Bad Form

The umpteenth millennial celestial changeover is forthcoming, once again moving from a male to a female God-from Mr. to Mrs. Snelling, case in hand. Great! One might think this good news-an empathetic woman in charge-but nope. Grunt! For though this change has occurred perennially since First Creation, Mrs. Snelling has recently adopted the notion that Lady Wisdom, a.k.a. Soapy, has meddled too much in both Mr. Snelling's and her own previous turns at crowing in the celestial roost. So she decides to exile Lady Wisdom. "Bad Form, extremely Bad Form," her male counterpart warns as he changes signage to indicate that Mrs. Snelling will become the erstwhile proprietor of The House. Mrs. Snelling remains adamant, and she hatches a plot to kidnap Lady Wisdom (Soapy). "Bad Form, extremely Bad Form," Mr. Snelling repeats, only to receive Mrs. Snelling's cold glare Tom C. Powder, Mrs. Snelling's favorite cat, will head the innovative Department of New Education, which will replace both Soapy and her changeling sister Alexandra, a.k.a. Pluck. Soapy's uncle, that infamous whiskey-drinking, rhyme-making, belly-crawling snake, hatches a counter-plot to hide Soapy in . . . Tuscaloosa, Alabama, U. S. A., during football season. There, he's convinced, no one will ever (ever!) dream of searching out Lady Wisdom. He enlists Billy Wise, a computer science geek working at the University in Tuscaloosa, who must travel to "The House" by jumping into a claw foot bathtub on his farm's pond. There, with good luck and good friends, Billy and Soapy work with their allies Alexandra and Uncle Bogus to outwit Mrs. Snelling. But the cost might be too great for any of them.