Mr. Pryce-Jones' surprised look changed into a welcoming smile. "Angie Ratburn. After all these years."

Angela remained pale and speechless. "You know her?" Muffy asked her teacher.

"Know her?" Mr. Pryce-Jones chuckled wistfully. "She was my star pupil, Muffy. I couldn't teach her a thing she didn't already know."

"Of course!" Muffy slapped her forehead. "She's the Rat's twin. They must have been in your class together."

Mr. Pryce-Jones walked closer to Angela, who was biting her lip and trying to stay calm. "Nigel never talks to me about you," he said curiously. "What have you been doing with your life?"

"Um...uh..." Angela stammered.

"Law school? Medical school? Education?"

"Yes, education." Angela smiled weakly. "I've been teaching, just like Nigel and Rodentia."

Pryce-Jones glanced down at the woman's midsection. "Are you...pregnant?"

Mrs. Stiles quickly stepped between Angela and Pryce-Jones. "I'm in the middle of tutoring Muffy right now," she said hastily. "So if you have business with me or Angela, could you possibly..."

"I have only one question," Pryce-Jones replied, "and you may answer at your leisure. I'm curious to know what learning methods you're using with Muffy."

Mrs. Stiles and Muffy gave him blank stares.

"Muffy has progressed more rapidly than any student I have ever taught," Pryce-Jones continued, "particularly in the field of science. Just yesterday she achieved a perfect score on a science test, after having failed the previous two tests."

"But that was..." Muffy began to say.

Pryce-Jones held a hand in front of Muffy's face. "I know that this marked improvement didn't come about through any effort of mine," he said to Mrs. Stiles. "Muffy claims she had telepathic assistance from a friend, but we all know that such a thing is impossible. So I can only conclude that your methods of teaching science are superior to my own."

Mrs. Stiles blushed and stammered. "But...there isn't..."

"There's no need to be modest," said Mr. Pryce-Jones. "I'll come back tomorrow evening, and I'd like you to have some materials ready so I can study your teaching methods, if it's not too much to ask for. I'd especially like to know where you got the idea of helping Muffy with her pre-test anxiety by sending her to class dressed only in her..."

"Uh, Mr. Pryce-Jones, sir," Muffy suddenly interrupted, "Mrs. Stiles would be more than happy to tell you all about her new science education program."

Mrs. Stiles gaped at her. Pryce-Jones thoughtfully put a finger to his chin.

"Does this program have a name?" he asked, looking back and forth between Muffy and Mrs. Stiles.

"Yes," Muffy replied. "It's called...er...ah...Blinded by Science."

Mrs. Stiles looked as if she might panic at any moment.

"Intriguing name," Mr. Pryce-Jones remarked. "I look forward to hearing all about it tomorrow. Now, I must go. Thank you for your time, madam."

Mrs. Stiles hurried to the door and opened it so that Mr. Pryce-Jones could leave. She then turned and glared at Muffy.

"Blinded by Science?" she exclaimed indignantly. "I've never heard of such a program."

"That's because we haven't created it yet," said Muffy confidently. "And we've got twenty-four hours, so we'd better get cracking."

Mrs. Stiles closed the door and put her hands on her hips. "You don't create a science curriculum in just twenty-four hours, Muffy."

"We don't have to do it all at once," Muffy told her. "We'll just make up something to convince Mr. Pryce-Jones, and after that we can finish the job."

"What do you mean, 'we'?" asked Angela. "I want no part of this. If Nigel and Rodentia find out I'm involved in your program, they'll oppose it."

"Don't you get it?" Muffy gestured broadly before the two women. "This could be your big break. All the other fancy educational programs are just the same old material in colorful boxes, but they still work. And with a respected teacher like Mr. Pryce-Jones endorsing us, how can we fail?"

Mrs. Stiles folded her arms. "You can't be serious. Cedric Pryce-Jones is too smart to fall for such a trick. He'll make a public mockery of me."

"You'll never get another teaching job in Elwood City," said Muffy.

Mrs. Stiles opened her mouth as if to make another point, then closed it and became thoughtful. Even Angela appeared as if she was considering the idea.

"What exactly do you have in mind?" Mrs. Stiles asked Muffy.

"For starters," Muffy proposed, "let's go over all the science lessons you taught me, and write them down in the form of a conversation."

----

The next day, Binky and Rattles were once again sitting in the empty classroom, listening to the output from the hidden microphone in the girls' bathroom.

"Whatever happened to her must have been really bad for her to give up ballet," Binky said to Rattles. "She was totally obsessed with it before."

As the boys chatted, the face of Principal Haney became visible through the inset window of the classroom door. As he peered at Binky and Rattles, they started to bounce rhythmically in their chairs as if moving to the beat of a rock song that played through their headphones. Mr. Haney rolled his eyes and walked away from the door.

Rattles stopped bouncing. "Dude, I hope he doesn't suspect anything."

A few seconds later, the two boys saw Francine and Jenna making their way into the girls' room. "There they go again," said Binky. "Maybe they'll talk about George."

Rattles pushed the red button on his tape recorder as the words of the two girls became audible through his and Binky's headphones.

"I was wrong about George," Francine told Jenna. "I don't have a crush on him after all. Now I see that Van is the boy my heart belongs to."

Jenna, her eyes wide with surprise, could utter nothing more than a few vowel sounds.

"I just can't take my eyes off him," Francine went on. "He's so cute...and friendly...and nice...and cute..."

