Scrooge groaned glanced over at her and replied less then enthusiastically, “Let me guess you found out there’s a sale going on at you favorite store, and you need me to loan you some money. Right?”
Daisy angered shouted, “What?! That’s not what I’m talking about!” Then she calmed down and said, “I found out something about, Laura Quackson, while I was watching the videos. And I’m sure it something you’ll also want know about!”
After hearing this Scrooge replied much more enthusiastically than before, “Well then by all means tell me what you learned, please!”
Daisy replied, “Well while we were watching the videos I thought I recognized Laura Quackson. So I kept studying her, and then I realized she worked at one of my favorite stores. “
Donald spoke up, “She’s the assistant manger of…”
He was interrupted by Daisy “Shh… Donald I was talking.” Daisy said angrily. Then she turned back to Scrooge and said, “Do you have any idea what store that might be?’
Scrooge, who was growing impatient, replied, “I don’t a have a clue.” Paused for a minute then added, “And by the way all stores are your favorites.”
Donald, Huey, Dewey, and Louie all burst into laughter. “That’s just what I told her, Uncle Scrooge!” Donald said stilling laughing
Daisy glared at them and then said, “Anyway, she’s the assistant manger of is McFashions, she’s one of your employees!”
Scrooge gasped, “McFashions, of course! I was sure I’d seen her somewhere before entering Webbigail into the pageant!” Then he crumpled up a piece of paper threw across and shouted, “She’s as good as fired! I’ll no be continuing pay her with any of my money!”
“Calm down, Uncle Scrooge!” Minnie exclaimed, as she rushed over to his side and tried to quiet him down, “And I have to say that certainly does explain a lot!”
“Um…Aye, it does” he said still a little tense, “Err… Good work Daisy.”
“Yes I know.” She replied a little haughtily “I just have one question. How did you not recognize your own employee?”
“Well, when ye own hundreds of businesses with thousands of employees, as I do, ye can’t remember the face and name of each one… all the time.” He explained feeling embarrassed, “Um…Anyhow we need to get to work and figure out how to stop her.”
As they were leaving that night, Mickey came up to Minnie, “Say-ya Minnie ya wanna go out to lunch and maybe a matinee movie this Saturday?”
“I’m sorry, Mickey. But Saturday is the day of Webby’s pageant and as her coach I need to be there.” She replied
“Oh okay,” He said feeling a little sad. “Say how about I come to the pageant, and then take ya out to dinner afterward!?”
“Why Mickey I’d love that!” she replied, “You promise you’ll come?”
“Yup, I promise.” He answered
The following day Scrooge, Minnie, Daisy, and Webby were at the mall doing some last minute pageant shopping. Unbeknown to them Laura and Victoria were also there doing some last minute shopping. Vicky stood in the dressing-room door and shouted, “Why the heck do I have to wear this stupid puffy dress?! Why can’t I get a cool modern one?!”
“Vicky!” Laura yelled back, “How many times do I have to tell you this?! If you wore that skin-tight, low cut dress, you’d lose points with the judges!”
As they exited the fitting-room, continuing to argue, Vicky glanced over and noticed that down a way Scrooge was standing outside the dressing-room. She tugged Laura’s on sleeve, “Hey isn’t that Webby’s rich uncle?” she said, as she pointed toward him.
Laura quickly turned and also saw Scrooge, “Drat! Don’t tell me that old miser and his bratty niece still haven’t quit!” She grumbled, then said, “Come on dear let’s go pay them a visit.”
Meanwhile Minnie and Daisy were in the dressing-room with Webby helping her try on dresses, Scrooge paced back and forth in front of fitting-rooms worrying. He worried about what other tricks Laura might try to pull, and how those would affect his friends, family, and business.
His thoughts were interrupted by Webby saying, “Uncle Scrooge, what do think of this one?”
He turned and saw Webby in a beautiful formal, standing in the doorway, with Minnie and Daisy next to her. “Um… lovely dear.” He said very sounding very distant.
