This article is a transcript of the Courage the Cowardly Dog episode "The Tower of Dr. Zalost" from season 2, which aired on January 11, 2002.
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Transcript[]
(It's evening in Nowhere. From atop a high tower made of gray bricks, a cannon is shooting black cannonballs at the town. As the cannonballs land on the ground, they cause large blue explosions, but don't make a sound when they explode. Dr. Zalost, a green-faced, pink-haired man smirks evilly at the chaos happening before him.
A little girl jumping rope on the sidewalk gets hit with a cannonball. It enters her body with a puff of smoke, and she turns a sickly green color. She weakly lifts the jump-rope over herself and steps through, frowning all the while.
Cut to a pizza parlor. The chef is tossing pizza dough into the air, singing a tune to himself. A cannonball enters and hits him. He turns green and frowns, then leans against the counter. The dough lands on top of his head.
Back outside, Parachute Lady walks down the sidewalk. A cannonball hits her, and she turns green. She sadly slumps over, and her parachute deploys.
Elsewhere, a chicken waits at the roadside. She looks both ways for traffic, then prepares to cross, but she is hit with a cannonball. She turns green, and leans against a telephone pole, sad and tired.
Cut to the Mayor of Nowhere's office, earlier that evening. Dr. Zalost is sitting in a chair in front of the mayor's desk. Behind the desk are the Mayor, and his aide, Floyd.)
Dr. Zalost: You already know my reputation. I am Dr. Zalost, the greatest unhappy scientist who ever lived. And I want 33 and a third billion dollars...for my Unhappy Cannonball Project. (holds up a cannonball)
Mayor and Floyd: (look at each other, then start laughing)
(Dr. Zalost frowns and clutches his cannonball to his chest. Cut back to the present. We are able to see a shot of the bottom of the tower. It has treads like a military tank, and metal legs, similar to a spider. The legs walk the tower closer to Nowhere as it continues firing cannonballs.
Cut back to the Mayor's office. )
Dr. Zalost: If you don't fund my project, I'll use your city as research. And that will make the people very...unhappy.
Mayor: Big deal. They're already unhappy. We just raised the taxes!
Mayor and Floyd: (more laughing)
(Back to the present. Inside of the tower, there is a room where the cannon and its ammo are housed. A rat takes a cannonball from one of the many large piles of cannonballs, and loads it into the cannon's rear. He closes the hatch, steps away and covers his ears. The cannon fires again.
Back to the Mayor's office.)
Mayor: The next time you try and bamboozle us, you'll be thrown in the clink. Now, beat it!
(Cut to the exterior of Town Hall. Dr. Zalost is literally kicked out of the building. He sails through the air, and gets his head lodged in a phone pole. Rat runs up to Zalost, and pulls him out of the bent part of the pole. He stands the doctor up straight.)
Dr. Zalost: Fools! I'll show them.
(The mobile tower stomps its way towards Nowhere, firing cannonballs, and leaving upturned earth from the legs and treads behind it. The cannonballs pass through walls of buildings, seeking living targets. From the tower's balcony, Zalost watches the mayhem through a telescope.)
Dr. Zalost: (laughs evilly)
(From Town Hall, the Mayor and Floyd watch the attack.)
Mayor: We've been bamboozled!
Floyd: That's correct, Mayor. If we don't pay up, we're next!
Mayor: Okay, pay the madman.
(Out in the streets, a cop and robber have already been hit with the Unhappy Cannonballs. They sit in front of the bank, too depressed to move. In a restaurant, the patrons are too sad to eat their meals. It seems nearly everyone in Nowhere has been hit with the cannonballs.
Cut to the Bagge Farmhouse. In the kitchen, Muriel pulls a tray of baked plums from the oven. Courage is sitting at the table, smiling and clapping his paws with excitement. There are three blue mugs in front of him.)
Muriel: (humming, then smells the tray of baked plums) Oh, Courage, me secret recipe for Happy Plums will make anything happy. Ha, ha. Don't they smell delicious?
