"Your cat died?" asked Arthur hopefully.

"Worse," said Francine miserably. "Much worse."

"Your dad still hasn't found a job," suggested Mrs. Read, who had followed the pair into the living room.

"No, he hasn't," said Francine as she sat on the couch with Arthur.

"It's been two weeks since he was laid off," said Arthur. "He should have found something by now."

"He...he hasn't been looking, Arthur."

"Then what has he been doing?"

Francine's voice rose to an angry pitch.

"He's been gambling!"

Arthur and his mother became speechless.

"At the casino," the girl continued as tears ran down her face. "He lost eight thousand dollars! Catherine was supposed to go to college with that money!"

As the weight of what Francine had just said sank into Mrs. Read's mind, Arthur thought about the casino, the spacious building that so many people had opposed when it was being built...

"We have almost nothing left," said Francine unhappily. "My mom's furious at him. We're all furious at him. Except for Nemo. I'm not sure where he stands."

As Arthur and his mother commiserated with Francine, D.W. came down the stairs, still wearing the barette over her eyes. "Hey, look! I'm Slobberpunk!" she announced.

"Now not, D.W.," said Arthur sternly. "Francine's in trouble."

D.W. removed the hairpiece from her eyes. Her face fell when she saw Francine's tearful state.

Pal bounced into the living room next, carrying his leash in his mouth in hopes of being taken for a walk. "Not now, Pal," Arthur said to him. Pal dropped the leash and started to whine dolefully.

Kate crawled past the group, gurgling happily. "Not now, Kate," said Arthur gloomily. Kate lay down on her stomach and started to whimper.

A moment later Mr. Read marched through the front door. "Who wants chocolate eclairs?" he announced cheerfully.

When he saw the morose assembly in the living room, he became concerned. "Uh...did somebody die?"

Mrs. Read turned to Francine. "I'd better talk to your mother," she said seriously.

----

"I thought he had gotten over the habit," said Mrs. Frensky to Mrs. Read as the two women sat at the dining room table. "I was so wrong. He's as weak as he's ever been."

"I can't imagine what you must be going through," said Mrs. Read, "but I assure you, we'll help in any way we can."

"I'm afraid there may be no help for us now," Mrs. Frensky lamented.

In the living room of the Read home, Arthur was talking with Francine and Catherine.

"I guess the only thing to do now is get really good grades," said Catherine. "Without a scholarship, how can I ever afford college now?"

"We'll just have to join the Army," said Francine sadly.

As D.W. absent-mindedly wandered around the house, she overheard a snippet from Mrs. Frensky. "A good Jewish husband should know well enough to stay away from a place like that. There's more going on than gambling there, you know."

D.W. came into the dining room, curious. "What's she talking about, Mom?"

"You're too young," said Mrs. Read. "Go play with the other kids."

At that moment the doorbell rang. Mrs. Read answered the door, to be greeted by an unshaven Mr. Frensky.

"May I come in, Mrs. Read?" he asked politely.

"Certainly do," Mrs. Read replied. "But I doubt you'll find many people in here who are happy to see you."

"It's not as bad as they make it out to be," said Mr. Frensky as he made his way to the dining room. "It's only a temporary setback."

Mrs. Frensky glowered at him. "I've heard enough of your 'temporary setback' nonsense. That money is gone permanently."

"I'll get it back, I swear!" said Mr. Frensky as he sat at the table next to his wife. "I just need a little more time."

"And how do you propose to get it back?" said Mrs. Frensky angrily. "More gambling? Betting on the races? Selling drugs? Pardon my skepticism, but a man with no skills doesn't come up with eight thousand dollars overnight through honest labor."

In the living room, Francine cradled her head in her hands. "They've been arguing like this all day," she moaned. "There's no end in sight."

"Oh, there's an end in sight," said Catherine ominously. "That's what I'm afraid of."

A second later, something unusual (but not unheard of in the Read household) occurred...the doorbell and the telephone rang at the same time.

"Arthur, get the phone," said Mrs. Read as the went to the front door. As she opened it, she saw Ed and Millicent Crosswire and their daughter, Muffy.

Meanwhile, Arthur was surprised to hear the voice of Bionic Bunny himself, Wilbur Rabbit, greeting him over the phone.

"Good day to you, Mrs. Read," said Mr. Crosswire as he set down his briefcase next to the coat rack. "We heard the Frenskys are having some difficulties, and we were told that they had come here..."

