Arthur, Brain, and Francine shuddered with fear upon hearing the news.
"We've got to help him!" exclaimed Arthur. "Where is he, Molly?"
"In our secret hideout," said Molly. "I'll take you there."
"Hold it," said Brain. "Before we do anything rash, we need to ask ourselves a few questions."
"Such as?" said Francine.
"First of all, can Molly be trusted? She could be leading us into a trap."
"That's a good point," Arthur remarked.
"But what choice do we have?" said Francine. "She's the only one who knows the way to their hideout."
"Second," said Brain, "is Buster still human?"
"Uh...well..." Arthur mumbled.
"Exactly," Brain continued. "Let's face it, Buster's a little short in the willpower department."
"In other words," said Francine, "starve him for a few hours, and he'll do whatever you say."
"You don't even need to starve him," said Brain. "Just tempt him with a box of Twinkies. He can't resist food."
Arthur started to become angry. "Stop talking like that. Buster's our friend. We shouldn't make fun of him when he's not around."
But Brain was too busy muttering thoughtfully to himself to hear.
"...tempt him with a box of Twinkies...can't resist food..."
"You said that once," said Francine.
Molly stepped closer to Brain. "Alan, what is it?"
"...can't resist food..." Brain muttered again.
"I think he just slipped a groove," Arthur remarked.
Brain slapped his knee. "That's it!" he cried triumphantly. "I was stupid not to think of this before!"
Arthur, Francine, and Molly gaped at him with interest.
He smiled. "I just remembered another important fact about rhinoceroses."
----
"Oh, man, am I hungry," moaned Rhino Rattles, sitting on a chair underneath the sheet-metal roof of the Tough Customers' secret hideout.
"Yeah, we all are," said another rhino boy who sat across from him.
A third rhino boy looked over at some leafy trees growing nearby. "Those leaves are looking better and better," he remarked.
"I think we should eat the rabbit," said Rattles, gesturing toward a nearby barbecue spit from which the nervous Buster was suspended, bound hand and foot.
"I dunno," said the second rhino boy. "He looks kinda scrawny. I don't think he's got enough meat to go around."
Another rhino boy entered the crude structure, his arms laden with brown plastic bags. "Hey, guys," he announced, "I gleeped some pork rinds from the convenience store."
The other rhino boys, six in all, rose to their feet eagerly.
"Lemme have some of those," said Rattles, grabbing one of the bags. He ripped open the top with his horn, emptied the contents of the bag into his mouth, chewed for a while, and grimaced in disgust. "What are you trying to pull? I could eat a trainload of this stuff and still be hungry."
"Sorry, man," said the rhino boy with the pork rinds. Then he started to sniff the air. "Hey, who's that I smell?"
Rattles sniffed as well. "It's Molly. And somebody's with her."
The seven rhino boys filed through the entrance to their secret hideout. Walking through the trees in their direction were Molly, holding up a wooden pole with a white flag attached, and Brain, who was hiding something behind his back.
"Oh, look at that," said Rattles. "Molly's brought us another prisoner."
"He's not here as a prisoner, Rattles," said Molly as she and Brain stopped in front of the seven rhinos. "He's come to propose an exchange."
"An exchange?" Rattles repeated. "What kind of exchange?"
"My friend Buster," said Brain, "for this."
He pulled his hands from behind his back, revealing that he held a large, fresh head of iceberg lettuce in each hand.
The hearts of the rhino boys almost burst with longing when they saw the lettuce. Their tongues dangled from their mouths. Drops of drool fell from their lips.
"Let...tuce..." mumbled one of the rhino boys.
"It's so beautiful," gushed another.
"We wants it," said yet another.
"My precious!" added another.
"Deal," said Rattles, extending his hand to shake Brain's.
Instead of shaking hands with Rattles, Brain tossed the heads of lettuce several yards to his left. Soon all seven rhino boys were charging toward them. They leaped, some of them landing on top of the lettuce and some on top of other rhinos. Within moments a feeding frenzy had begun, as the rhinos punched and kicked each other, each trying to pull off a chunk of lettuce and stuff it in his mouth.
