NARRATOR:
That little red bird was amazingly strong!
She had them right over the barge before long.
As she pulled downward, and lower they sunk,
Cosmo realized the barge was for carrying junk.
When his feet touched at last, he said
COSMO:
Thanks!
NARRATOR:
to the bird
And
COSMO:
Goodbye!
NARRATOR:
to the chicken (though that seemed absurd).
Then as the two birds faded into the sky,
Two rats scrambled out of the garbage nearby.
GEORGE (a rat):
We thought that huge chicken was going to eat you!
COSMO (referring to the balloon):
We’re friends. (to the rats) My name’s Cosmo!
PHIL (a rat):
Phil!
GEORGE:
George!
COSMO:
Nice to meet you!
It’s starting to rain...
PHIL (to George):
He seems like a nice fella...
GEORGE (pulling a huge umbrella out of the garbage):
There’s plenty of room under this big umbrella!
(They get under the umbrella. At some point the garbage barge passes beneath a bridge, as an elevated train goes by overhead.)
COSMO:
I hate to barge in on you fellows unplanned,
But I figured a garbage scow might be unmanned.
Do you sort through this pile of junk looking for cheese?
GEORGE:
I’m lactose intolerant.
PHIL:
Brie makes me sneeze.
GEORGE:
We each have our reasons for leaving our houses
To dig through this dump like a couple of mouses.
PHIL:
You’ll think that I’m crazy, and I might well be nuts,
But I’m on a quest to collect: packing peanuts!
(He displays an enormous bag of packing peanuts.)
I now have enough, just from digging through trash,
To fill up my pool for a Styrofoam splash!
GEORGE:
Though the junk makes me ill, and the smell would make you sick,
I find bubble wrap, for my Bubble Wrap Music!
(He does a brief, rhythmic, musical popping of bubbles on a sheet, perhaps saying “Word” at the end.)
COSMO:
I see now: You’re pack rats!
NARRATOR:
And then Cosmo laughed
While the rodents stared blankly as if he were daft.
COSMO:
Say, have you happened to find any hats?
(The rats disappear into the trash and pop up with items on their heads. Somewhere in all the trash we see a box or wrapper that says "Corn Dogs by Kyle".)
PHIL:
Here’s a bucket!
GEORGE:
A lampshade!
PHIL:
A food bowl for cats!
COSMO:
They’re good...but not perfect. Still, thanks anyway.
NARRATOR:
And the rats floated home as the sun warmed the day.
(It has stopped raining. In the distance, a rainbow is in the sky.)
PHIL:
Hey, we’re getting quite close to my tiny front door!
We could sit on my peanuts and float to the shore.
Or if you’d prefer, you can ride on with George.
GEORGE:
My pad’s down the river, just past the tight gorge.
NARRATOR:
So:
Should he go now with Phil, or continue to cruise
Down the river with George a bit? Which do you choose?
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