Pal lay behind the couch in the Read living room, his paws over his ears to block out the sound of Arthur and Sue Ellen practicing their jazz riffs. On the couch sat Mrs. Read and Maria Harris, chatting about the day's events.

"They're getting better," Mrs. Harris remarked. "Do you ever worry that your son will become a famous jazz musician?"

"Not really," said Mrs. Read. "Jazz musicians don't get much publicity. If he joins a boy band, then I'll start to worry."

The doorbell rang, and Mrs. Read went to answer it. Francine stood at the door with the large case holding her drum kit, and behind her was Alan, toting his cello case. "Come in, kids."

Francine rolled her drum kit case through the living room to where Arthur and Sue Ellen were playing, and started to set it up. Alan, in the meantime, set down his instrument and sat down on the couch with Mrs. Read and Mrs. Harris.

"Alan, have you met Maria Harris?" asked Mrs. Read.

"I'm Nadine's mother," said Mrs. Harris, extending her hand and wagging her tail slightly.

Alan shook hands with her. "Nice to meet you. Now I know where Nadine got her tail from."

"That was rude," said Mrs. Harris, smiling and swatting Alan with her tail.

Alan took a deep breath and seemed to weigh his words carefully.

"Mrs. Read, I've got a problem. My cousin Jason is in town, and he left school this morning. I've been looking for him all day."

"What does he look like?" Mrs. Read asked.

"He looks a lot like me, except he's part aardvark."

Mrs. Harris' tail suddenly sprang up.

"Jason?" she said to Alan. "Part bear, part aardvark? A kid fitting that description came into my store today."

Alan's eyes went wide. "He did?"

"He sold us a gold coin. Except it wasn't a standard-issue coin. It had his face on it."

Alan rubbed his chin thoughtfully and anxiously.

"I guess the kid must have his own country," Mrs. Harris went on. "The coin had the words REPUBLIC OF JASON on it. What's funnier, the year on the coin was 2032."

Alan's jaw dropped. His eyes nearly burst out of their sockets.

"What's wrong, Alan?" asked Mrs. Read, concerned.

Alan composed himself. "What else did he say, Mrs. Harris?"

"Hmm." Mrs. Harris thought for a second. "Oh, yeah. He said he was home- schooled. He also said he was a time traveler, and he came from a future time when gold is synthesized."

A dreadful suspicion took root in Alan's mind. His face grew darker.

"Another thing," Mrs. Harris continued. "He had a bandage on his head."

"Abuse, you suppose?" Mrs. Read suggested.

Mrs. Harris shook her head. "No, I'd recognize abuse."

Mrs. Read looked at Alan, whose expression had morphed into a fearsome scowl. "Well, Alan? Are we talking about the same Jason?"

Alan leaped to his feet. "Mrs. Read, can I use your phone?" he asked in a friendly manner.

"Sure, go ahead."

Hurrying to the phone, Alan dialed his own number. His mother answered.

"Mom, has my cousin Jason come back yet?"

"Jason?" said Mrs. Powers. "That boy who spent the night? He's not your cousin."

"He is now," Alan told her. "Has he come back yet?"

"I haven't seen him since this morning."

"Thanks, Mom." Alan hung up the phone. When he turned around, he was surprised to find Francine standing in front of him.

"Are you playing with us or not?" she asked.

Alan reached down, picked up his cello case, and followed Francine toward the place where the kids were rehearsing.

"By the way," said Francine as she walked, "what happened to that cousin of yours with the bandage on his forehead?"

Alan glanced over at Mrs. Harris, hoping that she hadn't heard Francine's question, but apparently she had.

The Sue E. Armstrong Quartet, consisting of Sue Ellen on saxophone, Arthur on piano, Francine on drums, and Alan on bass, practiced a few lively jazz numbers in preparation for Saturday night's concert at the Heifer.

While they were playing a piece by Thelonius Monk, D.W. came running into the house. "Arthur, I need your help," she announced loudly.

Arthur and the other kids stopped playing. "What's wrong?" Arthur asked his sister.

"Nadine's in the treehouse, and she won't come down," D.W. explained.

Sighing with frustration, Arthur rose from the piano bench and followed D.W. to the back yard. There he saw Nadine sitting in the doorway of the treehouse, seemingly petrified with fear.

"Get her down, big brother," D.W. urged him.

Thinking the task would be easy, Arthur scurried up the wooden rungs. Nadine pushed herself back with her arms as she saw the boy coming closer.

Arthur climbed through the doorway and saw that Nadine was frightened almost to the point of tears. "Come on, Nadine," he said comfortingly.

"No! No!" Nadine cried in fear.

Arthur tried in vain to soothe the troubled girl. "Don't be afraid. I'm here. You won't get hurt as long as I'm here."

"No!" Nadine exclaimed again.

His patience wearing thin, Arthur lunged forward and grabbed Nadine around the waist, pulling her to his chest as she wailed and protested. With his right arm tightly wrapped around her, he started to carefully descend the ladder. Nadine waved her arms and kicked, screaming with terror.

When Arthur was a fourth of the way down the ladder, Nadine pushed against the tree just as he let go of the rung with his left hand. Falling backwards, he tried to grab the rung again, but to no avail. With Nadine sinking her fingernails into his neck, he plummeted to the ground and landed on his back with a dull thud.

Dazed and breathless, Arthur felt as if his very short life was flashing before his eyes. Nadine jumped off of his chest and ran toward the house, crying.

