"Buster!" cried Francine, still dressed in her pajamas, as she sorted through the soiled clothes in a laundry basket. "Are you in here?"

"I'm glad it's you doing that and not me," said Muffy haughtily. "Once I drop a piece of dirty clothing down the chute, I don't see it again until it's clean." She picked up a steam iron, examined it, scowled, and put it back on the ironing board.

"You won't find Buster by just standing there being a snob," Francine shot back.

"He's not here, Francine," Muffy responded. "He probably woke up in the middle of the night and realized that rhinos eat 75 pounds of food per day."

Francine started to look behind the washer and dryer. "I'm not giving up on my friend so easily, Muffy."

"I hate laundry rooms," Muffy grumbled. "So much lint in the air. How can anyone breathe?"

Francine glared at her. "Nobody's stopping you from going back to your palace, Your Majesty."

"And nobody's stopping you from going back to your hovel!" said Muffy hotly.

"I don't know why I chose you for my best friend," said Francine, staring directly at Muffy. "All you do is moan and complain about how badly off we commoners are."

"Then find a new best friend," said Muffy, her voice rising in pitch. "There are lots of lonely people at the homeless shelter."

"There are lots of people at the homeless shelter who have more fashion sense than you!" cried Francine.

Muffy gasped. "How rude!"

As the argument between the two girls became heated, Brain hurried into the laundry room. "Stop fighting!" he barked. "You'll turn into rhinos!"

Francine and Muffy fell silent and looked at Brain fearfully.

"Buster's not in the house," said Brain more calmly. "He must have left during the night. I only hope..."

At that moment the doorbell rang. "Maybe it's him," said Francine hopefully.

Brain, Francine, and Muffy hurried to the front door, and Brain opened it. They were momentarily stunned when they saw not Buster, but two police officers.

"Uh...good morning, officers," said Brain. The two policemen didn't appear surprised to see three third-graders in their pajamas at 8:30 A.M. on a school day.

"Any rhino children living in this house?" asked one of the officers.

"No," Brain answered. "None that we're aware of."

"I looked everywhere," said Muffy.

"Thank you," said the other officer. "Have a nice day."

Brain closed the door on the departing policemen, as Arthur, Fern, and Molly, also clad in pajamas, walked up to him.

"What do you suppose that was about?" asked Fern.

"I don't know," said Brain.

"Seeing cops at the door always makes me nervous," Molly remarked.

"Well, we can always hope for the best," said Brain. "Maybe Buster got scared and went home to his mom. You're all welcome to use our bathtub if you'd like to..."

Fern's jaw suddenly dropped. "Oh, no!"

She rushed to the door, threw it open, ran outside...and witnessed a sight that horrified her. It wasn't the smashed street lights, the damaged fences, or the overturned garbage cans and mailboxes.

It was four adults grappling with a rhino girl and forcing her into the back of a cargo truck.

Fern looked up and down the street, and the same scene repeated itself. Dozens of grownups, and several police officers, were in the process of loading rhino children into trucks and police cars. The air was filled with the bellowed protests of the rhinos as they were dragged into the street, in many cases by their own parents.

The other kids filed out of Brain's house and gaped in astonishment at the sight...all except for Brain.

"It's horrible!" cried Fern. "How can they do this?"

"It's like the Japanese internment all over again," Molly commented.

As two men carried a little rhino boy down the sidewalk, Fern approached them. "Where are you taking them?" she asked.

"To the zoo," said one of the men, "where they'll be safe."

"And we'll be safe from them," said the other man.

Fern turned back to her friends. "This is wrong!" she protested. "These are our friends! These are our children! It's not their fault they've changed!"

"This is the way it has to be," said Brain coldly. The other kids looked at him with shocked expressions.

"But you're talking about putting kids in cages!" said Arthur indignantly.

"They could suffocate in those trucks," said Francine.

"I'm sure they've considered that possibility," said Brain, once again without emotion.

"How can you support this?" Fern shouted at him.

"The rhinos have lost all sense of responsibility and morality," Brain explained. "They're essentially animals. True, it's not their fault, but they still can't be allowed to run free and cause damage."

"This won't stop the spread of the disease, or whatever it is, will it?" said Muffy.

"No, I'm afraid not," said Brain.

"I don't care what you say, Brain," said the outraged Fern. "I'm going to stop this madness, even if I have to do it alone!"

"Fern, wait!" cried Brain as the girl stormed down the sidewalk.

The other kids watched her go speechlessly. Finally Molly spoke up.

"Uh, I think she should have put on some more stretchable clothes first."

Before they knew what was happening, Fern had attacked a woman who was holding on to the arm of a rhino girl. "Let her go!" she shrieked repeatedly. As the woman struggled to hold Fern off with one hand, the rhino girl broke free and fled.

Then it happened.

Fern began to quiver. Her body started to bloat, straining against her confining sleepwear.

Arthur, Brain, Francine, Muffy, and Molly turned their heads, unable to watch...

(to be continued)