When the pine doors of the Crosswire manor opened, Mary Sue was confronted by Bailey, Muffy's manservant. "How may I help you, young lady?" he asked in a meek, British-inflected voice.

The moose girl giggled at the pompous display. "I'd like to see Muffy," she requested.

"I'm sorry," Bailey replied stuffily, "but Miss Muffy cannot be bothered at the moment."

Mary Sue's amused grin started to turn into an impatient glare. "This is my dream," she insisted, "and I'm going to see Muffy. Now take me to her."

"I'm sorry," repeated Bailey, who started to close the door.

Unwilling to be denied, Mary Sue marched past Bailey's legs and into the Crosswire house. The manservant turned, grabbed her by the shoulders, and swiveled her around. "I'm afraid I cannot allow you to enter," he said with a somewhat firmer tone.

The next word to come from his mouth was "Aaaargh!" as Mary Sue kicked him in the knee with all her strength.

Having incapacitated the sentry, she rushed eagerly up the spiral staircase which she knew led to Muffy's room. The door was ajar, so she stepped inside and found Muffy and Prunella seated on upholstered stools together. Prunella was in the act of slowly running her fingers over Muffy's palm and examining it closely with her eyes. "The money line is very strong today," Prunella intoned mystically. "It's a good day to embark on another money-making scheme."

"Omigosh, it's Muffy!" Mary Sue blurted out.

Muffy and Prunella gaped at the unexpected stranger who had appeared in the room. "Wh-who..." Muffy stammered.

"I can't believe I'm really in your bedroom," gushed Mary Sue, glancing around at the lavish furniture and beautiful carpet. "Oh, hi, Prunella," she added as an afterthought. Bounding over to the closet, she grabbed a red dress from the endless array of outfits and held it over her own ragged clothes. "This dress is gorgeous," she said wistfully. "I must try it on."

"You most certainly will not," said the indignant Muffy as she and Prunella leaped to their feet. "Who the heck are you? What makes you think you can march into my room unannounced?"

"This is coming from someone who trapped Nick Carter in an elevator," Mary Sue replied petulantly. As she started to pull the dress from its hanger, Muffy ripped it out of her hands. A moment later Bailey limped into the room, pausing occasionally to clutch his pain-wracked knee.

"Bailey, show this intruder to the door," ordered Muffy as she replaced the red dress on the closet rack.

"Come along now, miss," Bailey coaxed Mary Sue gently. The girl tried to kick his good knee, but he swung down his arm and knocked her leg aside. She made another attempt, but he blocked her again. The next thing she knew, she was being carried aloft in the manservant's strong hands. "I may be a gentleman's gentleman," he told her, "but I can defend myself when the need arises."

However, Mary Sue still had an ace up her sleeve. Turning her neck swiftly, she swatted Bailey in the face with one of her antlers. "Ooowww!" the man cried, dropping her and putting a hand over his wounded cheek.

Pushing herself up, Mary Sue gazed earnestly at the frightened Muffy. "You wouldn't treat me like this if you knew what I know. You're a TV star. You're a character in the most popular kid's show on TV. Millions of girls look up to you and want to be like you, and that includes me."

The now-furious Bailey crouched and prepared to pounce on Mary Sue, but Muffy waved a hand to stop him. "Bailey, out," she commanded. The confused manservant complied, closing the door after he had departed from the room.

Muffy's voice took on a hushed, reverential tone as she approached Mary Sue. "You...you're from the future..." she whispered.

The astounded moose girl didn't respond.

"You're from the future," Muffy said aloud. "You've come back to tell me what's in store for me."

"And what am I, chopped liver?" Prunella groused.

"No, Muffy," said Mary Sue, shaking her head. "I'm from the real world, where you, and Arthur, and all your friends, are characters on a TV show. Now I'm having a dream that I'm a character on the show too. That's why I look like a moose."

"I don't get it," said the flabbergasted Muffy.

"In my world, everybody's a human being," Mary Sue explained. "In the Arthur world, everybody's a talking animal. I'm a moose. You're a monkey." She gestured at Prunella. "And you're a rat."

Prunella gasped in outrage.

"Bailey!" screamed Muffy.

There followed a spectacular fight scene that ended with Bailey carrying Mary Sue by the antlers and hurling her through the pine doors onto the pavement, where she landed in a disheveled heap. "And don't come back!" the manservant yelled at her as he closed the doors.

Still fuming, Mary Sue rolled over, sat up, and straightened her skirt. "They can't do this to me," she grumbled. "This is my dream. I'm the only person in this world who's real."

She heard a growling, gurgling sound as she stood up; it came from her stomach.

"I'm hungry," she thought. "I guess I still have to eat, even though I'm a cartoon character."

She started to walk aimlessly away from the Crosswire mansion, pondering where she might find something edible in Arthurland. "Buster," the thought occurred to her. "He's always eating. Maybe he'll share with me."

Problem. Buster and his mother lived in a condominium, and Mary Sue didn't know the address or the unit number. She would have to get directions, but from who? Going back to Arthur's house seemed like as good an idea as any.

She strolled along, her stomach still rumbling, the sun dipping behind the hills. At least there wasn't a baby in the sun, like on that other stupid kid's show. The air was cooling down, but not too badly. Animated dandelions were blooming in the lawns, suggesting that it was sometime around late March.

Then, several houses ahead of her, she beheld something that made her jaw drop.

George the moose boy stood in front of a chain-link fence, quivering, as the fearsome tough kids Molly and Rattles towered over him and shook their fists menacingly.

Fear seized hold of Mary Sue's heart. It was injustice, and she hated injustice, but she hated getting beaten up even more. And as she had just learned, bigger people could still push her around in this cartoon dream world.

Yet poor George suffered so much on the show--shyness, dyslexia, an inferior singing voice, the taunts of bullies. It wasn't fair. She had to help...

TBC