Strange Happenings in Hobo Town: Part 1

I woke up this morning feeling rather groggy, and I rolled over and tried to get back to sleep. Half an hour later I still wasn't asleep, and I had the feeling that something was wrong. Yawning, I crawled out of my box to check the time. (Each street in Hobo Town has its own individual clock)

It was 7:89, a bit earlier than when I usually wake up but not too earl- Wait a minute,  I thought 7:89?!?! I walked over to the clock and tested the paint with my finger. Sure enough, someone had painted over the numbers. As I walked back to my box, I noticed that Homeless blvd. was completely quiet and empty. I didn't even see Mark and Josephine anywhere. Then I noticed a second something. A man in a red wooden skirt coming out of my box. 

"You are the friend of Pancake Hobo?" He eyed me as he spoke, as if he was sizing up my strength.

"Yes...." I replied cautiously.

"Good."

The man lept forward, and thrust a sack over my head. 

When they pulled the sack off of my head, I was sitting on a raised float in Hobo Square. There was a blue-skirted man speaking loudly into a crowd of people wearing wooden skirts. (These skirts were beginning to wear me thin. Don't these people know that cutting down trees isn't good for the environment?)

Hobo Bob was on my left, and a man I did not recognize was on my left. All around us were the people of Hobo Town.

Mr. Blue Skirt was yelling into the crowd in a foreign language. Just then I saw a movement in one of the nearby Manor Size boxes. Suddenly, men were rushing at the skirts from all directions. 

"For Armaj!" they yelled.