“HMPH!” Daisy said, “You didn’t even look at the dress, so how can you say it’s lovely?”
“Daisy!” Minnie whispered as she elbowed her. “Can’t you see he’s stressed out?”
Scrooge replied, “Um…I apologize for not being all there today. I just have this feeling that as we speak Laura Quackson is devising another plan.”
Webby, hoping to cheer him up, came over and hugged him and said, “Don’t about worry her Uncle Scrooge. I don’t think…”
She was interrupted by, “Well, hello Mr. McDuck. I did not expect to see you here!”
The four of them glanced over and saw Laura and Vicky. “Uh–oh it’s Victoria and her mommy.” Webby whispered as she hugged Scrooge tighter.
“Hello Laura.” Scrooge said coolly, “This should come as no surprise to you, but you’re fired.”
“Fired!” Laura shouted, “Why the heck are you firing me?!”
“Because of those stories that you made-up about me and my friend Minnie of course.” Scrooge replied still coolly.
Minnie spoke-up, “Ms. Quackson, you should be ashamed of your self. Just because you lost some pageants, to wealthier contestants as a child, is no reason to take your anger out on Uncle Scrooge and Webby! I mean, what on earth did they ever do to you?!”
“What the heck are you two talking about?” Laura said trying to sound confused, “I didn’t have anything to do with those stories!”
“Now, don’t try to deny what you did, Laura,” Scrooge replied, “We’ve got proof that you’re behind them.”
Then Daisy spoke-up, “That’s right we saw you on security camera footage!”
“Drat!” Laura snapped, “Fine, you got me, you old miser. I was the one behind the stories. And I’d do it again just keep Vicky from suffering the way I did as a child!” Then she turned to Victoria and said haughtily, “Come along Vicky let’s go!”
Just before they left Vicky looked Webby in the eyes and whispered, “Listen Weirby, I just want you to know that your uncle isn’t the nice man your coach says he is, he’s just as bad as all those rich losers that mom has told me about. And you’re just as bratty as all the kids of those rich losers she’s told me about. And I’m not losing…”
As soon as Scrooge heard what was being said by Vicky he shouted, “That’s enough! I’ll not have anyone speaking that way to me darling wee Webbigail.”
Webby also shouted, “You can’t talk about my Uncle Scrooge, like that!”
Laura and Vicky started to laugh. Then Laura said mockingly, “Come on Vicky, let’s go. Obviously Mr. McDuck and his wee Webbigail don’t want to have anything to with us. But then again why would they?” Then they left.
As soon as they were gone Scrooge collapsed into a chair by the fitting-rooms. Minnie glanced over at him and quickly noticed how flustered he looked; she thought she even saw a tear roll down his cheek. “Oh my! Are you alright?” she asked.
“Oh I knew I should not have entered Webbigail in this pageant.” He groaned.
Minnie came over and sat down in the chair next to him, “Well, then why did you enter her?” she asked.
“Because she wanted to be in the pageant so badly, and I could not bare to disappoint her. Should have just gone with my gut.” He sighed, “Because now poor Webbigail has been exposed to many more insults than anyone deserves be, especially a wee lass of her age. And I worry that all those dolled-up lassies might be a bad influence on her. Not to mention those awful stories, but I don’t guess I need to tell you about them, since you were included in them. I do not know what to do now.”
Minnie leaned over and hugged him and said, “Well I can certainly see why you might worry about those things. But, if you feel like it would better for Webby to not be in pageant maybe the best thing to would be to drop out of it. Even if it did mean her being disappointed.”
Scrooge jumped up, “That’s it!” he exclaimed, “We’ll drop out!”
Daisy shouted, “Minnie! Don’t put those kind of ideas into his head!” Then she groaned, “Uncle Scrooge! Don’t drop out of the pageant!”
“Daisy hush!” Minnie shouted back
Scrooge knelt down by Webby and said, “Webby darling, I am sorry I know how much you wanted to be in this pageant, but I can not in good conscious allow you to participate in it.”
