Buster had wanted this to happen. From the moment he heard Binky tell others that he was arrested for committing an assault on Arthur, Buster had made it his ambition to gather up all of Arthur's former friends so he could persuade them that the aardvark was slipping into insanity and that the only way to prevent any more horrendous events from occurring was to rehabilitate him by providing him with the kindness that was lost more than a week ago. He was acquainted with the fact that the majority of kids he would meet with were convinced that Arthur was a savage monster. He also knew all too well that if nothing was done to help him, that fact would be pure in accuracy. Despite what any of the other kids would say in order to protest the idea, Buster was determined to assemble as many kids as possible and have them all listen to him and his plan to repair their connection with Arthur and to give him assistance in his time of need.
Buster had started his mission alone. He was confronted by his friends time and time again who demanded that he kept his distance from Arthur, saying that the aardvark deserved to be shunned for rebuffing to express regret for using violence against his younger sister for what they called a "simple mistake". Buster thought it would only be himself who would go out of his way to do whatever he could to help guide his best friend out of the abyss of rage that was swallowing him whole. Fortunately, one of the oppressors, Francine Frensky, had become suspicious about Arthur's whereabouts and she agreed to join Buster in his plan. Another friend of his, Alan Powers, also known as the Brain by all, also became a part of it when he expressed his opinions about the past events and what the future could bring upon Arthur. Now that he had two people on his side, Buster felt confident that he would be able to induce everyone that they need to come together and help their friend whose mental health was deteriorating day by day.
Standing on the top of a knoll at the park, Buster glanced at the group in front of him. Over the course of two days, Francine and the Brain talked to everyone they knew and invited them to come to the park after school to hear Buster's plea for help. Despite all the hard work they put in, the only kids who showed up were Muffy Crosswire, Fern Walters, a cat named Sue Ellen Armstrong, and a moose named George Lundgren. Buster was disappointed that only four other people turned up to listen to him, but that didn't matter; he was glad that at least someone showed up and he hoped that the number of people in his clan would rise to seven.
Muffy, Fern, and Sue Ellen were clearly uninterested in the topic of helping Arthur. George, on the other hand, appeared more willing to debate the issue rather than to simply accept the reason everyone believed was true. Buster noticed this and the confidence he felt grew stronger. It would be easy to grab the attention of the moose. It would take time to convince the girls, but he was sure that Francine would support him and argue that Arthur was in trouble and desperately needed their help. As long as he, Francine, and the Brain presented a judicious argument to the others, there would be no doubt as to whether the number of people in his clan would rise to seven or remain at three.
Buster was ready to begin but Francine spoke before he could. "Does anyone know where Binky is?" she asked everyone. "Brain, didn't you talk to him yesterday?"
"Yes I did," the Brain replied. "Unfortunately, he said he couldn't make it."
"What for?" Francine inquired.
"I don't know, he didn't say much," said the Brain.
"Excuse me," Buster said in a loud voice. "Can I have everyone's attention."
The six kids gazed at Buster. Muffy, Fern, and Sue Ellen stared at him, their facial expressions were a mixture of boredom and displeasure, while George waited patiently for the rabbit to speak. Francine and the Brain did just the same as the moose.
"Before I begin," Buster began; "I would like to thank you all for coming here on such short notice. I'm sure that you don't want to be here right now, but what I have to say is very important and will determine the future of us all."
Buster's words caught George's interest almost instantly, but the three girls next to him remained uninterested. The trio was silent until Fern told Buster: "What you have to say will have no impact on any of us."
Her statement was met with the vocal agreements of Muffy and Sue Ellen.
Francine turned to Fern and said, "Actually, Fern, it does- it will have a huge impact on everybody if we don't do something about it."
"About what?!" Muffy roared. "You actually think any of us would just change our minds about Arthur?! Why would anybody in their right mind want to help that demon?!"
"Because he's going insane!" the Brain shouted.
"He already is insane!" Sue Ellen snapped.
"That's enough!" Buster yelled, grabbing everyone's attention once more. "Can we just get through this without any more arguments, please?!"
The crowd of six fell silent. While they obeyed Buster's demand for everyone to be quiet, it was evident that the three girls who opposed to help Arthur at all were now furious. Since there were no further complaints, the rabbit knew it was okay to begin his speech.
"Now, as we all know," Buster said; "there had been a major dilemma among us about our former friend, Arthur Read. Nearly two weeks ago, as Arthur told me himself, he had finished work on a model of a plane that broke the sound barrier and went to his kitchen to get a snack. His 4-year old sister D.W. came up to him and said he built the model wrong and it didn't fly. When he went to investigate the crash scene, Arthur found that his model plane was totally destroyed and D.W. continued to rant about how he built it wrong; this prompted Arthur to punch her in the shoulder. He was subsequently banned from watching TV for a week and, after he told us about this, we all shunned him for what he had done."
Everyone nodded confirming that what Buster had told them was true. Muffy, Fern, and Sue Ellen muttered their opinions about how Arthur was immoral to commit such vile actions against his own sister.
"Not more than a day after he hit his sister," Buster continued; "another friend of ours, Binky Barnes, was dared by his friends, a group called the Tough Customers, to prove himself strong and fearless by punching Arthur. He did so, only to be attacked by Arthur. The police came and arrested Binky on the charge of starting a fight in public; Arthur however fled as soon as the police broke up the fight."
Buster was about to say something else when Muffy suddenly spoke. "That coward would run from the police!" she retorted.
"He should've gave himself up on the spot!" Sue Ellen added.
"I know you might get mad at me for saying this," George said timidly; "but I have to disagree with what you're saying. I do agree that it's wrong to hit someone for something small they did but, honestly, I don't think Binky was right to hit Arthur just because he was dared to."
