Arthur Cleans Up/Transcript

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Arthur, his Dad and a few others are sitting at a table while a fisherman serves seafood. Arthur yawns.

Arthur: Sometimes my dad gets excited about some pretty weird stuff. Like the father-son fishermen's sunrise breakfast.

Mr. Read: Remember, Arthur, it's all you can eat, so don't stop till you're full!    The seafood appears to be still alive.

Arthur: I’m full.

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Arthur: I mean, the whole world's getting disgusting. The ocean is full of oil, people are throwing garbage all over their own park. It makes me want to do something about it!

Buster: You mean, like go clean it up ourselves or something?

Arthur: Well, maybe not us, exactly...         Mr. Read is taking out the trashcan. He overheard them.

Mr. Read: That is a fantastic idea!

Arthur: It is?

Mr. Read: If adults could see that kids cared about the park, maybe they would care about it too.

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Arthur and Buster are playing basketball. Francine waves from the trees.

Francine: Psst! Arthur!

Arthur: Francine?    They walk over to her.

Francine: I have to talk to you. It's this clean-up thing.

Arthur: I know, I know, you don’t want to do it. I’m sorry. It was my dad's idea. Please don't you yell at me too.

Francine: No, no, I wanted to warn you about…

Mr. Frensky: Hey hey, it's the Clean-Up Boy!       Mr. Frensky walk up to them.

Francine: My dad.

Mr. Frensky: It’s a rare thing these days to find a young man eager to join the ranks of the environmental sanitation profession. Welcome!    He slaps Arthur on the shoulder. Arthur rubs it.

Arthur: Uh...thanks, Mr Frensky.

Mr. Frensky: Listen, I’ve got the afternoon free and I thought I could teach you a few tricks of the trade.

Arthur: But I…

Mr. Frensky: No need to thank me. I’ll be by to pick you up right after your game.

Francine: My Dad can be a bit too…enthusiastic?

Arthur: (sighs) I have exactly the same problem.

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Mr. Frensky: Let’s start with the basics. This here s our rolling flip-top garbage can - a C1 as we call them. And this pointy stick is your number one park cleaning tool.

Arthur: What's it called?

Mr. Frensky: A pointy stick.

Arthur: Oh.

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After eating a piece of wrapping paper thrown by the Tough Customers, Pal nearly chokes. A man helps him with a kind of Heimlich maneuver.

Arthur: Thank goodness.

Man: Ah, I knew there had to be some reason I went to medical school.

Molly: Well, guess we'll get going now.    They start leaving.

Arthur: Stop!  They stop.   You guys almost killed my dog with your trash. Enough’s enough.  The Tough Customers look embarrassed.  Now, who’s gonna help me clean up this park?

Molly: What??

Arthur: It’s impossible to clean this park by myself. Now who’s gonna help.   The Tough Customers look foolish.    No hands? Well, then I’ll give you your assignments. Molly, you start over there!

Molly: But…

Pal: (growls)

Molly: All right, all right. Don’t have kittens.    She goes.

Arthur: Now you two! Let’s see what we can do about those papers!

Mr. Frensky arrives in a car.

Mr. Frensky: Arthur! Are these your volunteers?

Arthur: Well. Yeah, I guess they are.

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Francine: Arthur, Dad. Sorry I'm late, I had to track down everyone. Arthur, I'm sorry I tried to get out of helping you. I guess I... What the?

Binky: Yeah. Somebody could choke if they try to eat this garbage.