howdy pretended to think.
Everyone nodded in encouragement and Howdy sneaked a smile. He finally said, "Well, if ya'll give me a little dough, I can easily get some of those computers!"
Everyone gaped at him and Dexter crossed his arms and said, "Just how much, Howdy?"
Howdy pretended to think for a second and replied, "Well. Since there are only nine of ya here, I'll charge ya each $200."
"TWO HUNDRED DOLLARS!?" Everyone yelled.
"How are we supposed to pay that much?" Maxwell asked in astonishment.
"Vi 'ave already saved our money for different things," Bijou said.
"Yeah, like I have other stuff to do, Howdy," Stan agreed.
Howdy waved his hands in the air and said, "Fine! If ya'll don't want a fancy TV or whatever, then don't pay! The shop isn't getting many customers so don't even think about me paying for all of it!"
"We aren't supposed to pay! You are, Howdy!" Dexter exclaimed.
"Yeah! Dexter's right. We did all our stuff, so you need to too," Boss yelled.
"C'mon, Howdy. If you need help, make it a little less," Pashmina said.
"Well, gorgeous. I could give you a discount. $100 off if you'd like," Howdy said to Pashmina.
Dexter stepped up and pointed out, "Well, then you'd have to earn $100 more, Howdy."
"Yeah, so Dexter. You'd have to pay $300 to make up," Howdy slyly said.
Dexter was going to tackle Howdy and Boss, Hamtaro, and Panda had to hold him back. Howdy turned back to the others with a crooked smile on his face.
"So? Are you going to pay up?" Howdy asked everyone.
Silence. Hamtaro stepped up and said, "C'mon, guys! We want a TV and a computer, right? We need to do this!"
Finally, one by one, they all decided to pay up except Dexter. He crossed his arms and shook his head violently.
"Howdy, you're lying. I've seen you smirk about twenty times so far," Dexter announced.
"Come on, Dexter. How else are we supposed to raise the money?" Oxnard tried to persuade.
"You guys! Howdy just wants you to give him money and he probably has enough money for a computer or TV," Dexter explained while pacing around.
"Like, why would Howdy lie to us?" Sandy asked.
"That's just Howdy for you," Dexter answered.
Everyone didn't look as if this was the best and they all shook their heads in disagreement. Panda announced, "I'm going to the bank. Anyone want to come with?"
Everyone nodded and Hamtaro said, "I'll go get my piggy bank."
Everyone looked at him as if he was crazy and Bijou asked, "You 'ave a piggy bank with $200 in it?"
"Yeah, is something wrong with that?" Hamtaro questioned.
"No," Boss answered.
Hamtaro then turned to Panda and asked, "Can I borrow your hammer? I need to break open the piggy bank."
Reluctantly, Panda handed him his hammer. Hamtaro thanked him and ran to his house. Everyone else solemnly walked to the bank. Dexter ran out of the clubhouse to only see specks of people and yelled, "GUYS? DO WE EVEN NEED A COMPUTER?"
Everyone was gone.
"Do we even need a TV?" Dexter squeaked.
"HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAH!"
Dexter whirled around to see Howdy on the floor laughing.
"Dexter, you crack me up! That was so easy! I can't believe they actually will pay me!" Howdy cackled.
"Howdy! That's going to be the last time that you trick them like that. I know that you already have enough money!" Dexter said.
"Oh, geez! I'm so scared that Nerd Boy is gonna beat the crap of out me!" Howdy wheezed and added, "This ain't Superman, Dex!"
Dexter was furious. He stormed off and before he closed the door, he threatened, "I'm going to find out what you're up to! When the others find out, you're finished!"
Howdy only laughed and Dexter ran out of the clubhouse. Howdy stopped immediately as Dexter's words penetrated him. When the others find out, you're finished.
Howdy sat down in Boss's private recliner and thought about this. He couldn't get kicked out the clubhouse. They wouldn't dare do that… would they? Howdy tried to shake it off, but it would just cling into his head. He had to stop this or at the very least make sure that the ham-hams wouldn't figure out. But how could he do that? Finally, Howdy made up his mind and just to make sure Dexter wouldn't find out any of this stuff and blab his big mouth to them.
Howdy raced out just as Hamtaro and the others entered the clubhouse. Hamtaro was very confused and only said, "I just cracked Scarlet for nothing?"
Howdy ran to his grocery store and sure enough Dexter was walking on the street towards it. He can't find out that the shop is doing fine! thought Howdy.
Howdy ran up to his parents and looked at the amount of sales that got in. He tore the paper showing that and threw it into the trash. His parents stared at him the whole time and finally his dad said, "Howdy! Why'd you do that?"
Howdy's parents had the same accent Howdy has.
Howdy pretended to shrug and said, "Uh, I thought those were just ads that want to buy the shop."
His parents were in awe and were about to say something, but Dexter walked in. Howdy's mother was about to greet Dexter, but Howdy stopped her and said, "I'll handle this one, Ma."
Howdy ran to Dexter and whispered, "What the heck are you doing here?"
Dexter replied, "You know why."
He tried to shove Howdy out of the way, but Howdy wouldn't let him.
