At precisely 12:42 pm that Sunday, the Tolon Movers truck rolled away from the curb, headed down the street, and disappeared over the horizon. Exactly five minutes later a taxi pulled up, and Mr. Armstrong climbed inside, carrying a briefcase. Francine, watching from the roof of her apartment building, focused on the young man who drove the cab, trying to determine if he was Mitch Branca, Catherine's new boyfriend. She had only seen him once or twice since her life as Sue Ellen had been stolen from her.

She wanted to cry, but felt as if whatever muscles produced the emotion of sadness were utterly fatigued. It had all occurred so quickly, and her life was now changed forever, as if she had carelessly cut off her hand on a dare. Something told her that the coming days would only be more painful, as she realized the true depth of what she had lost.

The man who was ultimately responsible for this outrage was dead. Seeking revenge on Mavis was pointless, as she, like Beat, was a victim of Putnam's egomaniacal scheme to perpetuate his own consciousness at the expense of the lives of others. Hence, Francine felt no bitterness as she and Beat stood in Mavis' living room, handling an important matter of business.

"Here it is," she said as she placed the Opticron device in Mavis' waiting hands. "I thought about destroying it, but you'd just make another one."

"Thanks for giving it back." Mavis carried the device toward her bedroom, as Francine and Beat followed her. "I'm terribly sorry that you lost your family, Sue Ellen, but I could have helped you if you'd trusted me."

"If you really want us to trust you," Francine replied firmly, "then you'll give Mavis her life back."

"You wiped Putnam from my brain," Beat added. "You can wipe him from your brain the same way."

Mavis closed up the drawer where she had laid the device, then faced Francine and Beat with a serious look. "You don't know what you're asking. The only way to remove Mr. Putnam from my mind is to erase my memories back to the time of the transfer. I'd lose an entire year. And I'm not quite ready to give up my work yet."

"Mr. Putnam has to die like everybody else," Francine rejoined. "Those are the rules."

"The rules can be changed," Mavis answered. By this time the three girls had left the bedroom, and Mavis was pulling her coat down from a hanger in the closet. "Death doesn't have to be the end anymore. My inventions will revolutionize life as we know it. By the time you grow old, people will transfer their minds into younger bodies on a routine basis."

"Younger bodies?" Beat repeated as she and Francine followed Mavis through the front door into the cold winter air. "You mean children, right?"

"Children, teenagers, whatever," Mavis replied.

As the girls walked along the street in the direction of Van's house, Beat asked Mavis, "And what if I don't want to share my brain with some old geezer who's about to kick the bucket?"

"Mr. Putnam chose his hosts carefully," Mavis answered. "He wanted children who cared more about the pursuit of knowledge than anything else. Children who would gladly allow a super genius to take up residence in their minds. Children like you and me. Well, he also had a thing for girls, but that's another story."

They soon arrived at the Cooper home, to find that Van and Muffy were seated in front of a throng of girls, including Fern, Jenna, Prunella, and Marina. Muffy, who had traded her thrift store clothes for one of her fancy dresses, greeted Francine as she entered. "Glad you could make it."

"My mom gave me a break today, because you came back," Francine explained. "But tomorrow I'm grounded for real."

She took a seat on a couch next to Prunella and Marina, while Beat and Mavis squatted on the floor, as all the spaces on the furniture were taken. "Now that we're all here," announced Muffy, "the meeting of the sisterhood will come to order. Now then, where shall we begin?"

Jenna quickly raised her hand. "Tell us about running away, Muffy." Van and the girls started to chuckle.

"All in good time," said Muffy, grinning. "There's so much to say, and I can't say it all in one afternoon. I'm thinking of writing a book about it. Or a very long email."

"What happened to Sue Ellen?" Prunella chimed in.

"Her dad was called on some kind of emergency mission," Muffy replied. "He didn't say how long he would be gone."

"They went to Karjakistan," Marina remarked. "They'll probably be there for as long as U.S. troops are there. In other words, forever."

Muffy lowered her head sadly. "We will all miss our good friend Sue Ellen."

"What are you talking about?" Fern gestured toward Francine. "She's sitting right over there." Francine scowled as the other girls began to laugh.