(Muriel takes a spoon, and puts some plums into each of the three mugs. Courage takes a sniff, happy as can be. Muriel gives Courage a bowl of sour cream and another spoon.)
Muriel: Put a little sour cream in each, will you, Courage?
Courage: (nods and whimpers)
(Courage puts a big dollop of sour cream on the first mug, a medium dollop on the second, but runs out of sour cream for the third mug. He whines and scratches his head, wondering what to do.
Out in the living room, Eustace is sitting in his chair, fidgeting.)
Eustace: Paper. Where is my newspaper? (picks up the telephone) Agh, supposed to be here this morning.
(Eustace dials a number on the phone, but gets a busy signal.)
Eustace: What kind of paper are they running? Agh! (slams the phone onto its hook)
Muriel: (enters the room) Oh, don't worry, Eustace. I'm sure it's an the way. You'll feel better after you've had some of my happy plums.
Eustace: I don't want any happy plums. I want my paper! And there's nothing good on television neither.
(On TV, a pair of live action heads are repeatedly hit with a rubber chicken. Back in the kitchen, Courage is still trying to equally portion the sour cream to the Happy Plums. He puts his paw to his head in frustration. While Muriel washes the dishes with her back turned to Courage, he dumps the second cup of plums into his mouth and eats them. He then adds some sour cream from the first cup to the third cup. Giving up, he quickly chugs the rest of the cups of Happy Plums and sour cream. Muriel stops washing the dishes and turns around to see what happened.)
Muriel: Courage, did you eat all of our Happy Plums?
Courage: (laughs sheepishly, bits of plum are in his teeth)
Muriel: That's okay, Courage, there's plenty more. My goodness, I should put vinegar in all my recipes.
Eustace: (offscreen) Muriel, come quick! There's a special report an TV.
(Muriel rushes into the living room. On the TV, the Nowhere Newsman is giving his report, looking very depressed.)
Nowhere Newsman: Earlier today, the city of Nowhere fell under attack from an unknown tower. (camera cuts to a shot of the tower, then back to the Newsman) But, right now, I feel like going to bed. So, that's all the news for today. (yawns, then slumps off frame, a thudding sound is heard)
Eustace: Blah, blah, blah. Who cares? I want my paper. I'll just have to get it myself. (walks to the door)
Muriel: Eustace, it sounds awfully dangerous. What about your Happy Plums?
(Eustace exits the door and walks to his truck. Meanwhile, out in the city, Zalost's tower is standing still, and the cannon has stopped firing. Inside, Dr. Zalost, wearing a green and purple bathrobe and purple slippers, sits on a big bed in a large room, eating a pint of ice cream. On the wall opposite the bed, a massive TV shows the same rubber chicken show that Eustace was watching earlier. The plush, red carpet is littered with bags full of money.)
Dr. Zalost: (eats more ice cream) Mm. Ohhh...(looks off to the side)
(Rat is sitting at a table nearby, counting the stacks of money that sit on the tabletop.)
Dr. Zalost: (groans, then throws his ice cream at the TV) What's the good of having all the money in the world if it doesn't bring any happiness? And if I'm not happy, no one deserves to be happy!
(Rat continues counting the dollar bills.)
Dr. Zalost: Rat. Rat. Come here, Rat. (beckons Rat to come to him) Give me a hug. It always calms me down.
Rat: (looks over at Zalost, then groans; he throws down the money in his claw, scattering it around)
(Dr. Zalost waits near the bed with his arms outstretched. Rat walks over to him and pauses.)
Dr. Zalost: Rat.
Rat: Unh.
(Zalost picks up Rat and hugs him, but Rat does not reciprocate.)
Dr. Zalost: You call this a hug? You're not even trying. If you can't give me a real hug, then get away from me. (sets Rat down) Get out!
(The TV starts to beep. Rat pulls a remote from hammerspace and presses the only button on it. The picture on screen changes to show the Mayor and Floyd in the Mayor's office.)
