Buster, Muffy, and Mr. Frensky watched in speechless horror as Brain plunged
into the Elwood River.
Sue Ellen, meanwhile, was unbuttoning her blouse.
"Omigosh! He'll drown!" shrieked Muffy.
"Not if I have anything to do with it," said Sue Ellen calmly as she pulled off her blouse and kicked off her shoes.
"Can you save him?" asked Buster.
"You can't," said Sue Ellen with brutal honesty. "Muffy, call 911. Buster, hold this." She thrust her blouse into Buster's hands. "I'm going in!"
Stripped to her undershirt and underpants, Sue Ellen executed a flawless 80-foot swan dive into the river...and disappeared.
"She's crazy!" said Mr. Frensky.
"She swam across the Amazon when she was six," said Buster. "If she can't save him, nobody can."
"Yes, that's right," said Muffy into her cell phone. "Two kids just fell off the Sage Street Bridge into the Elwood River. We'll need paramedics and resuscitation equipment..."
Seconds later, Sue Ellen's head bobbed above the surface of the water, and the girl began to swim downstream.
It seemed like a full minute before she caught a glimpse of Brain's head appearing briefly above the surface. She started to paddle wildly in his direction.
In the meantime, Buster, still clutching Sue Ellen's blouse, ran alongside the river with Muffy, Mr. Frensky, and an ever-growing crowd of neighborhood residents who had heard the commotion. Muffy continued to speak into her cell phone, alerting the rescue personnel of their current position.
Sue Ellen's strong paddling brought her close to Brain's side within a matter of seconds. The waves repeatedly washed over his face, which showed no signs of consciousness. She wrapped her right arm firmly around his chest, and started to paddle toward shore with her left arm.
Mr. Frensky watched the two from the shore. "Does anybody have a rope?" he asked the gathered crowd. One of the men sped back to his house.
Brain proved to be heavier than Sue Ellen had expected--or it might have been due to the fact that his clothes were filled with water. As she struggled towards shore, he remained silent as the grave.
By the time the man had returned with a rope, Sue Ellen and Brain hade made it halfway to the shore. The man and Mr. Frensky hurled the rope in their direction, and Sue Ellen caught it with her free hand. Seconds later the men had pulled her and Brain onto the shore.
Mr. Frensky quickly pulled off Brain's shirt, and Sue Ellen pressed down on his chest with her wrists. A stream of water gushed from his mouth.
To the barely conscious Brain, it seemed as if he had been transported into a realm of pure white light. Before him stood an Arwenesque elf princess with orange hair puffs, dressed in flowing white robes. She spoke to him in the most beautiful voice he had ever heard, using words from a long-forgotten elf language.
A subtitle provided the translation: "Great. Now I'll have to kiss you."
The elf princess drew closer, until her lips made contact with Brain's...
Brain started to cough and sputter, and Sue Ellen quickly withdrew her mouth.
After several seconds of violent coughing and sputtering, Brain opened his eyes and started to look around.
Then he spoke. Or, rather, he groaned. "Ooooohhh..."
Mr. Frensky bent down and rubbed Brain's forehead gently. "You'll be all right. The paramedics are here."
The sound of an ambulance siren caught Sue Ellen's attention. As she stood up, she saw that twenty to thirty people were watching her curiously...and some of them were pointing video cameras at her.
She was being filmed. In her underwear.
She glanced around anxiously. "Buster?"
The rabbit boy was standing a few yards away from the crowd, holding Sue Ellen's blouse up to his chest to see how well it would fit him.
"BUSTER!"
Buster barely had time to raise his head before an angry Sue Ellen snatched the blouse from his hands.
She pulled the blouse over her head and returned to the place where the crowd had gathered, to see that two paramedics were lifting Brain onto a stretcher.
Mr. Frensky approached and put a hand on her shoulder. "If you hadn't jumped in, we would have lost him," he said proudly.
