The force of Sue Ellen's punch knocks Fern onto her back, and her hood falls off. "Ow! By dose!" she wails. As she struggles to sit up, blood starts to pour from her nose, staining her robe and zombie makeup.
Before the other hooded kids have a chance to register what has happened to Fern, the girl in the ninja costume charges at them, snarling fearsomely. They cry out in terror, whirl around, and run away as she pursues them down the sidewalk.
Meanwhile, the horrified Prunella rushes to Fern's aid, pulling out a handkerchief to wipe the girl's bloody nose. Rubella, still dressed in her mummy costume, comes out of the house and watches the scene with concern. "Do you need any bandages?" she offers, raising her mummified arms.
Moments later, Sue Ellen returns and watches as Prunella and Rubella try to stem the flow of blood from Fern's nose with one handkerchief after another. She casually takes off her ninja mask. "They won't bother you anymore, Prunella," she proudly declares.
Prunella glares at her in outrage. "Look what you did! You nearly broke her nose!"
"They were gonna kill you!" Sue Ellen responds.
"No, they weren't! It was all a joke! A Halloween prank!"
"A...a joke?" Surprise fills Sue Ellen's countenance.
"There's no such thing as vampires," Prunella tells her. "Everybody knows that. Don't you?"
Shocked and embarrassed, Sue Ellen runs into Prunella's house, her eyes filling with tears.
----
In Buster's back yard, Buster and D.W. continue to sit and wait for the aliens to arrive. "So, D.W.," Buster asks his young friend, "what's the first question you're gonna ask the aliens when they get here?"
"Uh...Who's Dewey?" the girl replies.
Meanwhile, Binky continues to watch the pair with his binoculars as he hides in the bushes. A car pulls up to the curb nearby. Moments later, Binky feels a hand on his shoulder. He looks up. "Happy Halloween, son," a police officer says to him. "I'd like to ask you a few questions at the station."
The bulldog boy groans despondently.
Not far away, Arthur, Brain, Francine, and Muffy are trick-or-treating at Mrs. McGrady's house. Muffy is talking on her cell phone, while the lunch lady is putting brownies in the kids' sacks. "And a brownie for you, too, Arthur," she says sweetly.
"Uh, you checked these for quarters, right?" Arthur questions her.
"She's all right, then?" says Muffy on the cell phone. "Nothing broken? No missing teeth?"
In Prunella's house, the rat girl is on the phone talking to Muffy, while Rubella holds an ice pack to Fern's rapidly swelling nose. "I'm really sorry about this, Muffy," says Prunella. "My friend is new to the country. She didn't realize it was a joke. She thought you were really going to attack me."
"Okay," says Muffy. "I just wanted to make sure Fern's all right."
"By the way, Muffy," Prunella adds, "great prank! If I hadn't been expecting it, I would have been totally blown away."
"Thanks," says Muffy. "Bye now."
Prunella hangs up the phone and wanders into the living room, where Sue Ellen is sitting on the couch, crying bitterly. "What's wrong?" she asks as she takes a seat next to the sorrowing girl.
"I'm so stupid!" Sue Ellen sobs. "I know nothing about living in America! All the kids will think I'm weird!"
Prunella gives Sue Ellen a handkerchief to dry her tears, and then Rubella and Fern
join the pair in the living room. Fern is still holding the ice pack to her nose. "Why did you hit be?" she asks Sue Ellen.
"I...I thought you were gonna kill Prunella," the cat girl answers. "I'm sorry."
"We weren't gudda kill Brudella," Fern tells her.
"What did you say?"
"Uh, Fern, maybe I'd better do the talking," Prunella suggests.
"I think we should start with some introductions," says Rubella.
"By dabe's Ferd," says Fern.
"Fern, this is Sue Ellen," Prunella performs the introductions. "Sue Ellen, this is Fern."
"Sue Ellen just got here," Rubella explains. "She's lived everywhere. Asia, Africa, Latin America..."
"In Africa there are people who believe in vampires," Sue Ellen chimed in.
"They do?" is Prunella's surprised response.
"Uh-huh," Sue Ellen continues. "Last year we went to Malawi for a few days. While we were there, in one of the villages a mob of people attacked and killed a man because they thought he was a vampire."
"Oh, that's awful!" exclaims Rubella.
"And when I saw those kids with their hoods, and remembered what Prunella said about somebody getting hurt..." Sue Ellen starts to cry again.
"Oh, I understand now," says Prunella.
"I dote," says Fern.
"This is her first time in America," Prunella explains. "As far as she knows, people in America are just like people in Africa."
"That's stubid," Fern remarks. "Beoble in Aberica don't believe id vabpires."
"I didn't know!" says Sue Ellen tearfully. "If I'd known I never would have hit you."
"Your nose will be all right, Fern," Prunella assures her. "You can make Sue Ellen feel a lot better by accepting her apology."
"Oh, I subbose so," says Fern reluctantly.
"In fact, I'll bet the two of you could be good friends."
Sue Ellen extends her hand, and Fern hesitantly reaches out to take it.
TBC
