"This black string," said Dolly, gesturing toward a power cord she had wound into a loop on the floor. "What do you call it?" One end of the cord was attached to a digital piano located in the band room of Lakewood Elementary.

"It's called an electrical cord," Beat replied impatiently. She had gathered with Arthur, Francine, Muffy, Binky, Fern, George, Alan, and Prunella, all of whom had been lured to the scene by Dolly's promise of spectacular feats of magic.

"What does electrical mean?" Dolly asked Beat. She was clutching a silver flute in her hand, an instrument on which she had displayed moderate skill during second-period music class.

"Um, it's a power source," George explained. "When you see a bolt of lightning in the sky, that's electricity going from the clouds to the ground."

"No, it goes from the ground to the clouds," Beat corrected him.

"I understand now," said Dolly. "You harness lightning to power your machines, your lights, even your musical instruments. Amazing."

"Yeah, I suppose it is," said Arthur.

Dolly started to lift the flute to her mouth. "This is a musical spell my mother taught me. The fakirs of India are aware of it, and they use it to control snakes. It's good for much more than snakes, however." Having said that, she began to play a sweet, repetitive, folkish melody. As her fingers ran gracefully along the stops of the flute, the power cord quivered, then the plug began to rise into the air. As the other kids (except for Beat) watched in astonishment, the cord ascended until it was as high as Dolly's head, and then began to undulate back and forth like a serpent mesmerizing its prey.

Beat folded her arms haughtily. "Hocus-pocus humbug," she grumbled. "You've got a magnet hidden in here somewhere."

As Dolly went on playing, and the cord waved back and forth, Mavis Cutler burst into the band room, holding a newspaper section in one hand. "Hey, Binky!" she exclaimed. "I just found something we can use for..." Then she gasped with fright upon seeing the enchanted power cord. "SNAKE!" she shrieked, dropping the newspaper and backing quickly against the wall.

"It's okay, Mavis," Binky told her. "It's just a..."

"Kill it! Don't let it get me!" cried the terrified, panting Mavis.

Dolly pulled the flute from her mouth, and the power cord slowly descended and wrapped itself into a loop as before. "I thought you got over being afraid of snakes," said Binky, who had bent over to pick up Mavis' newspaper.

Still breathing heavily, Mavis hesitantly stepped over to the power cord and probed it with her foot. "Snakes scare me to death," she said weakly. "If I got over it, it must have been during the past year."

After handing the newspaper section back to Mavis, Binky turned to Dolly with a hopeful expression. "Hey, Dolly, maybe you can use your magic powers to help Mavis get her memory back."

"Her memory?" was Dolly's response.

All eyes turned to Mavis. "One day my parents were talking about putting me in a private school," the bespectacled, red-haired hamster girl related. "I went to bed that night, and when I woke up it was a year later. I'd been attending Uppity Downs the whole year, but I couldn't remember any of it."

"Binky just wants you to remember when you kissed him," Fern chimed in.

Arthur turned to Francine. "I still want to read that letter she gave you," he insisted.

"Give it up, Arthur," said Mavis. "She won't even let me read it."

Dolly thought for a few seconds. "I could hypnotize you," she suggested to Mavis.

"Rubella already tried that," Prunella pointed out.

"In that case," said Dolly, "I'm at a loss. I'm dreadfully sorry."

"And you call yourself a witch," said Binky disappointedly. "Come on, Mavis, let's make like a French aristocrat and head off."

Giggling and holding the newspaper under her arm, Mavis followed Binky through the door of the music room. "That was a funny joke," she chuckled. "Where did you hear it?"

"You told it to me, remember?" Binky replied. "Oh, that's right, you don't."

The pair sat down on a bench in the center court, and Mavis opened up her newspaper. She pointed to a headline that read, EXPERIMENTAL CRYSTAL MISSING FROM GOVERNMENT LAB. "Hmm," Binky grunted disinterestedly.

"Scientists at Los Cactos National Laboratory spent ten years creating a new kind of crystal," Mavis summarized. "It had a flexible lattice structure, and they hoped to use it to store energy. But now it's disappeared."

"Why would anybody want a crystal made out of lettuce?" Binky wondered.

"Lattice, not lettuce," Mavis responded. "I'm not sure what a lattice is, but I think it's like a spring. If you take a billion springs and squeeze them at the same time, then you can store a lot of energy. I think the crystal works the same way, only the springs are microscopic."

"Gee, somebody ought to write a science report about it," Binky mused.

As he and Mavis discussed the article, they were approached by Adil Faruk, the Turkish exchange student who had once been Arthur's pen pal. "I am looking for Fern," said the boy in halting English. "Have you seen her?"

"She's in the band room, watching the magic show," Binky told him.

When Adil entered the room, he was greeted by the sight of Dolly with the ends of a flute sticking out of the sides of her head, or so it appeared. The gathered kids (with the exception of the still-skeptical Beat) were applauding wildly at her latest illusion.