"You're all welcome to come in," said Mrs. Read.

"Uh, hi, Mr. Rabbit...er, Wilbur," said Arthur over the phone. "No, I haven't been to Hollywood before. No, next weekend shouldn't be a problem."

In the meantime, Muffy's parents had pulled up chairs and seated themselves at the table with Mrs. Read and the Frenskys.

"That's kind of you, Ed," said Mr. Frensky to Mr. Crosswire, "but I don't know how I would ever pay you back. I'm without a job at the moment."

"I know you'll find a way," said Mr. Crosswire. "I've never had a Quaker welch on a loan before."

"I'm Jewish," Mr. Frensky reminded him.

"Even better."

"You know Oliver will never take your money," Mrs. Frensky said to Mr. Crosswire. "And if he did, he'd only blow it on the roulette table."

As the adults gathered at the table continued to bicker, Muffy greeted Francine, Catherine, and D.W. in the living room.

"I heard all about what happened," she said to Francine. "I wouldn't fret about it. Eight thousand dollars is a drop in the bucket."

"For you, maybe," Francine retorted. "You probably lose that much every year in the laundry."

"For us, it's the sum of all our hopes," said Catherine glumly. "You're so rich, you wouldn't understand."

"I wonder if this would be a good time to ask Mom for more allowance," said D.W.

Arthur, meanwhile, continued his phone conversation. "Do you want me to wear anything special for the screen test?" he asked.

"You can keep your money," said Mr. Frensky to Mr. Crosswire. "I don't want to become your vassal."

"Who said anything about you joining my sales team?" Mr. Crosswire shot back.

"I'll go back to school," Mr. Frensky offered. "I'll get my GED. I'll even get an office job and go to work every morning in a suit and tie if I have to."

"It's too little, too late," countered Mrs. Frensky. "No, Oliver Frensky, you've frittered away our hopes for the last time."

In the living room, Muffy sat on the floor, fiddling with her braids and looking bored. "I don't see why this has to be so complicated," she remarked.

"I hate to say this," Catherine said to her, "but maybe this is one of those problems that can't be solved by writing someone a check."

Muffy became pensive for a few seconds.

"Maybe you're right," she finally said. "What we need is someone who knows how to make peace between warring parties." She picked up her cell phone and dialed a number. "Hi, Sue Ellen. Is your dad busy?"

Fifteen minutes later, the debate continued to rage in the Read dining room, but now the Armstrongs had become involved as well.

"Calm down, everybody," Mr. Armstrong urged the others. "I'm sure we can arrive at an agreement that will benefit both sides."

"I know what will benefit me," said Mrs. Frensky hotly. "One less compulsive gambler in the family."

"You don't really mean that," said Mrs. Armstrong, who had been one of the casino's most vocal opponents during the time when it was built. "Yes, he's weak, but we're all weak. The casino just took advantage of his weakness. He's no more to blame for what happened to him than a fish is to blame for getting caught. If anyone is ultimately to blame, it's Mayor Crook."

"His name is Cook," said Mr. Frensky. "Mayor Cook."

"There wouldn't be a casino if not for his greed and shortsightedness," Mrs. Armstrong went on. "The man is a criminal. And I would call him one right to his face. Again."

At the same time, Arthur was concluding his phone conversation. "Yeah, I'll see you next weekend. Sorry for all the noise. Grownups fighting over money. You know how it is. Talk to you later."

Arthur hung up the phone and went to talk to his mother. "Mom?"

"Yes, Arthur?" said Mrs. Read impatiently.

"They want me to go to Hollywood next weekend for a screen test."

"That's lovely, dear," said Mrs. Read curtly.

Arthur sighed and made his way into the living room, where the other children were trying in vain to make sense of the situation.

"I don't know what you hoped to accomplish by getting my parents involved," Sue Ellen said to Muffy. "The casino's one of my mom's hot buttons. She'll do nothing but complain about it."

"That's good," said Francine. "We need more people to complain about it. That place should be shut down before more people suffer."

"Who were you talking to on the phone, Arthur?" Muffy asked.

"Wilbur Rabbit," Arthur answered emotionlessly. "He wants me in Hollywood next weekend for a screen test."

"Cool," said Catherine. "At least one of us is having good luck."

"Now we can watch you on TV in our trailer park," Francine added.

"I wonder if he remembers me," said Muffy.

"Knock 'em dead, big brother," said D.W., smiling.

(Chapter 5 coming soon...)