Mayor: All right, Zalost, you have your money. Now, return these miserable people of Nowhere back to happy miserable people!
Dr. Zalost: Tomorrow. Maybe, tomorrow. Or maybe... never!
Mayor: We had a deal, Zalost.
Dr. Zalost: Well, the money didn't make me feel any better. And if I'm not feeling good, no one is. So there!
Mayor: Zalost, you-!
(Zalost takes the remote from Rat and presses the button, turning the screen to static.)
Dr. Zalost: Who does he think he is? (throws the remote away) People are so selfish! They only think of themselves! Ugh... Come on, Ratty. I'll give you another chance. How about that hug? Mm?
Rat: (groans in annoyance)
(Cut to the exterior of Nowhere News. Eustace gets into his truck, starts it up, and drives off down the road. )
Eustace: Stupid, dumb newspaper. "No newspapers. No newspapers." Just a bunch of lazy monkeys. (notices something on the road ahead of him) Aah!
(Eustace slams on the brakes and his truck screeches to a stop. He very nearly hit the tread of Zalost's tower.)
Eustace: (grumbles, then honks the horn) Get that pile of junk out of the way!
(While Eustace continues to honk the horn, Zalost steps out onto the balcony of his tower to see what the commotion is.)
Dr. Zalost: Rat. (Rat walks out onto the balcony) Who is that? You didn't miss one, did you?
Rat: (groans)
Dr. Zalost: You missed one! There's a happy person! (points to the truck)
Eustace: Lousy, stinking hippies. (reverses his truck, then pulls forward around the tower)
(Zalost and Rat cross the room to the other balcony. Zalost takes out his telescope and watches Eustace's truck drive down the road towards the farmhouse.)
Dr. Zalost: Well, if there's one happy person, there's more than one. And this time, I expect you to get them. All.
(Commercial break)
(Back at the farmhouse, Muriel is sitting in her rocking chair, watching King Ghidorah on TV. Eustace enters the front door, slamming it behind him.)
Muriel: Thank goodness, you're back. Did you get your paper?
Eustace: (sits down in his chair) Nope. Lazy monkeys don't make paper. And some stupid kids parked their jeep right in the middle of the road!
Muriel: How lovely. Would you like your Happy Plums now?
(Suddenly, the house begins to shake, and a rumbling noise approaches.)
Muriel: (shouting up at the ceiling) Courage, will you stop running around? You're rocking the house!
(Courage is actually sitting in the attic, chewing on a boot. He stops when he notices the shaking.)
Courage: Huh? (rips a piece of the boot off)
(He runs up to the window, and sees the quickly approaching Tower of Dr. Zalost. Courage screams, gaining dozens of eyes, followed by the eyes all popping off in random directions leaving eyeless sockets behind. Downstairs, Eustace and Muriel walk outside to see what is happening. They look up at the massive tower. The cannon fires a cannonball, which flies towards Eustace.)
Muriel: Eustace, look out!
Eustace: What the-?! (the cannonball enters his body with a puff of smoke, but he is unaffected) Unh! Eh? Lousy teenagers! (shakes his fist at the tower)
Dr. Zalost: He must be immune to emotions. Hit the round woman!
(Rat walks away to load the cannon. Moments later, it fires again. The cannonball sails through the air towards Muriel.)
Muriel: (screams)
(Courage hurries downstairs towards the screaming. He runs out the open door and tries leaping in the way of the cannonball, but is a little too late. The cannonball hits Muriel, and she turns a sickly green.)
Muriel: (hunches over and moans)
Eustace: Muriel. Muriel! This is no time for a nap!
(The cannon fires more ammo at the Bagges. While Eustace and Courage try helping Muriel move, Eustace gets hit with another cannonball.)
Eustace: Ooohwee! That's it! I'm getting me mallet. (walks inside the house)
(The cannon continues to fire. A cannonball flies towards Courage.)
