After soccer practice, Arthur made the trek to his girlfriend's house to pick up the sugar baby. When he arrived, a familiar face was sitting on the front steps.

"Hi Arthur."

"Hi Lisa…Lisa?" Arthur did a double take "what are you doing here?"

"Sue Ellen said I could come and visit whenever I wanted."

"Yeah, but we just saw you last week" Arthur replied.

"What can I say, I was bored" Lisa replied.

Just then, the door opened and Sue Ellen came out.

"Hi snookums" she said, "guess what, Lisa and I are going to make a movie for the Sundance film festival. Isn't that exciting?"

"I made one years ago and it did very well" Lisa explained "I thought Sue Ellen might like to help this time."

"Snookums?" Arthur asked, ignoring Lisa.

"It's a new term of endearment I thought I'd try out" Sue Ellen said "do you like it?"

"Not really."

"Okay then, I'll never use it again."

"So anyway, what's you movie about?" Arthur asked.

"Well, we don't have a story quite yet" Sue Ellen explained "but when we do, it will be great, rest assured."

"Well, glad to hear it" Arthur said "I'm here for the baby."

"Of course, hold on" Sue Ellen said, as she retreated back inside the house. A few minutes later, another familiar face came to the door.

"Lisa, I'm bored" Maggie whined.

"Maggie, you said if I agreed to bring you, that you wouldn't complain" Lisa replied.

"And you said they'd have cool stuff to do" Maggie countered.

A few minutes later, Sue Ellen came out of the house, walking past Maggie in the doorway, and handed Arthur the sugar bag "there you go."

"Thanks, I'll…" Arthur began, until he looked at the bag he was holding. Sue Ellen had added a cardboard face to it, and glued some orange colored cotton to the top to simulate hair.

"Um, looks like you made a few…changes to the bag" he commented.

"Yeah, I thought it would look more like a baby this way" Sue Ellen explained "and Ms. Stuart never said we couldn't." Then she leaned down towards the bag "you be good for daddy, okay Susie?"

"You named it?" Arthur asked.

"Sure, why not?" Sue Ellen replied, before turning back to the bag "mommy is gonna miss her widdle Susie, yes she is, yes she is."

"Okay, well, I gotta get home for dinner, so I'll see you tomorrow" Arthur said, still a little creeped out by his girlfriend's previous display.

"Okay, see you tomorrow sweetie" Sue Ellen said, giving him a kiss on the cheek, before turning her attention to the sugar bag "and mommy will see you tomorrow, widdle Susie" she said.

"Well, bye" Arthur said, running off down the street as fast as he could.


A few minutes later, Arthur arrived at his house, and hoped to dump the bag in his room until the next morning. He was still a little shaken by what happened at Sue Ellen's house.

I understand that we're supposed to act as if the sugar is a baby he thought but I think Sue Ellen is taking things a little too far. Or maybe I'm getting all worked up over nothing. I'm sure things will be back to normal by tomorrow.

"Hey Arthur, what you got there?" D.W. asked, rousing him from his line of thought.

"Just a bag of sugar" Arthur explained "I have to take care of it for a school assignment."

"Your class sure has dumb assignments" D.W. replied "let me see it."

"No, it's mine!" Arthur said, but D.W. grabbed it away from him.

"Why'd you make it look like Sue Ellen?"

"She did that" Arthur explained "we're caring for it together and she had it first. When I picked it up, she had decorated it like that."

"Ooooh, Arthur & Sue Ellen have a baby" D.W. mocked.

"We do not, knock it off!"

"You're going to love your baby, and feed it, and change its' diaper, and…" D.W. continued, before getting a quick glance at her watch. "Well, time for me to watch TV. I'll be back to mock you later Arthur" she added, as she walked off.

Arthur then made it up to his room and shut the door. After lying down on his bed, he held the sugar in front of him.

"Well little guy, it's just you and me for now" he said "welcome to your home until tomorrow. I can't believe I just talked to a bag of sugar."


Later that evening, the Read family was enjoying dinner, when D.W. chose to point out an unwelcome visitor.

"Mom, how come Arthur can bring his bag of sugar to the table but I can't bring my Kim Probable doll?" she asked.

"Because, the sugar bag is an assignment for school, your doll is not" Mrs. Read replied.

"So if my doll was a school assignment, I could have it at the table?"

"Of course, although I doubt that will happen" Mrs. Read explained.

"Drat."

"I'm very proud of how well you're handling this Arthur" Mrs. Read said "I had to the sugar baby thing when I was younger, although I didn't do it till high school. Anyway, it was one of my favorite experiences, and was very influential in helping me raise you three."

"And it was lucky for you to get Sue Ellen as your partner" Mr. Read added "the bond between you will only make your assignment easier."

"I think Ms. Stuart planned it that way" Arthur said "but, I don't know, I wish Sue Ellen had consulted me first before she made all these changes."

"She's just getting into the project" Mrs. Read explained "I was the same way when I did my project, and I freaked out my partner too."

"Thanks mom, that makes me feel better" Arthur said.

"If I had a bag of flour baby, I'd name it D.W. jr." D.W. said proudly.

"It's a bag of sugar, not flour."

"Whatever. All I know is, my baby would be the greatest ever, better than everyone else's babies."

"You do realize it's not real, right?" Arthur asked.

"Why do you always have to ruin my fantasies?" D.W. wondered.


In the next chapter, learn how the others are raising their babies. Plus, Sue Ellen & Lisa get started on their film.