Wallaby Wednesday: Did Mr. Smitty set up the Mt. Frosty misadventure?

Why send Rocko away on business unless you might make his journey profitable?

Granted, several pieces must fall into place, largely out of your control, for such a scheme to work. That is unless you have deep connections with the establishment keying the potential payoff, all but assuring success.

But even if the plan falls short, at least you have some solitude in the store for a time. Fulfilling the ulterior motive is savory green gravy.

This is the only explanation for the storyline of “Snowballs.” Mr. Smitty, the manager of Kind of a Lot O ’Comics, must know about Mt. Frosty, given its proximity to his supplier’s headquarters.

Perhaps through direct acquaintances, he knows of the resort’s underhanded ways of luring customers. If he lacks first-degree connections to Mt. Frosty, he has likely caught wind of its ways through his own travels to the comic-book dealer.

He is exactly the business-oriented personality type who would admire such trickery, if not emulate it as best he can. More crucially, he is in a position to take advantage of it for his own enterprise’s benefit.

To that point, he knows when Mt. Frosty will dare amateur skiiers to jump for a substantial cash prize.

From his perspective, it is a logical incentive to give his top (if not only) employee a questionable assignment. The task of acquiring a bulk order of comics is sensible enough on the surface. Although sending a representative to pick it up is an uncommon first resort. The other option is shelling out for shipping and handling to have the dealer deliver.

But this way, Rocko is out of sight, though presumably not long enough that his absence strains Smitty’s store operation. That alone gives the irascible purple toad a rare happy medium. It is worth giving him a travel budget on that front alone.

Where the dice fall on the payoff, however, hinges on Rocko deviating the task at hand. After all, that is the only way he can enter, let alone win the Mt. Frosty jump promotion.

But of course, he alone is too honest, shrewd and focused to make that ill-advised decision himself. If Smitty is going to force a detour, he will need to ensure the right travel partner to coax Rocko.

The first piece of the plan comes into play when Mt. Frosty personnel unleash a manmade avalanche. Incidentally, the bear-like lookout watches Rocko’s car pass by immediately before giving his colleague the initial cue.

Along for the ride, Heffer persuades Rocko to pass the road crew’s cleanup time at the neighboring ski resort. Unfortunately, the place’s deceptive “Everything for $5” policy traps the business traveler into squandering Smitty’s budget.

Rocko’s empty pocket renders him unable to pay an attendant when he wants to get off the dangerous Devil’s Crevice. Accordingly, he must go through with it, and his unsteady downhill slide leads him into the perilous contest.

The good news: He fulfills the challenge to “jump and win instantly” without even trying. The bad news: He ends up bandaged from head to toe, out of commission indefinitely.

As a smidgen of consolation, Heffer assures Rocko that he delivered the comics. While it is obvious already, he adds that winning the unquantified prize saved the day.

But from Smitty’s standpoint, is all well that ends well? Can he absolve Rocko for blowing the travel budget and disobeying his “no goofing off!” directive?

Per his sadistic nature, he will not necessarily express forgiveness, but he should feel it inside. After all, the entire “Snowballs” sequence reeks of a Smitty-type scheme.

While no one mentions the figure of the Mt. Frosty cash prize, it is likely five or six digits. It undoubtedly dwarfs the allowance Smitty had literally handed Rocko in cash.

In addition, as penurious as Smitty is, he clearly offers his employee(s) a decent salary and benefits. Although he has his share of financial-strain episodes, Rocko consistently maintains his own two-story house. And between his insurance coverage and out-of-pocket hospital costs, he still has something left from his prize.

Except it is technically not his prize. He wins it on the store’s time and dime. If necessary, his boss would surely lawyer up to argue that he jumped in the company’s name.

Given Rocko’s state of affairs after that inadvertent stunt, however, he is in no position to argue otherwise. Even if he were, he would not be the type to challenge his intimidating superior on those grounds. That is doubly the case when he knows he did not assert himself against Heffer’s request for their irresponsible diversion.

Of course, without that cave to peer pressure, the waste of time and money and eventual redemption would not happen. If Smitty is behind the misadventure at Mt. Frosty, he must have subtly pulled Heffer into the equation.

Heffer has spent enough time in the store for the boss to have a read on his inclinations. If nothing else, Smitty likely made sure to reiterate Rocko’s assignment within the steer’s earshot.

For good measure, he may have secretly informed Heffer of Mt. Frosty’s location on Rocko’s route. Or he might have made a more general reference to the mountains when reminding Rocko of his task.

The most he could have done to boost his odds is single out the Devil’s Crevice. After all, despite the obvious crowd during Heffer and Rocko’s visit, no one else is trying that stratospheric slope. Everyone else, including those back in O-Town, knows better. That would explain why it is free of charge, as opposed to all of the other $5 services.

Regardless, the idea is planted in the steer’s fruitcake-shaped head when he hops onto Rocko’s car at the episode’s outset. By that point in the saga (Season 2, Episode 12A), Rocko’s foolhardy friend has cemented his track record. Risky recreation is all but sure to ensue and build up like, well, a snowball.

In this case, Rocko pays the steepest price while Smitty has the technicalities on his side to collect the profits. If that gas-and-food per diem he chooses over shipping-and-handling fees was on the setback sheet, it is off now.