After 2 days, my new giant manor was finished. I had to fix some of the scale plans because Jack the idiot made the house big for a 60-feet tall giant, not for 100 feet. I was bored since everyone else was preparing for Halloween, so I decided to be lazy on this day. I was rolling my dice with boredom when I heard a scream in my casino. I ran to where my roulette wheel was and found a green haired boy with a skeleton costume falling in the air. I caught him as he was opening his eyes.
"Aw man! Why did Shock have to hit me so hard?" The boy said, looking at my manor. I wanted to say something but I thought I should wait.
"Now I'm seeing things!" The boy complained, "There are bats, neon lights, a giant green sack carrying me, playing car-WHAT!?" I chuckled at his remark.
"Who are you?" I asked. Within each minute, I was getting hungry.
"I'm Barrel and you are?" Barrel took off his mask.
"Just call me Oogie. What in Halloween Town are you doing in my mansion?"
"My friends, Lock & Shock, beat me up and tied me to an old treehouse. The rope broke and I ended up here." Barrel explained to me. I put him down on the floor.
"If you wouldn't have caught me, I would be dead! I owe my life to you, Mr. Oogie." Barrel bowed to me. I always wanted a henchmen.
"Well if you want to be useful, I want you to do two things for me. One, I want you to capture a LOT of bugs for me. Two, tell Dr. Finkelstein that I need that antidote as soon as possible." I ordered my first minion, Barrel. Barrel saluted and headed out the door. A half hour later, he came back with a bag full of bugs.
"What did the old man say?" I asked as I grabbed the bugs and ate them.
"He said that he will not give the anitdote unless you pay him." Barrel licked a lollipop. I scoffed, getting a warm glass full of snake's venom.
"How much will it cost?" I started drinking.
"About $15,000,000 and 25 cents." Barrel looked away. I spat my drink at the name of the price.
"God, I don't have that kind of money! I can go tomorrow night in the human world and play poker, but I'm too big to go into town." I paced around, causing slight tremors to the floor. Barrel grasped a pole so he wouldn't get hurt with my giant footsteps.
"Maybe I can go play poker for you." Barrel said.
"No, they wouldn't let an eight-year-old play a man's game." I sighed, dismissing Barrel to go to the treehouse. My stomach (if I had a stomach) growled again. Someone knocked on the door. It opened to see a man dressed in black. He looked like a guy from a city called Chicago.
"Word on the street er...in Las Vegas...is that you are a tough gambler. I wanna take that bet." The man said smirking. He went up to my face, tipping his black hat off. He had a cane with two black-and-white snakes craved in it.
"Okay, we play for keeps. If I win, you give me your cane, money, and your life. If you win, you'll be the best gambler." I smiled evilly. The man nodded as he took out poker chips and dice. To make a very long poker game short, I won.
"That was an easy $100." I laughed. I then burped the man's black hat. I shrugged and put the hat on my head. This was going to be fun.
