The crowd erupted into jubilant applause as the chair turned, sparks shooting out from around the chair like a miniature fireworks show. Malcolm couldn't decide whether he should applaud as well, or melt into the stage floor like a fur puddle. He was planning on the latter, when the chair fully revealed it's occupant - and oh! thank goodness for Malcolm! - Major Heggs revealed himself!
Malcolm's nearly relieved his little meerkat bladder right there on stage out of relief. "ha-HA! There you are, m'boy!" Major Heggs boomed. "We've been expecting you!" Malcolm was still rather shell-shocked (which means that he felt like an eggshell had cracked inside of his brain and everything was cloudy and sticky and kind of yellow), so he just smiled halfway and nodded his head.
As he stood there wringing his hands and trying his best not to sneeze, the second chair flipped around, sans fireworks, to reveal a large walnut shell. And by large, I mean Malcolm could have slept inside of this walnut. And in fact, sleeping inside the shell at this very moment was a dark blue mouse. Each time he snored, his stark white whiskers tremored. The third chair then turned, revealing, well, what looked like nothing. But upon closer inspection, Malcolm thought he saw a strange haze in the shape of a rabbit. The fourth and final chair spun around, and Malcolm found that the Bat host in the corduroy pants was sitting cross-legged in the chair.
"Shall the ceremony being?" asked the Bat, pulling out a notebook that had been hidden at his side. The crowd had hushed to complete silence. What was Malcolm to do?
