Cedric, Sophia, and the Pigs nervously entered Cyril's office. Cyril was checking the stock market in the business section of the newspaper.

"Uhh, sir?" Floyd said. "Can we talk to you about the wedding?"

"What about it?" Cyril asked. "I'm extremely busy here!"

"Well . . . ." Floyd said, a little nervously.

"It's about Rita, Pop," Cedric said.

"What about her?" Cyril asked.

"We have to tell you . . . . . ummm . . . . ."

"Spit it out, Cedric!"

"Uhh, Rita . . . . . she's onltrestnyomny."

Cyril looked up at Cedric as if he had lost his marbles.

"Say that again, Cedric," he said. "I didn't quite hear you."

"Rita's . . . . ." Cedric started, but he found himself mumbling again. "Onltresnyomny."

"How many times do I have to tell you not to mumble, Cedric!" Cyril shouted, starting to lose his patients. "Now what is it!"

"Your fiancé is only interested in you for your money, sir!" Floyd blurted out.

"I know," Cyril said calmly.

"And that's not the worst of it!" Boyd shouted. "She's going to fire the three of us, and send Cedric to military academy, and Sophia to finishing school, and Forest to boarding school as soon as he's old enough and . . . . say that again?"

"I know," Cyril replied. "I already know all that."

"You already know, Pop?" Cedric asked, a little surprised.

"Of course I do!" Cyril shouted. "I'm no spring chicken, you know! Why else would someone like Rita Ritzley be interested in me?"

"And you're still going through with the wedding?" Sophia asked.

"Of course I am!" Cyril shouted. "I'll double my fortune!"

Cedric, Sophia, and the Pigs were sort of at a loss. They couldn't think of anything else to say that would talk Cyril out of the wedding. The Pigs were ready to give up then and there. Cedric and Sophia weren't licked yet, however. Maybe the Raccoons would have an idea about what to do, so the two of them went to the Raccoondominum and told their friends what was going on.

"She's only interested in Cyril for his money?" Melissa asked.

"I knew it!" Bert shouted. "I knew nobody could love Cyril Sneer without another motive, like his cash!"

"And the thing is he already knows about it!" Sophia shouted.

"We can't let Pop go through with the ceremony," Cedric said. "But the problem is he won't listen to us trying to talk him out of it, and we don't have any idea what to do."

"Well, if we can't talk Cyril out of the wedding," Bert said, thoughtfully. "Then we'll talk Rita Ritzley out of it!"

"How are we going to do that?" Sophia asked.

"Just leave it to me," Bert said. "I know exactly what I'm doing, and I've got a great idea!"

"Better have a back up plan ready just in case," Ralph said. "We know how your great ideas always turn out, Bert."

Bert glared at Ralph, but told the others his idea, anyway. They would put it into action the next day. Rita was hanging at the Sneer mansion. Bert had instructed Cedric to get Cyril out of the house in any way possible, which was going to be easier said than done, but Cedric had an idea. He knew one of Cyril's weaknesses, even if Cyril was determined to keep this particular weakness a secret.

"Hi, Pop," Cedric said, walking into Cyril's office. He was carrying Forest with him.

"Is Rita here yet?" Cyril asked.

"Yeah, she's looking things over around the house. She said something about redecorating the place once she moves in."

"Just so long as it's not pink."

"Yeah. Uhh, Pop? Do you think you could do me a favor?"

"What is it, Cedric?"

"Well, do you think you could watch Forest for a couple of hours? I . . . . . need to take care of a few things."

"And why can't Sofa Girl watch him?"

"She's busy . . . . helping Rita prepare for the wedding. Rita said something about needing another woman around to give her a hand with things."

"I see. Well, all right, Cedric. Where's the playpen?"

"I thought maybe you guys could go outside for awhile. You know, maybe take Forest to the playground or something?"

Cyril put down his paper and glared at Cedric for a moment or so.

"You actually think I'd go outside and walk around pushing a stroller in public?!" he shouted. "What do you take me for, Cedric?!"

"Well, I just thought that . . . . ." Cedric started. "Well, you know how much Forest loves you, Pop."

"Forget it, Cedric! I'm not gonna do it. If you want me to watch the baby, then get the playpen in here, because I can not have him underfoot while I'm working!"

"Come on, Pop, you could use some fresh air, you know. And so could the baby."

Cyril was about to argue about it a little more, until he looked directly at Forest. The baby was staring at his grandpa with his big, blue eyes, and reaching out to him, gurgling. Cyril hated it when Forest looked at him like that, because he just couldn't resist his grandson when he looked at him like that.

"Oh all right," Cyril groaned. "I'll do it."

"Thanks, Pop," Cedric said, giving the baby to Cyril.

"Come here, you," Cyril said to Forest. "Why did you have to go and inherit your mother's eyes?!"

Forest just laughed. Cyril sighed, and went to go find the stroller. Once he was gone, Cedric pulled a walkie-talkie he was hiding in Forest's baby bag out, and pushed a button on it.