"Your magic tricks are pretty cool," Alan complimented her, "but recess is almost over."

"Yeah, it's time for boring old science class," moaned Muffy.

"You've been a wonderful audience," said Dolly, who seemed to be extracting the flute from an invisible hole in her head.

As the kids filed out of the band room, Adil came up to Fern and tried to strike up a conversation. "I have an idea for our science report," he said in a thick accent. "The discovery of water on the planet Mars."

"That's nice," said Fern without smiling or looking at the boy.

Discouraged, Adil said nothing more to Fern until they had reached Mr. Wald's classroom. Fern seated herself at a desk, opened her backpack, and pulled out an Internet magazine and a notebook containing her own partly completed science report.

----

Finally the Lakewood kids were dismissed from school, and went their separate ways to enjoy the mild late-February weather. Alan and Prunella led Dolly to the Sugar Bowl, where a large number of kids were congregated.

"This," said Alan, gesturing grandly, "is the Sugar Bowl. This is where we all hang out after school."

"Hang out?" exclaimed Dolly in alarm. She glanced around the restaurant nervously, as if expecting to see nooses suspended from the rafters.

"That's an expression," Prunella informed her. "To hang out means to spend time together."

The three kids were greeted by Arthur, Francine, Muffy, George, Mavis, and Adil, who had filled up one of the tables. Prunella and Alan picked up three chairs and set them next to the table so that they and Dolly could sit with the others.

"Dolly, your tricks are really amazing," said Francine. "How did you do all that stuff?"

Before Dolly could answer, Muffy interrupted. "That's rude, Francine. You never ask a magician to reveal her secrets."

"As I said before, I'm not a magician," said Dolly wearily. "I'm a witch."

"Witch, magician, what's the difference?"

Dolly waved her hand at Muffy's throat. "I'll show you the difference."

"I wonder where Binky and Fern have..." Muffy began to say, only to clutch her throat in terror when she heard Arthur's voice coming out of her mouth. The other kids laughed uproariously.

"That's cool, Dolly," said Arthur. "Can you make me sound like Muffy?"

Dolly obligingly waved her hand at Arthur as the embarrassed Muffy cleared her throat and found that her voice was returning to normal.

"No ice cream for me today, Mr. Menino," said Arthur in Muffy's voice. "I don't want to spoil my girlish figure." The kids laughed even harder than before, except for Muffy, who scowled indignantly.

"Show me a magician who can do that," Dolly boasted.

"Okay, okay, you're a witch," said Muffy, her voice restored. "Now as I was saying before I was so rudely interrupted, I wonder where Binky and Fern have disappeared to."

Francine shrugged. "I hardly ever see them after school anymore."

"I think Fern does not like me," said Adil.

"Maybe she's still sore at you for calling her ugly," Arthur theorized.

"I did not call her ugly," Adil replied.

"Well, you said she wasn't beautiful," Arthur rejoined.

"I don't know how girls are in your country," Muffy said to Adil, "but here in America, girls want to be told that they're beautiful."

"Not me," Mavis interjected. "I'd rather be judged for my brains than my looks."

"Can I look at your brains, Mavis?" George requested.

"Eww!" groaned the other kids.

At that moment Mr. Menino, proprietor of the Sugar Bowl, came up to the table and laid an enormous silver bowl in front of George. The bowl contained a fantastic amount of ice cream in all different flavors, with whipped cream, nuts, and three cherries sitting on top of what might as well have been three separate mountain peaks.

The kids' eyes nearly sprang from their sockets at the sight of the gigantic sundae. "What on Earth..." muttered the awestruck Dolly.

"Ladies and gentlemen," said George dramatically, waving a spoon, "I present to you the Harry Mills Gut Buster, the largest sundae in the world."

"Ooohhhh...aaahhh..." marveled the kids.

"Even Buster couldn't eat that much," Alan remarked.

"Are you sure you won't need help with that?" asked Mavis.

"I'll let you know if I do," George answered. "I'll give you hourly updates."

Dolly couldn't take her eyes off the huge pile of dessert. "I've had ice cream before, but it was never like this," she said to George. "May I please have a taste?"

"Sure," George replied.

Picking up a spoon, Dolly carved out a portion of Artichoke Fudge Ripple with a dollop of whipped cream and a few sprinkled nuts, and carefully, almost reverently, placed it in her mouth. Her eyes widened as the sweet, creamy taste overpowered her. "It's...it's...oh, I must have more!"

The kids watched with delighted astonishment as Dolly stuffed spoonful after spoonful of George's sundae into her mouth, gushing ecstatically all the while. "Mmm! Oh, it's heavenly! I've never tasted anything like it! Ooohhh! I can't help myself! Mmm! Ooohhh! More! More!"

Dolly's rapture was also witnessed by Mr. Wald, who had just entered the shop. Turning to Mr. Menino, who stood across the counter, he said, "I'll have what she's having."

TBC