Carla slowly reached into her purse and wrapped her fingers around her pepper spray, which she had carried with her ever since her days living in Crown City.

The strange rat woman rose to her feet, still sporting a friendly smile. "I can only assume you left the door unlocked so that Nigel could come and go as he pleased," she said.

"Who are you?" Carla demanded. With her free hand, she pushed Sue Ellen closer to her side.

"Don't I look familiar?" said the woman. "Look carefully."

Carla narrowed her eyes and gazed into the stranger's face. It was only moments before she recognized something about the woman that she couldn't believe she had missed.

"You're one of Nigel's relatives," said Carla quietly. "A cousin, maybe." She relaxed her grip on the pepper spray.

"She's Nigel's twin!" Sue Ellen blurted out. "I remember now."

"Nigel doesn't have a twin," Carla insisted. "I've met his whole family, and they said nothing about a twin."

The woman stepped closer to Carla, holding out her arms as if to prove that she had no weapons.

"So Nigel didn't tell you about me. I can't say I'm surprised."

"Nigel will be here any minute now," said Carla, although she knew it wasn't necessarily so. "Then we'll find out who you really are."

The woman lowered her arms and looked at Carla seriously. "My name is Angela Ratburn, although I haven't gone by that name for a number of years. I've made many mistakes and foolish choices in my life, and they cost me the love of my family. But I feel the time is right to make a reconciliation. I thought it would be easier if I talked to you first, instead of Nigel. He'll be furious when he hears about the latest development. You see, I'm..."

Sue Ellen suddenly perked up her ears. "I hear him. He's coming!"

Terror spread over the rat woman's face. Without a word, she fled through the back door of the house and closed it quietly behind her.

"Good thinking," said Carla to Sue Ellen. "Are you sure that woman is Nigel's twin?"

"It's been almost a year," Sue Ellen replied, "but I'm pretty sure that's her."

Carla rubbed her chin thoughtfully. "She does look like Nigel. But why wouldn't he tell me about her?"

----

The following Saturday morning, Buster stood in one of the terminals of the Elwood International Airport, a small bag draped over his shoulder. His parents, Bitzi and Harry, sat on chairs nearby, talking about the progress of their move to Chicago. Above them on the wall hung a large painting of a marshland with several green-tailed grebes flying about.

On all sides of Buster stood his friends from school--Arthur, Francine, Alan, Beat, Sue Ellen, Binky, George, and Prunella.

"Are you sure you can get through the metal detector?" Francine asked him. "I mean, you're really a robot, right?"

Buster laughed. "Yeah, but I'm made of a futuristic nonmetallic substance. I shouldn't have any trouble."

"I've spent a lot of time in this airport," Sue Ellen remarked.

"So have I," said Buster. "I hope I'll get to spend a lot more time in it."

"I'm really gonna miss you, Buster," said George unhappily. "You always had the best jokes. And with you gone, I'll have to be the one who protects Elwood City from the aliens."

"I checked your horoscope on the way here," said Prunella. "It said today is a safe day to travel, and if you find a new romantic interest, go for it."

"Like that's gonna happen between here and Chicago," said Arthur, chuckling.

"It's possible," said Alan. "In theory, anyway."

Bitzi and Harry, holding their carry-on bags, walked up to Buster. "It's time to go," said Bitzi. "Say goodbye to your friends."

The misty-eyed Buster waved farewell to the other kids.

Beat turned to Francine. "Are you thinking what I'm thinking?"

Francine nodded. She and Beat leaned over and kissed Buster on his cheeks. The rabbit boy smiled and blushed.

Harry put a hand on his shoulder. He turned and followed his parents into the security area as his friends watched with tender feelings.

"He's gone, dang it," said the crestfallen Binky. "And I never got to clobber him."

----

A limousine pulled to the side of an unpaved street next to a grassy field. On the other end of the field, groves of trees marked the way to a nearby creek.

Muffy looked up and down the street; there were no other cars to be seen. She pulled a fifty-dollar bill from her wallet and handed it to Bailey, her chauffeur. "We were never here," she told him. Bailey smiled and nodded.

Muffy climbed out the limo, walked across the field, and disappeared into the trees. Bailey, who had watched her go, pulled a well-worn copy of Hugo's "Les Miserables" from his satchel and began to read.

Holding a small paper in front of her face, Muffy carefully followed the directions that Fern had given her. They eventually led her into a small clearing, where she was delighted to see Van Cooper, seated, as usual, in his motorized wheelchair.

She smiled at him. "Hi, Van. What was your excuse for getting out?"

Van smiled back. "I pretended to be really depressed because I didn't get to say goodbye to Buster. So my mom let me go out on my own for a while. How did you get out?"

