Chapter Ten
Sully and Mike sat in the guesthouse watching "The Sound of Music" with Jade, Iris, and Boo. Boo was in Sulley's lap, and she was singing along to the movie with her mother and sister. Boo kept saying "la la de da" when she couldn't remember the words, but Iris and Jade just belted the songs out. It drove Mike nuts.
"Do you guys think you're Julie Andrews?" he snapped at one point. "It's bad enough the film's a musical; I don't think we need live accompaniment."
"Too bad!" Jade retorted. "How do you solve a problem like Wazowski." she sang, changing the song's lyrics, just to bug him.
Sulley laughed at Mike's expression when she did this. He looked very miffed, like someone who's just been sneezed on. "Cheer up, Mike," Sulley told his friend. "It's just for fun."
Mike growled. The sooner they got home, the better, in his opinion. Besides, this little adventure forced him to put off his romantic plan to ask Celia to marry him. He had been about to when the Boo incident came up. He decided to propose as soon as he saw his schmooopsie-poo next.
Sulley actually enjoyed it. Maybe it was only because it was his last chance to be with Boo. He also helped Boo color in a funky drawing of a winged reptile that Iris called a dragon. They were supposedly imaginary, but it had always been believed by adults that the monsters in kid's closets were imaginary too, so who knew?
*********************************************************************** ****** Randall snuck around the neighborhood, trying to get close enough to one of the mansions to find out if there was a little kid inside. If there was, the kid may have a monster in his or her closet that he, Sulley, and Mike could go back to Monstropolis with. Finding this type of information in a neighborhood as wealthy as the one Gill lived in was easier said than done. Almost all of the enormous houses had some kind of security system. Most had an alarm that was set off as soon as he tried to open a window. It didn't matter whether he was camouflaged or not; the maddening things were set off by touch. The worst one was the house with the Dobermans. When he set the alarm off, it set a bunch of savage, slobbering guard dogs loose on him. It took him twenty minutes to escape the nasty beasts.
Finally, at about 10:50 P.M., he found a house that had just been moved into. The alarm had not been set up yet. He slipped inside and did a little snooping. He heard a little boy's voice talking to his mother. Score!
"Mommy, he's there! He's got three eyes, he's this big, and he's red all over. And he wears glasses like me!" The little boy said. Randall got excited. The kid was talking about Fungus! That three-eyed nerd wasn't an assistant anymore. Good for him, Randall thought, before he realized how badly he used to treat Fungus when he was Randall's assistant.
"I'm sure he is," the woman said, obviously not believing her son. She kissed the boy on the forehead. "Goodnight, Kevin."
"Goodnight, Mommy."
The woman left the room and began to walk down the hall where Randall was laying on the floor. Deciding to get out of the way, the lizard- thing leapt onto the wall and clung to it. He jumped so violently that he knocked a picture off center; it was swinging crazily on its hook. He reached out a three-fingered hand and stopped its motion, just seconds before the woman came down the hall. That was cutting it close.
He slipped in to the kid's bedroom. The boy was about five years old, blonde, and freckled. He was looking at his closet, an air of anticipation in his brown eyes. Randall tripped on an action figure of Darth Vader and unwittingly revealed himself, muttering not-so-nice things at the toy.
"Who're you?" the boy asked politely.
"Randall Boggs," the reptile answered. "Stupid thing! The red sword- thingy stabbed me in the foot."
"It's a light-saber," the boy corrected. "I'm Kevin. What're you doing here?"
"I'm going to bring some friends of mine here when the monster in your closet shows up. We're going home with him, whether he likes it or not."
"Going home with who?"
"The monster in your closet, kid."
"You believe me! My mommy says she does, but I know she doesn't. No one's believed me before!"
"The monster in your closet is named Fungus. If he shows up and leaves before I get back, tell him I said hi. And don't mention this to your mother, okay?"
Kevin nodded. "See you later, Randall!"
Randall smiled and waved. "Nice talking to you, Kevin." Randall camouflaged himself and went back to Gill's.
