"Eat the sandwich!"

"I will not eat the sandwich!"

"Eat the sandwich!"

"I will not eat the sandwich!"

"Eat the sandwich!"

"I will not eat the sandwich!"

"Eat the sandwich!"

"I will not eat the sandwich!"

"Eat the sandwich!"

"I will not-"

"Eat it! Eat it! Eat it! Eat it! Eat it! Eat it!" the little girl demanded again and again as she broke out into a mad dance of impatience.

Despite the terrific fuss she kicked up, the azure imaginary friend just folded his blobbish stubs and shook his head resolutely while he unwaveringly declared for the umpteenth time, "No, I will not eat the sandwich!"

"No fair! No fair! No fair! No fair! No fair!" Goo jabbered angrily as she stomped her oversized cowboy boots upon the floor. "We had a deal! You said that you'd-"

"I said I'd eat it only if you paid me, not if you dug out leftover pocket change!" Bloo snapped. "You call that enough money? I can find more than that under a couch cushions!"

"What do you want me to do, give up my allowance for the next four months?" she practically snarled as she prodded him roughly in the gut. "You're a stupid nasty rip-off, you know that?"

"Well I'm sorry you feel that way, Little Miss Cheapskate!" the little imaginary friend grumbled sarcastically.

"No, you know what this is?" the child growled. "You're scared, that's it! You don't wanna do this because you're just a big fat chicken!"

"Nuh-uh!" Bloo denied hotly. "No way! You just don't want to cough up a few more measly dollars because-"

"Chicken! Chicken! Chicken!" Goo began to taunt angrily, bending her arms and flapping them like wings. "Bawk-bawk-bawk! Chicken!"

"Am not! Am not! Am no-"

"What are you two doing?"

The second they heard the astonished cry, the pair immediately went silent as they turned almost in unison to gaze at the confused little boy as he scampered into the living room.

"What's going on here?" A very hassled Mac demanded. "I could hear you guys yelling at each other from upstairs! What's wrong-"

"What's wrong? What's wrong? She's a cheap jerk, that's what's wrong!" Bloo immediately began to whine as he pointed accusingly at Goo.

"Nuh-uh!" she complained bitterly. "He's a dumb, no-good, lousy scaredy-chicken, rip-off artist! Tell him Mac! Tell him that-"

"Huh?" the boy grunted as they immediately began to chatter furiously at the same time. "Wait, wait, wait! Slow down, what happened-"

"What do you mean?" Goo demanded incredulously. "This isn't rocket science or quantum physics or anything super-confusing like that, we had a clear agreement here! The deal was that I give him the money, and he eats the-"

"I'm not even smelling that thing for a measly five bucks!" Bloo suddenly interrupted, much to the little girl's irk.

"Oh put a sock in it, already!" she hissed. "If anything, that's way, way more than you deserve for eating-"

"Eating?" Mac repeated puzzledly. "Eating what– WHOA!"

It didn't take him very long to spot the old sandwich sitting upon the floor, or at least what used to be a sandwich. It was nearly impossible to tell with the untold layers of mold that had grown on it and glowed brightly with all the colors one would expect to find in a puddle of vomit.

At first, Mac could do little than gawk dumbly at his imaginary friend for a few moments in disbelief before grimacing in disgust. "Bloo, you were actually going to eat that?"

"Don't be such a baby!" Goo complained. "Look, it couldn't have been where we found it behind the radiator for that long-"

"See?" Bloo asked smugly with a fat smirk. "Did you see how grossed out he is? Told you five bucks isn't enough to get me to-"

"Twelve bucks!" His creator abruptly announced as he removed a bunch of crumpled one-dollar bills from his pockets, which he forcefully deposited it all into Goo's hands. Instantly Bloo's jaw plummeted like a rock as his stubby appendages dangled limply at his sides.

"…What?" he squeaked hoarsely.

"Twelve bucks!" Mac eagerly began to explain. "See? Goo's five dollars and my seven dollars makes for an even twelve-"

"Wait!" Bloo immediately began to whine in protest. "Weren't you just about to puke because you thought this sandwich is possibly the grossest thing you've ever seen?"

Mac immediately began grinning from ear to ear as he nodded his head furiously in reply. "Yeah…and when else am I gonna see you actually try and eat something like that?"

