Spongebrain Smartypants: Issue 3, by Mavis Cutler and Binky Barnes.

Spongebrain was hanging out at his house with his friends, Faith the Heart, Hale the Lung, Libby the Liver, and Phil the Stomach.

"After Mrs. Strong's lesson on time management," Spongebrain addressed the others, "I went to the store and bought a day planner." He proudly displayed a small notepad in a black leather case. The lines on each page were filled in with BREAKFAST, THINK, SCHOOL, LUNCH, SCHOOL, THINK, THINK, DINNER, THINK...

"I don't need a day planner," said Faith. "I like to be spontaneous and do things on the spur of the moment." To illustrate, she unexpectedly leaned over and kissed Spongebrain on the cheek, causing him to blush.

"I've been using a day planner for a long time," said Libby. "That's how I'm able to accomplish so much in the short space of a day." She held up her well-worn day planner, in which was written, BREAKFAST, SCHOOL, LUNCH, SCHOOL, BALLET LESSONS, FENCING LESSONS, DINNER, HOMEWORK, PIANO LESSONS, ACTING LESSONS...

"I went to the store to buy a day planner," Hale recounted, "but they came in so many different colors, I didn't know which one to pick, so I asked the lady who worked in the store what her favorite color was, and she said yellow, but yellow wasn't one of the colors, so she asked me what my favorite color is, and I said I didn't have a favorite color, because I liked all colors equally..."

"Don't you ever shut up?" Libby asked him.

Hale checked his day planner, in which was written, on page after page, TALK, TALK, TALK, TALK...

"Uh, no," he replied.

"I bought a day planner too," said Phil as he emptied a bag of potato chips into himself. Reaching into his food-filled backpack, he fished around for the day planner...but couldn't find it. "Oh, no!" he wailed in terror. "I've lost my day planner! I'LL STARVE!"

Mickie laughed hysterically as she finished reading the comic strip. "I'm so glad you like it," said Mavis, who had just handed her the first three issues of the cartoon she co-authored with Binky.

"These are hilarious," said Mickie, still chuckling. "I wish I'd come up with this myself."

"You can always create your own cartoon," Mavis suggested. "There's room for more than one cartooning team in the world."

As Mickie watched the hamster girl walk away, a wicked plan began to form in her mind...

----

About an hour after school ended, Fern and Alan received calls from April requesting their presence at George's house. Upon arrival, they were greeted by the moose boy and the cat girl, who still had bandages on her head and right arm. "Thanks for coming," said April, who still sounded a little weak. "We have something important to discuss."

In the living room, Sal was transfixed by a new TV anime called "Pretty Dragon Card Girl Exodus", which had something to do with pretty girls who turned into dragons, fought villains with trading cards, and were fleeing from their doomed homeworld. "Sal, can you leave, please?" George asked of her. "We're having a meeting." The little girl didn't react, but only stared at the screen.

"We could wait for a commercial break," Alan proposed.

Fern glanced at the TV screen. "Itis a commercial break."

"Let's go to my room," said George, who clutched a folded piece of paper in one hand.

When the four kids had secluded themselves in George's room (all standing, as there was a shortage of chairs and bed space), April informed them of the purpose of their meeting. "No doubt you've all heard of Rick Portinari by now," she began.

"I know Augusta's dating him," Alan replied, "but I haven't met him in person."

"Me neither," Fern added.

Feeling a little pain in her head, April seated herself in the only available chair. "When I was in the hospital, Augusta and Dr. Portinari came to visit a few times," she related. "The first time they visited I was still sleepy from the drugs, and Dr. Portinari didn't look like himself."

"He looked like this," said George, unfolding the paper he was holding. Alan and Fern gaped incredulously at a rough drawing of an inhuman creature's head. It had a scaly, bald scalp, a protruding forehead, a tentacle-like nose, and small beady eyes. "Buster drew this and faxed it to me. He saw Dr. Portinari in the airport while he was leaving."

"At first I thought I was dreaming or hallucinating," said April. "Then George showed me this drawing. I think Dr. Portinari isn't what he seems."

"He's an alien," said George confidently.

"Augusta met him less than two weeks ago, and she's already head over heels in love with him," April went on. "But the future Augusta dated for more than a year before she had any romantic success. I think he may be from the future, like me--only he came back to stop Augusta's plan."

Fern smirked triumphantly at her. "So, you admit that Augusta has a plan. Care to fill us in on the details?"

"I can't tell you everything," said April. "Yes, Augusta has a plan to help me save my parents. No, it doesn't involve sucking all the evil out of the world."

"That's a relief," said Alan. "I think."

"But that's not important right now," April continued. "Since the two of you were kind enough to return the invisibility stone to me, I want to propose an alliance between us. Dr. Portinari doesn't know you, so you can get close to him without making him suspicious."

"And what if we don't want an alliance?" was Fern's sharp reply.

April scowled disappointedly. "I know you don't trust me or Augusta, Fern. But if I'm right about Dr. Portinari, then you should trust him even less. Think about it. If he's an alien, then he probably doesn't care about making Earth a better place to live, and he may even be part of an invasion. If he's from the future, then he must be trying to stop some pivotal event from taking place. If he thinks he can defeat Augusta, then he must have some serious technology, or even magic. I don't know if the invisibility stone would be of any use against him. That's why I want your help."

Fern only folded her arms and stared indignantly.

"Come on, Fern," said April warmly. "I know how much you like to snoop."

"Uh, we'll think about it," said Alan.

He and Fern departed from George's house, and immediately started debating what April had presented to them.

"She must be crazy if she thinks we'll help her when she's still keeping secrets from us," Fern remarked.

"On the other hand, maybe she's making up the alien part," Alan mused. "Maybe she recognizes Dr. Portinari as one of the people involved in the conspiracy against her parents."

Fern fell silent and laid a finger on her chin.

"Have you ever seen The Godfather?" Alan asked her as they were crossing the street.

"No," Fern answered. "My dad likes that movie, but he won't let me watch it because I'm a girl."

"There's a line from The Godfather," said Alan. "Keep your friends close, and your enemies closer. If we cooperate with April, then we can keep tabs on her, and hopefully learn more of her secrets."

"Maybe you're right," said Fern thoughtfully.

----

Several days passed. April shed her dressings for smaller bandages, and expressed concern that she might be left with unsightly scars. Portinari visited Augusta frequently; April scrutinized the psychiatrist for any clues regarding his true nature, but always left when they started kissing. Finally he invited her to come to his apartment on Saturday evening, and provided an address, which April greedily memorized.

It was Friday morning, and the kids in Mr. Wald's class were gathering for another lesson. On one end of the room, Muffy and Van were talking.

"How soon do you go into surgery, Van?" Muffy asked the duck boy.

"Next Wednesday," was his answer.

"I hope you get through it all right," said Muffy.

"I will," Van assured her. "It's routine."

As the teacher prepared to stand, Mavis burst into the classroom, gripping a page of the Elwood Times in her hand. "Binky!" she cried out. "Our cartoon has been stolen!"

Startled, Binky took the paper away from Mavis and glanced over it. The first three Spongebrain Smartypants strips had been published, together with a short article whose headline read, LOCAL GIRL DRAWS NEW COMIC. Underneath it was a photo of the grinning Mickie Chanel.

TBC