*********************************************************************** *****
Clarissa slithered up to the Monsters, Inc. building with camouflaged stealth. She couldn't make herself nearly invisible like her brother, but what she could do was good enough for sneaking around at night, especially on nights with no moon like this. Amazingly, the front door was unlocked. How convenient. She wouldn't have to pick the lock with her tail. Forgetful janitor, maybe. This might be easier than it seemed.
She began searching the company for the nerd, Fungus. Her plan would fail without him. She didn't know the company well enough to make it work.
Fungus was on the Laugh Floor, which was the last place Clarissa would consider looking for him. He was doing a little comedy for the human kids, to de-stress. She wouldn't find him for quite a while.
*********************************************************************** *****
"You're leaving? Tonight?" Iris squeaked.
"Yeah." Sulley said. "It would be harder on everyone if we stuck around."
"Kitty!" Boo whimpered, clinging to Sulley's tail like she was made of Velcro.
"Kitty has to go. Again," Sulley said forlornly.
"Here. You'll be wanting these," Jade said, and pulled something from her jeans pocket. It was a plastic bag with the pieces of Boo's door that had fallen on her little sister's floor.
Mike was more startled than Sulley. "You didn't," he said.
"I did," she responded "Next time, glue it together."
"I'm not stupid enough to make the same mistake twice," Mike answered back.
"I hope not! Next time, a neighbor might notice you guys. Our next door neighbor works for the CIA."
"CIA?" Mike queried, clueless as to what she was referring to.
"Central Intelligence Agency. It's a government agency," she said. "You'd be guinea pigs in twenty-four hours."
"I thought a guinea pig was a fury rodent," Sulley stated.
"It's also used to refer to the subjects of experiments."
"Oh," Sulley said, deciding that he'd rather not know any more about the subject.
"Well, it's been fun. You two are really nice, even if you are odd. Maybe your oddness is your best trait. And I just want to thank you for bringing Mary home. I can't tell you what it means to me," Iris said.
"We knew you were grateful. She belongs with you anyhow, not us," he said, trying to deflect the thanks.
"Tell that to her," Iris said, pointing to her daughter. Boo had climbed up Sulley's fur and was burying her face into the fur on his neck. Sulley reached a hand up and pet Boo's soft brown hair.
"Aw!" Iris and Jade said simultaneously. Mike suddenly squawked.
"I HATE THIS STUPID PINK STUFF!!!" he exclaimed, making his companions jump in surprise.
"It's making me break out!" he explained furiously. "Look!"
Sure enough, several large, greenish pimples were peering out from under the peach cover-up.
"You got a couple schmegs, there, Mike," Iris said. "Here, this stuff stings a little but it'll help.'
"I'll pass," he said, then paused. "What's a schmeg?"
"A really big zit," Iris clarified. "Anyway, I don't think you should leave them. They can stick around for a really long time if you don't treat them."
Mike made a series of dismayed noises, thinking of having to face Celia with either pimples or goop, and followed Iris into the bathroom. Soon, as iris applied the medicated cream to the green schmegs, a string of yelps issued from Mike that could be heard from behind the closed lavatory door.
Randall chose this particular moment to make his entrance through the window. If anyone had bothered to notice, the window seemed to open of its own accord before the purple lizard appeared from the dark of night.
"Hey, guys, I found a place that'll work. Fungus is apparently the kid's monster. There are no alarms on the place." he stopped when he heard Mike yelp for the umpteenth time. "What on Earth.?"
"My mom's putting zit meds on some of Mike's pimples," Jade told him, grinning.
Mike emerged, having a conniption fit. "Why me? Why? It's not fair! Not fair! Oooh." (That's the gist of it, anyway.)
Randall found this vaguely amusing. He was smirking a little, but was still managing to look confused.
"What're you smiling at, Lizard Boy?" Mike demanded.
"I smile because I have no clue what's going on," Randall stated, quoting what he had seen on a key chain once. Suddenly, Randall screeched, turned stark white, and scurried up the wall to cling on the ceiling in inexplicable terror.
"What's his problem?" Jade queried in puzzlement, jerking her thumb in Randall's direction.