"Howdy! Let me in already!" Dexter purposely yelled so Howdy could get pulled back by Howdy's parents and he was right. Howdy's parents did notice this immediately and they both apologized to Dexter. Dexter fixed his bow tie and said, "Quite alright. I was wondering how much money you make a month. You see, I'm doing a survey about small family businesses and see which ones will have a higher rate of becoming a famous business."
Howdy winced at this and both of his parents told him how much they made and how much Howdy got.
"My son, Howdy, get about $1,000 every two weeks. He's been saving up about $10,000 at the bank. My boy loves business and he's gonna inherit this here store" Howdy's dad proudly explained, patting a paralyzed Howdy on the back at every sentence.
Dexter bowed and thanked them. He then walked out of the store and ran to the clubhouse. Howdy looked pale white and his mother noticed this, "Honey, you look a little pale. You wanna sit down?"
Howdy raced off to the clubhouse saying goodbye and how he needed to do something. But first, he had a little surprise for the clubhouse.
Dexter panted as he got to the door. Everyone was there with a confused look on their faces. Pashmina was nowhere in sight.
Everyone jumped at Dexter's sudden entrance. They each had a check in their hands except Hamtaro who was almost buried in cash. Dexter brushed off and explained his entrance. He finally decided to tell them. But… Howdy was a nice guy. Underneath a Jay Leno wannabee coat, he was caring. He only had the ham-hams as friends. Dexter's throat just clogged up at the thought of telling his friends.
Boss called out, "Dexter, what is it?"
Dexter warped back to reality and finally he croaked out what he found out.
Everyone listened in horror as they found Howdy's dark side.
When Dexter finally finished, Stan jumped up and said, "Can you believe we almost gave that cheater our money?"
Boss agreed, but everyone else didn't say anything. There was a long silence and Maxwell had an idea.
"Guys?" Maxwell said.
They all nodded for him to go on.
"Well, we know that Howdy is kind of a traitor. I think that we should make a pledge of some sort so we can make sure that it won't ever happen again. If someone breaks their promise, then they would get kicked out," Maxwell explained.
The ham-hams took time to think about this and Sandy said, "I totally agree with Maxwell. I mean, like, wouldn't that add some rules?"
"That's true," Stan agreed.
"Oui. So, vat about Howdy? Vould he get kicked out of our club?" Bijou said.
"I think so," Hamtaro said slowly. Everyone cursed at the thought.
"We haven't been a club for long, but Howdy seems like family when you think of it," Hamtaro said.
Just then, Howdy came busting in with huge packages that looked like they each weighed a ton. Howdy tried to drag them all in, but it looked like he just ran out of energy. He smiled weakly and said, "Anyone want to help a little ham over here?"
Boss and Hamtaro got up and helped move the stuff that Howdy had. All the club members gaped at what was in the packages. The first package had an iMac computer (That's the computer I'm typing on right now), the second had a huge 48" screen plasma TV, and the third was a Wii that had four remote controls and some of the newest games. Howdy revealed a crooked smile and said, "Does all this here stuff make ya forgive me?"
"YES!"
Everyone fixed up the new electronics and installed them. Everyone was very grateful at Howdy for making sure that he got all this new stuff for the clubhouse. Dexter was shocked at Howdy and Howdy smiled at him with huge front teeth. They all laughed and Dexter said, "Howdy? How did you get all this stuff?"
Howdy chuckled and said, "I just used about $6,000 on all this here stuff. I just got them about fifteen minutes ago."
Howdy looked at all the ham-hams and gushed, "You guys can forgive me, right? I'm not going to get kicked out, right?"
Stan popped out of the pile and screamed, "HECK, NO!"
Sandy slapped her forehead and said, "Well, we made some new rules."
Howdy went white as everyone explained the new promise that everyone would have to make.
"So, am I kicked off?" Howdy warily asked.
Hamtaro grouped everyone except an anxious Howdy and they all whispered. Finally, they went back to Howdy and Hamtaro said, "You can stay."
"YEE HAW! THIS IS GREAT! THANKS, EVERYONE!" Howdy jumped up in the air.
Everyone giggled at Howdy. They all made their pledge and the door opened the door to another surprise. There stood Pashmina and a little girl behind her. She had pink eyes, dark brunette hair, and a yellow plaid dress. She was holding a yellow blanket. Pashmina was smiling at everyone and the little girl tugged on Pashmina to whisper something to her. Pashmina nodded and walked her over to her friends.
"Ookwee?" the little girl said.
"These people are the ham-hams. This place is our clubhouse. You can join our club," Pashmina explained.
The little girl looked around the room and her eyes brightened at the sight of the Wii. Hamtaro noticed her wanting and handed her the remote to control the Wii. She started to play immediately.
"Who iz dat, Pazhmina?" Bijou asked.
"That's little Penelope! I told you she was cute!" Pashmina exclaimed. She looked around the room and looked at all the new stuff and Hamtaro explained everything. Finally, after watching Penelope beat level 14 on her video game, Pashmina and Penelope said their pledge.
The ham-hams had a great night that day.
And guess what? Howdy definitely isn't going to think about making that much money ever agin.