"Okay, Bert," he said. "Pop took the bait."

"Great," Bert said, from the basement of the mansion. "Ralph, Schafer, and I have got everything set down here. You and Sophia know what to do, right?"

"Right. All we have to do now is wait for Pop to leave."

Cedric turned off the walkie-talkie just as Cyril came back into the office to retrieve the baby bag from Cedric.

"What are you doing, Cedric?" Cyril asked. "What's with the walkie-talkie?"

"Well, I was just talking to Bert, Pop," Cedric said. "I thought this would save money on the phone bill if I talked to him on a walkie-talkie instead of calling on the phone. It also wouldn't tie up your business line."

"Right."

Cyril gave Cedric a funny look. He had a feeling that Cedric was up to something, but he pushed the thought out of his mind, for the time being. He just figured that Cedric was uneasy about acquiring a stepmother, especially one who was about the same age as him. So he just shrugged it off, and left the mansion. Cedric watched him go, making sure he was out of sight before he contacted Bert again with the walkie-talkie.

"Okay, he's gone," he said.

"Good," Bert said. "Now it's time for Operation Break Up! You go down and get the lead in going. Then I'll wait for you to give me my cue, and we'll really shake things up!"

Cedric and Bert signed off, but left their walkie-talkies on. Cedric went down the stairs and into the den. Rita was going through some magazines, talking with someone on her cell phone. Sophia was standing by the window, hanging up the curtains she was mending a few days before.

"Do you honestly have to do that?" Rita asked her, hanging up her phone. "That's what the Bacon Brains are for!"

"I happen to like doing it," Sophia said.

"Besides," Cedric replied. "Sophia not being a socialite is the least of your worries."

"What are you talking about?" Rita asked.

"Didn't the boss tell you?" Lloyd asked. "The mansion is built on an earthquake fault line!"

"That's why he got the mansion so cheap," Boyd said.

"Fault line?" Rita asked. "You stupid hunk of lard! The Evergreen Forest is nowhere on a fault line!"

"That's what they want you to think," Lloyd said.

"Every few so often, an earthquake will hit," Lloyd said. "It's a known fact!"

"And we're due for one," Cedric said. "In fact, we're due for an earthquake any minute now!"

That was Bert's cue. He, Ralph, and Schafer had rigged up a device in the basement to make it feel like an earthquake was going on. Bert hit a button, and the mansion began to shake. Rita didn't know what the heck was going on. She let out a scream, and jumped to her feet.

"An earthquake!" she yelled.

"Brace yourselves!" Boyd shouted, grabbing onto a table leg.

To make it look convincing, Cedric, Sophia, and the two Pigs began to run for cover. Rita was panicking. She had never been in an earthquake before. Seeing her running around the room like a chicken with it's head cut, and screaming was a pretty funny sight, so Cedric, Sophia, and the Pigs were having a difficult time keeping straight faces. But they managed. After what seemed like a reasonable amount of time, Bert turned off the machine.

"That oughta shake things up," he said. "Bet she'll be heading for the hills now!"

"And if she isn't," Ralph said. "Melissa's ready upstairs with a little surprise of her own."

Back upstairs, the Pigs staid underneath the table, and Cedric and Sophia stood firmly in the doorway. Rita looked around, wide eyed with shock and surprise. She regained her bearings and just stared at Cedric and Sophia.

"Wh . . . . . what are you two doing still there?" she asked. "The earthquake's over! Isn't it?"

"Sure it is," Lloyd said. "We're just being prepared for the next earthquake!"

"Next earthquake?!" Rita shouted.

"There should be another one right about . . . . ." Cedric said, punching buttons on the calculator.

A low rumble was heard, and the floor began to shake again. Rita screamed, and grabbed onto the couch for dear life.

"Now," Cedric said, finishing his sentence.

Rita held onto the couch like there was no tomorrow! Finally the shaking stopped. Rita looked at Cedric, Sophia, and the Pigs, who were coming out from their shelters, and began to catch her breath.

"How often are these earthquakes?" she asked.

"Hard to say," Cedric said, with a shrug. "Any time between every hundred years, or every fifteen minutes."

"And then there are the aftershocks," Sophia said. "Floods, fires, you name it, we get it."

"You have got to be kidding me!" Rita shouted. "What do you mean floods and fires?"

"Well, I smell a flood coming on," Lloyd said. "And they come on so suddenly, too."

"What?" Rita asked.

Before anything else could happen, Floyd, from outside, quietly opened the window, stuck the garden hose inside, and turned it on full blast, soaking Rita. She let out a screech. Floyd then turned off the hose and closed the window just as Rita spun around. Luckily, she didn't see Floyd.

"Suddenly, what can I say?" Lloyd said, shrugging, as if to say "I told you so."

"How can you live like this?!" Rita shouted.

"Practice," Cedric said. "Pop doesn't want to move because the rent's cheap here."

"No problem," Rita said, through clenched teeth. "I can handle this. I really can. I'll just have to deal with liquid assets for awhile, if we get a lot of floods."

