"It was, like, this yellow mist," said Fern to her warmly dressed friends, who were gathered in front of the entrance to Lakewood Elementary. A few snowflakes floated aimlessly from the sky and landed on Arthur, Prunella, Marina, Alan, and George as they listened intently to Fern's description of her experience in the Tibble cellar.

"It could have been a ghost," George suggested. The moose boy wore a blue wool cap, and his antlers protruded through two small holes in the sides. Nobody quite understood how he was able to put it on his head.

"Don't be silly," Fern responded. "Ghosts aren't real. Isn't that right, Prunella?"

"Uh, yeah, that's right," replied Prunella with a noticeable lack of conviction.

"But if ghosts aren't real," said Marina, "then what happens to people after they die?"

"They go to heaven, of course," Fern answered.

"Unless you're bad," said Arthur. "Then you go to the other place. Nickelodeon."

An old Buick pulled aside the curb next to the kids, and Odette climbed out and commenced the morning ritual of unfolding Van's wheelchair and helping the boy into it.

"There's another possibility," Alan postulated. "You say the cellar looked like nobody had been there for years. Maybe some gases had built up, and you ignited them just by rubbing your foot against the floor."

"I hadn't thought of that," said Fern.

As the kids discussed the incident, a red-haired hamster girl with glasses walked up to them and gazed at Marina with interest. "Excuse me," she said politely, "you're Muffy's friends, correct?"

"Er, yes, we are," said Arthur. "My name's Arthur Read."

Marina stuck out her hand and continued to stare directly ahead. "My name's Marina. What's yours?"

"You must be the telepathic one," said the hamster girl.

"Not anymore." Marina lowered her hand. "I lost my powers a long time ago."

"Are you a friend of Muffy's?" asked Alan. Van rolled up next to him and regarded the strange girl curiously.

"Oh, forgive me for not introducing myself," said the girl. "My name's Mavis Cutler. I'm in Muffy's class at Uppity Downs."

Alan became awestruck. "You're...a student at Uppity Downs?"

"You have to be super rich to go there," George remarked.

"Yes, so they say," said Mavis wearily.

"Oh, I remember," said Van. "Mr. Wald said an Uppity Downs student was going to take Beat's place in our class today."

----

"A new student is joining us for the day," Mr. Pryce-Jones announced to his assembled pupils in the fourth-grade classroom of Uppity Downs Academy. "Muffy, why don't you do the honors of introducing your friend."

Muffy rose from her desk and gestured proudly toward Beat Simon, who sat in the desk to her right. "This is my good friend Beatrice. She goes to my old school, Lakewood Elementary."

"Call me Beat," said Beatrice, grinning sheepishly. "That's my nickname."

Mr. Pryce-Jones gazed at Beat and scratched his cheek thoughtfully. "London," he muttered. "Not far from Piccadilly, I'd say."

Beat's grin disappeared.

"My specialty is linguistics," said the bespectacled teacher. "I've made many trips to England, and made friends from all levels of English society. England is a land rich in history and culture, and you should be proud of your heritage."

"Indeed I am, sir," said Beat, smiling.

"Beatrice Margaret Simon," announced Mr. Pryce-Jones. "Better known to you as Beat. Say hello to Beat, everyone."

"Hello, Beat," intoned the students.

"Mavis Cutler will join us again tomorrow," the teacher went on. "Today she is attending Lakewood Elementary as part of an exchange that my former pupil Nigel Ratburn and I arranged. By the end of the day, I imagine she will gain a greater appreciation of the advantages we enjoy here at Uppity Downs."

----

As she entered Mr. Wald's classroom, Mavis pulled off her overcoat to reveal an expensive-looking gray silk blouse. Arthur, George, and Van came in after her, and the seated kids, including Francine, Binky, Sue Ellen, and Fern, gazed curiously at the finely-attired new girl. She took a seat between Binky and Sue Ellen, and began to chat with them.

"What did you do to your arm?" Mavis asked Sue Ellen.

"I was in a plane crash in Africa, and I broke it," Sue Ellen replied.

"Oh...Africa," Mavis mused. "I've always wanted to go there."

"I've been all over Africa," Sue Ellen continued. "My dad's a diplomat."

"How exciting," said Mavis. "My dad's a banker." She turned to Binky. "What about you?"

"Uh, my dad works in, er, securities," Binky answered. "Yeah, that's it. Securities."

"He's a prison guard," Sue Ellen explained. Mavis chuckled.

Mr. Wald rose from his desk and called the class to order. "Kids, we have a visitor today. This is Mavis Cutler, who attends Uppity Downs Academy."

