07-MY COUSIN WILL PAY!

MY COUSIN WILL PAY! "That's what you need, strangers," Bob said when he had gathered all our supplies. "Now, how will you be paying?" Trap pointed to me. "My cousin will pay!" he squeaked. I wasn't surprised. Trap loves spending money... especially when it's mine. I pulled out some bills from my wallet. Bob eyed them with SUSPICION. "Never saw bills like this," he said. "Nope, you need gold in these parts, stranger." With a sigh, I gave him my GOLD watch.

"Not enough, partner," he said, pocketing the watch. "I'll need more GOLD. What else do you have?" Before I could think, Trap spoke up. "My cousin has a GOLD tooth," he announced. Bob took out a pair of pliers. "Open up," he ordered. Cheese nibblets! He was going to yank out my GOLD tooth! I felt faint. Just then, my sister jumped to my rescue. "Stop! Don't touch him!" she shrieked. "I've got lots of GOLD for you." Good old Thea. I watched as she plunked down all of her GOLD jewelry on the counter. "Not enough!" Bob declared. At that moment, Trap mumbled something under his breath. Then he pulled

out a GOLD chain that was hidden under his shirt. On it hung a giant shiny GOLD letter T. We all stared at it. That T must have weighed a ton. Still Bob insisted it wasn't enough. I was getting ANNOYED. What more did this mouse want from us? Our firstborn mouselings? It was time to put my paw down. Our GOLD was worth at least a few scruffy- looking horses. But before I could squeak, Benjamin PIPED UP. "Mr. Bob, I don't have any GOLD," he began. "But maybe you'd like my new Cheese Blaster 4000 game." He pulled a small electronic video game from his backpack. Colorful pictures of Swiss slices and mozzarella balls zoomed

across the screen. Bob's eyes LIT UP like my grandfather Cheap Mouse Willy's when he discovers a penny on the sidewalk. "You've got a deal!" he squeaked. "This toy is fabumouse!" By now, it was already dusk. We gathered our supplies and took off. We needed to find a place to spend the night. BUT WHERE? Where do you spend the night in the Wild, Wild West? Something told me there were no Five-star Furtown Hotels in Cactus City.