Chapter 4

CHAPTER 4 WHEN THE MAYOR STEPPED INTO the wagon, he was not disappointed. The walls of the wagon were painted a very fun color. There were polka dots and stripes and swirls and splatters of rainbow colors. The floor was covered in a very fun rug. It was fuzzy and warm and had plenty of pleasing patterns. There was also some very fun music playing from a little turntable in the corner. It was the kind of music that makes you want to tap your toes and snap your fingers and bob your head to the funky beat. And while all of these things were certainly fun, what really made the Fun House of Fun especially fun was the

peculiar mirror standing in the very center of the wagon. The mayor stood before the mirror and made silly faces. He stuck out his tongue. He rolled his eyes. He pulled on his mustache. "Oh my," he said, "this certainly is fun!" But then something strange happened. Something very out of the ordinary. A large swirl formed in the middle of the mirror. It was a black-and-white swirl that began to spin, faster and faster and faster. The mayor could not look away. And then something even stranger happened. The mayor's eyes had the exact same swirl. He was hypnotized! His swirly eyes stared straight ahead, and he shuffled out the door on the other side of the wagon.

"How was it, Mayor?" asked one villager. "Fun," he said. "On a scale from one to ten, how fun was it?" asked another villager. "Fun," said the mayor. "That sounds like the most fun ever!" said a third villager. "I'm going to buy a hundred tickets!" "So. Much. Fun," said the mayor.

"That's right, ladies and gentle-villagers!" said the disguised Baron Von Grump. "Step right up and get your tickets here! The one and only Fun House of Fun!" The villagers lined up, waving their money in the air. They could not wait to enter the Fun House of Fun. Why, the mayor himself had said it was So. Much. Fun. "I'll take one," said a villager, waving her money at Baron Von Grump. "I'll take three," said another villager, shoving his money into Baron Von Grump's hands.

"Fifteen for me!" said a third, pushing a wheelbarrow of money right up to the wagon. "I'll have this mirror paid off in no time," Baron Von Grump whispered to Edgar. "Caw?" asked Edgar. "Oh yes, very expensive," said Baron Von Grump. "Terribly expensive. But it'll be worth every penny once I have them all

under my control." Baron Von Grump snickered. "These villagers don't even know that they're paying for their own hypnosis!" Baron Von Grump could not hand out tickets fast enough. Even Edgar couldn't keep up. As Baron Von Grump took the villagers' money, he handed it up to Edgar, who stashed it all under the baron's tall top hat. And as Edgar stashed the money in the tall top hat, the baron handed each villager a ticket. It read: ADMIT ONE FUN HOUSE OF FUN -NO REFUNDS- The line stretched from one end of the village to the other. Everyone wanted to have as much fun as the mayor had had. Nobody wanted to miss out. Not even Wolfy's little brothers and sisters.