In the meantime, Brain and Molly had made their way to the barbecue spit where Buster was hanging, and were untying the ropes that bound him.
"You guys got here just in time," said Buster gratefully. "They were about to roast me and eat me."
"Empty threats," said Brain. "Rhinos are herbivores. Vegetarians."
Soon Buster was released from his bonds. He stood up, rubbing his sore wrists.
As Brain, Buster, and Molly exited the secret hideout, they saw the seven rhino boys sprawled on the ground, some of them chewing on lettuce, all of them covered from head to toe with lettuce fragments.
Rattles sat up and sank his head into his hands. "What's the matter with us, dudes?" he asked the others. "We just fought like wild animals for two lousy heads of freakin' lettuce."
"Sorry, Rattles," said another rhino boy. "I just couldn't help myself."
"Neither could I," said another.
"Got any more?" another rhino boy asked Brain.
"Plenty more where that came from," said Brain. "Follow us."
All of the rhino boys, except for Rattles, started to follow Brain, Buster, and Molly as they took off through the trees.
"Wait, guys!" called Rattles. "Where are you going?"
"Must...have...more...lettuce," droned a rhino boy.
"Too...hungry...to...resist," mumbled another.
Rattles quickly stood up and hurried after the departing rhino boys.
"Dudes, you know this has gotta be some kind of trap," he said to them when he had caught up.
"Mmmm...lettuce," said the rhino boy in the rear as he licked his lips.
Second later Brain, Buster, Molly, and the seven rhino boys came out of the trees and arrived at a small cul-de-sac where a police car and a truck were parked. The cargo door of the truck was open, revealing half a dozen boxes filled with lettuce, carrots, cabbage, and other vegetables.
"Food!" cried the rhino boys in unison when they laid eyes on the bounty.
Nothing could restrain them as they charged up the ramp and into the back of the truck, where they began to greedily stuff vegetables into their mouths.
Molly quickly closed the cargo door, sealing the rhinos inside.
As Rattles was biting off half of a head of cabbage, he noticed something suspicious. "Hey! We're locked in!"
"Yeah?" said one of the other rhino boys, who was munching on four carrots simultaneously.
Rattles shrugged his shoulders and bit into his cabbage again.
Five minutes later, as the cargo truck rolled along the highway in the direction of the zoo, the rhino boys looked around and saw that all of the vegetable boxes were empty. A few of them picked up scraps from the floor and ate them.
"Oh, man," Rattles lamented, "did we really eat all that?"
"I guess so," said another rhino. "I don't remember much after getting in the truck."
"I'm still hungry," said another.
Rattles looked at the sliding window that separated the cargo compartment from the cab of the truck. A man was driving, with a woman sitting next to him, chatting carelessly.
He knocked on the window, and the woman reached her arm over and opened it. "Where are you taking us?" he demanded angrily.
"To the zoo," the woman said, "where you'll have a nice warm cage, and all the vegetables you can eat."
Rattles and the other rhinos groaned miserably.
"Wait a minute," said Rattles, suddenly worried. "All the vegetables we can eat? How much is that?"
"The average zoo rhinoceros eats 75 pounds of vegetables per day," the woman answered.
Rattles' eyes nearly sprang out of their sockets. His heart plummeted.
"Seventy...five...pounds..."
"Per day," the woman repeated.
"Seventy-five pounds?" said one of the boys. "How much is that?"
"I think it's a lot," said another boy.
"Take what we just ate," yet another boy added, "multiply it by about a gazillion, and that's seventy-five pounds."
The rhino boys groaned again.
"I can't even stop myself," one of them said. "I see a cabbage, and I turn into Pac-Man. It's crazy."
"How long are we gonna be this way?" asked another.
"For the rest of our lives," said yet another. "Or until we die, whichever comes first."
Rattles sat down and shook his rhino head sadly. "This bites. This really bites. I hate being a rhino."
The other boys gasped and looked at him in shock.
"What...did you say?" one said nervously.
"I said," Rattles reiterated, "I hate being a rhino. I don't want to be a rhino anymore. I want to be human again!"
As soon as he had said this, he felt a strange sensation throughout his body.