Muffy raised her hands to silence the group. "Like the rest of you, I hope she'll be back with us before long. In the meantime, we can all expect to receive postcards from Karjakistan very soon."

"I hope they'll be all right," said Francine, hoping to draw attention away from herself by not being the only girl not to speak. "It's not a safe place to be right now."

"I still have the tooth necklace she gave me," said Jenna wistfully.

"I remember when Mr. Wald told us that she had HIV," Fern recalled. "It was a very sad day."

"I miss her already," said Prunella gloomily.

Muffy cleared her throat. "It's always hard to lose a sister. However, a new member is joining our sisterhood today...that is, if we can all agree on admitting him."

All the other girls shot incredulous looks at Van, who appeared a bit embarrassed. He was sitting in an easy chair, his legs jutting out clumsily, his wheelchair folded up and leaning against the arm of the chair.

"I move that we confer upon Van Cooper the title of honorary girl," said Muffy officiously, "and allow him into our circle as a sister."

The girls murmured to each other for a few seconds. Finally Beat raised her hand and said, "I second the motion."

Francine, Jenna, Prunella, and Fern stared at the rabbit-aardvark girl with surprise. "I know this is unprecedented," Beat tried to explain, "but I can see where Muffy's coming from. Up to now we've all assumed that a boy can't be relied upon to behave as a proper girl. And perhaps that's true about most of the boys we know, but I think Van's different."

"Why is he different?" Fern inquired.

"Let me handle that one, Beat," said Muffy. "We've all known Van since the start of fourth grade. Some of us have known him longer. In all that time, I've never known him to break his word, or spoil a secret, or do anything to bring shame to a girl."

"Me neither," said Prunella.

"Well, this morning he asked you to be his valentine," Marina recounted, "even though I'm already his valentine. But I know he only did that because he was happy to see you."

"And that's not all," Muffy went on. "Whenever a nasty rumor gets spread around, Van's the one who puts a stop to it. Fern, remember when George told everybody that you were a ghost? What did Van do? He went straight to you."

"Yeah." Fern smiled pleasantly at Van. "I do remember."

"Francine, remember when Binky and Rattles told everybody that you had a crush on Beat? What did Van do? He brought it to your attention."

"Yeah." The vivid memory of that incident caused Francine to chuckle. "And I ended up with a black eye. Thanks, Van."

Then it struck her. The gossip about her and Beat...her fight with Binky...her defeat at the hands of Rattles...none of it had happened to Sue Ellen. Yet she suddenly remembered it as if she had been a part of it. But how?

"Uh, Muffy," said Van timidly, "what exactly would I have to do as an honorary girl?"

Muffy grinned and waved her hand. "You don't have to do anything. You don't have to act like a girl or dress like a girl, if that's what you're thinking. Of course, if you want to be part of the sisterhood, then you have to follow the code, but you should have no trouble with that."

"What's the code?" asked Van curiously.

"Jenna, tell Van about the code," Muffy ordered.

Jenna took a deep breath and proceeded. "Rule number one. No secret shared among the sisterhood shall be divulged to anyone outside of the sisterhood. Rule number two. One sister shall not knowingly offend another sister. Rule number three. If one sister offends another sister, no matter the nature of the offense, they shall be reconciled before the setting of the sun."

"Like Francine and Beat," Muffy interjected. "They had a fight, but now they're friends again."

"Rule number four," Jenna continued. "Upon entry into the sisterhood of a new member, she and all existing members shall forgive each other of all past offenses."

"And you've never offended any of us," Muffy told Van.

"I have just one more question," said Fern, sticking up a finger. "What if Van gets a crush on one of us? Or one of us gets a crush on him? That could get weird, if he's an honorary girl."

Muffy thought for a second. "I...guess we'll have to institute some sort of 'don't ask, don't tell' policy." Her reply seemed to satisfy Fern, as she and the other girls became silent. "Now, if there are no further questions, we'll put the matter to a vote. All in favor of conferring upon Van Cooper the title of honorary girl, please raise your hands."

Muffy, Francine, Beat, Jenna, Prunella, Marina, and Van lifted their hands. Fern continued to stare at Van with an expression of uncertainty.

"Well, Fern?" Muffy urged her. "Are you in or out?"

