21-AS PALE AS A PIECE OF MOZZARELA

AS PALE AS A PIECE OF MOZZARELLA It didn't take Bratfur long to begin pestering me with his questions. "Why is the sun HOT? Why is the water WET? Why does the sand BURN your paws? Why does the lifeguard have all those muscles? Why don't you have any muscles?" he chattered. I pretended to be asleep. It didn't stop him. "Why do I have to put on SUNTAN LOTION? Why was it raining yesterday and today it's sunny? Why do fish like water? Why do seagulls have white poop? Why are you as pale as a piece of moz- zarella?" he babbled.

Meanwhile, the rat on my left was tapping his paw to the rhythm of the music. He was kicking up clouds of sand. "Er, excuse me, could you stop covering me in sand?" I asked him politely. "What BAND? There's no band here!" he replied. I shook my head. "No, the sand!" I repeated a little louder this time. He looked confused. "What? Land? No, planes don't LAND here!" he yelled. I chewed my whiskers. "Not land. I said SAND!" I shrieked. The rat just shrugged his shoulders. He closed his eyes and started tapping his paw even faster to the beat of the music. Finally, I couldn't take it anymore. I switched off his radio and shouted at the top of my lungs, "Sand! SAAND! You're

covering me in SAAAAAAAAAND!" The beach grew silent. I looked around. Everyone was staring at me. "It's him again, isn't it?" I heard one bather comment. "Yes, it's that Gerattimo Stilton!" another replied. "What is his problem?" someone else asked. "He should be ashamed of himself!" a rodent added. "TOO MUCH SUN, if you ask me..." another mumbled. Purple with shame, I tried to hide behind my newspaper. After a while I realized I was getting sunburned.

I decided to buy some suntan lotion. Right at that moment, I saw a peddler passing by. He pulled out a tiny tube of sunblock. "You'll need one with a 90 SPF. You're as pale as a piece of mozzarella!" he said knowingly. "That'll be ONE HUNDRED BUCKAROOS, please." My eyes nearly popped out of my head. "What a rip-off!" I squeaked. Then I paid him. Forget the cheese! I WOULD ONLY BE ABLE TO AFFORD THE MACARONI AFTER THIS VACATION!