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“I guess so,” Walt said. She still had a bad feeling about the whole thing. Mostly because she didn’t think Oscar was as good at motivational speeches as he thought he was. And she kept remembering that little wiry hand poking through the insulation. She just hoped she was wrong.

“You’resure you don’t want me to do it?” Butterbean said, trotting up behind them. “I can totally go. I have a winning personality.” She’d heard that in the elevator more than once, mostly when she was about to get a treat.

“No, I’ll handle it,” Oscar said. “Chad, remember to be ready with the door.”

Chad dangled overhead and gave what was probably supposed to be an agreeable nod. It was hard to tell with him upside down.

“Remember,” Oscar said. “Open the door, let me out, and close it. And don’t open it again until I tap three times.” He didn’t like having the door closed behind him, but it was the only way they could be sure the raccoons wouldn’t rush the building.

“Right, sure, tap tap, et cetera,” Chad said, inspecting one of his tentacles.

“Good.” Oscar hoped Chad was paying attention. You could never be sure with him.

“Ready, Oscar?” Marco rubbed Oscar’s shoulders like he’d seen a boxing manager do on TV once. He wasn’t entirely sure where Oscar’s shoulders were, so he rubbed around the whole lower neck area and then patted Oscar awkwardly on the back. Oscar seemed to appreciate it.

“Ooh! Take this for luck!” Polo said, slipping something over Oscar’s head.

Oscar hardly noticed. He was focused on taking deep cleansing breaths. He couldn’t mess this up. Finally he stood up straight and tall.

“Okay, Chad,” Oscar said. “NOW!”

Chad entered the key code with one tentacle while he pulled on the door handle with another. The door opened just enough for Oscar to squeeze through.

Taking one last deep breath, Oscar stepped outside. Chad let the door swing shut behind him.

“What did you give him?” Marco asked Polo as they watched Oscar go.

“My button,” Polo said. “It’ll bring him good luck.”

“Wait.” Walt turned slowly to Polo, the fur on her neck rising. “Your SPARKLY button?”

“Uh-huh,” Polo said proudly. “It’ll help.”

“Oh no.” Walt looked at the door in horror. But it was too late. The door had shut. Oscar was gone. “Oh no.”

Oscar heard the door click shut behind him. He was on his own.

The scrabbling sounds had stopped as soon as Chad had opened the door, but Oscar knew the raccoons weren’t gone. They were there. Watching him. Waiting.

He cleared his throat and spoke to the empty loading dock.“Ahem. Loading dock raccoons! My name is Oscar, and you may consider me to be a representative of the Strathmore Building. As representative, and as a resident, I request that you vacate the premises immediately.”

He tried to sound as official as possible, but he wasn’t sure he was pulling it off.

He waited for some reaction, but there was none, just silence.

Oscar cleared his throat a second time and took a tentative step forward, careful to avoid the gaps in the metal slats below his feet. He’d only been there a few minutes, but he could already tell that he was not a fan of this loading dock.

“Attention, raccoons!” He tried again. “Raccoon friends!” He thought the “friends” part was a nice touch. “This is your Strathmore Building representative, Oscar, asking you to please find a new gathering place. You are disturbing the residents inside. This is your last warning. Please leave.”

“SHINY.” A soft voice wafted through the air. Oscar looked sharply to the side, but he couldn’t see anyone there.

“Please don’t make me tell you again,” Oscar said, his voice shaking slightly. “You need to leave immediately.”

He took another step forward. Whatever Polo had given him bumped softly against his chest, and he looked down quickly. His eyes widened.

There was one thing all of the raccoon programs on the Television had made perfectly clear. Raccoons couldn’t resist sparkly things. And there was nothing more sparkly than Polo’s button.

“Um, please leave by morning. That is our request.” Oscar tried to cover the button with his feathers, but it was too big to hide. “Thank you for your attention. Best wishes, good luck for the future, that will be all,” Oscar said, scrambling backward toward the door. But before he could reach it, a small thin hand reached out from between the loading dock slats and grabbed his foot.

“URK!” Oscar gurgled, looking down. The hand that gripped his foot was just like the one that had reached out through the insulation in the storage room. And it wasn’t the only one. Dozens of tiny hands were reaching up in between the slats, feeling around the loading dock, and grabbing at whatever they could find. And the only thing to find was Oscar.

“SO SPARKLY.” Another voice drifted up from underneath the loading dock.

“OOOOOhhhhhhhh.” There was a chorus of giggles. “Mine, please.”