About an hour after school, all of Sue Ellen's friends trudged through the newly fallen snow in the direction of her house. As they arrived, they saw that Muffy's limousine was parked at the curb outside, with the dutiful Bailey in the driver's seat reading another classic novel.
Inside the house, Muffy was offering Sue Ellen her best wishes.
"Just because I have the virus doesn't mean I'll get the disease," said Sue Ellen, whose cast was now peppered with signatures. "There are drugs to control it. They're expensive, but there's a good chance I'll have a normal lifespan."
"Well, if paying for the drugs is the only hard part," said Muffy, "then don't worry about it. The Crosswires are always here for you."
Momentarily the door opened, and Arthur, Francine, and Alan entered.
Sue Ellen waved at Arthur. "Hey, Arthur. No more kissing, okay?"
"Oh, but I want to!" Arthur whined.
"So what happens now?" asked Francine as she and Alan sat down next to Sue Ellen. "Can you parents afford all the drugs and treatments?"
"My dad works for the government," said Sue Ellen chirpily. "He's got good health insurance."
She looked at Alan, whose face barely concealed his pain and shock at this new development.
"Smile, Alan," Sue Ellen urged him. "There's nothing to frown about. You of all people should know that medical science will soon find a cure."
The door opened again and more kids filed in, including Prunella, Fern, Beat, and George.
"How was your detention today?" Fern asked Francine.
"Thrilling," Francine replied sarcastically. "There's nothing like sitting for half an hour with nothing to do but glower at Binky and Rattles and watch them glower back."
"So what caused it?" Prunella asked Sue Ellen. "Was it the blood transfusion at the hospital in Africa?"
"I don't know. It's the first time I've ever been tested for HIV. But why does it matter anyway?"
"I think it matters that you know who to sue," said Muffy haughtily.
Shortly Mrs. Armstrong came into the living room, carrying a tray of hors d'oeuvres. "Who wants shrimp puffs?" she called out.
The kids leaped eagerly from their seats and helped themselves to the snacks...except for Alan, who glumly and motionlessly watched the feeding frenzy.
Grasping shrimp puffs and napkins, the children went back to their seats.
"These are really good," said George with his mouth full.
"I'll just die if I don't get this recipe," said Muffy.
Sue Ellen's mother waved the tray in front of Alan. "None for you?"
"No thank you, Mrs. Armstrong," Alan replied. "I'm not hungry right now."
"Cheer up, Brain," said Beat, smiling. "Sue Ellen's the sickie, not you."
Having heard this, Alan abruptly rose from his chair. "Excuse me," he said, and quickly started toward the front door. Sue Ellen and Francine followed him, wearing expressions of concern.
When they caught up to him on the porch, they saw that he was clenching his fists, apparently struggling not to cry.
"What's the matter?" asked Francine. "You can talk to us about it."
"I can't," said Alan mournfully. "As much as I want to, I can't."
"Please." Sue Ellen grabbed his hand. "We're your friends."
"Go back inside," Alan told her sternly. "Now."
As Sue Ellen hesitantly stepped back into the house and closed the door, Francine gazed into Alan's misty eyes.
"She's not going to make it," he uttered.
"What?" Francine eyed him incredulously.
"I've seen the future," Alan went on.
"Now you're talking like Prunella," Francine remarked.
Alan's voice rose in pitch. "She's going to die, Francine. I can't save her. I dismantled the time tricycle."
Francine stared at him wordlessly for a second.
"All right," she finally said, "let's suppose you really did travel into the future. I've seen all kinds of weird things lately, so for all I know, you're telling the truth."
Alan, who had left his coat inside the house, felt himself shivering from the cold. "I can't tell you everything," he told Francine. "I shouldn't even have told you this."
"Don't give up hope," said Francine earnestly.
"There is no hope!" Alan snapped. "It's going to happen. It's already happened. You told me about it yourself when you were eighteen years old."
After several more speechless seconds, Francine turned and went into the house. Alan, still shivering, watched as the door closed.
----
Several weeks passed, and several more feet of snow fell on Elwood City. With a week left before Christmas, Marina remained in her childlike state, Sue Ellen had settled into a routine of taking HIV drugs, Muffy and Mrs. Stiles were performing trial after trial of the Blinded by Science program, and Binky and Rattles still had more detention to serve. ("Dude, Christmas in detention!" Rattles kept saying.)
On a Saturday afternoon, Arthur and D.W. were wandering around the Sneers department store with their mother, eagerly examining the toys and gifts.
"Mom, look!" cried D.W., pointing at a shelf covered with stuffed antelope toys. "It's Arnold the Antelope! Can I get one, please?"
"No, D.W.," said Mrs. Read. "If Santa brings you one, then you'll have two of them, and every time you get two of the same toy, you break one of them."
Undaunted, D.W. grabbed one of the Arnold toys from the shelf and started squeezing it all over. Cheeky recorded messages emanated from the toy, such as, "My name is Arnold. Will you be my friend?", "Don't miss my show on PBS", and "Stop touching me there."
Arthur took advantage of D.W.'s distraction to ask his mother a serious question. "Mom, there isn't really a Santa Claus, is there?"
"No, Arthur," said Mrs. Read somberly. "If you're naughty, you answer to me."
As D.W. replaced the toy on the shelf and rejoined her family, Arthur suddenly heard a familiar voice. He looked around, but quickly realized that the voice wasn't coming from anywhere inside the store.
"Get out of the store, quickly!" it said urgently. Arthur recognized the voice as that of The Professor.
To his surprise, D.W. and his mother were also glancing around in confusion...as were the store clerks and patrons.
"Mom, do you hear it, too?" Arthur asked anxiously.
"Yes," said Mrs. Read. "Where's it coming from? The speakers?"
"It's a ghost!" exclaimed D.W. in delight.
The voice repeated its warning. "Get out of the store, now!"
Alarmed, the customers and store employees started to make their way to the exits. As Mrs. Read led her two children toward the nearest exit, she heard a loud, creaking noise...as if a girder were being bent.
The floor suddenly seemed to leap upward underneath their feet. Now panicked, Mrs. Read wrapped her arms around Arthur and D.W. and dashed for the exit.
She was soon surrounded by dozens of frightened people who had but one goal in their minds...get out of the store.
The creaking, bending sounds intensified. The vibrations in the floor became stronger. Chunks of plaster began to fall from the ceiling.
"Mom, it's an earthquake!" Arthur cried in fear.
"Elwood City has never had an earthquake!" his mother shot back.
Seconds later, the relieved Reads found themselves on the sidewalk in front of the Sneers store, in the midst of a large crowd that extended into the street. They turned and witnessed to their surprise and horror that the store was shaking like a bowl full of jelly...and the surrounding buildings were not.
Then the holiday shopping mob was greeted by a deafening roar. Terrified, the crowds poured into the street, forcing drivers to slam on their brakes.
Arthur and D.W. couldn't believe what they were seeing and hearing. The steel girders of the structure made screeching noises as they rubbed against the concrete foundation. Huge pieces of stone and concrete, ripped out of the ground, tumbled over the sidewalk where shoppers had been standing only seconds before.
The entire department store was slowly but surely rising into the air...
(To be continued...)