Courage: (screams and leaps out of the way; the cannonball disappears into the ground)
(Courage ducks from another cannonball and stretches his body to dodge another. Then, he pulls a fake nose and glasses from hammerspace and puts them on his face. A cannonball approaches, stops, then veers off into the ground behind Courage. Courage then picks Muriel up, and carries her into the house, barely dodging another cannonball. He brings her into the kitchen, stuffs her into a drawer on the cabinet, and closes it. Then, he opens the cabinet under the sink, and enters it. Two more cannonballs enter the kitchen, and phase through the sink cabinet. Courage pops out of the drain pipe under the sink, unharmed.
Back at the tower, Zalost surveys the scene with his telescope.)
Dr. Zalost: I think we got them. Ha-ha-ha. Now, we can go back to bed and hug.
Rat: Ugh.
(Inside the house, Eustace peeks out from behind the curtains. The tower is still there.)
Eustace: Well, let's have some of those Happy Plums.
(Muriel sits in her rocking chair, still hunched over and depressed. Courage stands beside her, patting her arm. He turns away from Muriel, and when he turns back, he has blue lips and a massive tongue. He laughs and dances in place, trying to make Muriel laugh.)
Muriel: (looks over at Courage, and sighs, still sad)
(Courage takes the blue lips off of his face and tosses them away. Eustace enters the room with two cups of Happy Plums and spoons in his hands. He gives one of the cups and spoons to Courage.)
Eustace: Here. She likes you best. Feed her. (walks off to sit in his chair)
(Courage presses the spoon with plums to Muriel's mouth, but she doesn't eat.)
Courage: (makes airplane noises, and zooms the spoon around in the air; brings it to Muriel's mouth) Choo, choo! (makes train engine noises, and tries again to make Muriel eat the plums)
(Muriel groans sadly. Courage, frustrated, puts the cup of happy plums and spoon into his "pockets." Then, he sits on the floor in a meditative pose, and closes his eyes.)
Courage: (chanting) Ommm...ommm...
(A thought bubble appears over Courage's head. Courage imagines Zalost's tower. He imagines himself running towards the tower with a rope slung around his body. He uses a pair of suction cups to climb up the side of the tower and into an open window. Then, he suspends himself from the rope into a room covered in red security lasers. In the center of the lasers is a vial of a green liquid. Courage picks up the vial with a pair of giant tongs. He then brings the vial back home to Muriel, and makes her drink the green liquid. Muriel returns to her normal color and perks up, cured of her depression.)
Thought Muriel: Oh, thank you, Courage.
Thought Courage: Yay! (hops around with joy)
(Confetti and balloons fall from the ceiling, and cheering is heard. The thought bubble disappears and Courage gasps. He stands up and walks over to Eustace, who is eating his Happy Plums.)
Courage: (babbling, then shapeshifts into the following things: eye, bee, leaf, eye, can, reeds, dish, finger pointing outside, then back to his regular self)
Eustace: Looks like you got a plan.
Courage: Mm-hm.
Eustace: (eats more plums) Just keep me out of it.
(Cut to the exterior of the tower. A doorbell ringing is heard. Inside the tower, Rat hurries down the massive staircase towards an exit elevator. He gets inside and the elevator lowers into the floor. Rat opens the door leading outside. At the door is Eustace, dressed as a pizza delivery guy, and holding a box of pizza.)
Eustace: Here's the pizza you ordered. (gives the pizza box to Rat) Twenty bucks. (holds out his hand)
Rat: (groans and hands Eustace a $20 bill)
(Rat takes the pizza box inside, and the elevator goes back up into tower's base.)
Eustace: (jumps up and clicks his heels) Woo-hoo-hoo, whoopee! That stupid dog was right! That's the easiest 20 bucks I've ever made. (walks away from the tower)
(Inside the tower, Rat comes out of the elevator, sets the pizza box onto a table, then walks up the stairs. After a moment, Courage comes out of the box, covered in cheese and pepperoni. He looks up towards the top of the staircase and hears Zalost speaking.)
