19-MR. FLUSHER POTTYPAWS

MR. FLUSHER POTTYPAWS I rang the doorbell at 17 Swiss Cheese Center. "Let me in!" I said forcefully. "My name is Stilton, Geronimo Stilton." The door buzzed open. I stormed down the hallway to my ex-office. Then I pushed open my office door. A one-eyed rat sat behind the desk. He wore a BLACK PATCH on his other eye. It made him look like some kind of pirate. He was short and stocky, and his fur was shiny with fur gel. He wore a STRIPED suit and a shirt the color of American cheese. He smelled of expensive blue-cheese aftershave. He wore a

gold ring with a big diamond in it. His heavy gold watch was studded with diamonds, too. He looked like a big show-off! Flusher Pottypaws growled at me. "By the stench of a thousand toilet brushes! What do you want?" Pottypaws tried to look threatening, but he didn't scare me. I had survived The Mousetrap, after all! "My name is Stilton, Geronimo Stilton." I said proudly. "I run The Rodent's Gazette!" "Trumpeting toilets!" he roared. "What are you doing here? This is no longer your office!" I laughed. "I just won a million dollars. Now I, too, am very, very rich. You can't

use your money to ruin MY BUSINESS anymore!" Pottypaws glared at me. He looked like a tough rat. But I can be tough, too! I kept going. "This town is too small for the both of us, Pottypaws," I said. "The fight is even now!" Pottypaws turned pale. He suddenly looked sad.

"NO," he said. "NO, what?" I asked. He shook his head. "This fight is not even," he said glumly. I was puzzled. I was expecting more of a fight from this rat. "WHY Not?" I asked.

Pottypaws did not answer for a while. Then he rested his head on his desk and burst into tears. "This fight will never be even... because you are clever, and I don't have what it takes to run a publishing house!" Pottypaws sobbed and sobbed. He practically cried a river of tears. I couldn't help it. I started to feel sorry for him!