ANIMAL CAFE

Why does grocer Maxwell's stock regularly disappear overnight as his cash register fills up? And why do his dog Sedgwick and cat Casey, kept on to deter burglars and mice, do nothing but sleep all day? The answer becomes clear when readers observe the animals on one of many busy nights. They raise their sign Animal Cafe, cook up the night's special (an awful mixture called Casey's Combustible Casserole), serve their festive assortment of animal guests, and frantically clear away the whole mess (including pig Cutlet, who has eaten himself huge and insensate) in time for Maxwell's morning arrival. ""Silly animals,"" he says, ""All you ever do is sleep""--thus nudging readers to share the animals' secret joke. That, and the wise-cracking mod cartoons, comprise the moderate rewards.