Dr. Zalost: (off-screen) Pizza? What pizza? I didn't order any pizza. Get away from me.
Rat: (offscreen, groans)
(Courage licks the pizza off of himself, then climbs the staircase. When he enters the room at the top of the stairs, he gasps in shock. A giant cauldron is filled with a bubbling green liquid [presumably the molten metal that the cannonballs are made of] . A pipe on the side of the cauldron is filling a glass container with fresh Unhappy Cannonballs, much like a popcorn machine at a movie theater. One by one, the cannonballs exit a tiny hatch on the glass container, and land on a conveyor belt. A mechanical claw picks up the cannonballs and drops them onto one of the massive piles of cannonballs the line the walls of the room. Courage watches in awe as the cannonballs are made. But, he hears something behind him and turns. Rat is running towards him.)
Courage: (screams)
(Courage picks up a cannonball from the bottom of a pile closest to him. He struggles with its weight, but before he can throw it, another cannonball bounces past him. A few more start bouncing and rolling past him. Another rolls under Courage's feet, and he rolls his way towards Rat.)
Courage: Huh? (screams)
(Rat tries to dodge, but gets carried away by the avalanche of cannonballs. Rat falls to the floor. Courage falls away from the stream of cannonballs. He loses his grip on the one in his hands. The cannonball flies towards Rat, hitting him. Rat's fur becomes a darker shade of gray. He gains muscles, grows taller, and gets sharp fangs.)
Rat: (roars, then leaps into the air)
Courage: (whimpers)
(Rat starts his descent towards Courage, roaring all the while. Courage panics, then a thought bubble appears next to his head. He remembers Muriel's words from earlier.)
Thought Muriel: My Happy Plums will make anything happy.
(The thought bubble vanishes. Courage quickly pulls his cup of Happy Plums and his spoon from hammerspace. Using the spoon like a slingshot, he flings a plum into the roaring Rat's mouth. Rat swallows it, then lands on the floor in front of Courage. He gags briefly, then tries grabbing at Courage with his claw. But, Rat then shrinks down, and turns into a little baby rat wearing a diaper.)
Baby Rat: (cries)
Courage: Uh?
(Courage looks up towards another staircase in the room. He drops his spoon and hurries up the stairs. At the halfway point, he is panting and tired. He presses on until he reaches a hatch in the ceiling at the top of the stairs. He opens the hatch, but is immediately met with Dr. Zalost's hand. Courage is grabbed by the throat.)
Courage: (gags)
(Zalost quickly ties Courage up with rope and throws him against the wall. Dr. Zalost stands before Courage. To the right of the doctor is a cannon. There is a chalkboard with a Hangman game ready to go on the doctor's left.)
Courage: (groans)
Dr. Zalost: Welcome to the Tower of Dr. Zalost. (laughs evilly)
Courage: Eeee! (shivers)
Dr. Zalost: I bet you thought you would come in here and do something very heroic, right?
Courage: Uh-huh.
Dr. Zalost: I'll tell you what. I'll turn your grandmother back to normal if you can guess what this four-letter word is...before the cannon goes off, okay?
(Zalost reaches into the pocket of his lab coat, and pulls out a match. He strikes the match on the floor, and lights the fuse on the cannon. He tosses the match away.)
Dr. Zalost: Let's play!
Courage: L!
Dr. Zalost: No. (draws a head on the Hangman)
Courage: Hmm. G?
Dr. Zalost: Ah! No. (draws a body on the stick figure)
Courage: (whines) T?
Dr. Zalost: No. (draws a leg)
Courage: R!
Dr. Zalost: No R. (draws another leg)
Courage: K!
Dr. Zalost: Oh, sorry, no K. (draws an arm on the hangman) Would you like to buy a vowel? Only 5 bucks each.
(Courage nods, then wiggles out of the ropes binding him. He walks over to Zalost, pulls his wallet from his "pocket" and gives Zalost a $20 bill. Zalost takes the money and Courage puts away his wallet.)
Courage: A?
