After about two hours of going door to door and collecting signatures, Bart and Lisa had only two signatures left for the library to stay in Springfield. "So, who's left?" The spiky-haired demon asked. "Let's see," Lisa said while looking over the list. "...Lenny, Carl, Kirk, and then- Mr. Burns!" She gasped. Bart smirked and told her, "No problem, Burns and I are cool now, I'll get him to sign it!" He led the two up to Burns' mansion, and they rang the doorbell. Smithers, Mr. Burns' assistant, opened the door. "Simpson's kids!" He said, "What are you doing here?" "We want to talk to you and Mr. Burns." Lisa stated. Mr. Burns started to wobble over. "Smithers, who's at the door?" He asked. Smithers moved away from the door to led him through. "Ah...if it isn't Bart and Lisa..." He said with an evil smile. "Mr. Burns," Lisa held out the clipboard, "if you were to sign this petition it would mean everything to me!" Burns took the clipboard and looked over it. "Save the library? Well, that library has been around since I was young...about seventy I think." Bart grew tired. "Alright, can you just sign the paper?" Mr. Burns glared at the two youngsters. "How much will it cost me?" "Oh, nothing," Lisa said, "The only thing you'll be paying are taxes which will be raised by two percent and-" "TWO percent?" Burns shouted. "You know how much a wealthy man like myself has to pay in taxes? No deal! Now get away from my home!" "But sir!" Lisa begged. "Smithers," Burns commanded, "get the hounds." "No! N-no need for that...!" Bart stuttered. But once the two heard the sound of barking they fled away from the mansion, leaving Burns to say, "Excellent!"
At the home, Homer was in the basement trying to get rid of the rats that had been around for a couple of weeks. Homer placed cheese on a plate, and above the plate was a box that would fall and trap anything that touched the dish. "Alright, I'll just come back in an hour and my work will be done." He said proudly, leaving the basement. As he came out, Marge walked by. "Did you get rid of the rats yet?" She asked him. Homer crossed his arms and told her, "Relax, I have it taken cared of." This make Marge worry a little bit more. "Alright," she said, "as long as the house doesn't get destroyed, explode, or catch on fire." Homer started to sweat. "Right...of course." Marge smiled and walked away. He quickly sprang back down into the basement and put out a dynamite that was implanted in the box. "Phew.." He sighed in relief. When he looked down to the plate he saw that the cheese had disappeared. "Hmm?" He scratched his nearly-bald head. "I could have sworn I put cheese here!" He decided to shrug it off and headed up stairs to get more. After returning from the fridge with a new block of cheese he spotted a doughnut mysteriously sitting on the plate. "OOH!" He cried out in joy and ran over without question. When he bent over to pick it up, the box then fell onto his head and he started to waddle around. "AHH, I CAN'T SEE!" He yelled. Next thing he ended up hitting his head against a metal pipe with a large DING. Homer threw the box off his head, now angry, he stated, "Those damn rats want to play hardball do they? Well, just wait until I bring out the big guns." He chuckled evilly.
"Bart, Lisa, what's wrong? Did you get everyone to sign the petition?" Marge asked as they slumped through the door. "No, Mom..." Lisa said sadly with her head down. Bart, though, seemed to be the most upset. "No fair, this was the worse Saturday of my life. I want it back!" He complained about it while making his way upstairs. "We only needed two more signatures to save the library." Lisa sighed. Marge gave her a confused look. "You know, Lisa," she placed her arm on Lisa's shoulder, "You never asked for my signature, and your father hasn't signed it either." Lisa blank twice then slapped her face. "OH! Of course, how could I have been so dumb?" She held out the clipboard. "Would you, Mom?" She asked. Marge smiled, "I'll be honored to!" Taking the board, she wrote down her signature. "Thanks Mom! Where's Dad?" Lisa asked. "He's at the store, picking up some rat poison." Marge answered. "But I have a feeling he's out drinking with his friends." She was proved wrong when Homer busted through the front door, carrying large bags. "Dad, Dad! I need you to sign this petition now!" Lisa cried out, running up to him. Homer kept his eyes to the basement. "No, time!" He said. "I have some business to take care of!" Homer slowly made his way towards the basement door. Marge and Lisa both watched him make his way down the steps. The blue-haired woman turned back to her daughter. "Don't worry, sweetie," she said, "I'm sure he'll sign it in the morning." Lisa gave her mom a fake smile and preceding to her room.
Later that night, the sky was cloudy and rain poured outside. Water kept thumping against the basement window, and thunder was heard crackling. "Alright rats..." Homer said while setting up his new rat trap. "I think it's time you learned who's the boss around here." His hair lye across his face and he couldn't stop grinning insanely. After hours of working on it, he finally finished the strange contraption. He placed a block of cheese on another plate and started to laugh hysterically as thunder flashed on the other side of the window. Now feeling tired, he started to make his way up the basement steps, but lost his energy and suddenly collapsed on the stairs. He lye there, having a dream about the trap going off on all those rats that he hated so. He grinned as he slept, enjoying his diabolical dream.