"Francine and Van?" Binky could barely hide his astonishment. "What happened to Francine and George? Why can't that girl make up her mind?"

"Dude, did you just, like, say 'girl' and 'make up her mind' in the same sentence?" asked Rattles.

"Great," said the visibly irritated Jenna. "Just great. What am I supposed to do now...tell all the girls that you have a crush on Van instead of George?" Realizing what she had just admitted to, Jenna gasped and covered her mouth with her hands.

Francine, however, seemed undisturbed by her slip of the tongue. "If it's not too much trouble, Jenna. Just don't tell Van, okay?"

"You have my word as a sister," Jenna reassured her.

"Dude, why would she have a crush on a dork in a wheelchair?" Rattles wondered.

Binky turned and glowered at him. "It's not his fault he's in a wheelchair."

"Okay, fine, whatever." Rattles looked away from Binky.

For several more seconds the boys listened to the conversation between Francine and Jenna, which had turned to the less interesting subject of badminton.

Rattles looked at Binky again. "So whose fault is it that he's a dork?"

----

Later that day, in the Frensky apartment, Francine sat at her desk finishing her history report. Catherine sat on her bed at the opposite side of the room, painting her fingernails in preparation for a date.

Francine glanced over at her sister. "Catherine, why do you always paint your nails before a date?"

"It's just something girls do, Frankie," Catherine replied without looking at her.

Francine picked up her pencil again, but could think of nothing to write. She laid down the pencil and turned her head once more. "Is it to look good for boys?" she asked Catherine.

"I guess so," her sister answered.

Francine thought for a moment. "So why don't boys paint their nails to look good for girls?" she inquired.

"I don't know," Catherine answered. "I guess for the same reason that they don't wear dresses."

As Francine turned and reached for her pencil, the phone rang. "Can you answer that, Frankie?" Catherine requested. "I'm busy."

Hurrying to the phone, Francine picked up the receiver and heard the friendly voice of Van Cooper.

"Hi, Francine," he said. "Maybe you've heard this, but there's a rumor going around the school that you have a crush on me."

"Oh, really," Francine responded, a bit surprised at Van's directness. "I wonder how that got started."

"It's probably just a rumor," Van continued, "but in case it isn't, I wanted to let you know that I'm already in a committed relationship with Muffy."

"Committed...?" Francine sputtered.

As she struggled to make sense of Van's words, the doorbell rang. Catherine raced from the bedroom to answer it, muttering, "It's him...it's him..."

Meanwhile, Nemo raised his head from the water bowl and started to chase after Catherine. "Must go to master," he droned silently. "Must leave apartment. Must avoid British girl."

"What do you mean, committed?" Francine said into the phone. "You two don't kiss, or make out, or anything."

"Well, duh," came Van's voice. "We're fourth graders."

Catherine opened the door and saw not her date, but George, smiling timidly and holding a bouquet of red roses in a plastic wrapper. Nemo streaked through the doorway quickly enough to evade Catherine's notice.

Francine heard her sister calling. "Hey, Frankie, George is here. He has roses."

"Tell him to go away," Francine snapped impatiently.

"Muffy and I just hang out together," she heard Van saying. "It's not as exciting as it was when we were forbidden to see each other, but still..."

"I gotta go now, Van," said Francine rapidly. "I don't have a crush on you. Bye."

As she hung up the receiver, Catherine walked up alongside her. "I got rid of George for you," she announced. "But wasn't that a little rude?"

A realization formed in Francine's mind. "Wait a minute. Did you...did you say he had roses?"

"Yeah, roses," said Catherine. "Red ones."

"D'oh!" exclaimed the consternated Francine.

"What's going on with you?" Catherine asked curiously. "Why are boys leaving you flowers and calling you up all the time?"

"Uh...uh..." Francine stammered.

Catherine smiled knowingly. "I'm sorry I asked that. I know it's none of my business." She winked at Francine, and walked back into her room.

Depressed and confused, Francine sat on the couch and used the remote to turn on the TV. Rat Woman appeared on the screen, subduing a band of thugs with her fluid karate moves.

The action sequence went on for about five minutes, and then the doorbell rang. "I'll get it," said Francine.

Hoping that George hadn't given up, she rushed to the door and opened it. To her eager eyes appeared a bouquet of red roses in a plastic wrapper...

...with Beat Simon's hand wrapped around it.

"I found these lying on the ground in front of your flat," said Beat, who was once again clad in her pink parka. "There was a tag with your name on it, so I..."

"Oh, they're beautiful," said Francine dreamily. She felt an urge to reach forward, take the roses, smell them...and then she caught herself.

"Keep them," she blurted out. Beat watched with alarm as the door slammed in her face.

----

Not far away, near a creek that flowed into the Elwood River, several large dogs walked in circles around an old, abandoned barn, as if guarding it from invaders. As they growled and sniffed the air, Nemo approached them through the unmowed weeds.

"Halt! Who goes there?" shouted a female Doberman Pinscher who wore a collar.

The cat walked toward her without fear. "I am Magnemo," he announced. "I have come to serve the master."

"Proceed," said the Doberman, who then resumed her patrol.

The barn door was open a crack, and Nemo quiclkly slipped through. Inside the structure were about a dozen dogs and cats of various breeds and sizes. Some were eating directly from bags of pet food, some were wandering aimlessly, and some were conversing quietly. At the other end of the barn sat the particular animal that Nemo had been seeking.

He walked across the hay-strewn floor and kneeled before her. "I am your servant," he said meekly.

(To be continued...)