"My good friend Ulysses covered for me." Muffy walked over to the side of Van's wheelchair and gestured toward his lap. "Could I..."

"Go ahead," said Van. "They won't break."

Muffy eased herself into Van's lap, draping her legs over the armrest of the wheelchair, and sighed contentedly. "I really like you, Van," she said dreamily. "I like you more than any other boy I've met. And I don't like boys."

"I like you too, Muffy," said Van.

The two gazed wordlessly into each other's eyes for a few seconds. Then Muffy broke the silence.

"Who's Pandarus?"

Van took a deep breath. "In the legend of Troilus and Cressida, Pandarus was Cressida's uncle, who arranged for the lovers to be alone."

"Just like Fern is doing now," Muffy remarked. "Are we lovers, Van?"

"No," said the duck boy. "We're fourth-graders."

Muffy sighed obliviously.

----

By reaching up as high as she could, Francine grasped the microphone and pulled it down to the level of her mouth. "Testing, testing. Is this thing on?"

Before her, more than a hundred patrons sat at small round tables, enjoying various kinds of drinks. The audience at the Heifer Club included the quartet members' parents and siblings (except for Sue Ellen's), as well as Nigel Ratburn, his fiancee Carla Fuente, his sister Rodentia, Bud Wald and his wife Claudia, the Haneys, and numerous Lakewood students, such as Binky, Beat, George, and Jenna. The spotlights at the other end of the club made Francine feel warm and a bit sweaty.

"Welcome, everybody," she spoke into the microphone once she was confident that it was working. "We're the Sue E. Armstrong Jazz Quartet, the latest supergroup to emerge from the hallowed halls of Lakewood Elementary."

The patrons applauded and cheered.

"On saxophone, the great Sue Ellen 'The Felon' Armstrong herself."

There were more cheers and applause as Sue Ellen stepped to the front of the stage, holding up her saxophone proudly.

"On piano, Arthur 'The Aardvark' Read."

Arthur, sitting on a piano bench, turned and waved at the enthusiastic audience.

"On bass, Alan 'The Brain' Powers."

Alan, sitting with his cello between his legs, pumped his fist at the audience.

When the applause had died down, Francine introduced the last member of the quartet. "And on drums, myself, Francine 'The Frenzy' Frensky, formerly of the rock group U Stink!"

The applause and cheers for Francine were the loudest of all, as many in the audience fondly remembered her third-grade attempt to start a rock band.

"Thank you, thank you very much," Francine announced. "We're happy to be here tonight."

"Knock our socks off, Arthur!" D.W. shouted from the table she shared with her parents and Kate.

Francine hurried to her seat behind the drum set, grabbed her sticks, and began to beat out a jazz rhythm. She was joined by Alan on the cello, then Arthur on the piano, and finally, Sue Ellen on the saxophone.

The audience tapped, hummed, and clapped along to the spirited music. "Man, that cat can really wail," Mr. Read remarked.

An hour or so went by, with the quartet playing one number after another as the patrons enjoyed the music and drinks (which were non-alcoholic, as it was Family Night at the Heifer).

During a blues piece by Gershwin, Francine noticed that Arthur was hitting some sour notes. When the piece ended, she looked over and saw that Arthur had covered his face with his hands. She went to him. "You okay, Arthur?"

Arthur looked up. "I'm just feeling a little weird. I'll be all right."

By the time the quartet had played two more numbers, Arthur appeared to have regained his musical footing.

A few pieces later, as the quartet was playing a composition by Jelly Roll Morton, Sue Ellen saw a familiar-looking woman enter through the door of the club. It was the rat woman who had visited them earlier in the week--the woman who claimed to be Angela Ratburn, Nigel's twin. Sue Ellen choked at the sight, but recovered quickly and continued her improvisation.

As she watched, Angela picked up a chair and seated herself at the table where Nigel, Carla, and Rodentia were enjoying the concert.

When Nigel and Rodentia saw her, they shot up out of their chairs. Nigel pointed an accusing finger at Angela and began to shout at her. Rodentia took every opportunity to interject her own protestations, while Carla witnessed the argument with surprise and shock. The patrons turned and watched them with curiosity.

The bitterness continued unabated for several minutes. The music being as loud as it was, Sue Ellen couldn't make out any of the angry words exchanged between Nigel, Rodentia, and Angela--except for one, which Nigel and Rodentia shouted at the top of their lungs:

"PREGNANT?"

The quartet members found it harder and harder to concentrate on their playing as the fight between the Ratburns gradually turned into a shouting match between Nigel and Carla. And then...

Sue Ellen removed her saxophone from her gaping mouth as the unthinkable unfolded before her eyes.

Carla pulled the diamond ring from her finger and dropped it at Nigel's feet...

(To be continued...)