"Wh-what's happening?"
(to be continued)
"We've got to help him!" exclaimed Arthur. "Where is he, Molly?"
"In our secret hideout," said Molly. "I'll take you there."
"Hold it," said Brain. "Before we do anything rash, we need to ask ourselves a few questions."
"Such as?" said Francine.
"First of all, can Molly be trusted? She could be leading us into a trap."
"That's a good point," Arthur remarked.
"But what choice do we have?" said Francine. "She's the only one who knows the way to their hideout."
"Second," said Brain, "is Buster still human?"
"Uh...well..." Arthur mumbled.
"Exactly," Brain continued. "Let's face it, Buster's a little short in the willpower department."
"In other words," said Francine, "starve him for a few hours, and he'll do whatever you say."
"You don't even need to starve him," said Brain. "Just tempt him with a box of Twinkies. He can't resist food."
Arthur started to become angry. "Stop talking like that. Buster's our friend. We shouldn't make fun of him when he's not around."
But Brain was too busy muttering thoughtfully to himself to hear.
"...tempt him with a box of Twinkies...can't resist food..."
"You said that once," said Francine.
Molly stepped closer to Brain. "Alan, what is it?"
"...can't resist food..." Brain muttered again.
"I think he just slipped a groove," Arthur remarked.
Brain slapped his knee. "That's it!" he cried triumphantly. "I was stupid not to think of this before!"
Arthur, Francine, and Molly gaped at him with interest.
He smiled. "I just remembered another important fact about rhinoceroses."
----
"Oh, man, am I hungry," moaned Rhino Rattles, sitting on a chair underneath the sheet-metal roof of the Tough Customers' secret hideout.
"Yeah, we all are," said another rhino boy who sat across from him.
A third rhino boy looked over at some leafy trees growing nearby. "Those leaves are looking better and better," he remarked.
"I think we should eat the rabbit," said Rattles, gesturing toward a nearby barbecue spit from which the nervous Buster was suspended, bound hand and foot.
"I dunno," said the second rhino boy. "He looks kinda scrawny. I don't think he's got enough meat to go around."
Another rhino boy entered the crude structure, his arms laden with brown plastic bags. "Hey, guys," he announced, "I gleeped some pork rinds from the convenience store."
The other rhino boys, six in all, rose to their feet eagerly.
"Lemme have some of those," said Rattles, grabbing one of the bags. He ripped open the top with his horn, emptied the contents of the bag into his mouth, chewed for a while, and grimaced in disgust. "What are you trying to pull? I could eat a trainload of this stuff and still be hungry."
"Sorry, man," said the rhino boy with the pork rinds. Then he started to sniff the air. "Hey, who's that I smell?"
Rattles sniffed as well. "It's Molly. And somebody's with her."
The seven rhino boys filed through the entrance to their secret hideout. Walking through the trees in their direction were Molly, holding up a wooden pole with a white flag attached, and Brain, who was hiding something behind his back.
"Oh, look at that," said Rattles. "Molly's brought us another prisoner."
"He's not here as a prisoner, Rattles," said Molly as she and Brain stopped in front of the seven rhinos. "He's come to propose an exchange."
"An exchange?" Rattles repeated. "What kind of exchange?"
"My friend Buster," said Brain, "for this."
He pulled his hands from behind his back, revealing that he held a large, fresh head of iceberg lettuce in each hand.
The hearts of the rhino boys almost burst with longing when they saw the lettuce. Their tongues dangled from their mouths. Drops of drool fell from their lips.
"Let...tuce..." mumbled one of the rhino boys.
"It's so beautiful," gushed another.
"We wants it," said yet another.
"My precious!" added another.
"Deal," said Rattles, extending his hand to shake Brain's.
Instead of shaking hands with Rattles, Brain tossed the heads of lettuce several yards to his left. Soon all seven rhino boys were charging toward them. They leaped, some of them landing on top of the lettuce and some on top of other rhinos. Within moments a feeding frenzy had begun, as the rhinos punched and kicked each other, each trying to pull off a chunk of lettuce and stuff it in his mouth.