"That's right," said the Brain. "What happened that day was not Arthur's fault at all. From what we've been told, Binky punched Arthur because he was challenged by his other friends to prove if he was worthy of being a Tough Customer or not. This was an act of peer pressure, and, considering that he was unaware of any of it, the actions Arthur committed were purely that of self-defense."
Almost instantly, Muffy, Fern, and Sue Ellen objected the Brain's statement. The voices of the three girls came out all at once in a thunderous tumult. Francine and the Brain tried to quiet the trio but all attempts were fruitless against the fury of those who despised Arthur for his act of savagery.
Enraged that everyone was arguing bitterly again, Buster screamed at the top of his voice: "ENOUGH ALREADY!"
Once more, the six kids below him ceased arguing and turned their attention to Buster. Just like before, Muffy, Fern, and Sue Ellen were mad- only this time, they were more enraged than he was. The rabbit was on the verge of losing his temper, but he knew that he had to be wise and calm. If he used anger, he would most likely stir up more fury and that would end their meeting and it would only be him, Francine, and the Brain left to devise a plan to rehabilitate Arthur themselves.
After a moment to calm himself down, Buster spoke again. "We are not here to talk about how stupid Arthur was to punch his sister," he said, his voice was still laced with rage. "The point of us being here is so we can discuss what we can do to help him."
"If Arthur needs help, he can see a doctor," Muffy said flatly.
"And who's gonna take him to a doctor? His parents?" Francine asked the orangutan. "I doubt they want to help him either."
Everyone turned their heads to stare at Francine in surprise.
Even though she was in shock as well, Muffy still refused to accept what she was hearing and said, "That's ridiculous! Arthur's parents wouldn't just stop caring altogether!"
"I'm sure his mother still cares, but his father doesn't at all," Francine replied.
Silence fell once again.
Francine knew that they wanted an explanation, so she told them why she said what she did. "A while back, Buster and I went to Arthur's house to try and talk to him," she explained. "When we got there, his mother told us he wasn't at home. That was the same answer Buster and I got whenever when went there. And yesterday, I went to Arthur's house alone and his dad answered the door. When I asked him if Arthur was home, he looked angry. I asked him again and he said 'He just isn't home' and slammed the door. That wasn't what got my attention. What was odd was that his face was bruised."
Her story stirred up concern and curiosity in an instant. The five kids in front of her started murmuring to each other, asking one another about what they heard.
Eventually, Sue Ellen spoke. "Are you saying Arthur and his dad had a fight?" she inquired.
"I'm not sure," Francine responded, shaking her head. "To be honest, though, I think that they might've had some sort of argument and it got physical."
"That's terrible," said George. "This is just horrible. First he hits his sister; then he attacks Binky; and then he beats up his own dad. Is Arthur really losing his mind?"
"Unfortunately so," the Brain replied. "Due to all the negative actions we have committed against him, Arthur's mental health is slowly declining and he may start doing things that may not only threaten his life but also put him at risk of going to prison."
"You mean he would try doing drugs?" Fern inquired in a nervous tone of voice.
"That is a major possibility," the Brain told her. "However none of us have a clear idea of Arthur's whereabouts."
"And all that's been told to me is that he's working with Mr. Haney on some sort of project," Buster added.
For the first time it seemed, Muffy, Fern, and Sue Ellen showed actual emotion to the situation that they had ignored since the trouble began. The trio believed that Arthur was simply over-reacting and demanded attention and sympathy for his destroyed model plane. After hearing all that was said by Francine, Buster, and the Brain, they finally realised that the aardvark who everyone considered as the enemy was, in reality, suffering because of how ignorant they were to how much pain they inflicted on him.
After what felt like a half hour of complete silence, Muffy spoke up. "Even though I hate Arthur for what he did," she said; "I don't want him to kill himself, especially by a drug overdose."
Fern and Sue Ellen nodded, visibly ashamed of themselves.
Buster descended the knoll and said, "I'm glad that you all understand that Arthur is in serious trouble, and, if we all band together, we can solve this problem and help him."
"But we don't know where Arthur is," George told Buster. "How are we going to help him if he's somewhere else?"
"That's why I wanted to assemble a group to handle this situation," Buster stated. "If I did this by myself, there would be too much stress."
At that moment, Binky jogged by the crowd. As he passed them, he said, "Hi, guys!"
Everyone snapped their heads in the direction of Binky and Francine ran after him. "Where have you been?!" she demanded when she caught up with the bulldog.
"Look, I'm sorry that I missed Buster's speech or whatever," Binky responded; "but I have to get in shape and I can't be bothered."
"You're getting in shape for what?" Muffy asked.
"My chance to prove I'm a pure Tough Customer," Binky announced proudly.
"Which is?" Buster asked.
"I don't know what it is yet," Binky explained. "All I know is that I have to go to some place called 'Tony's Sport Arena' and, if I succeed in the game, I'll be back in the club!"
"What game?" George questioned. "And where's Tony's Sport Area?"
Binky, obviously irritated by everyone's questions, got up in George's face and said, "Look, I don't need to be standing around answering stupid questions! I have bigger things to attend to! Arthur is out of the question!"
As they watched Binky jog away, Buster said aloud: "Now that was really odd."
"What kind of game is so important that Binky has to make a big deal out of it?" Francine asked.
"Whatever it is, it must be a game that is very intense," the Brain replied; "and Binky's going to stop at nothing until he is a club member again."
Buster sighed and shook his head. Now that there were two issues they were facing, the next few weeks were going to be both difficult and dramatic.