At the side of the street, Muffy watched as the ambulance drove away. "Yes, Mrs. Powers," she said into her cell phone. "They're taking him to the hospital right now."
----
In the hospital waiting room, Buster, Sue Ellen, and Muffy waited along with Mr. Frensky and Brain's worried parents. Moments later, a male nurse pushed out a wheelchair in which the frail-looking Brain was seated.
"Alan!" cried his mother, embracing him. "Are you all right?"
"I'll be fine, Mom," Brain said weakly.
"He should fully recover," said the nurse. "But he needs rest. Lots of it. He's had a serious trauma. The doctor recommends two weeks without school or homework."
"Not so loud," said Brain to the nurse. "Everybody will want to fall off the bridge."
Brain's parents laughed. "Looks like his sense of humor is still intact," said his father.
Brain's mother pushed him out of the waiting room, followed by the others... except for Mr. Frensky, who stayed behind to talk to the nurse.
"Excuse me," he said, "but I couldn't help but notice that...you're a man."
"What gave it away?" said the male nurse sarcastically.
"All the nurses I've met before were female," Mr. Frensky continued. "Is this some new thing?"
"Sort of," said the nurse. "There's been a shortage of nurses for a number of years now. More and more hospitals are trying to recruit men. I was unemployed for three months before I got this job."
"Hmm," said Mr. Frensky thoughtfully.
----
At the Elwood City airport, Arthur and his father stood on the moving walkway, clutching their carry-on bags. A sign above their heads pointed the way to the baggage claim area.
"It's nice to be home again," said Mr. Read dreamily.
"Yeah," said Arthur, "but I have to go back next week."
"Maybe we should just move to Hollywood," said Mr. Read. "But housing is so expensive there."
"No problem," said Arthur confidently. "I'll be making plenty of..."
He stopped in mid-sentence when he saw something in a nearby bookstore that looked surprisingly familiar...
"Plenty of what?" asked his father.
But Arthur had turned around and started to run down the moving walkway in the opposite direction of its movement.
When he reached the end, he turned around and hurried to the bookstore, where he grabbed an issue of the Elwood Times from the rack.
"What is it?" asked his father, who had followed him there.
"In the paper!" said Arthur, holding it up so that Mr. Read could see the front-page photo. "It's Sue Ellen and Brain!"
The headline, in large capital letters, stated, LOCAL GIRL SAVES BOY FROM DROWNING.
----
Later on the same Sunday afternoon, Mrs. Powers opened the door to Brain's bedroom so that Arthur and D.W. could enter.
"Hey, guys," said Brain, who lay in his bed covered with several warm blankets. A large glass of orange juice sat on the end table.
"Hi, Brain," said Arthur, smiling.
"Hi, Alan," said D.W. "How are you feeling?"
"Like I was run over by a 10-ton truck," said Brain with a faint smile.
"You look like it, too," joked Arthur.
Brain chuckled weakly. "I don't know what's more traumatic. Almost drowning, or being rescued by a girl."
Arthur laughed. "I don't get it," said D.W.
"At least this gives me an excuse not to be in the school play," said Brain.
"But I was looking forward to seeing you," said Arthur, "after hearing your evil laughing and stuff..."
D.W. had wandered over to Brain's desk, where she was looking through the eyepiece of a microscope.
"I'm afraid I'm in no condition to act," said Brain. "Mr. Haney may have to call off the play. I was his last hope."
"Unless Floyd decides to take up acting again," said Arthur.
"Why don't you try out for the part?" Brain suggested. "You're a famous actor now."
"Yeah," said Arthur thoughtfully, "but don't you think that would be really insulting to Floyd? I mean, first he lost the Bionic Bunny audition to me, and now he loses the lead in the school play..."
Arthur suddenly grinned wickedly.
"Uh-oh," said Brain. "I recognize that grin. That's the 'I just thought of a totally evil idea' grin."
"Brain?" said Arthur.
"Yeah?"