“But, I gotta stay in the pageant, you know to prove to Victoria that I’m pretty. And now I also gotta to prove to her and her mommy that that you’re not bad and I’m not a spoil rich brat.” Webby said.
He took her by the hand and started to walk away, “Sorry darling. But it’s just too big a risk for everyone.”
Daisy did not wanting to lose this opportunity of entering a little girl into a pageant. “No! Uncle Scrooge! Webby! Don’t leave! She shouted as she began scan through the Lil’ Miss Duckburg website on her smart phone, trying to find something that might lure them back. “You’ve gotta stay because…um… how else will Webby learn anything about fashion and accessorizing?!”
“No!” Scrooge called back
Daisy continued to scan through the website, “If she wins she’ll have bragging rights for a whole year, and she’ll be considered the prettiest girl in school.” She called.
“No, Daisy!” He shouted
Suddenly Daisy’s eyes fell on something that she felt sure would bring Scrooge back into the game. “Oh Uncle Scrooge…” she called
“We’re not coming back, Daisy!” he yelled back
“Too bad.” She said, “Because that means you’ll miss out on the huge five hundred thousand dollar cash prize!”
Scrooge stopped dead in his tracks, “A c-c-cash p-p-prize!” he stammered, then turned around and darted back to Daisy and Minnie.
After hearing this, Minnie thought for a minute, and then exclaimed, “Wait a second, where on earth did Ms. Quackson get all that money?!”
“Who knows, and who cares?!” Daisy replied then said, “So Uncle Scrooge, will you come back in pageant for chance at five hundred thousand dollars?”
“Aye, of course I will!” Scrooge exclaimed, while jumping up and down.
“But Uncle Scrooge, you just said that having Webby in the pageant was too big a risk!” Minnie exclaimed.
“Well, a five hundred thousand dollar cash prize changes everything!” Scrooge said happily.
When Webby heard that she was still going to be in the pageant she was very excited, “Yea! Thank you for changing your mind about the pageant, Uncle Scrooge!”
Hearing Webby’s voice snapped Scrooge back to reality, “Um…Sorry Daisy.” He said calmly and, a bit embarrassedly, “But my wee Webbigail is far too precious to risk for any cash prize.”
“Aaaww, but I want to…” Webby begin to say.
She was interrupted by, Daisy shouting, “Party pooper!”
“We’re out of the pageant and that’s final!” Scrooge shouted back.
Minnie, who had been trying to figure out how Laura could possibly have so much money to offer, snapped, “Will you two please be quiet and calm down so that I can think. It just does not make sense that a prize for first place in a children’s pageant, especially a local one, would be so large.”
“Aye, you’re right.” Scrooge replied.
Minnie continued to think, and then said, “Unless she changes an exorbitant amount for the sign up fee. Uncle Scrooge, how much did it cost to enter Webby into Lil’ Miss Duckburg?”
“A whole four hundred dollars!” Scrooge snapped, “Which if ye ask me, is a mighty steep sign up fee for a wee local pageant!”
“Well yes, I suppose it is a little steep, but think about it, even that isn’t enough to raise a cash prize as big as she’s offering.” Minnie replied
Scrooge suddenly recalled what Jane Muddlefoot had said at the luncheon; about no one except Victoria ever winning, “Hmm… Perhaps she does not have any prize money, and she’s just saying that she does in the hopes of bringing in more contestants.”
“Well, like how the heck can she do that?” Daisy asked, “Wouldn’t people know about it by now?”
“Up until now Victoria has always won, so she has not had to worry about giving it away.” Scrooge replied.
“Oh my, you’re right! That must be what she’s doing!” Minnie exclaimed, “We need to let the authorities know that she’s offering a fraudulent cash prize.”
“Sadly, we do not have any proof.” Scrooge said, “And unfortunately the only way we’ll get the proof is if someone other than Victoria wins the pageant. It pains me to say this, but we must stay in and try our best to win.” Then he patted Webby on the head and said, “Well, darling do ye think you’re up for it?”
“Yes I am!” Webby exclaimed as she hugged him.
