Thursday, September 23rd, 2010*. Week 15 in the Culinary Arts Program.
Eugene: I was getting some fresh air outside when I heard a rustle, which made me turn and see Ham stuck on a tree branch.
"Flynn! Ho, ho, boy, am I glad to see you." he said.
"Wish I'd said the same thing, Ham." I said back. "What are you doing back here, anyway?"
"Oh, you know, just...hanging around." Ham chuckled. "But, seriously. We gotta go. Now!"
"Wha...have you got burgers for brains? I can't just leave." I said.
"Tell that to him!"
"Wait, wha..."
I turned back and found myself face to face...with a snorting Max.
"Heh. To think, this is where we left off." Ham said nervously.
"All right, Stovie." said Larry as he poured a bag of kernels into a pot inside the kitchen. "Time to pop us some corn."
"Stovie?" I asked.
"Yeah, as in Stovie the Stove." said Curly. "Catchy, eh?"
"Catchingly stupid is more like it." commented Moe, who bonked his nose. "You can't just name something that ain't alive."
"Soitenly, we can." said Curly. "For instance...
"You remember Mr. Mop and Mrs. Bucket, don't ya? Nyuk, nyuk, nyuk." he chuckled, bringing over a mop and bucket, which Moe picked up...and dumped the dirty water on Curly, who fumed. "How dare you treat a lady like Mrs. Buck..."
"AHHHH!"
"Eugene!" The Stooges and I realized upon hearing his bloodcurdling scream.
We hurried outside to find him grabbing onto the tree root while Max tried to drag him away.
"No, no, no! Put me down! Stop it!" pleaded Eugene, whom Moe and Larry rushed to, grabbing his hands and pulling him towards them.
"Give him back, you over-grown donkey!" Moe snarled to Max.
"Yeah, leave the guy alone." added Larry.
Max shook his head no and tried to pull Eugene back.
"Hmm!" exclaimed Curly, who used all his strength to pull Eugene back.
"Whew. That is some grip you got there, pal." said Eugene.
"Thank you." smiled Curly.
"That is not a chew toy!" I said in a gruff voice, pointing at Eugene's boot, which Max still has in his teeth.
He and Ham looked at each other, confused.
"Uh, that was my...Grinchy voice." I explained.
"Oh. Well, that's pretty good." said Ham.
Max nodded in agreement.
"Thank you." I said. "And speaking of Grinch..."
I grabbed a hold of Eugene's boot, but Max still had a firm grip on it with his teeth, which resulted in a tug-of-war.
"Stupid horse!" I said as the Grinch. "Get that out of your mouth. You have no idea what he stepped on."
"What is going on..." asked Gru before Max pushed me, piling onto the other chefs, who went outside to see the commotion.
The horse, then, charged at us, but Rapunzel got in front of him, saying. "Whoa! Whoa! Whoa! Easy, boy. Easy."
As if he was a wild animal, Max slowly calmed down.
"That's it!" said Rapunzel. "Now, sit."
Max only hesitated to do so, but when she, again, said...
"Sit."
...he did as he was told.
"Ooh." we all exclaimed.
That is, except Eugene, who said. "What the..."
"Now, drop the boot." Rapunzel told Max, who only snarled.
"Drop it!" Rapzunel repeated firmly.
With no other choice, Max quick opened his mouth, releasing Eugene's boot.
"Oh, you are such a good boy. Yes you are." Rapunzel said, giving Max a good scratch, which he admittedly liked. "You all tired from chasing this bad man all over the place?"
Max nodded his head yes while Eugene said. "Excuse me."
Ignoring him, Rapunzel wrapped her arms around Max, asking. "Nobody appreciates you, do they? Do they?"
"Uh, Blondie? He's the reason I'm here in the first place!" reminded Flynn.
"That explains why you were in the cooler." realized Gru.
"Giddy aka, horsey!" exclaimed Bob on top of Max. "Giddy aka!"
In respone, Max gave the little Minion a playful buck off him.
Luckily, Larry caught Bob while saying. "Whoa, easy there, nellie."
"Hey, mongoose. He has a name." Moe said, pointing at the horse's chestplate, where Larry read. "Maximus?"
"Oh, you mean like Maximus I.Q.?" guessed Curly.
