"That's right!" Max shouted into the microphone, which was letting off horrible squeals of feedback. "None of you morons were smart enough to figure it out, but with my genius detective skills, I singlehandedly deduced that the next clue is at the Galloping Centipede Inn. In fact, I even know the room number! It's-"

The microphone was suddenly ripped out of his hand by a strong furry white arm. Max was about to protest, but then realized it was Bobby.

"Please excuse my friend, folks. He's talking a bunch of nonsense. He's confused the hotel he's staying at with the location of the next clue. Nothing to see here. Enjoy your drinks."

"What are you talking about?" Max said. "I haven't confused anything! I totally solved the clue and it's definitely at the Galloping Centipede Inn."

"Okay, I believe you," Bobby said. "But do you really want everyone else knowing that? We'd better hurry up and get over there. I wish you'd figured this out earlier, since I was just there dropping off Sarah and Dr. Octavius."

"Oh yeah, you're right. We should probably be keeping this on the downlow. Damn that Maurice. He's the one who couldn't keep his trap shut. Now everybody knows."

Maurice was passed out on the table sleeping.

"Well, you'd better grab him and let's get out of here," Bobby said. "Because I have a feeling a whole bunch of people are going to be headed that way after that stunt you just pulled."

They picked Maurice up off the table. He didn't even stir as Bobby tucked him under his arm and then they headed out the door.

A few minutes later Danielle came strolling out of the restroom. She had spent a lot longer in there than she had intended to. The wallpaper had been fascinating. Indeed they had taken a break from the all red decor the rest of the bar favored and instead it looked like one of those weird pixelated images that supposedly if you crossed your eyes and stared at for awhile revealed a 3-D image. Danielle had stared and stared but nothing had popped out, although after awhile she realized the patterns on the wallpaper had been slowly changing, which she also found fascinating and so continued to stare at for a long time.

She was finally broken out of her trance by a loud knocking at the door. She quickly washed her hands and exited, noticing that a very long line had formed waiting to use the restroom. A jackal in a pink dress shot her a dirty look as she walked out.

She went back to the corner table but there was no sign of Max or Maurice. In fact, looking around the bar she didn't see them anywhere. Oddly, it seemed like everybody in the place was suddenly making a mad dash for the exit. Worried that she might have missed out on a bomb threat or something she followed the crowd out the door.

The scene on the street was a madhouse. Everywhere she looked groups of creatures were trying to flag down rickshaw drivers and bidding wars for their services were breaking out.

"I'll pay you two canisters of floss for a ride immediately!" shouted a beaver at a llama who already had a full party in the back of his rickshaw.

"I'll pay you three canisters!" shouted a turkey.

"I'll pay you ten canisters!" shouted a goldfish.

Pretty soon an unruly mob was shaking the rickshaw back and forth until they had overturned it. Then they jumped up and down on top of it and smashed it to bits.

Danielle managed to stop an elderly coyote who was passing by. "What's this all about? Why is everyone acting so crazy?"

"Didn't you hear, missy? The next clue has been discovered at the Galloping

Centipede Inn! Everyone's trying to get there as soon as possible. I'm sure every rickshaw in town is headed that way now. But that's why I'm going to take the Roto-Bus."

"What the heck's a Roto-Bus?" Danielle asked.

The coyote peered at her over his glasses. "You must be from out of town, missy. I'd keep that to myself if I were you. Still some angry people around here who hate tourists. Now me, I think it's great to have visitors to our fair city. I used to do a bunch of traveling myself back in the day before my bum knee started acting up. If you want to come with me, I know where there's a Roto-Bus stop a few blocks away from here. Hopefully it won't be too crowded and we can both catch a ride."

"Thank you so much, mister. I'm not sure what I'd do without you."

"No worries, missy. Do you have any floss for the fare?"

"Uh, I'm afraid I don't."

"Well, I've got enough to cover you. The Roto-Bus isn't too expensive."

"Oh, thank you. I'll pay you back as soon as I meet up with my friends."

"No need," the coyote said. "Someday you'll meet someone in need and you can pay it forward then. Besides, it's only a strand of floss. You could probably find that just out on the street somewhere where someone dropped it."

