"Catherine joined the Army as soon as she graduated," Francine recounted. "She wants to be a Black Hawk pilot. When she's done, she wants to go to college and get an English degree."
"That's so cool," Sue Ellen responded. "What happened with the jazz quartet?"
"We broke up," Francine answered. "After you left, Fern got a job on the Mary Moo Cow show. Then April came along, and we thought we'd have a sax player again, but everyone got suspicious when they found out she was really you. And after that"--her voice started to break--"after that, something happened that caused me and Arthur to not be friends anymore."
"Tell me about it," Sue Ellen urged.
"Arthur and I became an item," Francine went on. "I was in love with him because I had your personality in my brain, and he finally returned my feelings. But he lost interest in me, and I found out he was seeing another girl."
"He two-timed you."
"Yeah, it was horrible. I cried and cried."
Sue Ellen sighed sympathetically. "And to think I was in love with him once."
"I guess that's why our parents tell us to not get into relationships until we're older," Francine remarked.
"Somehow I don't think it gets any easier," Sue Ellen rejoined.
The two girls stared thoughtfully at the tabletop.
Francine broke the silence. "You can't stay with the Ratburns forever, Sue Ellen. You need to find a new family."
The cat girl nodded. "You're right."
"This morning you said you wished to have my life," Francine continued. "I think you should have my life. After all, you have my memories in your head."
"What are you saying?"
Francine grinned with delight. "I'm saying we should be sisters."
Sue Ellen gaped. Her eyes brightened. Then she shook her head sadly.
"I'd like that more than anything in the world, Francine," she said wistfully. "But it's not possible. Your family has two girls already."
"Catherine's stationed at Fort Lee," Francine pointed out. "You could have her bed."
"How could you afford me?" Sue Ellen insisted. "You couldn't afford Catherine's college education."
"My mom works now," Francine answered. "And Catherine chose to join the Army. She didn't do it so she could afford college."
Sue Ellen lowered her eyes and fell silent.
"Let's ask my mom what she thinks," Francine suggested.
A bit reluctantly, Sue Ellen followed Francine as she left the table. They approached the apron-clad Mrs. Frensky, who was scrubbing a kitchen countertop.
"Mom, what would you think of adopting Sue Ellen?" proposed Francine.
Without looking away from her work, Mrs. Frensky replied, "Don't you think you should find out first whether her parents are alive?"
"They're not," said Sue Ellen matter-of-factly.
Mrs. Frensky laid down her sponge and eyed the girl curiously. "That's not a very optimistic attitude," she remarked.
"Can she at least stay with us until we find out?" Francine pleaded.
"Why can't she stay with her old nanny?" her mother asked impatiently.
"Because I'd rather live with you," Sue Ellen chimed in. "You're the only parents I have left."
Puzzled, Mrs. Frensky looked back and forth between the two girls, then smiled. "Oh, I get it. You're still playing that 'Francine is Sue Ellen and Sue Ellen is Francine' game. Cute."
"It's not a game," Francine retorted. "Sue Ellen and I really did get our brains mixed up."
Mrs. Frensky picked up her sponge again. "It's too early to talk about adoption," she said with finality.
The two disappointed girls wandered back to the dining area. "Maybe she'll change her mind later," said Francine hopefully.
----
The next morning, Buster sat on a bench outside of the Lakewood Elementary building, poring over his fifth grade math book. "X / 7 6," he pondered. "I don't get it. X isn't a number, it's a letter."
It was the beginning of the school day, and Beat was among the children who were flocking toward the school. She passed by Buster and decided to offer him a friendly greeting.
"Hi, Beat," said Buster. "Hey, do you think you could help me with..."
The rabbit boy had a sudden thought. "What am I saying? Dr. Portinari says I have a powerful brain. I shouldn't need Beat's help. I should be able to figure this out on my own."
"Help you with what?" asked the befuddled Beatrice.
"Um, never mind," Buster replied. "I think I've got it."
"Oh, good," said the rabbit-aardvark girl.
Buster returned to staring at the algebra problem, but realized after a few seconds that Beat was still standing in front of his bench.
She spoke a trifle nervously. "I just wanted to say...that I'm happy to have you back with us, Buster. I've greatly missed your jokes and your sunny disposition."