Mavis slipped out of her desk and confidently strode to the front of the room.

"As he said, my name's Mavis Cutler. I'm a fourth-grader at Uppity Downs. I'm in the same class as Muffy Crosswire, who you all know. I like a lot of different things, but my favorite thing in the world is classical literature. My dad works in the banking industry, and my mom is a doctor."

Francine leaned over to Arthur. "I'll bet she's even richer than Muffy," she whispered.

George raised his hand. "Can we have a ride in your limo?" he asked Mavis.

Fern followed with another comment. "Want to go shopping after school? I could really use some new clothes."

As Mavis fielded the kids' questions, Arthur fantasized about what the girl's home life must be like. He pictured Mr. Cutler as an overweight hamster man in a pinstripe suit, with a huge Cuban cigar dangling from his mouth. The man sat in a plush office chair behind a pine desk littered with financial reports.

"You tell Mr. Greenspan that I don't care how sluggish the economy is," he spoke into his cell phone. "Interest rates stay where they are."

As he ended his call, Mavis ran into the study and stood before his desk. "Dad! Dad!" she said anxiously. "Can I buy the Backstreet Boys?"

Mr. Cutler pulled the cigar from his mouth and looked at Mavis condescendingly. "You've got plenty of classical recordings to listen to," he grumbled. "You don't need any of that boy band rubbish."

"No, Dad," said Mavis. "I want...to buy...the Backstreet Boys."

Her father grinned from ear to ear. "Oh, I see. Sure, go right ahead. While you're at it, why don't you rename them 'The Small Potatoes'?"

Not far away, Van was daydreaming about Mavis' mother and the nature of her work as a doctor. He imagined sitting in his wheelchair in a brightly lit laboratory, surrounded by news reporters and scientists in white smocks. Mrs. Cutler, also wearing a smock, approached him and placed a blue pill in his hand.

"This is it," she said expectantly. "The first test of my super-duper spinal cord repair medicine."

Van quickly swallowed the pill, and within a few seconds felt a tingling sensation pass through his legs. Ecstatic, he leaped to his feet and took several halting steps. "It works! I can walk!" he cried with joy, as the reporters' cameras flashed all about him.

A man wearing a suit and tie approached Mrs. Cutler. "Congratulations on your success, Dr. Cutler," he said. "The government has decided to award you a grant of one billion dollars and several small Pacific islands to continue your research."

When Van awoke from his reverie, he noticed that Mr. Wald had already started to deliver his geography lesson.

"Can anyone tell me which U.S. state capitol has the highest population?" he asked the students.

Mavis' hand flew up. "Phoenix, Arizona," she stated, "with a population of 1.3 million people."

"Very good, Mavis," said the teacher, "although I expected nothing less."

Francine looked at Mavis enviously. "She's cute, rich,and smart," shesaid to herself. "I'm glad she's only here for a day."

----

"As you exit the room, please pick up your graded science tests from yesterday," said Mr. Pryce-Jones, motioning toward the stack of papers lying on his desk.

The kids in his fourth-grade class rose from their seats and politely formed a line leading to the teacher's desk, with Muffy at the very end.

"I am so not looking forward to this," groaned Muffy to Beat, who stood next to her.

"Come now, how bad can it be?" Beat said to her. "You're the genius behind Blinded by Science, after all."

The line quickly whittled down, and Muffy saw her test lying alone on the desk with a large letter F written in red ink on the top. Also in red ink were written the words, "Please talk to me after school today."

Muffy sighed hopelessly. "Oh, that's how bad it can be," Beat observed.

Crumpling the test in her hand, Muffy walked slowly and sadly toward the classroom door. As Beat followed after her, Mr. Pryce-Jones called out her name. "Do you have a minute?" he asked.

Beat turned and smiled, eager to know what this brilliant instructor wanted to discuss with her.

"You're a very smart girl," Mr. Pryce-Jones began. "I believe you would fit in very well here."

"Thank you, sir."

Mr. Pryce-Jones removed his spectacles and began to wipe them with a handkerchief from his pocket. "Tell me, Beatrice," he said with a casual tone, "what's your opinion of the Blair administration?"

----

Morning recess arrived, and Muffy found Beat sitting in a swing in the Uppity Downs playground. The rabbit-aardvark girl was grinning vacuously and staring into space, as if her mind had been transported to another realm. She didn't seem to notice Muffy's arrival.

Muffy took a seat in the swing next to her. "So, what do you think?" she asked glibly.

Beat, still grinning, slowly turned her head.

"I think...I think I'm in love..."

(To be continued...)