"Uh, you're actually referring to the space cat^..." I said, before whispering to Flynn. "...who'll be explained later."
Upon hearing this, Max snorted as if he was saying "Nobody's explaining anything later because..."
"Look," Rapunzel said, calming him down. "Eugene Fitzherbert..."
Max looked at her in confusion.
"Yeah, that's his actual name." explained Rapunzel.
"And he's one of us now." added Larry.
"Soitenly, he's one of us." agreed Curly.
"Yeah, you could say he's a worthy addition to our family." added Moe, who wrapped his arm around Eugene.
"Just because Eugene's one of us doesn't mean we're a family!" grouched Gru.
"That's what you think." whispered Moe, who flicked his nose.
"So, anyway," Rapunzel went on. "It would mean a lot to us if you don't arrest him."
Max snorted again, this time, as if he was saying "What?"
"It's only for a few weeks" said Rapunzel. "And then, you can chase each other to your hearts content. Okay?"
After hearing this, Eugene sighed reluctantly and held out his hand.
Max, however, turned away, not interested in shaking Eugene's hand.
"Oh, I know!" said Curly. "How's about we give you some of our carrots in exchange for his freedom?"
Still, Max sat firm, refusing to cooperate.
"Will you settle for apples?" asked Larry.
Finally, like his adversary, Max sighed relucantly and extended his hoof, which Eugene shook.
"You sure how to close a deal, porcupine." Moe said to Larry.
Just then, there was a popping sound.
"Oh, the popcorn's ready!" exclaimed Curly, who hurried inside the kitchen, chuckling.
"Okie-dokie, let's get this show on the road." I said as Mushu from "Mulan."
As we went back inside, I said to Robert. "And I don't want hear anything out of you or JJ during the movie. Capisce?"
"All right, all right, capisco." replied Robert.
While none of us were looking, Max hit Eugene on the chest.
"Oh, ho, ho!" chortled Stuart.
In the midst of what happened, we hardly noticed that Ham was gone.
"Here we are." Gothel said, leading Ham to her office. "You'll be nice and safe in here, dear."
"Ma'am, I appreciate your help." said Ham. "But, really, I should get..."
As he spoke, Gothel unlocked the door, revealing Caine and her crew.
"GAAAH!" Ham screamed upon seeing them.
He tried to open the door and make a run for it, only to find out that Gothel had already locked it from the inside.
"Long time, no see, burger boy." sneered Sideburns, who walked up to him menacingly.
"Wha...what are you doing here?" asked Ham.
"What's it look like, Ham?" Caine asked back. "We all got a score to settle with Rider."
"Score to set...what are you talking about?" asked Ham, who was, then, pulled by Gothel, who said. "Listen, I made a mistake making a deal with that Rosenberg rat, regarding Rapunzel's future.
"And now that his dish was a success," she went on, looking at the monitors. "His little cooking buddies, including that cousin impersonator, Flynn Rider, won't let me near Rapunzel. Why, just the thought of a restraining order being filed is giving me grey hair. And I don't mean literally!"
While intimidated by Gothel's anger and the sight of her hair really turning gray, Ham asked. "So what do you want me to do about it?"
"You know why you're here." said Gothel. "Keep those two 'cousins' away from Rapunzel, make sure she remains inside of JobTrain by any means necessary!"
"And how am I suppose to do that without them knowing what's going on?" asked Ham.
Author's Note:
*What happened on that day was an eventful one; we were watching "The Princess and the Frog," all while making sure Robert and JJ don't say any more profanity like they did when we watched "Ratatouille" and took the quiz centered on the movie, back on September 3rd, 2010.
Speaking of "The Princess and the Frog," the main female lead, Tiana was originally meant to be part of the cooking crew, but ended up being pulled back in favor of another princess...aside from Rapunzel, that is.
Also, it was on this day that the Read-Aloud Storybook of "Tangled," which was Disney's next film after "The Princess and the Frog," was delivered to my house.
^Maximus I.Q. was really the name of the evil space cat from "Atomic Betty," whom my friends and I came across in "Nathan Rosenberg: 7th Grader," which is slated to be published in the fall of 2024, as part of "The School Years," as previously mentioned.
Now, onto Eugene's turn.