Charlotte asked him pointedly, "What did you bring me this time?"
Out of breath, Templeton sighed and said, "You're going to love it. It says Tax Cuts!"
"Templeton," Charlotte argued, "we don't want tax cuts!"
"But they won't help poor Wilbur, Templeton; we need to save him because he is special. Now go and find me something besides tax cuts!"
"I'll go look, Charlotte, if you promise to keep an open mind about the tax cuts!"
Finally Templeton returned a third time. He had a piece of scrap paper, and Charlotte looked at it and read aloud, "Radiant! That's perfect, Templeton!"
"I don't know, Charlotte. I wish you would reconsider tax cuts again."
The next day Charlotte's new web read, "Radiant."
But few noticed as the men in the suits were back and this time they took all of Zuckerman's farm equipment with them when they left.
"Charlotte," Wilbur said, "it didn't work. No one noticed, and the farm animals are all disappearing, Zuckerman is going to stop farming, and then what will happen to me? I think we should have stuck to Zuckerman's rules."
"Oh, don't be ridiculous, Wilbur. You are special, I will take care of you. Zuckerman's rules were holding the ambitious animals back. Look at Templeton, he has grown rich and fat and so have a thousand other rats just like him. If Zuckerman fails then it will be his own fault; he wasn't a very good farmer."
"But I liked Zuckerman and Fern, Charlotte!"
"Don't you understand, Wilbur, Zuckerman's not the answer, Zuckerman is the problem, and if it wasn't for Templeton and I they would have eaten you by now! We're your friends, Wilbur. We know that you're special, and we have big plans for you if you'll just have to be patient, your's is coming."
Then one day a big moving van came and took the Zuckerman's and their furniture away and the house grew dark.
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