Dr. Zalost: (taps his chin for a moment) No. Want to buy another one?
(Courage hops around in panic.)
Courage: O? (hops around more and crosses his fingers for luck)
Dr. Zalost: Oh. Yeah... (writes two "O"s on the board) That's 5 for the A and 10 for the two O's. That makes 15.
Courage: (grumbling, angry babbling)
(Zalost walks over to the back of the cannon, licks his finger, and presses it against the fuse, dousing it. He walks back over to Courage)
Dr. Zalost: What's the problem?
Courage: (continues grumbling)
Dr. Zalost: Will you shut up?! One O, 5 bucks. Two O's, 10 bucks. The vowels cast you 15 bucks. Those are the rules. Now, I suppose you'll want your change. (pats himself down, checking where he put his money) Oh, this is so embarrassing. Are you really going to need it? (Courage taps his foot impatiently) Well, give me a moment. (checks his pockets) Oh. (lifts up his foot, and pulls some money from his sock) Here it is. There you go. (gives Courage the money)
(Courage takes the money, then walks back over to the pile of ropes on the floor. He puts them back onto his body, and puts his arms inside. Zalost gets another match and lights the cannon's fuse again. Courage sweats and shivers as he tries to think. The fuse burns shorter and shorter.)
Dr. Zalost: (laughs evilly)
Courage: Ngh...uh... "Boom"?
(The fuse immediately fizzles out. Zalost writes a "B" and an "M" on the board, completing the word "Boom" beside the Hangman.)
Dr. Zalost: Agh! You cheated. (pulls a cord on the cannon)
(The cannon fires, and Courage leaps out of his restraints.)
Courage: (screams)
(Courage jumps high enough into the air that he clings to a chandelier. The cannon continues to fire. Courage swings off of the chandelier, deftly steps over three cannonballs, climbs up onto a wall rafter, and leaps onto the mechanical arm from earlier. It is being lifted up towards the ceiling. It stops just short of the open passage in the ceiling. Courage swings his way into another hatch and emerges on the floor above it. He is in another room filled with cannonballs. He pants for a moment, but is grabbed around the throat by Zalost again. Zalost is licking an ice cream cone.)
Dr. Zalost: Mm. Why didn't you take the stairs? It's much easier. (laughs evilly)
(Zalost tosses away his ice cream, and carries Courage towards the open passage for the mechanical arm. Just below the passage is the cauldron of green liquid from earlier. )
Courage: (groans)
Dr. Zalost: (laughs)
(Courage gags and trembles. Then, he remembers something.)
Muriel: (voiceover) My Happy Plums will make anything happy.
(Courage reaches into hammerspace, and pulls out the cup of Happy Plums. He throws the mug at the laughing Zalost's face.)
Dr. Zalost: Och! Unh...
(The mug falls down into the bubbling cauldron, landing with a "bloop!")
Dr. Zalost: Ach! (lets go of Courage)
Courage: (screams)
(Courage manages to grab onto the ledge of the passage. He looks down at the cauldron and gasps. The bubbling green liquid suddenly turns pink, and starts bubbling more aggressively. Pink cannonballs start flying out of the cauldron and up through the passage. As the pink cannonballs rain down inside the tower, the Unhappy Cannonball piles start to collapse. Massive cracks appear in the tower's walls.)
Dr. Zalost: Aah! No! Nooo! What have you done?
(Zalost quickly makes his way down the hatch leading to the stairs. He runs down the spiral staircase, but it, along with the rest of the tower, is collapsing around him.)
Dr. Zalost: Noooo!!
(Cut back to the farmhouse. Muriel is still sitting in her rocker, depressed. Eustace stands beside her, holding her hand.)
Eustace: Muriel, what about my dinner? (hears rumbling from outside) What?! (runs out the front door)
(The Tower of Dr. Zalost is collapsing in on itself. Almost like a volcano, the top quarter of the tower bursts open, and pink liquid oozes from the sides. )
Eustace: Eh? (scratches his head in confusion)
(The second quarter of the tower explodes, and the pink cannonballs erupt forth.)
