"Meow?" Gary slithers up to his master and watches with curiosity as his master counts out the dollars and cents lying on the floor of his room- his piggy bank lying on its side, with its cork ripped out.
"Not now, Gary! I have to...where was I again? I lost count." SpongeBob suddenly coughs, trying to ignore a strange sensation deep in his body as his coughs rack his spongy frames. 'Nah, it's probably nothing to worry about...' he dismisses, trying to focus on his mission- or at least recall where he got to.
"Meow, meow," Gary meows, deadpan.
"Huh? Oh- forty dollars and 38 cents. Thanks pal!" SpongeBob says, stroking his snail's shell affectionately. "I'll get your dinner in a minute, Gare- I'm just counting my savings." He explains.
Gary rolls his eyes, irritated. "Meow?"
"Oh, Gary, I saw the most awful thing at the park today. A wrasse went up to Squidward...and broke his clarinet!" the poriferan explains with a shocked tone, his innocent baby blue eyes wide with shock as he recalls the incident at the park.
"Meow!"
"Gary! You shouldn't say that!" SpongeBob admonishes. "How would you feel if you got your favourite poetry book ripped up by a bully for no reason?"
Gary hisses, his eyes narrowing. SpongeBob nods in affirmation.
"Precisely. Squidward was just trying to do something he loves...and the fact that the wrasse didn't like it doesn't make it right for him to break it- and Squidward's clarinet means so much to him...I'm going to replace it."
"Meow..."
"Good," SpongeBob picks Gary up and kisses his shell. "C'mon, buddy- time for dinner!" He says brightly, abandoning his quest for the time being as his stomach starts growling loudly.
"Meow, meow!" the mollusc agrees wholeheartedly. He can't help but notice though, that SpongeBob is starting to look pale, and somehow less yellow than usual. He makes a mental note to call Sandy later and query into a possible medical condition.
If Mr. Krabs had been overworking him again...
...
The next day, Monday, SpongeBob works hard at the Krusty Krab. He doesn't tell Squidward his plans to replace the clarinet- deciding instead to surprise his co-worker/neighbour/friend.
Unfortunately, Squidward was even more sullen than usual that morning- as a result, - he doesn't yell when the poriferan starts singing about Krabby Patties, or shove SpongeBob away when he receives an unexpected- but not surprising -hug from the fry cook.
"Great...that foolish wrasse has cost me my savings," Grumbles Squidward. With his clarinet deemed beyond repair, he now has no choice but to get a new one- though he had called the police in the hope they could arrest the wrasse for damage of private property. Hopefully, if Squidward could sue him, he might just be able to compensate for his lost wages.
"Hey man, can I uh, get some ketchup?" A fish asks nervously, snapping Squidward out of his thoughts with a furious jolt.
"Oh, sure, you can have some ketchup- and plenty of my anger to go with it!" He yells, flinging the ketchup sachet at the customer, who flees the cash register in terror. Squidward sends a death stare into the fish's retreating spine, before looking at the job notices in the newspaper with a defeated sigh.
With a broken clarinet and a cheap boss doling out unfair wages, he has to find a second, albeit temporary, source of income to fund Clary II.