When morning recess came along, D.W. and Nadine chose to enjoy themselves in the playground. "This isn't like kindergarten at all," D.W. reflected. "The kids are all different sizes."
"And they're all bigger than us," added Nadine, who was wearing a turquoise blouse and shorts in place of her usual petticoat.
On their way to the swings, D.W. gestured toward a grim-faced sixth-grade boy who was leaning against a fence with his arms folded. "Like that kid there," she said. "He's huge."
The boy, who happened to be Rattles, noticed the two girls gawking at him, and shot them an evil glare. "What're you lookin' at?" he growled.
"You," Nadine replied innocently.
Rattles, who wore a ragged brown jacket in spite of the warm weather, advanced menacingly. "And what if I don't wanna be looked at?" he asked rhetorically.
"Then we'll look at somebody else," D.W. replied.
The imposing boy's shadow completely engulfed the two first-graders. "What are your names?" he inquired with no lessening of his threatening tone.
"I'm Nadine."
"And I'm D.W."
Rattles narrowed his eyes at D.W. "What does that stand for?"
"I don't like to talk about it," said D.W. nervously.
Rattles raised a massive fist in front of the girl's face. "Don't get smart with me, or D.W. will stand for Dead Weight."
Struck with terror, the girls screamed and fled. Rattles only smirked, and made no attempt to pursue.
Anxious and panting, Nadine and D.W. concealed themselves behind a hedge next to the street. "He's a very mean boy," D.W. remarked.
"I'm afraid of him," Nadine admitted. "I bet he eats little girls for breakfast."
D.W. peeked over the top of the shrub to see that Rattles had gone back to leaning and glowering. "What'll we do, Nadine?" she wondered. "We have to go to this school every day for the next gazillion years. Sooner or later he'll get us."
Nadine thought for a second, then her eyes lit up. "We'll find a big kid to protect us!"
"That's a great idea!" exclaimed D.W. "And I know just the man."
In another part of the school grounds, Binky was strolling and whistling aimlessly when Molly drew near him. The rabbit girl's overhanging hair had by this time grown to almost reach her nose.
"What's up, Molly?" Binky greeted her.
"Notice anything different?" she asked him, grinning playfully.
Binky thoughtfully scrutinized her from ears to toes. "Uh...you got a new hole in your jeans?"
"No, you doofus," she chided him. "I'm wearing shades."
To make her point clear, Molly pushed up her bushy hair to reveal a pair of dark sunglasses covering her eyes.
"Oh, now I see them," said Binky, chuckling.
After Molly had walked past, Binky saw D.W. and Nadine rushing towards him as if in a panic.
"Binky, help!" D.W. cried out. "There's a big mean boy trying to hurt us!"
"We need you to protect us!" Nadine pleaded.
Binky's stomach sank as the two girls wrapped their arms around his treelike legs. "A...a big m-mean boy?" he stuttered. "How big?"
"Really big!" answered D.W.
"How mean?"
"Really mean!" replied Nadine.
Binky glanced around and fidgeted with his collar. "Is he...is he bigger than me?"
"Uh...no, not really," said D.W. "He's about the same size."
Binky groaned fearfully. "Come with me. I know a place we...I mean, you can hide."
They found a large bush on the edge of the school property, and Binky crouched behind it while the girls knelt in front of him.
Time passed. A few kids went by, but no big mean boys. Then Buster appeared, pulled gently along by Beat.
"What do you want to talk to me about?" Buster asked as Binky, D.W., and Nadine spied on the pair through the shrubbery.
"I...just wanted to know how you're coming along with your algebra," said Beat coyly.
"I think I've figured it out," Buster replied. "X is a letter, but it's really a number. It's, like, a mystery number." He looked down at the grass around Beat's shiny new buckle shoes, then up at the tips of her ears. "Have you gotten taller, or have I gotten shorter?"
"You've got the basic idea," Beat commended him. "Almost everyone else in our class has asked me for help. But you...you tapped the potential of your mind and figured things out for yourself. I think that's so...masculine."
Buster could only grin stupidly. Something had definitely changed about this girl--he couldn't put his finger on it, but it made him slightly uneasy.
Then Beat did something utterly spontaneous. She leaned over a bit, and planted her lips firmly on the boy's cheek.
Buster gaped and blushed, astonished not so much by the fact that Beat had just kissed him, as by the fact that she had leaned over to do it. The British girl easily outmeasured him by three inches or more.
Her face now had an odd glow to it. "I'll see you in class, Buster," she said sweetly, and skipped away.
Amazed and embarrassed, Buster rubbed his cheek with the back of his hand, hoping to wipe out the cooties before they spread.
Binky carefully rose to his feet, followed by Nadine and D.W., as the rabbit boy walked off. "If Francine were still publishing the Frensky Star," he remarked, "that would be a front-page story."
"Buster and Beat," D.W. marveled. "Never in my wildest dreams."
----
"What are you thinking about?" asked Dr. Portinari. Buster stood before him in George's bedroom, a device fastened to his ears and temples that resembled two metallic plates connected by twisted cables.
"A girl kissed me today," Buster told him.
"Oh, really." The alien was examining the output of a humming electronic console he held in his scaly hands. "Do you like this girl?"
"Uh, sorta, I guess," Buster replied. "I don't know."
Portinari made noises somewhere between humming and purring as he stared at the console. Buster wasn't sure if the doctor was pleased or disappointed with the results. "Is it working?" he asked.
"Yes," answered Portinari. "It's working remarkably well."
"Is it supposed to, like, make me smarter?"
"No," was the alien's response. "It's complicated to explain, but basically it measures how smart you can become, based on the structure of your brain."
After another second or two, Portinari carefully removed the device from Buster's head and placed it in his briefcase, which lay open on George's desk. "Very impressive," he remarked. "But I want to run two more tests, in case this one is just a fluke."
"And if I pass the other tests," inquired Buster, "do I get to go into outer space?"
"If you pass the other tests," answered the alien, "and endure years of hard training."
The words 'hard training' held little appeal for Buster, but he figured that if his mind were truly as powerful as Portinari believed, then he should have no difficulty.
The doctor closed his briefcase and snatched it up. "We'll meet again tomorrow," he announced. "Same time, same place."
----
Beat awoke on Thursday morning, after eight hours of pleasant dreams involving the handsome lad Buster Baxter. The sun's early rays pierced the drapes in her bedroom, bringing promises of a bright, cloudless day to come.
As she sat up, yawned, and stretched, she sensed that something wasn't quite right with her body. This suspicion had haunted her for the past three weeks, but now the feeling of oddness had reached an alarming peak. "What the bloody hell is happening to me?" she wondered.
Climbing out of the bed and into her slippers, she switched on the light and positioned herself in front of the dresser mirror. Unbuttoning her pink nightgown, she pulled it down about her waist, exposing her upper torso. What she saw startled her.
I've got to tell my mum, she thought. I've kept this from her for too long.
----
to be continued
