Ariel meets Roger Rabbit

Chapter 1 The deal with R. K. Maroon

One day at Maroon studios they were making another cartoon. After the refrigerator fell onto Roger Rabbit's head there were birds but he was supposed to see stars, not birds or anything else but stars. "Cut! Cut, cut, cut, cut, cut!" Virginia said as she walked out onto the set of the cartoon. "What the hell was wrong with that take?" Baby Herman asked. "Nothing with you baby Herman. You were great. You were perfect. You were better than perfect. Just Roger. He keeps blowing his lines!" Virginia said before turning her gaze from baby Herman to Roger Rabbit. "Roger, what's this?" Virginia said. "A tweeting bird." Roger Rabbit said. "A tweeting bird? Roger, read the script. Look what it says." Virginia said as she picked up the script that she threw on the ground when she said cut. "It says Rabbit gets clunked. Rabbit seeds stars. Not birds, stars! Can we lose the playback please? Roger, you're killing me." Virginia said as she walked away. "For crying out loud Roger! How the hell many times do we have to do this damn scene? Virginia, I'll be in my trailer! Taking a nap!" Baby Herman said as he walked to his trailer. "My stomach can't take this. This set is a mess. Clean this set up. And get him outta there or seal him up in it! Lose the lights. And say lunch. That's lunch. We're on a half." Virginia said. "Please Virginia, I can give you stars. Just drop the refrigerator on my head one more time." Roger said. "Roger, I dropped it on your head twenty-three times already." Virginia said. "I can take it. Don't worry about me." Roger said. "I'm not worried about you. I'm worried about the refrigerator." Virginia said. "I can give you stars. Look!" Roger said as he grabbed a pan and banged himself on the head over and over again. "Toons." I said under my breath. I went to go talk to R. K. Maroon. "Mr. Maroon, Ms. Cornell's here to--" the lady that took me to his office said when he stopped her by making a stop gesture with his hand. The lady turned to me. "He'll be right with you." The lady said before walking away. "No, no, no! Wait until he gets to his feet. Then hit him with the boulder." R. K. Maroon said. "Right, R. K." The guy said. Then he turned to face me. "How much do you know about show business Ms. Cornell?" He asked. "Only there's no business like it, no business I know." I said. "Yeah, and there's no business more expensive. I'm twenty-five grand over budget on the latest baby Herman cartoon. You saw the rabbit blowing his lines. He can't keep his mind on his work. You know why?" He asked as walked up to me. "One too many refrigerators dropped on his head?" I asked. "Nah, he's a toon. You can drop anything you want on his head, he'll shake it off.

But break his heart, he goes to pieces, just like you or me. Read that." He said while giving me a newspaper. "Seen cooing over calamari with not-so-new sugar daddy was Jessica Rabbit, wife of maroon cartoon star Roger. What's this got to do with me?" I asked. "You're the cartoonist. You figure it out." He said. "Look, I don't have time for this." I said. "Look Ariel, his wife's poison, but he thinks she's Betty Crocker. I want you to follow her. Get me a couple of nice, juicy pictures I can wise the rabbit up with." He said. "Forget it. I don't work toontown." I said before I started to walk out. Before I could leave he stopped me. "What's wrong with toontown? Every Joe loves toontown." He said. "Then get Joe to do the job. Cause I ain't going." I said as I started to walk out again and him stopping me again. "Whoa fella. You don't want to go to toontown, you don't have to go to toontown. Nobody said you had to go to toontown anyway. Have a seat Ariel. The rabbit's wife sings at a joint called the ink and paint club. Toon review. Strictly humans only, okay? So what do you think?" He asked. "The job's gonna cost ya a hundred bucks. Plus expenses." I said. "A hundred bucks? That's ridiculous." He said. "So's the job." I said. "Alright, alright. You got your hundred bucks." He said. I looked through the window and down at the lot and saw some of the toons that I drew in the past. Then Dumbo came up to the window from out of nowhere, giving me a jumpscare. R. K. Maroon turned to me. "Kinda jumpy, aren't you? It's just Dumbo." He said. "I know who it is." I said as I took the check. "I got him on loan from Disney-- him and half the cast of fantasia. The best part is, they work for peanuts." He said as he grabbed a handful of peanuts. Then he threw them out of the window and Dumbo grabbed them with his trunk before flying away. "The toons are only seven years old. And, I don't work for peanuts." I said. I looked at the check noticing that he only gave me half of a hundred. "Where's the other fifty?" I asked. "Let's call the other fifty a carrot to finish the job." He said. "You've been hanging around rabbits too long." I said before walking out. As I was walking down the lot behind the studio I put the check in one of my pockets. I looked around the lot and, like he said, half of the cast of fantasia was there. They were all over the place. Half of them I drew, the other half, my coworkers drew. I walked out of the lot and saw a trolley. As the trolley started to move again I took a seat on the back with three kids. They looked like they were between ages twelve and sixteen. "Hey miss, ain't ya got a car?" The oldest kid asked. "Who needs a car in Los Angeles? We got the best public transportation system in the world." I said. When we got by the trolley station I got off. I went to the terminal station bar. I was about to take a drink when John stopped me. "Tomorrow's friday Ariel. You know what happens here on Friday?" He asked. "Fish special?" I asked. "My boss checks the books on friday. And if I don't have that money I gave you back in the till, I'm gonna lose my job." He said. "Don't bust a button John. You've only got one left." I said as I pulled the check out of my pocket.