In the meantime, Brain and Molly had made their way to the barbecue spit where Buster was hanging, and were untying the ropes that bound him.
"You guys got here just in time," said Buster gratefully. "They were about to roast me and eat me."
"Empty threats," said Brain. "Rhinos are herbivores. Vegetarians."
Soon Buster was released from his bonds. He stood up, rubbing his sore wrists.
As Brain, Buster, and Molly exited the secret hideout, they saw the seven rhino boys sprawled on the ground, some of them chewing on lettuce, all of them covered from head to toe with lettuce fragments.
Rattles sat up and sank his head into his hands. "What's the matter with us, dudes?" he asked the others. "We just fought like wild animals for two lousy heads of freakin' lettuce."
"Sorry, Rattles," said another rhino boy. "I just couldn't help myself."
"Neither could I," said another.
"Got any more?" another rhino boy asked Brain.
"Plenty more where that came from," said Brain. "Follow us."
All of the rhino boys, except for Rattles, started to follow Brain, Buster, and Molly as they took off through the trees.
"Wait, guys!" called Rattles. "Where are you going?"
"Must...have...more...lettuce," droned a rhino boy.
"Too...hungry...to...resist," mumbled another.
Rattles quickly stood up and hurried after the departing rhino boys.
"Dudes, you know this has gotta be some kind of trap," he said to them when he had caught up.
"Mmmm...lettuce," said the rhino boy in the rear as he licked his lips.
Second later Brain, Buster, Molly, and the seven rhino boys came out of the trees and arrived at a small cul-de-sac where a police car and a truck were parked. The cargo door of the truck was open, revealing half a dozen boxes filled with lettuce, carrots, cabbage, and other vegetables.
"Food!" cried the rhino boys in unison when they laid eyes on the bounty.
Nothing could restrain them as they charged up the ramp and into the back of the truck, where they began to greedily stuff vegetables into their mouths.
Molly quickly closed the cargo door, sealing the rhinos inside.
As Rattles was biting off half of a head of cabbage, he noticed something suspicious. "Hey! We're locked in!"
"Yeah?" said one of the other rhino boys, who was munching on four carrots simultaneously.
Rattles shrugged his shoulders and bit into his cabbage again.
Five minutes later, as the cargo truck rolled along the highway in the direction of the zoo, the rhino boys looked around and saw that all of the vegetable boxes were empty. A few of them picked up scraps from the floor and ate them.
"Oh, man," Rattles lamented, "did we really eat all that?"
"I guess so," said another rhino. "I don't remember much after getting in the truck."
"I'm still hungry," said another.
Rattles looked at the sliding window that separated the cargo compartment from the cab of the truck. A man was driving, with a woman sitting next to him, chatting carelessly.
He knocked on the window, and the woman reached her arm over and opened it. "Where are you taking us?" he demanded angrily.
"To the zoo," the woman said, "where you'll have a nice warm cage, and all the vegetables you can eat."
Rattles and the other rhinos groaned miserably.
"Wait a minute," said Rattles, suddenly worried. "All the vegetables we can eat? How much is that?"
"The average zoo rhinoceros eats 75 pounds of vegetables per day," the woman answered.
Rattles' eyes nearly sprang out of their sockets. His heart plummeted.
"Seventy...five...pounds..."
"Per day," the woman repeated.
"Seventy-five pounds?" said one of the boys. "How much is that?"
"I think it's a lot," said another boy.
"Take what we just ate," yet another boy added, "multiply it by about a gazillion, and that's seventy-five pounds."
The rhino boys groaned again.
"I can't even stop myself," one of them said. "I see a cabbage, and I turn into Pac-Man. It's crazy."
"How long are we gonna be this way?" asked another.
"For the rest of our lives," said yet another. "Or until we die, whichever comes first."
Rattles sat down and shook his rhino head sadly. "This bites. This really bites. I hate being a rhino."
The other boys gasped and looked at him in shock.
"What...did you say?" one said nervously.
"I said," Rattles reiterated, "I hate being a rhino. I don't want to be a rhino anymore. I want to be human again!"
As soon as he had said this, he felt a strange sensation throughout his body.
"Wh-what's happening?"
(to be continued)