When little Timmy saw the headless mouse-man (Apollo Global and Chuck E. Cheese)

Little Timmy was very excited. It was the Saturday before his fourth birthday, and little Timmy's parents were taking him to his favorite place in the world, Chuck E. Cheese. Timmy and his friends were going to eat pizza, drink cola, play games, and see the great Mister Chuck E. Cheese himself. Timmy was so excited that he was jumping around in the back seat of the minivan, but his parents ignored this.

What they couldn't ignore, however, was the scene in the parking lot when they arrived at the restaurant.

Timmy saw it also, and what he saw confused him greatly. There were a bunch of men and women standing next to two limousines in the parking lot. They were well dressed and wore suits, ties, and professional dresses like Timmy's mom and dad had to wear when they went to their boring jobs.

Except that one of those next to the limousines was neither a man nor a woman. This one was as tall as a person, and had the head of a person, but had the body of a large mouse. And shockingly, this mouse-man was holding a mouse's head in his hands.

Timmy stared at the mouse-man, and then realized something even more shocking. The mouse head was the head of his favorite mouse in the entire world, Chuck E. Cheese!

"What happened to Chuck E. Cheese?" asked Timmy, who started to cry.

"I'm sure that Chuck E. Cheese is OK," said Timmy's dad, unconvincingly. "Why don't we go inside and get some pizza, and I'm sure that Chuck will be in there himself in a few minutes?"

Reluctantly, Timmy agreed, and walked into the restaurant with his parents. His parents tried to prevent him from looking at the crowd by the limousine, but as he entered the restaurant, he caught a brief glimpse of the mouse-man apparently shedding his skin and his tail.

The crowd by the limousine ignored the family. They had more important matters on their minds.

The mouse-man, who now looked like a regular man, was saying, "Now that the deal is concluded, and Apollo Global has purchased Chuck E. Cheese, I hereby offer you the official mouse suit. Apollo, go ahead and put it on, and greet your admirers!"

(Note: the conclusion to this story is subject to change if a competing firm comes up with a better offer.)