"Gosh, thanks." Buster grinned bashfully.
He then noticed something about the smiling girl before him. She was remarkably cute. He wasn't sure if Beat was deliberately turning on the charm, or if it was something that had always been there, but he hadn't recognized before. Her puppy-like eyes distracted his attention from his mathematical tasks.
"It's working," Beat told herself as she observed Buster's transfixed gaze.
Flipping open her cell phone to check the time, she noted, "Hmm, time for class. I'll see you there, bunny boy."
Throughout the first period history lesson, Buster frequently raised his hand, even for questions he was sure he couldn't answer--but to everyone's surprise, including his own, many of his responses were correct. "Dr. Portinari's right," he marveled silently. "I've had a powerful brain all along, but I haven't been using it. That changes...today."
"You all know the story of Benjamin Franklin flying a kite during a thunderstorm," Mrs. Krantz lectured. "He didn't discover electricity. He already knew about electricity. What he discovered was that lightning is made of electricity."
After the ringing of the bell, Muffy, Binky, Beat, and Buster congregated in the hallway. "Gee, everything I thought I knew about Benjamin Franklin just went out the window," Binky mused. "I thought electricity didn't exist before he came along."
Beat chuckled. "Silly goose. Electricity is part of nature. It's always been around."
"Buster, you've gotten really good at answering questions," said Muffy. "The schools in Chicago must be better than ours."
"No, I'm just trying harder," Buster replied.
The group was approached by Mickie Chanel and the owl boy C.V. Oberlin, both of whom clutched white envelopes in their hands. Mickie held out her envelope to Muffy, smiling and saying, "This is for you. I hope you can make it."
The monkey girl curiously flipped the sealed envelope back and forth, observing that nothing was on the outside except for a small label displaying the address of the Chanel (formerly Crosswire) mansion.
"What is it?" Binky asked her.
Muffy pried the flap open, pulled out a card, and started to read aloud. "You are cordially invited to a party..." Grinning sheepishly, she turned to Mickie and said, "Thanks."
"That's so cool that you live in a mansion," C.V. remarked to Mickie. "Is there a cave underneath with an army of killer robots in it?"
"In your dreams," answered Mickie, rolling her eyes.
"For your information," Muffy pointed out to C.V., "the Crosswire mansion belonged to my family before it belonged to Mickie's."
The bespectacled owl boy seemed not to hear her. "You know what they say about killer robots," he went on. "They're not born. They're made."
Beat giggled. "Oh, that's funny!"
"I don't get it," said Binky.
"Then I'll explain," Beat offered. "They say that people who kill do so not because of their nature, but because of their upbringing. In other words, they're not born, they're made. Which is true of robots. Therefore, it's doubly true about killer robots."
"Oh, I get it now," said Buster, laughing.
Binky shrugged. "I still don't get it."
Beat flashed C.V. a delighted grin. "You're a very clever boy, er..."
The sixth-grade owl puffed out his chest again. "Charles Vincent Oberlin. You can call me C.V."
"C.V.," Beat repeated slowly, batting her eyelashes.
The boy faced Mickie again. "I'm still excited about seeing your mansion," he told her, "even if you don't have a cave with robots."
"It used to bemy mansion," Muffy interjected.
Mickie and C.V. walked off, apparently oblivious to her protests. After gazing thoughtfully at the ornately printed card in her hands, she looked up at Buster, Beat, and Binky. "Did any of you get an invitation?" she asked them. All three shook their heads.
Spying Arthur, Van, and George nearby, she hurried over to the three boys. "Did you guys get invitations to Mickie's party?" she inquired of them.
"Mickie's having a party?" Arthur marveled.
"I wasn't invited," said George.
"Me neither," Van added. "But I wouldn't expect her to invite me to anything, after she removed the access ramp from Muffy's mansion to make room for a flower patch."
Walking away from the boys, Muffy wondered why she alone among her classmates had received Mickie's welcome. "It doesn't make sense. She probably invited everyone in her own class, but..."
Then an answer hit her, and her face twisted into a dark scowl.
"That stuck-up twerp," she fumed. "She wants to make me a guest in my own mansion, so she can rub it in my face that it belongs to her now."
----
to be continued