"I just thought of a totally evil idea."
(to be continued)
Sue Ellen, meanwhile, was unbuttoning her blouse.
"Omigosh! He'll drown!" shrieked Muffy.
"Not if I have anything to do with it," said Sue Ellen calmly as she pulled off her blouse and kicked off her shoes.
"Can you save him?" asked Buster.
"You can't," said Sue Ellen with brutal honesty. "Muffy, call 911. Buster, hold this." She thrust her blouse into Buster's hands. "I'm going in!"
Stripped to her undershirt and underpants, Sue Ellen executed a flawless 80-foot swan dive into the river...and disappeared.
"She's crazy!" said Mr. Frensky.
"She swam across the Amazon when she was six," said Buster. "If she can't save him, nobody can."
"Yes, that's right," said Muffy into her cell phone. "Two kids just fell off the Sage Street Bridge into the Elwood River. We'll need paramedics and resuscitation equipment..."
Seconds later, Sue Ellen's head bobbed above the surface of the water, and the girl began to swim downstream.
It seemed like a full minute before she caught a glimpse of Brain's head appearing briefly above the surface. She started to paddle wildly in his direction.
In the meantime, Buster, still clutching Sue Ellen's blouse, ran alongside the river with Muffy, Mr. Frensky, and an ever-growing crowd of neighborhood residents who had heard the commotion. Muffy continued to speak into her cell phone, alerting the rescue personnel of their current position.
Sue Ellen's strong paddling brought her close to Brain's side within a matter of seconds. The waves repeatedly washed over his face, which showed no signs of consciousness. She wrapped her right arm firmly around his chest, and started to paddle toward shore with her left arm.
Mr. Frensky watched the two from the shore. "Does anybody have a rope?" he asked the gathered crowd. One of the men sped back to his house.
Brain proved to be heavier than Sue Ellen had expected--or it might have been due to the fact that his clothes were filled with water. As she struggled towards shore, he remained silent as the grave.
By the time the man had returned with a rope, Sue Ellen and Brain hade made it halfway to the shore. The man and Mr. Frensky hurled the rope in their direction, and Sue Ellen caught it with her free hand. Seconds later the men had pulled her and Brain onto the shore.
Mr. Frensky quickly pulled off Brain's shirt, and Sue Ellen pressed down on his chest with her wrists. A stream of water gushed from his mouth.
To the barely conscious Brain, it seemed as if he had been transported into a realm of pure white light. Before him stood an Arwenesque elf princess with orange hair puffs, dressed in flowing white robes. She spoke to him in the most beautiful voice he had ever heard, using words from a long-forgotten elf language.
A subtitle provided the translation: "Great. Now I'll have to kiss you."
The elf princess drew closer, until her lips made contact with Brain's...
Brain started to cough and sputter, and Sue Ellen quickly withdrew her mouth.
After several seconds of violent coughing and sputtering, Brain opened his eyes and started to look around.
Then he spoke. Or, rather, he groaned. "Ooooohhh..."
Mr. Frensky bent down and rubbed Brain's forehead gently. "You'll be all right. The paramedics are here."
The sound of an ambulance siren caught Sue Ellen's attention. As she stood up, she saw that twenty to thirty people were watching her curiously...and some of them were pointing video cameras at her.
She was being filmed. In her underwear.
She glanced around anxiously. "Buster?"
The rabbit boy was standing a few yards away from the crowd, holding Sue Ellen's blouse up to his chest to see how well it would fit him.
"BUSTER!"
Buster barely had time to raise his head before an angry Sue Ellen snatched the blouse from his hands.
She pulled the blouse over her head and returned to the place where the crowd had gathered, to see that two paramedics were lifting Brain onto a stretcher.
Mr. Frensky approached and put a hand on her shoulder. "If you hadn't jumped in, we would have lost him," he said proudly.
At the side of the street, Muffy watched as the ambulance drove away. "Yes, Mrs. Powers," she said into her cell phone. "They're taking him to the hospital right now."
