As they walked through the forest, Calvin and Hobbes noticed something sitting in a tree.
"Check it out!" laughed Calvin. "It's a shoe tree!"
Indeed, several shoes of all types were sitting on branches of the tree.
Then Hobbes noticed something else. "Look over there! It's a shoe horn!"
There was a giant brass horn sitting nearby.
"That's the only way to get the shoes down from the tree," said Sock 2.
"Hey, maybe a pair of those shoes could be your shoes," said Calvin.
"Let's give it a try."
Calvin ran over to the shoe horn and blew into it. It didn't make much noise.
"Yuck!" Calvin yelled. "That tasted horrible."
Hobbes looked into the bigger end. "It's filled with mold and stuff. I guess no one's wanted to see the flying shoes lately."
"How are we gonna get rid of the grimy stuff?" asked Calvin.
"We know someone!" said Sock 1.
"Come with us!" yelled Sock 2.
They all ran off and towards what appeared to be a mountain of a dresser.
"Let me guess, this is Pants Prominence?" asked Calvin.
"How'd you guess?"
Calvin and Hobbes rolled their eyes.
The drawers were each pulled out a bit like stairs, so it was easy climbing, although it would've been easier if the drawers were smaller.
About half an hour later, they'd made it all the way to the top.
"Has anyone considered putting in an elevator?" Calvin wheezed.
Hobbes didn't say anything. He was too shocked that there was something on top of this place.
"Is it me, or is that a giant fish tank?" he asked.
Calvin looked up and gasped. There really was a giant fish tank!
"What's this thing doing here?" Calvin asked.
"We don't know," said Sock 2. "It's just always sorta been here."
"So where's this person that can get rid of moldy grime and grimy mold?" Hobbes asked.
"It's not a person per say," said Sock 1. He pointed into the tank. They all looked at a blobby, bluish creature that sat on the floor.
"Hello there," said the creature.
"Are you a sponge?" Calvin dared to ask.
"Yes, I am!"
"He looks kinda squishy," said Hobbes.
"That's because I'm a sponge!"
"We know," said Calvin.
"Wow, you're a bright boy!"
Calvin and Hobbes sighed. Another idiot.
"Sponge, we need you to help us clean the mold out of a shoehorn," said Sock 1. "Any chance you could come and do it?"
"You bet! I love the taste of mold and grime! It tastes like—"
"I DON'T WANNA KNOW!" Calvin shouted, holding up his hands.
"Okay. Come and get me!"
Hobbes found a toy fire truck next to the tank, so he put the ladder up higher and they climbed up alongside.
Calvin dove into the tank, but he couldn't see anything due to the bad water. He swam back to the tank wall.
"The water's too deep for me," he said. "We need someone else to get Sponge up here."
Then Hobbes saw what appeared to be a cord sticking out of the water. Upon further inspection, he saw that it was tangled up. He gave it a good yank, and it all came loose, revealing it to be an air pipe for a scuba diver!
The diver swam to the top and opened his helmet. "Ah, thank you!" he said in a thick French accent. "I have been trying to loosen that tube for a full day!"
"You scuba dive in a fish tank?" Calvin asked.
"But of course! It is a good place to find the scurry creatures of the deep. Why just last week, I discovered the rare Tank Guppy."
"If you just discovered it, then how do you know it's rare?" Hobbes asked.
"Have you ever seen it before?"
"No."
"Well, there you go!"
"Listen, I hate to interrupt," Calvin said, "but we need that sponge down there to eat the mold out of a shoehorn for us."
"But of course!"
The scuba diver dove down and managed to get Sponge and bring him to the top.
"Oh boy!" said Sponge, jumping to the ground. "Mold, here I come!"
Calvin felt his stomach jump in disgust.
Once they had climbed down the mountain (dresser), they returned to the shoetree.
"Okay, here's the horn," said Hobbes. "Eat up."
Sponge looked at the giant shoehorn. "Where's the mold?"
"There's the mold," Calvin said.
"In the horn?"
"In the horn."
"Is it all for me?"
Calvin was tempted to kill this thing right now.
"Who else would eat it?" he mumbled angrily.
Sponge's mouth popped open. "OH BOY!" He jumped into the mouthpiece and started to slurp up the mold.
Calvin and Hobbes held their stomachs. The two socks just chuckled.
"He loves his mold," said Sock 1.
"Good and he's welcome to it," Hobbes sighed.
About a minute later, Sponge came out of the horn and then started to rub all over the outside, shining it. Then he fell off and sat before them proudly.
Calvin and Hobbes stared. This sponge was about as big as their fist. The shoehorn was five times his size.
"Did you eat all the mold?" Calvin asked.
"Mold all gone!" Sponge said. "I can't believe I ate the whole thing! I'd better lie down."
He hopped away to sleep for a while in the grass.
"Let's just pretend we couldn't get him to stay with his and he went astray," Calvin said.
"Agreed," said Hobbes.
"Now let's get some shoes," said Sock 2.
Hobbes ran over to the shoehorn and blew into it. There was a noise that echoes everywhere, shaking the ground. This shook the shoetree, and the shoes all flew out. Calvin picked up a net and managed to catch a pair of sneakers.
"Just the shoes for you, Hobbes," he joked.
"They seem to like us," said Sock 2.
"Wow, it's amazing that something could like Calvin the instant it saw him," Hobbes said.
"Whatever. Let's get going. You need a shirt, and I need my report back!"