"Aaaaaaaaaaaaaaah!" He said, pointing to a spot on the floor.
Boo knew what he was referring to. " 'Pider!" she said.
"Huh?" Sulley said, clueless.
"A spider," Iris explained.
Randall was still bone white, clinging to the ceiling, and had now started trembling. He was making quiet mumblings of distress.
"I don't understand," Jade expressed, kneeling on the floor. "It's just a daddy longlegs."
"Daddy!" Randall exclaimed angrily. "How can they call something so awful 'daddy'?"
Jade made no comment. She calmly picked up the spider and put it on the windowsill.
"Did- did you- touch.?" Randall stammered. He then passed out, falling from the ceiling.
*********************************************************************** **
Trish lay on her bed, her pillow wet with tears. She felt horrible. She just blew it. She had just broken the heart of the only person who had ever really loved her enough to say so. Randall, her dear friend, how could this happen?
A realization abruptly hit her. She cared deeply about Randall. So much she could call it love. She loved Randall. She loved him, and she blew it.
Her brain had been going in these circles for hours. She began to rake up her courage to apologize to her Lizard Boy.
*********************************************************************** ******
"Dang, Randall. I didn't know a monster could react like that to something so teeny, especially when you consider the overall population of Monstropolis."
"Can it, Sullivan," Randall said curtly. This really was not his night. They had already left Gill's mansion and were heading over to Kevin's room. Randall, broken hearted, did not say goodbye to Trish.
The odd homebound trio made their way up to Kevin's second-story window. Randall climbed up the wall and rapped gently against the pane. A light went on inside, and the small blond boy opened the window. "Hi!" he called.
"You didn't talk to the kid, did you?" Mike asked the lizard clinging to the wall of the expensive house.
"I had to talk to him. I stepped on one of his toys and made a bit of a fool of myself," Randall explained. "You first, Sull- Sulley," he invited, correcting himself before he called Sulley by his last name like he used to.
Sulley jumped and grabbed the windowsill. He pulled himself through and Randall jumped off the wall. "I'll give you a boost, Mike."
Randall tried to pick up the lime green creature with his freshly washed and medicated face, but found Mike weighed a lot more than it looked like he did. Mike weighed quite a bit for a thing his size. The lizard tried again, and failed. He panted and stuck out his forked purple tongue in exasperation. Sulley leaned down as Randall tried for the third time. Together they finally got the Cyclops up into the room. Randall simply climbed up the wall and through the window.
By the time Randall got in, Sulley had already introduced himself and his best friend to the young boy. Mike was now being told off for eating too many sweets, making him harder to lift and possibly creating health problems.
"You know, Mike, the doctor said your cholesterol was really high. It would be in your best interest in the long term to cut back on all those sugary things."
"And make you easier to lift," Randall amended, not too helpfully.
Mike glared at his two friends in annoyance. Just then, kevin's closet door creaked and the three-eyed burgundy monster named Fungus slipped through the door, wearing a really silly looking straw hat decorated with feathers, carrots, and a plastic dove. When he saw the other three monsters, he stared at them.
He whimpered. "Randall!" he exclaimed, terrified. "What- what're you doing here? And what are they doing with you? You hate them; they hate you. What on earth?"
"Fungus," Randall said quietly, with an almost sweet tone to his voice. "I turned my act around and, I guess, changed my personality. It's alright; I'm not like that anymore," he explained kindly.
Fungus was taken aback by this new, sweet Randall. The lizard, who had been so mean to Fungus before, was trying to comfort the three-eyed fellow when he was upset. Suddenly, a plethora of science fiction scenarios went through Fungus's head, and he picked the most plausible to ask about.
"Did you have brain surgery or something?" the three-eyed comedian inquired.
Randall grinned. "No, I just got beat up by a hillbilly with a shovel. And I fell in love. She doesn't love me back, though," he said. He had started his comment in good humor, but the thought of Trish and her rejection disheartened him. Sulley patted him on the back in sympathy.
Fungus was taken aback. Sulley showing empathy was no strange sight, but to see Randall taking it from him was. He wondered if these three weren't from a parallel Monstropolis.