----
In the hospital waiting room, Buster, Sue Ellen, and Muffy waited along with Mr. Frensky and Brain's worried parents. Moments later, a male nurse pushed out a wheelchair in which the frail-looking Brain was seated.
"Alan!" cried his mother, embracing him. "Are you all right?"
"I'll be fine, Mom," Brain said weakly.
"He should fully recover," said the nurse. "But he needs rest. Lots of it. He's had a serious trauma. The doctor recommends two weeks without school or homework."
"Not so loud," said Brain to the nurse. "Everybody will want to fall off the bridge."
Brain's parents laughed. "Looks like his sense of humor is still intact," said his father.
Brain's mother pushed him out of the waiting room, followed by the others... except for Mr. Frensky, who stayed behind to talk to the nurse.
"Excuse me," he said, "but I couldn't help but notice that...you're a man."
"What gave it away?" said the male nurse sarcastically.
"All the nurses I've met before were female," Mr. Frensky continued. "Is this some new thing?"
"Sort of," said the nurse. "There's been a shortage of nurses for a number of years now. More and more hospitals are trying to recruit men. I was unemployed for three months before I got this job."
"Hmm," said Mr. Frensky thoughtfully.
----
At the Elwood City airport, Arthur and his father stood on the moving walkway, clutching their carry-on bags. A sign above their heads pointed the way to the baggage claim area.
"It's nice to be home again," said Mr. Read dreamily.
"Yeah," said Arthur, "but I have to go back next week."
"Maybe we should just move to Hollywood," said Mr. Read. "But housing is so expensive there."
"No problem," said Arthur confidently. "I'll be making plenty of..."
He stopped in mid-sentence when he saw something in a nearby bookstore that looked surprisingly familiar...
"Plenty of what?" asked his father.
But Arthur had turned around and started to run down the moving walkway in the opposite direction of its movement.
When he reached the end, he turned around and hurried to the bookstore, where he grabbed an issue of the Elwood Times from the rack.
"What is it?" asked his father, who had followed him there.
"In the paper!" said Arthur, holding it up so that Mr. Read could see the front-page photo. "It's Sue Ellen and Brain!"
The headline, in large capital letters, stated, LOCAL GIRL SAVES BOY FROM DROWNING.
----
Later on the same Sunday afternoon, Mrs. Powers opened the door to Brain's bedroom so that Arthur and D.W. could enter.
"Hey, guys," said Brain, who lay in his bed covered with several warm blankets. A large glass of orange juice sat on the end table.
"Hi, Brain," said Arthur, smiling.
"Hi, Alan," said D.W. "How are you feeling?"
"Like I was run over by a 10-ton truck," said Brain with a faint smile.
"You look like it, too," joked Arthur.
Brain chuckled weakly. "I don't know what's more traumatic. Almost drowning, or being rescued by a girl."
Arthur laughed. "I don't get it," said D.W.
"At least this gives me an excuse not to be in the school play," said Brain.
"But I was looking forward to seeing you," said Arthur, "after hearing your evil laughing and stuff..."
D.W. had wandered over to Brain's desk, where she was looking through the eyepiece of a microscope.
"I'm afraid I'm in no condition to act," said Brain. "Mr. Haney may have to call off the play. I was his last hope."
"Unless Floyd decides to take up acting again," said Arthur.
"Why don't you try out for the part?" Brain suggested. "You're a famous actor now."
"Yeah," said Arthur thoughtfully, "but don't you think that would be really insulting to Floyd? I mean, first he lost the Bionic Bunny audition to me, and now he loses the lead in the school play..."
Arthur suddenly grinned wickedly.
"Uh-oh," said Brain. "I recognize that grin. That's the 'I just thought of a totally evil idea' grin."
"Brain?" said Arthur.
"Yeah?"
"I just thought of a totally evil idea."
(to be continued)