"But Mac-"

"YESSSSSSSS!" Goo whooped exuberantly as she victoriously waved the wad of cash in the imaginary friend's face. "Count 'em up and weep! That's gotta be more than enough for you to eat it now! C'monnnn!"

Bloo paused for a few moments. Not to recover from the shock of his best friend's abrupt turnaround however, but actually to mull over if the small sum the children offered him was enough considering the god-awful act they adamantly requested him to perform.

"Hmmm…." He murmured, resting where his nonexistent chin would be in one of his blobbish stub. "Moldy sandwich….twelve dollars….moldy sandwich…or twelve dollars…mold-"

"Moldy what?" A stunned yelp suddenly rang out from the hallway.

"A rotten ol' sandwich, Frankie!" Goo immediately hollered back the moment she recognized the voice. "Bloo's gonna eat the whoooolllle thing if we pay him enough-"

"He's going to WHAT?" the caretaker involuntarily yelled in disbelief. "Oh for Pete's sake! Wait!"

In an instant a redheaded young woman rushed into the room, waving her arms wildly as she sprinted over to the startled little ones and frantically shouting all the while, "Don't do anything! Don't do anything! Don't do anything!"

Before any of the startled trio could a single thing, Frankie skidded to a halt and breathlessly demanded,

"Did he eat it yet?" she gasped. "Did he? Please, don't tell me that he actually-"

"N-not yet… Mac stammered, thinking she was about to scold them.

"He w-wasn't really gonna eat it, honest!" Goo tried to sway the caretaker. "Bloo said he didn't have enough money, and-"

Immediately Frankie elicited a heavy sigh of unbridled relief. "Jeez, am I glad I came here just in time-"

"We'll throw it away, if you want to." Mac offered meekly. "We-"

Rather than launch into a stern reprimand about the dangers of stupid dares, Frankie suddenly took out her wallet, wrenched out a small wad of bills and without further ado shoved it all into Goo's hands with the rest of the cash.

"Thirteen bucks!" she announced happily. "Right there! How much do you guys have already?"

"Uh…." The sorely puzzled Goo murmured as she checked on the mess of greenbacks in her hands. "I think we have about twelve-"

"And this makes for twenty-five smackers, total!" Frankie quivered with glee. "Okay that's definitely enough for-"

"Whoa, whoa, whoa, Frankie!" Bloo squealed. "Wait, are you-"

"Goo said they didn't have enough money to get you to eat it, right?" Frankie asked eagerly.

"Um…m-maybe…" the imaginary friend admitted as he eyed her warily.

"Well I just doubled the stakes, and now that has to be enough to make you-"

"You want him to eat it?" Mac yelped in disbelief, to which the caretaker proudly showed off her empty wallet.

"Well, I'm not paying him to take me to the zoo, if that's what you mean!" she replied sarcastically. "C'mon Bloo, twenty-five is a lot…"

"Well…? The little imaginary friend muttered as he fixated his attention onto the dubious-looking mess of bread and what he guessed used to be lunchmeat and cheese. "I...I still dunno…"

"Oh, no way!" Frankie protested, wagging a finger as she squatted a little. "I distinctly heard that you, Blooragard Q. Kazoo, was going to eat that festering sandwich right there. I don't know where you guys found it or how this all started, but all I know is that did my part, and you're going to eat every last morsel of that-"

"Wait…so you're not angry that I'm gonna-" Bloo mumbled incredulously.

"The only thing that's gonna tick me off is if I forked over my cash for nothing." Frankie explained bluntly. "Now, are you gonna wolf down the sandwich, or not?"

"Yeah! Yeah! Yeah!" Goo squealed as she bounced up and down with unbridled excitement. "Yeah, c'mon Bloo! You heard her! Now you hafta do it! Do it! Do it!"

"Go for it, Bloo!" Mac cheered. "C'mon, you can do it! C'mon!"

"Eat it! Eat it! Eat it! Eat it!" Frankie began to chant over and over as the little imaginary friend seriously considered it.

"Well….if it's twenty-five dollars…" Bloo muttered as he hesitantly reached down for the old sandwich, as Mac and Goo chimed in with Frankie in a boisterous repetitive cry.