Sulley spoke up. "We're all trying to get home, Fungus. Is anyone there right now? We want to keep this a quiet return."
Fungus nodded in understanding. "It's midnight now. I was doing this to relax a bit. Oh! I have to tell you. This news reporter that looks like Randall named Clarissa wants me to show her Randall's secret lab. I don't know how she found out, but she's got me really worried. I'm supposed to meet her at quarter after."
Randall immediately became concerned, even before Sulley did. "Wait," he said. "Does this Clarissa have aquamarine eyes, wear a lot of mascara, and boss everyone around?"
"Yeah!" Fungus exclaimed. "Do you know her?"
"She's my sister," Randall illuminated. "Guys, if Clarissa's looking for my lab at midnight, we can safely assume she's up to no good. I mean, it's not like she goes around at night acting like a fairy godmother," he informed his companions. Abruptly, Randall got an idea. "You know," he said, holding his chin with an upper hand, wagging a finger with the other top hand, and crossing his lower pair of arms, "I think we might be able to find out what she's up to."
The three discussed how to find out what Clarissa was up to right there in Kevin's room. Randall would follow Clarissa as she worked her way to his old lab, while Sulley and Mike would call the police as soon as he gave them the signal: turning on the lobby's lights. Fungus would lead the female lizard around in circles for a while and get her talking about her plans, with Randall following behind listening. The part of Fungus's role that he most despised was that he had to flatter Clarissa to get her talking.
"Can we get it over with?" the burgundy monster asked tensely.
They bode Kevin goodbye and wriggled their way back into Monstropolis.
*********************************************************************** ****
He He He. (*singsong*) I'm torturing you! I can be downright Clarissa- like at times. What a place to end a chapter! There'll be more, I promise. But I don't know if they'll find out what that darned lizard girl is up to, or what she'd do to them if she realizes they're spying on her! (Shichan Goddess, you'd better not spoil the ending. If you do, you will lose best friend privileges!) Hope you enjoyed! Happy Whatever-Holiday(s)-You-Celebrate!
Sully and Mike sat in the guesthouse watching "The Sound of Music" with Jade, Iris, and Boo. Boo was in Sulley's lap, and she was singing along to the movie with her mother and sister. Boo kept saying "la la de da" when she couldn't remember the words, but Iris and Jade just belted the songs out. It drove Mike nuts.
"Do you guys think you're Julie Andrews?" he snapped at one point. "It's bad enough the film's a musical; I don't think we need live accompaniment."
"Too bad!" Jade retorted. "How do you solve a problem like Wazowski." she sang, changing the song's lyrics, just to bug him.
Sulley laughed at Mike's expression when she did this. He looked very miffed, like someone who's just been sneezed on. "Cheer up, Mike," Sulley told his friend. "It's just for fun."
Mike growled. The sooner they got home, the better, in his opinion. Besides, this little adventure forced him to put off his romantic plan to ask Celia to marry him. He had been about to when the Boo incident came up. He decided to propose as soon as he saw his schmooopsie-poo next.
Sulley actually enjoyed it. Maybe it was only because it was his last chance to be with Boo. He also helped Boo color in a funky drawing of a winged reptile that Iris called a dragon. They were supposedly imaginary, but it had always been believed by adults that the monsters in kid's closets were imaginary too, so who knew?
*********************************************************************** ****** Randall snuck around the neighborhood, trying to get close enough to one of the mansions to find out if there was a little kid inside. If there was, the kid may have a monster in his or her closet that he, Sulley, and Mike could go back to Monstropolis with. Finding this type of information in a neighborhood as wealthy as the one Gill lived in was easier said than done. Almost all of the enormous houses had some kind of security system. Most had an alarm that was set off as soon as he tried to open a window. It didn't matter whether he was camouflaged or not; the maddening things were set off by touch. The worst one was the house with the Dobermans. When he set the alarm off, it set a bunch of savage, slobbering guard dogs loose on him. It took him twenty minutes to escape the nasty beasts.
