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Oscar hesitated, then made a note.“Assets so far: one earring, a credit card, and um, special socks. Now. Marco? Polo?”

Marco and Polo exchanged glances, and then Polo gave Marco a tiny shove forward. He was holding a small piece of corn in his hands.“I have this corn. But see? It’s shaped like a rat head. Isn’t that interesting?”

“It looks like Marco!” Polo piped up. “Show them, Marco!”

Marco gave the rat equivalent of a blush and then held the piece of corn up next to his face.

“You have to squinch up your eyes to see it,” he said shyly.

Walt, Oscar, and Butterbean squinched up their eyes.

“Oh yeah…” Butterbean said. “I see it. That’s the nose there. It looks just like you!”

“Right,” Marco said, embarrassed. “I was just thinking, it’s not every day you see a piece of corn shaped like a rat head.”

Walt and Oscar exchanged a look.

“That’s true,” Oscar said.

“Striking,” Walt said. “But I don’t know how much of a market there is for rat-head corn.”

“Put it on the list,” Polo said, waving her paws at Oscar. “It’s an asset.”

Oscar sighed.“Yes. One rat-head corn. Done.”

“I don’t have anything that good,” Polo sighed. “I just have two things. A thimble and a piece of string.” She pushed the thimble and a long piece of red string into the middle of the circle. “I don’t know what you can do with them. I was thinking maybe a thimble hat, but it kept falling off.”

“Right,” Oscar said. He was looking more and more depressed with each new item. “String. Thimble. Check.” He sighed heavily. “Butterbean?”

“Oooh, I’ve got so much good stuff,” Butterbean started. She opened her mouth to go on, but the sound of a key in the lock made her snap it shut again.

“Quick! Back to your regular places. Act normal!” Oscar screeched, leaping for his cage. He’d just reached it when the door opened, and everyone froze midscramble.

“Hey, guys, just forgot my…” The girl trailed off as she stared into the room. She’d expected the animals to be startled or excited when she came in, but she hadn’t expected… this.

The two rats were lounging casually against the wall of their aquarium, except for some reason it looked like they were on theoutside of the cage instead of the inside. The bird was perched in his cage as usual, except it looked like he was holding the door shut with one foot. And the dog and cat were sitting bolt upright and staring at her. Blinking innocently. Like they were hiding something.

[Êàðòèíêà: img_14]

They were the weirdest pets she’d ever seen.

“My, um, bag. I left my bag from before. So. See you guys tomorrow.”

None of the animals moved. They all just stared. The girl swung her bag over her shoulder, accidentally catching one of the sparkly buttons on her sweater and ripping it off. Five sets of eyes watched it fall.

Polo had to be physically restrained by Marco, who covered by grinning like a maniac.

The girl hesitated at the door.“I was just by myself, so… I thought you might want some company? I could hang out here, if you want. Or not.”

She waited. Surely at least one of the pets would do something close to normal pet behavior. But nope, just staring and blinking and lounging.

Her shoulders sagged.“Okay, then. It was just a thought. Um. Bye.” She gave a little wave as she slipped through the door, locking it behind her.

“MINE!” Polo shrieked as the door closed, wrenching herself loose from Marco’s grasp and throwing herself at the sparkly button. “Isn’t this the most beautiful thing EVER? It’s like she wanted me to have it!” She held it up so it caught the light. “She made eye contact with me. She wanted to be my friend. It’s practically a GIFT! For ME!”

“Better let her have it. She’ll fight you for it,” Marco said under his breath.

“We were such good actors!” Butterbean said, tail thumping. “I don’t think she suspected anything was up. We all looked so casual! Hey, Oscar, maybe we could be in MOVIES!”

“Right,” Walt said, shifting uncomfortably and watching the door. That leaving-the-bag trick wasn’t an accident. She wouldn’t be surprised if the girl made another appearance. That girl was definitely suspicious. Something was up with her anyway. Walt didn’t think they had a lot of time. “So show us what you’ve got, Butterbean. Anything good?”

“Well, yeah, lots.” She pushed her pile forward. “Check it out. I’m rich.”

Oscar hopped forward and sorted the pile with his foot.“Hmm. A broken calculator, a comb, a nickel…”

“Canadian,” Walt sniffed.

“Five cents, Canadian. A chewed-up toothbrush and a… Butterbean, is this a piece of toast?”

“It sure is! From two weeks ago! I’m saving it.”

“Hmm. Toast. A bar of hotel soap…”

“From when she went away for TWO DAYS. I saved that, too. It smells lemony.”

Oscar didn’t even dignify that with a response. Riches weren’t “lemony.” He pushed the soap aside and continued. “A bottle cap and… underpants?”

“I have my own UNDERWEAR!” Butterbean forced herself to stay seated. They were in a serious situation. She had to keep her cool.