"Did the boss happen to mention the . . . . . infestation?" Lloyd said.

"Infestation?" Rita repeated.

"Yeah, we have a pest problem," Boyd said.

"I'll say," Rita growled. "Piggy pests!"

"No, actually," Sophia said. "Sometimes . . . . . we get rats."

"Rats!" Rita shouted. "You're putting me on!"

"No, we're not," Cedric said. "We get a lot of rats in the kitchen."

"I'm going to look for myself!" Rita shouted.

Rita made her way into the kitchen. Melissa was hiding in the pantry, holding onto a piece of string. On the end of the piece of string on the other side of the room, was a very large, realistic-looking, stuffed rat. It was hidden from sight. Melissa was waiting for Rita to walk closer to the string. Finally, she stopped where Melissa wanted her to, and the raccoon pulled the string. The rat came out from it's hiding place and shot across the floor. Rita screamed, and jumped up onto the table.

"That's the biggest rat I ever saw!" she shouted. "CEDRIC! CEDRIC, GET IN HERE NOW!"

"What's the matter?" Cedric asked.

"A rat!" Rita yelled. "A giant rat! It just ran across the floor!"

"I told you," Cedric said. "But we just have to put up with them. Pop refuses to hire an exterminator. He says they charge too much."

"Oooh!"

"And that's not the worst of it."

"You mean there's more?! What could be worse than rats?!"

"There's also Snag."

"Cyril's lazy mutt? What's the matter with him?"

"Well, sometimes, Snag can get very vicious, even towards us."

"Oh come on now! He's never vicious towards Cyril, or to you! Or that stupid baby of yours, for that matter! In fact, every time I see that stupid dog, he's asleep!"

"I know, but you never know when Snag's going to turn on someone. There are times when he'll just start foaming at the mouth, and he'll go on a rampage and just attack the first thing he sees."

At the moment, Snag was sleeping in the living room. Bert snuck in with a can of whipped cream. He shook the can, opened it, and sprayed the whipped cream all over Snag's mouth.

"The perfect mad dog if I ever saw one!" he laughed. "Now to make sure Rita's his victim . . . . ."

Bert was glad Snag was sleeping near the doorway. All he had to do was position one of his legs to be sticking out, and guaranteed for someone to step on it. Luckily, Rita and Cedric were about to enter the room. They were arguing whether or not Snag was capable of being a mad dog. Cedric saw Bert, and Bert gave Cedric a thumb's up, and then ducked behind the couch. The minute Rita walked into the room, she accidentally stomped on Snag's leg, with her spiked heel shoe.

"YIPE!" Snag shouted, waking up from his sleep. He didn't appreciate the rude awakening. He turned towards Rita and began growling fiercely at her. Rita took a good look at him and screamed at the top of her voice.

"MAD DOG!" she yelled, racing out of the room. Snag ran after her, barking and growling. Bert couldn't take it much longer. He began laughing like crazy.

"I love it, I love it!" he laughed. "This is just too priceless! If that doesn't get rid of her, I don't know what will!"

As luck would have it, Rita had opened the front door of the mansion just as Cyril was returning.

"What in blazes?" he asked. "Rita, what's going on?"

"YOU CREEP!" Rita yelled, giving Cyril a good slap in the fast. "IT'S NOT WORTH IT! IT'S NOT WORTH IT!"

"What are you talking about?" Cyril asked.

"Take back your stupid ring!" Rita yelled, yanking the engagement ring off her finger and throwing it to the ground. "A house on an earthquake fault line, rats in the kitchen, and now a mad dog! I tell you, it isn't worth it!"

"Fault line?" Cyril asked, beyond confused. "Rats? Mad dog? What in blazes . . . . ."

Cyril looked at Snag, and inspected the "foam" at his mouth. He wiped some of it off with his finger, smelled it, and then tasted it.

"It's whipped cream," Cyril said. "And what do you mean fault line? There's no fault line around here! Who told you there was?"

"Well, Cedric, and the Pigs did," Rita said.

"I'm beginning to see where you got the idea about rats around here," Cyril said, glaring toward Cedric. "I'm beginning to smell a few. Nine, to be exact! CEDRIC!"

"Uh oh," Bert said. "We're busted."

Cedric groaned, and he and Bert walked into the main hallway. Sophia and the Pigs followed, and Melissa, Ralph, and Schafer showed themselves.

"What exactly were the lot of you thinking?!" Cyril demanded.

"You can't marry her, sir!" Lloyd shouted. "And we can't let you, either!"

"We know you know she's only interested in your money, Mr. Sneer," Sophia said. "But you can't possibly build a life together based on that!"

"Of course this marriage will work, Sofa Girl!" Cyril shouted. "The wedding will go on as scheduled, and that's final!"

Cyril stormed out of the room just then. Rita glared at the group and smiled an obnoxious smile.

"Mark my words, pets," she said. "I'll make your lives miserable the moment I say I do."

"Believe me, lady," Bert grumbled. "You already have."