Finally, at about 10:50 P.M., he found a house that had just been moved into. The alarm had not been set up yet. He slipped inside and did a little snooping. He heard a little boy's voice talking to his mother. Score!
"Mommy, he's there! He's got three eyes, he's this big, and he's red all over. And he wears glasses like me!" The little boy said. Randall got excited. The kid was talking about Fungus! That three-eyed nerd wasn't an assistant anymore. Good for him, Randall thought, before he realized how badly he used to treat Fungus when he was Randall's assistant.
"I'm sure he is," the woman said, obviously not believing her son. She kissed the boy on the forehead. "Goodnight, Kevin."
"Goodnight, Mommy."
The woman left the room and began to walk down the hall where Randall was laying on the floor. Deciding to get out of the way, the lizard- thing leapt onto the wall and clung to it. He jumped so violently that he knocked a picture off center; it was swinging crazily on its hook. He reached out a three-fingered hand and stopped its motion, just seconds before the woman came down the hall. That was cutting it close.
He slipped in to the kid's bedroom. The boy was about five years old, blonde, and freckled. He was looking at his closet, an air of anticipation in his brown eyes. Randall tripped on an action figure of Darth Vader and unwittingly revealed himself, muttering not-so-nice things at the toy.
"Who're you?" the boy asked politely.
"Randall Boggs," the reptile answered. "Stupid thing! The red sword- thingy stabbed me in the foot."
"It's a light-saber," the boy corrected. "I'm Kevin. What're you doing here?"
"I'm going to bring some friends of mine here when the monster in your closet shows up. We're going home with him, whether he likes it or not."
"Going home with who?"
"The monster in your closet, kid."
"You believe me! My mommy says she does, but I know she doesn't. No one's believed me before!"
"The monster in your closet is named Fungus. If he shows up and leaves before I get back, tell him I said hi. And don't mention this to your mother, okay?"
Kevin nodded. "See you later, Randall!"
Randall smiled and waved. "Nice talking to you, Kevin." Randall camouflaged himself and went back to Gill's.
*********************************************************************** *****
Clarissa slithered up to the Monsters, Inc. building with camouflaged stealth. She couldn't make herself nearly invisible like her brother, but what she could do was good enough for sneaking around at night, especially on nights with no moon like this. Amazingly, the front door was unlocked. How convenient. She wouldn't have to pick the lock with her tail. Forgetful janitor, maybe. This might be easier than it seemed.
She began searching the company for the nerd, Fungus. Her plan would fail without him. She didn't know the company well enough to make it work.
Fungus was on the Laugh Floor, which was the last place Clarissa would consider looking for him. He was doing a little comedy for the human kids, to de-stress. She wouldn't find him for quite a while.
*********************************************************************** *****
"You're leaving? Tonight?" Iris squeaked.
"Yeah." Sulley said. "It would be harder on everyone if we stuck around."
"Kitty!" Boo whimpered, clinging to Sulley's tail like she was made of Velcro.
"Kitty has to go. Again," Sulley said forlornly.
"Here. You'll be wanting these," Jade said, and pulled something from her jeans pocket. It was a plastic bag with the pieces of Boo's door that had fallen on her little sister's floor.
Mike was more startled than Sulley. "You didn't," he said.
"I did," she responded "Next time, glue it together."
"I'm not stupid enough to make the same mistake twice," Mike answered back.
"I hope not! Next time, a neighbor might notice you guys. Our next door neighbor works for the CIA."
"CIA?" Mike queried, clueless as to what she was referring to.
"Central Intelligence Agency. It's a government agency," she said. "You'd be guinea pigs in twenty-four hours."
"I thought a guinea pig was a fury rodent," Sulley stated.
"It's also used to refer to the subjects of experiments."
"Oh," Sulley said, deciding that he'd rather not know any more about the subject.
"Well, it's been fun. You two are really nice, even if you are odd. Maybe your oddness is your best trait. And I just want to thank you for bringing Mary home. I can't tell you what it means to me," Iris said.
"We knew you were grateful. She belongs with you anyhow, not us," he said, trying to deflect the thanks.
