A couple of months went by. Evelyn was no longer waking up the household at two in the morning. But she was getting tons of attention from everybody, and presents. Some of the visitors brought presents for Forest, but they were considerably smaller than the baby's. But what really bugged Forest was that Cedric and Sophia seemed to be devoting more time to the baby.
"Mommy," Forest said while Sophia was changing Evelyn. "Can you read me a story, please?"
"I'm sorry, Forest, I'm a little busy with your sister," Sophia said. "Maybe later."
"But that's what you said yesterday!"
"I'm sorry, sweetie, but Evelyn needs me right now."
Forest pouted and left the room. He went downstairs to Cyril's office. Cedric was working on the books.
"Daddy, read me a story!" he demanded.
"I can't right now, Forest," Cedric replied. "I'll read to you later, I promise."
"You promised twice already and you still haven't done it!"
"Listen, Forest, I'm just really busy right now. Why don't you go play, and I'll read to you later."
Forest groaned, and left. He found Cyril in his vault, enjoying his cash.
"Gampa, will you read me a story?" Forest asked.
"I don't have time for stories now, Forest," Cyril said. "Later."
"I hate later!" Forest shouted, stomping upstairs to his room.
A week passed. Cedric and Sophia were still giving their attention to Evelyn. All Evelyn ever seemed to was cry. When she wasn't crying, she was sleeping, and when she wasn't sleeping, she was eating, and when she wasn't eating she was spitting up. Forest couldn't understand what was so great about her. One afternoon, the Pigs' mother arrived at the Sneer mansion.
"Surprise!" she shouted when the Pigs opened the door.
"Mom!" the Pigs shouted, and they ran outside to hug her.
"Good to see you, Mom!" Floyd shouted.
"Hi, Mrs. Pig!" Cedric shouted, coming into the front hall. "What are you doing here?"
"Oh, I just dropped by to see my boys," Mrs. Pig said. "I don't get the chance very often."
Cedric nodded, and let Mrs. Pig come inside. That night, Mrs. Pig cooked dinner for everybody.
"I haven't had a meal that good in ages," Cyril said.
"You certainly are a great cook, Mrs. Pig," Sophia said.
"Oh, it's nothing much," Mrs. Pig said. "What with Mr. Sneer running the business, and you with the children, Sophia, especially a new baby, I figured you don't get much of a chance to have a big, home-cooked meal often."
"We sure don't!" Lloyd shouted, piling some leftover potatoes on his plate.
"Oh, Lloyd, dear, don't fill up," Mrs. Pig said. "You'll never have room for dessert if you do. I made my special chocolate chip cookies."
"Oh goody, goody!" Floyd shouted. "Mom's special chocolate chip cookies!"
"I know my boys' favorite treats," Mrs. Pig said. "Cookies and brownies. Every night before bed, I would give my boys either a cookie or a brownie, and a glass of milk, and I'd tell them a bedtime story."
"Gee, I miss those days," Boyd sighed.
Mrs. Pig went into the kitchen and returned with a plate full of chocolate chip cookies. She handed one to Forest, and one to Evelyn.
"Here you are, dears," she said.
"But Evelyn doesn't have teeth," Forest said. "She can't eat cookies!"
"Sure she can," Cedric said. "Her teeth are growing in, and she needs things to chew on. So why not let her chew on a cookie?"
Forest glared at Evelyn, reached over, and ripped her cookie right out of her hands. In response, Evelyn wailed like a siren.
"Forest!" Sophia scolded, taking the cookie from Forest, and giving it back to Evelyn. "That wasn't nice! You have your own cookie."
Forest didn't say anything. He reached over, and grabbed the cookie away from his sister again. And again, Evelyn screamed.
"Forest, what's the matter with you?!" Sophia shouted, taking the cookie and giving it back to Evelyn. "Now if you do that one more time, you're going straight to the corner."
Forest pouted, and thought it over. Surely his mother was bluffing. So he reached over a third time, and grabbed the cookie away from his sister. And for a third time, Evelyn screamed.
"Forest!" Sophia shouted. She took Evelyn's cookie away from Forest, and handed it back to the baby. Then she took Forest's cookie, and put it on the plate Mrs. Pig brought out.
"I told you, Forest," she said, lifting Forest out of his booster seat, and she carried him out of the room. "I told you if you did that again, you were going to sit in the corner for four minutes."