Eustace: It's the end of the world. (runs back inside the house) Aah! (runs into the closet and slams the door)
(The pink cannonballs fly out towards the city of Nowhere. Like the Unhappy Cannonballs, the pink balls seek out living targets. The first hits the pizza parlor chef. The cannonball enters his body in a puff of pink smoke. The employee returns to his normal color and resumes tossing his pizza dough, singing a happy tune.
The next cannonball hits the little jump rope girl. She returns to her normal color.)
Little Girl: Yay! (skips rope down the sidewalk)
(A Happy Cannonball hits the chicken from earlier. She returns to normal, and clucks happily. She looks both ways down the street, takes a foot off the sidewalk to cross, and is immediately hit by a truck.
In Town Hall, the mayor and Floyd hold hands and dance together on top of the mayor's desk, happy that things are returning to normal.
Back outside the farmhouse, the remainder of Zalost's tower crumbles, raining rubble and dust everywhere. An injured Courage emerges from the dust, running and screaming. In his arms are Baby Rat and a Happy Cannonball. He runs inside the farmhouse and up to Muriel. He sets Baby Rat down on the floor.)
Baby Rat: (cries and runs away)
(Courage looks behind himself and sees Dr. Zalost at the front door. Zalost is holding the last Unhappy Cannonball, and looks injured from the tower collapse.)
Dr. Zalost: (panting) You stupid dog!
Eustace: (from inside the closet) That's what I tell him all the time: "You stupid dog. You stupid dog!"
Dr. Zalost: (laughs evilly, then prepares to throw his cannonball)
(Courage throws his Happy Cannonball at Muriel. It enters her body, and her color returns to normal.)
Muriel: Oh! Aah...
Courage: Eeee! (picks Muriel up from her chair)
Dr. Zalost: (laughs, then throws his Unhappy Cannonball)
(Courage runs with Muriel past the closet. Eustace exits the closet, holding his mallet.)
Eustace: Hah! I found me mallet. (gets hit with the cannonball) Oooh-wee!
(Eustace freezes in place, then his body turns to stone.)
Eustace: (muffled) Stupid dog.
(Dr. Zalost enters the house. Baby Rat runs up to Zalost and clings to his leg. Zalost kicks the crying Baby Rat away, and follows Courage and Muriel to the kitchen. Courage and Muriel hide under the kitchen table.)
Muriel: (groans) Courage?
Courage: (gasps) Yay!
Muriel: What are we doing here? (Courage jumps into her arms, and they hug) Oh, my, Courage! Ha-ha-ha.
(The kitchen door opens, and Dr. Zalost enters.)
Muriel: Oh! (Courage covers her mouth with his paw)
(Zalost approaches the kitchen table. He sees a mug on the table, full of Happy Plums.)
Dr. Zalost: What's this? Hmm...Plums! (eats some plums) My favorite.
(Courage trembles as he keeps his hand over Muriel's mouth. Suddenly, Zalost starts coughing and gagging on the plums. Courage ducks and hides behind Muriel. After some more coughing and gasping, Zalost ducks under the table to look at Muriel and Courage. But, his skin is no longer green; it is now peach.)
Muriel and Courage: (hold each other and scream)
Muriel: Ooh!
Dr. Zalost: (chuckles, and joins the pair under the table) What is this? (holds up the cup of Happy Plums to Muriel) I've never felt so happy! (stirs the cup of plums with a spoon)
Muriel: It's my secret recipe for Happy Plums.
(The sound of crying interrupts them. Baby Rat runs up to Dr. Zalost and jumps onto his chest. Zalost wraps his arms around Baby Rat.)
Dr. Zalost: Rat. Come here, Rat. Give me a hug.
Baby Rat: (stops crying, sighs, and giggles a little)
Muriel: Courage, isn't that the coziest picture you ever did see?
Courage: (laughs sheepishly; bits of plum are in his teeth again)
THE END