"Tell that to her," Iris said, pointing to her daughter. Boo had climbed up Sulley's fur and was burying her face into the fur on his neck. Sulley reached a hand up and pet Boo's soft brown hair.
"Aw!" Iris and Jade said simultaneously. Mike suddenly squawked.
"I HATE THIS STUPID PINK STUFF!!!" he exclaimed, making his companions jump in surprise.
"It's making me break out!" he explained furiously. "Look!"
Sure enough, several large, greenish pimples were peering out from under the peach cover-up.
"You got a couple schmegs, there, Mike," Iris said. "Here, this stuff stings a little but it'll help.'
"I'll pass," he said, then paused. "What's a schmeg?"
"A really big zit," Iris clarified. "Anyway, I don't think you should leave them. They can stick around for a really long time if you don't treat them."
Mike made a series of dismayed noises, thinking of having to face Celia with either pimples or goop, and followed Iris into the bathroom. Soon, as iris applied the medicated cream to the green schmegs, a string of yelps issued from Mike that could be heard from behind the closed lavatory door.
Randall chose this particular moment to make his entrance through the window. If anyone had bothered to notice, the window seemed to open of its own accord before the purple lizard appeared from the dark of night.
"Hey, guys, I found a place that'll work. Fungus is apparently the kid's monster. There are no alarms on the place." he stopped when he heard Mike yelp for the umpteenth time. "What on Earth.?"
"My mom's putting zit meds on some of Mike's pimples," Jade told him, grinning.
Mike emerged, having a conniption fit. "Why me? Why? It's not fair! Not fair! Oooh." (That's the gist of it, anyway.)
Randall found this vaguely amusing. He was smirking a little, but was still managing to look confused.
"What're you smiling at, Lizard Boy?" Mike demanded.
"I smile because I have no clue what's going on," Randall stated, quoting what he had seen on a key chain once. Suddenly, Randall screeched, turned stark white, and scurried up the wall to cling on the ceiling in inexplicable terror.
"What's his problem?" Jade queried in puzzlement, jerking her thumb in Randall's direction.
"Aaaaaaaaaaaaaaah!" He said, pointing to a spot on the floor.
Boo knew what he was referring to. " 'Pider!" she said.
"Huh?" Sulley said, clueless.
"A spider," Iris explained.
Randall was still bone white, clinging to the ceiling, and had now started trembling. He was making quiet mumblings of distress.
"I don't understand," Jade expressed, kneeling on the floor. "It's just a daddy longlegs."
"Daddy!" Randall exclaimed angrily. "How can they call something so awful 'daddy'?"
Jade made no comment. She calmly picked up the spider and put it on the windowsill.
"Did- did you- touch.?" Randall stammered. He then passed out, falling from the ceiling.
*********************************************************************** **
Trish lay on her bed, her pillow wet with tears. She felt horrible. She just blew it. She had just broken the heart of the only person who had ever really loved her enough to say so. Randall, her dear friend, how could this happen?
A realization abruptly hit her. She cared deeply about Randall. So much she could call it love. She loved Randall. She loved him, and she blew it.
Her brain had been going in these circles for hours. She began to rake up her courage to apologize to her Lizard Boy.
*********************************************************************** ******
"Dang, Randall. I didn't know a monster could react like that to something so teeny, especially when you consider the overall population of Monstropolis."
"Can it, Sullivan," Randall said curtly. This really was not his night. They had already left Gill's mansion and were heading over to Kevin's room. Randall, broken hearted, did not say goodbye to Trish.
The odd homebound trio made their way up to Kevin's second-story window. Randall climbed up the wall and rapped gently against the pane. A light went on inside, and the small blond boy opened the window. "Hi!" he called.
"You didn't talk to the kid, did you?" Mike asked the lizard clinging to the wall of the expensive house.
"I had to talk to him. I stepped on one of his toys and made a bit of a fool of myself," Randall explained. "You first, Sull- Sulley," he invited, correcting himself before he called Sulley by his last name like he used to.
Sulley jumped and grabbed the windowsill. He pulled himself through and Randall jumped off the wall. "I'll give you a boost, Mike."
