A Cheat and a Fraud

"No one makes me look like a fool! No one!"

Buster cowered in his seat, his limbs weighted down like cement as Jimmy Crystal went nearly feral and pulverized him with a verbal thrashing.

"I swear, if you didn't have my kid in your show, you'd be out of that window by now!"

"I'm so sorry!" Buster squeaked. "Trust me, I'll have Calloway here ASAP! I won't let you down, sir!"

Jimmy stood from his ornate throne, closing his suit jacket. "Oh, I know you won't," he said, reapplying the thin veneer of professionalism. "The show's off."

Buster nearly fell out of his seat. "W-wait, what!?"

"You can't be trusted, Moon. I'm done with you."

"But you said—what about Porsha?"

"She's spoiled enough as is. She'll live."

Buster went cold as he felt all his hopes and dreams slipping away with all the speed and grace of Meena barreling down a waterslide. "Okay, okay. This is all about the Calloway thing, isn't it? I promise I can get him, Mr. Crystal! I'll go get him myself right now!"

Jimmy turned his back, gazing at the city's glistening skyline through his balcony. Buster jumped out of his seat and tugged at Jimmy's sleeve.

"Mr. Crystal, please reconsider! You can't do this!"

"You don't tell me what I can and can't do!" the wolf barked, sending Buster scampering away. Jimmy recomposed himself and said, "I wouldn't normally resort to something like this, but it felt like the right thing to do." With the snap of his fingers, his security team opened the doors to his office. Suki Lane marched in with several police officers behind her.

"Officers, arrest that koala!" she said, pointing at Buster's whimpering form. His eyes nearly bulged out of their sockets.

The rhino cop brandished tiny handcuffs. "Buster Moon, you're under arrest for fraud," he said, closing in.

"Wait, wait, wait!" Buster cried out. "This is all just a misunderstanding, right? Suki? Mr. Crystal?" The cop struggled to subdue Buster; the koala's arms flailed in an animated tizzy as he tried to explain the situation away. "Fraud, that's such an ugly word. There's no fraud here! I told a little white lie. A fib, even! That's all!"

Jimmy's eyebrow twitched as he suppressed indignant rage in the presence of the authorities. "I don't know how they do things in that podunk town you came from, Moon, but conning people out of their money for something you don't have and can't provide is a crime here."

"Gotcha!" the rhino said, finally slapping the cuffs on Buster. He lifted him into the air by the back of his shirt's collar.

"Mind the bow tie!" Buster complained to deaf ears.

"I knew you were trouble when you showed up here," Suki said. "What were you thinking?"

"In my defense, Eddie once told me I was a compulsive liar. Or maybe he said pathological? Either way, it's part of my charm, right?" Buster shrugged in midair with a sheepish grin. Suki shook her head, but Buster was startled by the expression he saw on Jimmy's face. Even though he'd only known the tycoon for a short amount of time, it was a look that seemed so foreign on him—pity.

"Moon, you're embarrassing yourself." And those were the last words Jimmy Crystal said to him as he was hauled out of the office.

"No! Mr. Crystal, please give me one more chance! I realize now that I may have a problem. The lies—they just fall out of my mouth! I don't want to go to jail. Nuuuuuuuuuuuu!"

Jimmy sat back down at his desk with a shudder. "I feel like a snitch."

"You did the right thing, sir," Suki said. "What do we do about Moon's friends in the theater?"

Jimmy made a dismissive hand gesture. "Toss 'em out. And put out a press release on the show's cancellation."

Suki hid the pang of guilt and sadness she felt as she left the office. If only Moon had thought things through and realized the far reaches of the consequences of his actions.

Jimmy massaged his temples. "Gonna have to find a way to work this story. Getting conned by that nobody could do irreparable damage to my image and reputation," he murmured. "Jerry, get in here!"

The portly cat scurried into the office with a cry of, "Yes, sir. Right here, sir."

"Clean this mess up, will you? And then get me the contact info for those flamingos. I have to salvage this mess Moon made."

"Yes, absolutely. I'd love to."

---

Buster's tirade was met with a sea of stares in the lobby of Crystal Entertainment.

"Can't we negotiate, officers?" Buster whined. "If you're ever in Calatonia, I have this place, it's the New Moon Theater. Bring your family, your friends—you'll love it! Well, nothing's running there right now because I abandoned it to chase my dreams in a city I've never been to before, but that might change in the near future!"

"Quiet down," one of the officers ordered. "The only theater you're working is in the prison yard."

The thought caused Buster to thrash about in defiance until his foot landed with a meaty thud. He dropped to the floor and noticed the rhino cop doubled over, eyes squeezed shut, cradling his groin.

"Did you just assault an officer of the law?" One of the cops growled.

"Boys, we got us an assaulter!"

Buster's sight was suddenly filled with a forest of batons.

"Get 'em!"

"Oh crap!" Buster screamed, his tiny legs carrying him like the wind.

---

Nana Noodleman sipped her daily tea with only partial awareness of the dreck clogging up the airwaves until a breaking news story captured her attention.

"Theater producer Buster Moon was arrested today, accused of defrauding billionaire Jimmy Crystal of potentially millions of dollars. Crystal recently hired Moon to produce a show for the Crystal Tower Theater that was to feature legendary rock star Clay Calloway and his musical catalog. Citizens of Moon's hometown of Calatonia had once been known to describe Moon as 'a cheat and a fraud.'"

Nana's tea erupted from her mouth with the pressure of a fire hydrant. Under the spittle that covered the face of her TV was footage of Buster fleeing the Crystal Entertainment offices in handcuffs with a dozen angry cops on his heels.

Nana closed her eyes and slowly shook her head. "Oh, Buster. Poor Buster. You have the guts and stamina, but you lacked the faith."

"You'll never take my dreams away from me!" Buster cried out before being buried under a dogpile of cops.