Donald sighed, looking over his credit card statement for the month. Years of paying little more than the minimum amount left him with an overly large total at the bottom of the paper. Living at Scrooge's Manor definitely had its drawbacks, but he couldn't deny that it was really gonna help out their financial situation. He no longer had to pay for dock space to put the houseboat, most meals came out of Scrooge's kitchen, and utilities were courtesy of McDuck Manor. If Donald could get himself a steady job (heck, at this point, he'd take polishing Scrooge's coins all day), he could put the majority of his paycheck towards finally paying this thing off.
"What is that?" Scrooge asked, looking over Donald's shoulder.
Donald quacked indignantly. "This is my private financial information!" he said, covering the page with his hands.
Scrooge snatched it from him. "If I've taught ye anything, it's to never use credit cards to spend money you don't have! Which, in your case, means to never use credit cards at all." He looked it over. "And at that interest rate, too! This is highway robbery!"
Donald snatched the paper back. "Sure, that's easy to say when you haven't had to think about whether you have enough money for groceries or rent since before the telephone was invented."
Scrooge shook his head. "A man never spends money he doesnae have, even when he's at his lowest."
Donald's face turned bright red and he exploded in unintelligible quacking. "Try having three growing mouths to feed!" he shouted. "Three hungry faces asking whether they're going to eat dinner that night because they know you haven't had a job in a month! Then tell me you wouldn't use a credit card to pay for food that you know you'll never be able to pay off!" Donald took a deep breath. "I'm going to leave before I do something I'll regret," he said and left to go to the houseboat.
Once he was gone, Scrooge took another look at his nephew's credit card bill. Then, he went to his office to make a few phone calls.
Dinner that night would have been tense if the kids didn't have so much to say about what they'd done that day.
"And then Webby popped out of the tree! Like, not the branches, but this giant hole in the trunk! And she said-she said-"
"'Time to die!'" Dewey finished for his ever-so-slightly-younger brother before all four kids dissolved into helpless laughter.
"Like, she says that she's never seen an action movie, but everything she does is like. Straight out of James Bond meets The Fast and the Furious," Huey said.
"And then the part where Louie screamed bloody murder because I shot him in the forehead!" Webby said.
"You startled me!" Louie protested, but he was still laughing.
"All right, kids. I'm glad you had fun, but finish up your dinners so you can finish your homework," said Mrs. Beakley.
Scrooge snuck a glance at Donald, who'd been avoiding looking in his direction the whole meal (his nephew had even eaten his baked potato dry because the butter was in front of him). Scrooge loved Donald, and he didn't even mind his temper (not only did he see it mirrored in himself, it was almost like having Hortense back around), but the grudges. Well, Scrooge supposed he couldn't really complain. The list of grudges he himself still held was longer than he'd like to admit.
Soon enough, the kids left (still laughing) to put their plates away, and Mrs. Beakley began to clear the table. Donald stood, too, ready to clean up his own place and most likely retreat to his houseboat for the night.
"Donald? Can I have a word with you?" Scrooge asked.
Donald put his plate back down and looked at his uncle expectantly.
Scrooge pulled a piece of paper out of his pocket. "Here," he said, giving it to Donald.
Donald's brow furrowed. "What's this?" he asked, unfolding the paper.
"I made a few phone calls today and got ye a better interest rate on that card. I also got them to lower the debt a little, seeing as the rate was much higher than it ever should have been."
Donald's eyes almost popped out of his head when he saw the new rate and total. "I, uh, thank you. Thank you, Uncle Scrooge."
Scrooge shrugged it off. "Eh, it's nothing. Good night, now," he said, leaving his nephew to put his own plate away and get ready for bed. What Scrooge hadn't told him was that, in addition to getting the credit card company to forgive some of the debt, he'd made a sizable payment and then added his name to the card to help secure a rock-bottom interest rate. With any luck, Donald wouldn't read the fine print closely enough to find out.