The idea of picking up dental floss someone dropped on the street was vaguely repulsive, but Danielle smiled and nodded anyway and followed the coyote as he headed to the Roto-Bus stop.

They came to a small orange bench covered in graffiti. A dachshund in a yellow Hawaiian shirt was already standing there waiting and gave them a slightly suspicious look.

"Hello," Danielle said with a smile.

"Don't even think about trying to beat me to the Galloping Centipede Inn," the dachshund snarled. "The bus stop is several blocks away and I'm a fast runner."

"Who said we were going to the Galloping Centipede Inn?" the coyote asked. "My niece here and I were just on our way home after taking in a show."

"Yeah, is there something interesting at the Galloping Centipede Inn?" Danielle asked innocently.

"You mean you didn't hear about..." He stopped himself short. "Uh, I mean, that is to say, why, uh, no, of course there's nothing interesting about it. I'm not even going there. Did I say the Galloping Centipede Inn? I meant the Limping Caterpillar Buffet. They've got an all night special going on and I'm pretty hungry."

"We're pretty hungry, too, aren't we uncle?" Danielle said. "Perhaps we could join this nice man at the buffet?"

"That sounds like a smashing idea," the coyote said with a wink.

"Actually my tummy's acting up a bit," the dachshund said. "On second thought, I think I'll just head home."

"Aw, that's a pity," the coyote said. "You know, I heard a really great new restaurant opened up at the Galloping Centipede Inn. Maybe we should go check it out."

"That sounds like a wonderful idea, uncle," Danielle said.

"I never would have thought of it if our new friend here hadn't given me the idea. Thanks a lot, pal."

"Oh no, that restaurant is terrible," the dachshund said. "Me and my mates all got food poisoning there just last week. In fact, that's probably why my tummy's bothering me now. Residual food poisoning."

"From a week ago?" Danielle asked.

"Well, I ate there again last night. And I'll be damned if I didn't get food poisoning again. So as you can see, you definitely don't want to eat at that restaurant. They ought to change its name to the Food Poisoning Cafe."

"I'm sure that would bring them in a lot of business," Danielle said. "Are you in marketing, by chance?"

"No, I'm an insurance salesman. You interested in a policy? I've got a good deal right now on tornado insurance."

"No thanks."

"I've also got fire, flood, lightning strike, and a great policy that protects you in the event a mob of clowns breaks into your house and pelts you with cream pies. We can also throw in protection from water squirting flowers, but that costs extra."

"That's very kind of you, but we're good."

"Oh well, can't blame a guy for trying. If everything shakes out my way, I'll be retiring soon anyway."

"Oh yeah?" the coyote asked. "And why might that be?"

"Got a hot tip on the treas-" the dachshund stopped short and looked flustered with himself. "Er, on the equity market. If you want to know how to make some big time floss, be sure to invest in oatmeal. It's on the rise, but keep it in your hat. You didn't hear anything from me, you got it? Now, here comes the Roto-Bus."

Something that looked like a giant spinning dish came whizzing down the street. It stopped briefly at their bench but a sign flashed on reading "Sorry No Vacancy" and the Roto-Bus moved on after nobody disembarked.

"Aw, nuts," the dachshund said. "Word must have already gotten out about the Galloping Centipede and all the Roto-buses are already full. Er, that is, it's an oddly busy night. I wonder why all the Roto-buses are packed full of commuters at this hour? Very strange. Well, let's see it's probably like a hundred blocks or so from here? And like I said, I'm a fast runner, so... See ya!" The dachshund took off running down the street in the direction the Roto-bus had gone.

"Hmm. No rickshaws, no Roto-buses. I don't know if my knee would hold up to walking. Sorry about that, missy. I think I might be a little too old for treasure hunting."

"It's not your fault there's a lack of adequate public transportation around here," Danielle said. "I still need to get to the Galloping Centipede Inn. Not because of treasure, but I think my friends are there."

"Well, if you don't mind going for a bit of a hike, you can follow that dachshund. I'd offer to join you, but like I said my bum knee's acting up. I can still loan you a couple strands of floss, in case you find a Roto-bus with some room on it."

"Thank you, so much, mister," Danielle said as she accepted the floss. She gave the coyote a hug and then started walking down the street.