Griff Gets Penny Pranked!

An Explosive Greeting

Penny thinks she and Griff have a lot in common, actually.

The first time she got her hands on her first piggy bank, she was completely mystified. The cheerful way it rattled. The shiny coins when she peeked through the slot. The boundless possibilities in the bounds of a piggy.

As a kid, she'd go up to the school canteens and buy the snacks most kids wanted. Only, she'd pay with a pile of pennies straight from her wallet.

(She had counted them all, of course.)

And some days, with the pennies she'd have left in her room, she'd throw up the coins in the air and spin in the copper rain. They glittered. They clattered. They were awesome.

That's probably how Griff feels, Penny thinks as she watches him yell at a customer.

"But I kept the receipt!" The woman says, waving a slip of paper.

"Unfortunately!" Griff booms, "It's only proof that your purchase. Is. Final!" The woman shakes her head.

"This is just ridiculous — I only bought it yesterday!"

"I see that."

"What kind of return policy is that?"

"Only the Starr Park Gift Shop Policy!" Griff declares before leaning over the counter. "Listen, lady. No returns. Zero! Nada! Period! But don't worry, you're always free to buy a replacement." He clears his throat and gestures at the rest of the shop.

The woman glowers at him. She huffs.

"Unbelievable."

And she walks out.

Penny goes back to pretending she's inspecting the shop merchandise. Some neat Ash figurines they have here.

"Leave a tip before you go!" Griff calls out after her. He groans. "See, Colette, this is how you're supposed to handle those bozos. Stand your ground! Keep those sales! And Edgar, never forget to remind them to tip. Ever."

"Understood." Colette says.

"Mm." Edgar grunts.

The door swings shut. Penny comes out from behind the wooden stand.

"Penny!" Colette exclaims. "Your timing was perfect! Got any ideas now after seeing the wild Greedy Griff in his natural state?"

Penny grinned. Aside from a love of coins, there was a second thing she and Griff had in common:

The need to loosen up with a hilarious prank.

"I'm definitely inspired," she says. "Maybe I should do something with that tip jar of yours." She picks up the plastic jar.

"You're actually pushing through with the prank?" Edgar raises his eyebrow.

"Aw, come on Eddy — it'll be funny!" Colette insists. Penny snickers, imagining Griff's angry rectangular face. It's gonna be a huge hit with her YouTube subscribers, she knows it.

"Uh, no way." Edgar crosses his arms. "If Griff finds out, I had nothing to do with this."

"You don't! We don't! We're just cheering on our best friend Penny, right?" Colette looks back at her with wide eyes.

"That's right!" Penny affirms with a thumbs up. Colette matches it with a fist bump. Edgar sighs.

"Eh. I guess."

"Didn't need your permission anyway," Penny says. "Well, I'd fiddle with your cash register but that means big trouble for you guys, doesn't it?"

"Oh yeah, that's a big no-no," Colette agrees. Penny stares at the tip jar. It's about one-third full. It's been like that for a long time now.

Something funny...

"Hmmm... do you care about the tip jar as much?"

"Nah," Edgar says. "All that cash basically goes to Griff anyway," he mutters. Penny frowns.

"What?! That sucks." Greedy Griff definitely needs that goofy moment. Sneaking some worms in? Kinda gross. A hidden pop-up? The jar's transparent. Gluing it shut? Funny, but could be better...

"I'll think it over, guys!" Penny says. Her fist lands on the counter. "You better believe I'm coming back with a plan!"

"Well you better make it great!" Colette cheers.

"Good luck." Edgar gives a single thumbs up.

--

"Penny!"

Penny finds Jessie on the bench near Rosa's Park at lunch.

"Hey!" She grins. She sits down beside her.

"How's your day?"

"I'm alright." Penny quickly looks around before snickering, "I got to see Griff in the gift shop this morning."

"Ooh!" Jessie says. "So, have you decided on your prank yet?"

"Not yet, but I have some ideas..."

"Nicee." Jessie takes a bite of her sandwich. Some kid with a cup of soda walks nearby, looking at the flowers. Penny stares at the bubbles in the clear cup.

Soda bottles sometimes explode when opened because of the sudden loss of pressure.

Penny doesn't think she can easily pressurize that tip jar.

She chews thoughtfully on her barbecue. Explosions. Sounds like a solid way to go. But how? Turrets? No, she needs something more compact.

"How big is the sensing apparatus on Scrappy?"

"Uhhh.." Jessie furrows her brows. She mimes tracing it in the air. "Around thirty by fifteen centimeters. Why?"

Nothing with a targeting mechanism then. Scrappy's sensor model is the smallest possible device she could get for those purposes, given the bulkiness of her old lobber. She needs something more old-fashioned.

"Aw. It would've been funny to target and blast him away." Penny's eyes widen. "Not lethally." Jessie laughs.

"It would be! Why don't you just drop some water balloons at him when he walks out the shop? It's not like he'll see you. He'll probably be too busy thinking about money."

"Yeah, I get that." Griff looking up at the sky, soaked and enraged. Hilarious. Penny giggles.

But it wouldn't be the craziest thing to happen at a theme park, and more importantly, it wouldn't use funny coins...

She just knows Griff is gonna lose it if it has something to do with his coins.

She tries to imagine the ideal prank. Something just as strong as a soda explosion. Griff's hands on the jar. Something to make him frustrated, something to get him to shake it enough to detonate it.

Penny doesn't need to fiddle with the jar. She just has to hide something with the coins.

"I got it."

Jessie perks up. "What's up?" A smile spreads through Penny's face.

"I'm gonna give Griff one explosive greeting."