Randall tried to pick up the lime green creature with his freshly washed and medicated face, but found Mike weighed a lot more than it looked like he did. Mike weighed quite a bit for a thing his size. The lizard tried again, and failed. He panted and stuck out his forked purple tongue in exasperation. Sulley leaned down as Randall tried for the third time. Together they finally got the Cyclops up into the room. Randall simply climbed up the wall and through the window.
By the time Randall got in, Sulley had already introduced himself and his best friend to the young boy. Mike was now being told off for eating too many sweets, making him harder to lift and possibly creating health problems.
"You know, Mike, the doctor said your cholesterol was really high. It would be in your best interest in the long term to cut back on all those sugary things."
"And make you easier to lift," Randall amended, not too helpfully.
Mike glared at his two friends in annoyance. Just then, kevin's closet door creaked and the three-eyed burgundy monster named Fungus slipped through the door, wearing a really silly looking straw hat decorated with feathers, carrots, and a plastic dove. When he saw the other three monsters, he stared at them.
He whimpered. "Randall!" he exclaimed, terrified. "What- what're you doing here? And what are they doing with you? You hate them; they hate you. What on earth?"
"Fungus," Randall said quietly, with an almost sweet tone to his voice. "I turned my act around and, I guess, changed my personality. It's alright; I'm not like that anymore," he explained kindly.
Fungus was taken aback by this new, sweet Randall. The lizard, who had been so mean to Fungus before, was trying to comfort the three-eyed fellow when he was upset. Suddenly, a plethora of science fiction scenarios went through Fungus's head, and he picked the most plausible to ask about.
"Did you have brain surgery or something?" the three-eyed comedian inquired.
Randall grinned. "No, I just got beat up by a hillbilly with a shovel. And I fell in love. She doesn't love me back, though," he said. He had started his comment in good humor, but the thought of Trish and her rejection disheartened him. Sulley patted him on the back in sympathy.
Fungus was taken aback. Sulley showing empathy was no strange sight, but to see Randall taking it from him was. He wondered if these three weren't from a parallel Monstropolis.
Sulley spoke up. "We're all trying to get home, Fungus. Is anyone there right now? We want to keep this a quiet return."
Fungus nodded in understanding. "It's midnight now. I was doing this to relax a bit. Oh! I have to tell you. This news reporter that looks like Randall named Clarissa wants me to show her Randall's secret lab. I don't know how she found out, but she's got me really worried. I'm supposed to meet her at quarter after."
Randall immediately became concerned, even before Sulley did. "Wait," he said. "Does this Clarissa have aquamarine eyes, wear a lot of mascara, and boss everyone around?"
"Yeah!" Fungus exclaimed. "Do you know her?"
"She's my sister," Randall illuminated. "Guys, if Clarissa's looking for my lab at midnight, we can safely assume she's up to no good. I mean, it's not like she goes around at night acting like a fairy godmother," he informed his companions. Abruptly, Randall got an idea. "You know," he said, holding his chin with an upper hand, wagging a finger with the other top hand, and crossing his lower pair of arms, "I think we might be able to find out what she's up to."
The three discussed how to find out what Clarissa was up to right there in Kevin's room. Randall would follow Clarissa as she worked her way to his old lab, while Sulley and Mike would call the police as soon as he gave them the signal: turning on the lobby's lights. Fungus would lead the female lizard around in circles for a while and get her talking about her plans, with Randall following behind listening. The part of Fungus's role that he most despised was that he had to flatter Clarissa to get her talking.
"Can we get it over with?" the burgundy monster asked tensely.
They bode Kevin goodbye and wriggled their way back into Monstropolis.
*********************************************************************** ****
He He He. (*singsong*) I'm torturing you! I can be downright Clarissa- like at times. What a place to end a chapter! There'll be more, I promise. But I don't know if they'll find out what that darned lizard girl is up to, or what she'd do to them if she realizes they're spying on her! (Shichan Goddess, you'd better not spoil the ending. If you do, you will lose best friend privileges!) Hope you enjoyed! Happy Whatever-Holiday(s)-You-Celebrate!