"I don't know, Muffy," Fern answered hesitantly. "Van's awfully cute for a girl." The other girls giggled while Van blushed. Finally, Fern slowly raised her hand.

"We have a consensus," Muffy exulted. "Now, all in favor of admitting Van Cooper as a member of our sisterhood, please raise your hands." All the girls raised their hands, as did Van. "So let it be written, so let it be done."

The girls applauded cheerfully. "Speech! Speech!" cried Jenna.

"Uh, forgive me if I remain seated," said Van bashfully. "I'm, uh, honored to be honored with the honor of being an honorary girl, and I promise to do my best to honor this honorary title."

"We know you will," said Muffy confidently.

The meeting of the sisterhood wound down, and soon Fern, Jenna, Prunella, and Marina had left. Quinn and Odette were making preparations for the family dinner in the kitchen, Van's mother was giving him a bath, and Francine, Beat, and Mavis were saying their goodbyes to Muffy.

"I discussed it with my mum, and I've decided to go back to Lakewood," Beat told Muffy. "I'm just not ready for Uppity Downs, especially with an empty space in my head that's three weeks long."

"At least your 'mum' gives you a choice," said Muffy glumly. "I have to go back whether I like it or not, unless I can find another fugitive from the law to hook up with."

"I'll see you later, Muffy," said Francine, doing her best to look happy. "It's good to have you back."

"See you at school, Muffy," said Mavis.

As Francine, Beat, and Mavis made their way through the front door and down the access ramp, Muffy called after Beat. "I know a good cosmetic dentist, if you need one!"

"Probably the same dentist who fixed her buck teeth," said Francine as she, Beat, and Mavis meandered down the sidewalk.

"Muffy had buck teeth?" Mavis marveled.

"Yeah, they were huge." Francine made an arc with her hands.

"How long ago did she get them fixed?" Beat asked her.

"It was, uh, more than a year ago. It was..."

Suddenly Francine froze in her tracks. Her eyes widened with confusion.

"What?" said Mavis.

Francine spoke slowly, as if she didn't believe her own words. "It was...before I moved in..."

Beat and Mavis gazed at her in wonder as she fumbled anxiously with her hands.

"M-Muffy got her buck teeth fixed before I-I got here," she stammered. "I never saw her with b-buck teeth. B-but I r-remember..."

"What do you remember?" asked Beat with concern.

Francine gestured wildly. "I remember what she looked like with buck teeth. I-I remember playing with her when she had buck teeth. But I shouldn't remember that. That was before I moved in." She spoke frantically, as if fearing to lose her voice at any moment. "And...and I remember punching Binky, and getting punched by Rattles. But that didn't happen to me. It happened to Francine."

Beat turned to Mavis. "Could this be a side effect of your device?"

"Perhaps." Mavis grabbed Francine by the shoulder. "Calm down, Sue Ellen. You'll be fine."

Francine wiped her brow. "For a second I thought I was losing my mind," she said weakly.

Meanwhile, Muffy was wandering about the living room at the Cooper house, waiting for Van to finish his bath. Odette was laying silverware on the dining table, while Quinn was checking on the steak in the oven.

Something caught Muffy's eye--a slightly wadded sheet of paper that sat in a trash can next to a desk. She thoughtlessly reached down, pulled it out, and glanced over it. It was Van's handwriting: MUFFY...CALL POLICE...$250,000...

Uncertain of the meaning of this cryptic message, Muffy strolled into the dining room and flashed it in front of Odette. "Hey, Odette, what's this?"

The swan girl craned her neck downward to examine the paper. "Hmm...I don't know," she muttered.

Quinn looked over from the oven. "Oh, that," she said glibly. "Van wrote it when he was on the phone with you."

Dumbfounded, Muffy walked slowly away from the dining room. The implications of what Van had written rushed into her mind with breakneck speed.

Van Cooper, her best friend in the world who happened to be a boy, had turned her over to the police. For money. For a paltry sum of $250,000.

She fought back tears. How could Van do this to her, and yet pretend to be her friend? How could he betray her like this?

Gritting her teeth, she crumpled the paper in her hand. She hated Van. She wanted to rip the smiling beak right off his face. But she had just made him an honorary girl, and admitted him into the sisterhood...according to the code, she had to forgive him...but she couldn't...ever...

(To be continued...)