Arthur saw what appeared to be an angel hovering above him, bearing a harp in one hand. As his vision became more focused he realized that it was Sue Ellen holding her saxophone.

"You all right, Arthur?" she asked, extending her free hand.

Groaning, Arthur slowly raised his arm and took Sue Ellen's hand. She raised him to his feet with a hefty pull. Initially unsure of his footing, Arthur soon started to walk toward the back door, where Francine and Alan were waiting for him.

"Stupid Nadine," he grumbled. "Almost killed me."

"You feeling okay?" Alan asked him. "That was quite a fall."

"I'm fine," said Arthur sharply.

"Fortunately he landed on the softest part of his body," Francine noted. "His head."

Alan and Sue Ellen chuckled. "Ho, ho, ho," muttered Arthur.

As he entered the living room he saw the tearful Nadine in the arms of her mother, with Mrs. Read sitting next to her and D.W. looking on.

"She almost killed me," Arthur groused. "She's nothing but a big baby."

"You could have asked me to get her down," said Mrs. Harris.

"I suppose so," Arthur reflected. "But D.W. asked me to help, and my mom tells me I should help my little sister when she asks me to."

"I'm sorry, Arthur," said D.W. meekly. "I keep forgetting that Nadine has a mom now."

"I'm...sorry," Nadine choked out between sobs. "I'm really sorry, Arthur. I was...I was so afraid...it was so high..."

"She's afraid of heights," said Mrs. Read.

"No, she's not," said D.W. vehemently. "She flew the time tricycle all over the neighborhood."

"Maybe that's what made her afraid of heights," Arthur suggested.

"She keeps talking about a time tricycle," said Mrs. Harris. "And she has nightmares about some place called...some place with a weird name."

"You must be talking about Spiritus Mundi," said Arthur. "It's a dimension where everything we imagine really exists. At least that's what Prunella says."

"It was a scary place," said Nadine, now recovered from her fright. "Pickles was there, and all kinds of monsters who followed her."

"Pickles was gonna take over the world," D.W. added, "but we stopped her."

"I'm sure it was all a bad dream," said Mrs. Harris as she caressed Nadine's head.

"It wasn't a dream," Nadine protested. "It was real. I think."

"You've been watching too many evil Pomeranian movies," said Arthur cuttingly. "Now, if you don't mind, I need to practice some more."

Arthur and his musical friends rehearsed for another half hour, and then Carla came to get Sue Ellen. Alan and Francine packed their instruments and headed for their respective homes.

Alan walked into his house and set down his cello. He saw Jason and his parents sitting in the living room, talking. "There you are!" he exclaimed, glaring at Jason.

Jason turned to face him. "I hope I didn't worry you. I had to take care of some things. I won't need to spend the night here."

"You're welcome to stay here for as long as your parents are traveling," Mrs. Powers told Jason.

"That could be another month, or more," Jason replied.

Alan gestured toward his bedroom. "Jason, let's talk."

Jason rose to follow him into the bedroom. Before closing the door, Alan stuck his head out and said to his parents, "If anybody asks, Jason is my cousin."

Alan shut the bedroom door tightly to ensure privacy. Then he shot an angry look at Jason.

"I know why you came back now. You want to live like a king with your synthesized gold from the future."

Jason looked at Alan incredulously for a second, then started to laugh.

"Live like a king? Don't be silly!" He pointed at his backpack, which lay on top of the dresser. "How much gold do you think I can fit in my pack? How much gold do you think I can carry?"

"Not much," said Alan. "But maybe you brought a device with you that can turn other substances into gold."

"A device like that would be bigger than I am," said Jason.

Alan advanced toward the dresser. "I'd like to have a look inside your pack."

"No!" Jason hurried over and put his hand between Alan and his backpack.

Alan stepped back, eyeing Jason suspiciously.

"There are things in my pack you shouldn't see," Jason told him. "Things having to do with the future."

"Like more gold, I suppose."

Jason sighed with exasperation. "Alan, I got that coin at an amusement park. They sell you twenty coins with your name and face on them for five dollars. I have more of them, but only enough to live on while I'm here."

"And how long to you plan to be here?" Alan asked him.

"Through Thanksgiving, at least. I had hoped to land here a few weeks later than I did, but the time tricycle isn't as reliable as it used to be." Jason gave the tricycle, which sat next to the dresser, a slight kick.

Alan's expression grew calmer. "Where are you staying tonight?"

"At the Elwood City Mairzydoat."

"That's a nice hotel," said Alan accusingly.

"Beats staying in a dive." Jason went toward the door to open it.

Alan raised his hand. "Hold it. Just one more question."

Jason stopped and turned.

"I saw a vial of fluid in your pack when you opened it the first time," said Alan. "What is it for?"

"Medicine," Jason replied.

"For what?"

Jason didn't answer, but opened the door to leave Alan's bedroom.

----

"I've been thinking," Sue Ellen said to Carla. "Maybe I'll be a jazz saxophonist instead of an archaeologist. I really like playing jazz." She patted her saxophone case.

"I'm sure your parents will be proud of you, whatever you choose," Carla told her.

She opened the door to the Armstrong house, and Sue Ellen followed her inside.

Then they both gasped.

A strange rat woman, clad in a floral dress, was sitting on the living room couch. She looked at them and smiled.

"Your door was unlocked, so I let myself in."

Sue Ellen had a feeling that she had seen this woman somewhere before...

(To be continued...)