Now they were tumbling down a swirling vortex. The binders and papers disappeared from view and they screamed and tumbled down a dark tunnel towards who knows where!

Moments later, they tumbled through a hole in a wall, and they stopped suddenly.

"Where are we?" Hobbes demanded.

Calvin searched the area. They were in a dark, round encasement. However, there was some light pouring out of the end of the wall.

"I think I see a way out!" he said.

He gave the area a push, and it popped open like a hatch-door.

They climbed out and let it shut, only to find they had just climbed out of a giant baseball!

"Where are we?" Hobbes asked again.

"I think we're in whole new world!"

They looked around. There was a dirty path just ahead of them. There was also giant trading cards, old gum, notebooks, pencils, a crumpled piece of paper, but what stood out most was the giant dresser that loomed ahead.

"I don't think we're in Kansas anymore," Calvin said.

"We weren't in Kansas to begin with."

"Hello," said a voice.

They looked around and spotted a little sock just below them.

"Um, hi?" Hobbes said unsurely.

"Unbelievable!" said Calvin. "This must be an advanced being, able to take on the form of a dirty gym sock!"

"I am a sock."

Calvin looked disappointed. "Oh."

"What're you doing down here?" Hobbes asked.

"It's a sad situation," the sock said. "Because I've got some mud on me, they won't let me in the drawer over there."

Calvin looked up at the giant dresser. "Are you kidding? How is that a sad situation?"

"Well, I can't be with my matching sock. He's my best friend."

"If that's your problem, I suggest you go to therapy. That's what a normal person does."

"He's not a person. He's a sock," Hobbes reminded him. "To us, that's a silly problem, but to a sock, it might be a huge problem."

Calvin considered this. "I think I get it now. You can't be with the other sock because you're dirty and he's clean."

"That's it. Pretty sad, huh?" said the sock. "You're starting to think like a sock. We clothes get pretty sad when we're not in pairs."

"Hats don't come in pairs," said Hobbes.

"That's why you'll never see a happy hat," the sock replied.

Calvin rolled his eyes. "Yeah, a really big drama scene. Listen, we'd love to stay and discuss fabric softeners, but we've got a problem. We need to find my history report for school on Monday."

"I've seen a history report. An old half-eaten cheese sandwich was carrying it, and he wanted to put it on display on the Grubby Corners mall."

"Wow, I'm that good?" Calvin grinned proudly.

"You copied it out of the encyclopedia, remember?" Hobbes said.

"Wait, did you say display it? Aw, man! We need to get it before it's put on display!"

"I'll help you out," said the sock. "But first, you need to get me cleaned and back with my pair."

"I see," Calvin said. "It'll be a tough mission, but one we'll have to deal with!"

"You're in," Hobbes said.

A few minutes later, they found a slightly lit-up sign that read "Grubby Corners".

"This must be the place," Calvin said. "I don't see why anyone would go into a place that looks so horrible."

Indeed, Grubby Corners Mall wasn't exactly something you'd see on the front of a magazine. It was covered in mold and grime, and it looked like it would collapse at any moment.

"To you, it seems like a dump," said the sock. "To us, it's a shopping paradise!"

"Thanks, we'll haul that away," Hobbes said.

They approached the decaying building, only to find a portfolio with a police hat on and a star-shaped badge standing out front.

"Oh my," Calvin said.

They started to enter, but they couldn't get in.

"Hey, what's the big deal?"

"Not so fast kid. You know the rules."

"What rules?" asked Calvin.

"Ignorance of the rules is not excuse, but I'll tell them to you anyway. No shirt, no socks, no shoes, no service. Are you hip to that?"

"Hip?" asked Hobbes.

"But I'm wearing all those things!" Calvin protested.

"Yes, but as for your friend over there…"

"Hey, I'm a tiger. I take great pride in not wearing any clothes."

"That's no excuse, not to mention unhealthy," the portfolio cop said sternly. "The tiger will need clothes in order to get into the mall."

Hobbes noticed a slice of moldy pizza drooped over a handrail.

"Why would I want to go into that place anyway?" he snarled.

"We'll be back," Calvin added, and they left.

Once they were out of earshot, they thought for a moment.

"Call me crazy, but that guy looked like my end-of-year art portfolio," Calvin said.

"Forget that. If we're going to get that report back, I'm gonna need to get shirt, shoes and socks."

"Well, we're off to a good start," said Calvin. "We've got one sock. A dirty sock, but a sock nonetheless. All we need is to clean it and get its matching sock, and then we'll be able to check off the list."

"Then we'll have to hurry!" said the sock.

"Where are we gonna look for a washing machine in a place like this?" Hobbes asked.

A Cheese Chip hopped past and overheard. "There's a washing pond just down the road. Just go over Binder Mountain."

"Not a very creative name for a mountain," Calvin commented.

"You'll understand the name when you see it. It's just down the road over there, and take the fork on the left."

"Thank you," said Hobbes.

"S' right."

The chip hopped away.

"Did we just talk to a giant Cheese Chip?" asked Hobbes.

"I think we did."

They continued down the dirt path, only to find that it didn't matter if they went left. They would've seen the mountain anyway! It looked like a big white binder!

"Oh, the irony!" cried Hobbes.

Calvin looked around. "There must be a way of conveyance around here to get us up there."

"Here's a way over there!" said Hobbes.

They ran over to a spoon.

"We just need to fling ourselves to the top of the mountain."

Calvin got the idea. He picked up some giant raisins and tossed them onto the other end. Then they kicked a pencil off the other end, and they were immediately flung up and into the air.

The three of them crash-landed on the mountaintop, which was strangely gooey.

"It feels like month-old gum," Calvin commented.

They looked around, and spotted the washing machine lake, but it was pretty dry.

"There's the washing-twirling thing," said Hobbes, "but where's the sudsy water?"

"Over there!" said Calvin. "It's being blocked by that junk!"

The canal was indeed jammed by oversized soda cans, banana peels and old shoelaces, not to mention a trading card.

"Momma mia!" cried Hobbes.

"My words exactly," said a voice. It was a green plastic wrench sitting in a grabbing crane.

"Way cool!" said Calvin. "Is that your crane?"

"Well, they let me drive it, but they won't let me take it home at night. The boss has a strict policy that we can't borrow anything that could knock down his house."

"Aww…"

"Shouldn't you be working on clearing that garbage?" asked Hobbes.

"I would, but I can't get the crane working. One of the controls is busted and we lost it. The grabber goes up and down all right, but we can't make it grab anything. Without it, the garbage'll continue to pile, and I'll have twice as much work as this morning."

"We'll have to find something to fix the crane so that we can wash our sock friend over here."

"And so that I can go on my coffee break," added the wrench.

Calvin and Hobbes left in search of something useful, but they must've made a wrong turn, because they wandered towards the edge of the mountain.

"Look down there!" said Calvin. "It's a bunch of old socks! Come on!"

"WAIT!" Hobbes shouted.

But Calvin had already jumped off the mountain. He landed safely and bounced off the old socks.

Hobbes held his stomach and jumped pursuit and the sock followed. They too bounced off the socks and were sent hurtling into some gum. It was there they found something interesting...