"Eat it! Eat it! Eat it! Eat it! Eat it! Eat-"

"Oh good heavens, on earth is all this dreadful racket about?"

There was no mistaking the severely annoyed exclamation, followed by the distinct thump of some creature rushing to the scene in a hasty hop.

"Ah! I should've known!" Mr. Herriman grumbled as he entered the living room and spotted the tiny group. "All right, what is it this time? What on earth was that hideous clamor I just – OH, GOOD GRACIOUS!"

Being a hopeless lover of everything proper and tidy, of course the imaginary rabbit couldn't help but recoil in intense revulsion the instant he laid eyes upon the half-decayed horror Bloo was about to devour. As soon as the initial shock had passed, he immediately began gesturing frantically for the small band to disperse.

"Shoo! Shoo! Quickly children, get away from that…that…that horrific monstrosity, right this instant!" he hastily ordered the little ones. "Lord only knows if that revolting waste is diseased, I'm sure you'll catch some disease if you stay within fifty yards of it for much longer! Away with all of you, quickly!"

"Hey, but I already paid him to-" Goo squeaked shrilly in protest.

"And you!" Mr. Herriman barked, ignoring all pleas as he whirled onto Frankie. "Miss Frances, what on earth is the meaning of this? I've learned time and time again that you don't tend to give a full effort when it comes to your duties, but good God, child! Just look at it! How on earth you managed to miss that terrible catastrophe of a mess right there I've never know! We're probably committing an atrocity by simply allowing this filth to continue to exist! I don't know what you think about this, but by God, I am not leaving here until I personally to it that you get rid of that thing immediately and clean and sterilize the entire-"

As he watched the caretaker bend over and gingerly pick up the rotten mess, the imaginary rabbit simply began to grin in satisfaction at the sight of her obediently doing as ordered….until a certain blob realized they had the opportunity of a lifetime served on a silver platter before them.

"Okay, new bet!" Bloo suddenly blurted out as soon as inspiration struck her from clear out of the blue. "Frankie, you take all the money if you can hit the bunny square in the face!"

"Excuse me?" Mr. Herriman exclaimed as Frankie wound up. "What in the wor -"

SPLAT!

"AAAAAUUUUUUUUGGGGGGHHHH!"

"...Frankie?"

"Hmmm?"

"…You think he's still on the warpath?"

"Bloo, it's only been like, half an hour. Trust me, it's gonna be a while until Fuzz-Butt calms down even a little-"

"Well can we at least try and switch hiding places?"

"Nuh-uh."

"But… but it reeks in here!"

"You can leave if you want, but I think everyone else here would prefer to live to see another day. Right, guys?"

"Yeah…"

"Sorry, Bloo."

Quickly realizing he was getting absolutely nowhere, the irked imaginary friend folded his blobby appendages and huffed grumpily, though he nevertheless continued to huddle close to his fellow refugees. It wasn't as if he exactly had a choice, though, as the garbage can sitting out by the garage didn't exactly have ample elbowroom.

"He's gotta point, though." Goo suddenly spoke up as she pinched her nose. "It's kinda stinky in here….kinda really, really, really stinky…"

"Look, I'm sorry about what happened, but we don't have much of a choice right now; the worse the stench, the better." Frankie explained. "Herriman's probably not in the mood to deal with anything else putrid at the moment."

"Oh…okay…" the little girl softly complied, and an awkward silence descended upon the foul refuge.

"So…what do we do now?" Mac asked quietly.

"Hey!" Goo suggested excitedly. "How abut this? I'll pay a dollar to anyone willing to lick this apple core here-"

"Ew!" Bloo spat. "Oh c'mon, do you think anyone's really gonna degrade themselves for-"

"How 'bout a dollar-fifty?"

"Okay, now you're talking-"

"Knock it off!" Mac groaned. "No more dares, all right?"

"Aw, but Maaaaac-" his blobish creation whined.

"Nuh-uh!" the boy snapped. "Bloo, it's only because you dared Frankie to throw that sandwich that we're even here to begin with! Right, Frankie?"

To his surprise, the redhead looked absolutely befuddled as could be as she replied, "Wait…Bloo dared me to do what now?"

The End