"Four?" Forest asked. "But I used to sit in the corner for three minutes!"
"Yes, and when you were a naughty boy when you were two, you sat in the corner for two minutes. The older you get, the longer you have to sit in the corner when you're naughty."
"But Mommy . . . ."
"No buts, Forest. I gave you a chance."
"Can I still have my cookie?"
"No. Naughty little boys don't get cookies."
Sophia sat Forest down in what she, Cedric, Cyril, and the Pigs referred to as "The Time-Out Chair," which got it's name whenever Forest had broken a house rule and had to go on time-out. There was an egg timer sitting on the mantle that they used. Forest didn't know how to tell time, so Cedric or Sophia usually set the egg timer to whatever setting they felt was fair (usually they did it by Forest's age), and told Forest his time out would be over when he heard the bell. Sophia set the egg timer for four minutes, and left Forest alone in the corner. Forest just folded his arms across his chest, and pouted.
The next day, Cedric was rocking Evelyn and giving her a bottle when Forest came in.
"Daddy, play with me," he said.
"I can't right now, Forest," Cedric said. "I'm busy with your sister."
"But I'm bored and Gampa and the Pigs are working, and Mommy went out shopping with Auntie Melissa!"
"Forest, I'm busy with Evelyn. I just can't play with you right this second. I'll play with you later."
That did it. Forest threw himself on the floor, and began banging his fists, kicking his legs, and screaming his head off, throwing one heck of a temper tantrum.
"Forest," Cedric said. Forest didn't respond. He just continued his tantrum. His screaming caused Evelyn to start screaming. Cedric groaned, and put Evelyn in her crib.
"Forest Cyril Sneer, stop that right now!" he shouted. "Throwing a tantrum is not going to get you what you want. When you want something, you ask for it like a big boy, do you understand?"
"Yes," Forest said.
"Good."
And with that, Forest left the room, and Cedric went back to giving Evelyn her bottle. A couple of days later, Forest was laying on the floor in the playroom (another spare room of the mansion) on his stomach, coloring in a coloring book when Cyril passed by, and looked in. He saw a bunch of toys scattered all over the room.
"Forest, clean up this mess," he said. "I want this room clean."
"It is clean," Forest argued, not looking up.
"Are you kidding? It's a pig sty. There are toys all over the floor. Get up and clean it."
"I like it messy."
"Well, I don't! Now you start cleaning this room right now, or I'll give your backside a good blistering!"
Forest grumbled, took his coloring book and crayons, and put them away. Evelyn crawled into the room, and started to grab at the toys. She was pushing Forest's fire engine when he walked over and grabbed it from her.
"Mine!" he shouted, and he promptly stuck it in the toy box.
Evelyn looked a little surprised, but went for the next toy, which was a set of building blocks. Forest was busy putting away some cars and trucks. As soon as he got them into his toy box, he saw Evelyn with his blocks, and grabbed the two she was holding out of her hands, and then gathered up the rest of them.
"Mine!" he shouted again, and dumped them in the toy box.
This didn't seem to phase Evelyn. She just crawled along until she got to Forest's train. Forest picked it up, and hugged it to his chest.
"Mine!" he shouted once more. Pretty soon, he had taken every single thing away from Evelyn and dumped it in his toy box. He shut the lid, and sat on it.
"Mine, mine, mine!" he shouted at her.
Forest smiled. He figured he had kept all his toys safe from Evelyn, but there was one he overlooked, and Evelyn made a beeline for it. It was Harvey, Forest's favorite stuffed toy. The stuffed aardvark Auntie Melissa had made especially for him. Evelyn picked it up, stuck the foot in her mouth, and began chewing on it. Forest was seeing red by this point. He jumped off his toy box, ran over to his sister, and grabbed Harvey away from her.
"Mine!" he shouted. But Evelyn wasn't done with it yet, and she grabbed Harvey's leg and pulled. Forest pulled back.
"MINE!" he screamed at the top of his voice.
"What's going on in here?" Sophia asked, as she and Cedric came into the playroom.
Before anything could happen, Forest wrenched Harvey out of Evelyn's hands, and smacked her as hard as he possible could on her back. Evelyn looked a bit surprised. Then, her face crumbled, and she let out the loudest wail imaginable. Cedric and Sophia ran in, and they were not very happy.
"Forest!" Cedric shouted. "You know better than to hit your sister! You know hitting is not allowed!"
