Binky, Molly, and Rattles followed the dank corridor to a spacious, carpeted room with only a few wall lights for illumination. Three chairs had been placed next to the doorway, so they took the hint and sat down. A few dim, unrecognizable shapes were visible on the far end of the chamber.

"This sure is a creepy place to hold a semiannual high school reunion," Binky remarked.

"This whole thing is weird," said Rattles. "I thought it was only supposed to happen once a year, like birthdays and church."

"I still can't believe Arthur and Fern got together," said Molly.

"You say that every year," said Rattles.

"And I'll keep saying it until I believe it."

"You wanna know what I think?" said Binky suspiciously. "I think somebody's planning a big surprise for us."

"Abandon all hope, ye that enter here," spoke an eerie, yet faintly familiar, voice.

"Who said that?" Rattles blurted out.

"Dante Alighieri," Molly told him.

Suddenly every light in the room switched on. The figures at the other end of the room became clear—they were a young moose man with broad antlers, and a control console at which he was seated.

"Oh, it's just George," said Binky flippantly.

The crazed-looking moose pushed a button, and a steel panel slid into place in the doorway, sealing the three guests inside. "I'm so glad you could make it," he said in a sinister tone. "The others can't be here, I'm afraid."

"What's with the big computer?" asked Molly.

"It's the operations center for my orbiting doomsday device," George replied.

Binky, Molly, and Rattles laughed. "You always wanted one of those," said Binky mockingly.

"Silence!" George bellowed. "You do not comprehend the gravity of your situation."

"I fell asleep during the lesson on gravity," joked Rattles.

"You caused me no end of torment at school," said George bitterly. "You stole my lunch money. You gave me unprovoked wedgies. You even sawed off my antlers just so you could dunk my head in a toilet."

"We're sorry for all that, okay?" said Molly.

"We're grownups now," said Binky. "We don't do that stuff anymore."

"But we'll always have the memories," said Rattles wistfully.

George waved his finger threateningly over a switch. "Now it's my turn to torment you. In exactly five minutes I will flip this lever, and my doomsday satellite will irradiate the Earth, destroying all human and animal life."

The three guests stared blankly at him.

Molly grinned. "I guess we're safe then. We're not really human or animal. We're something else altogether. I'm not sure exactly what, but I like to think of us as…"

"Do not go there, Molly," Rattles cut her off.

"All human and animal life," George continued, "except for the four of us sitting in this shielded chamber."

"You can't be serious," said Binky. "There'd be no one left to repopulate the planet. We're all men here except for Molly, and she's, well, you know…"

"If you wish, you can return to your wives and children, and perish with them," said George. "But I expect you'll stay here and save yourselves, like the cowards you are."

"He just dissed us!" Rattles complained. "I say we give him a wedgie."

"No, that would be immature," said Binky. "Let's sue him instead."

"You have four minutes to decide," said George.

The three former bullies consulted among themselves. "What if he's telling the truth?" said Molly anxiously. "What if this really is the end of the world?"

"Oh, man, and I never got to tell my wife that I love her," said Binky. "And I mean never."

"If this is your idea of a sick joke, it's not sick enough," Rattles said to George. "Now open that door."

"As you wish," said George. With the push of a button, the metal plate moved aside.

Rattles stepped slowly toward the doorway, then turned, a devilish grin on his face. "But before I go, I'd like to do…THIS!"

Rushing forward, he placed his hand on the doomsday trigger.

"Stop!" cried George. "The door's still…"

ZZZZAAAAPPPP

The End