Tales of Tiptoe and More - Volume III

Episode 48

Bernie and Betty Beetle loved to tiptoe across puddles and ponds in their spare time. They met at their favorite puddle at lunchtime, and were surprised to see a notice posted by the water. It read "No insects are allowed near this puddle, unless moving to the accompaniment of classical music.This means an insect that's used to safely tiptoeing across puddles listening to rock or jazz will have to change their ways, or find some lowbrow puddle to tiptoe across."

Both Bernie and Bettie Beetle were big Beatles fans (of course), and were dismayed by this development. But this was their favorite puddle, so they were willing to try tiptoeing across, with classical music.

Little did they realize that the whole situation had been set up by
Irma (who shared the same comic strip with Rollo the Rich Kid, as well as Nancy and Sluggo), who was trying to give tiptoeing a bad reputation. She'd secretly set up a video camera on the pond, knowing full well that any insects' first attempts at crossing the pond with classical music would appear clumsy and foolish.

The next day, Bernie and Betty got a phone call from Cheryl
Caterpillar telling them that they were on a new YouTube video that was going viral, but it didn't make them look very good. She gave them the link. They looked it up and were embarrassed to see themselves in their first attempt to tiptoe across their favorite pond to classical music, while a voiceover from Irma said sneeringly:

"And now for a humorous scene of struggling arthropods set to
Beethoven's Moonlight Sonata. Here's a perfect example of how stupid tiptoeing really is, compared to ballet and modern dance."

When Nancy and Sluggo became aware of the video, they were quite upset. Even Rollo the Rich Kid, who had formerly been anti-tiptoe, but had recently discovered Viking-tiptoeing, felt that Irma had gone too far, by misrepresenting tiptoeing unfairly.

Bernie and Betty Beetle had gone into hiding after the video had
spread, but were pleased when Nancy and Sluggo made their own video, refuting Irma's claims, with a performance showing how beautiful tiptoeing could be to classical music. But the performance was a medley that also included other styles of music, ending with several Beatles songs.

Bernie and Betty became inspired, and developed similar
performances. They soon often appeared as Special Guests with Nancy and Sluggo.