"But she took Harvey!" Forest whined. "And she took my toys, too!"
"That does not excuse you from hitting your sister," Sophia said. "You apologize right now!"
"No!" Forest shouted, crossing his arms, and stomping his foot.
"Forest, you apologize to your sister this instant," Cedric said.
"No!" Forest yelled again. "She's a stupid baby, and I'm not sorry!"
"Forest, I'm giving you one more chance," Cedric said, his patience growing thin. "Apologize to Evelyn right now, or no chocolate pudding tonight!"
Forest glared at Cedric, and walked over to Sophia, who was comforting Evelyn. Sophia put the baby on the floor, and Forest looked up at his mother.
"Well, go on," she said.
Forest just looked at Evelyn. Evelyn looked at Forest, and grabbed Harvey right out of his hands, and began chewing on him. Forest grabbed the toy back, and smacked his sister once more. Of course, Evelyn started screaming.
"Stupid, stupid, stupid baby!" Forest yelled, actually hitting her with his stuffed aardvark. "I hate you!" That only caused Evelyn to cry harder.
"Forest!" Sophia shouted. "Forest Cyril Sneer, you apologize right now!"
"No, I'm not gonna apologize!" Forest yelled. "She's stupid and I'm not sorry, and I hate her!"
"Forest, go to your room," Cedric said.
"No!" Forest shouted, stomping his foot once more.
"Forest, you're starting to push it," Cedric said. "I want you in your room by the time I count to ten. One, two, three . . . ."
Forest sat down on the floor, and pouted. He wasn't going to move one inch.
"Four, five, six . . . ." Cedric continued counting. Forest just sat there, and glared at both Cedric and Sophia.
"Seven, eight, nine," Cedric said. "Nine and a half . . . . nine and three quarters . . . . I mean business, Forest."
Forest did not move one muscle. Cedric heaved a sigh.
"Ten," he finished his count, picked up Forest, and began carrying him out of the playroom. "Okay, if you want to do it the hard way, we'll do it the hard way. You're going to your room whether you like it or not."
"I don't wanna go to my room!" Forest whined. "Evelyn started it! She was playing with my toys!"
"I don't care, Forest. You hit your sister and hitting is not allowed in this house."
"But Gampa hits the Pigs all the time!"
"Grandpa doesn't have to follow my rules or Mommy's rules. But you do. You are not allowed to hit anyone! And just for that, no chocolate pudding for the rest of the week, and you can stay here in your room."
"For how long?"
"Until you're ready to act like a big boy and apologize to your sister."
"But Daddy . . . . ."
"Don't but Daddy me, Forest. Mommy and I gave you a chance to apologize, and you blew it."
Cedric closed the door, and started to go downstairs. Forest then began screaming and hollering at the top of his lungs. He threw himself on the floor, and began kicking his legs and banging his fists. Cedric groaned, called up to Forest.
"Throwing a tantrum won't do you any good, Forest!" he shouted. "The punishment still stands!"
Forest just began yelling louder. Cedric could hear Evelyn wailing from the nursery. Sophia came down and sat next to Cedric on the couch. Both of them looked exhausted. From another part of the mansion, they could hear Snag starting to howl.
"What in blue blazes is going on here?!" Cyril yelled, storming out of his office. "Can't a man get any work done?!"
"Sorry, Pop," Cedric sighed. "Forest is being difficult."
"What that boy needs is a good spanking," Cyril said.
"They'll stop screaming after awhile, Pop," Cedric sighed.
"They'd better," Cyril grumbled, and went back to his office to work.
The phone rang just then. Cedric sighed, and picked it up.
"Hello?" he asked.
"Hey Cedric, it's me!" Bert shouted. "Listen, how about you and me and Forest go out to the park and throw the ol' baseball around?"
"Today's not a good day, Bert. I'm really frazzled, and Forest is on punishment."
"Uh oh, what happened?"
Cedric sighed, and explained what had been going on, from Mrs. Pig's visit, to this most recent incident.
"That doesn't sound like Forest," Bert said. "Listen, Cedric, can I come over? I think I know exactly what will help Forest."
"I guess so, Bert," Cedric sighed. "At this point, I'm willing to try anything."
"Great. Let me call someone, and we'll be over there in fifteen minutes!"
Cedric said goodbye, and hung up the phone. He wasn't sure what Bert had up his sleeve, but he was willing to take a chance.