Seeing that Zeke had enjoyed his time with the Coopers on Thursday, the Englands chose to let him spend much of Saturday morning with the duck family. While Van, Zeke, and Dallin played Frisbee in the sun, Odette labored over a school project, while Logan lay on his bed, reading a teen magazine and listening to a new grunge rock CD. Mr. Cooper sat near Odette pondering some briefs, while Mrs. Cooper read a children's book to Megan in the kitchen.

Deciding that the front yard wasn't large enough for three-way Frisbee, Zeke strolled into the house to see if anything eventful was taking place. Seeing Odette in the study with her papers, he approached her and asked, "What are you working on?"

The swan girl looked up and smiled. "It's a report on the United Nations."

Zeke scowled slightly. "The United Nations is part of a plot to create a one-world government," he opinionated.

While Odette sighed with exasperation, Mr. Cooper raised his eyebrows in disapproval.

The sound of Logan's rock music caught the pom boy's ears, and he wandered over to the boy's room. "This music is evil," he told Logan unhesitatingly. "The devil uses it to spread unclean messages."

To say Logan wasn't pleased with Zeke's assessment of his music would be an understatement. The incensed duck boy tossed his magazine aside and marched out of his room to confront his parents. "Mom, Dad," he groused, looking at each of them in turn, "who invited this dork?" The music pouring from his room was suddenly silenced as Zeke hit the power button on his stereo.

"Be nice, Logan," Mrs. Cooper chided him. "Zeke isn't a dork."

"Yeah, he is," Logan insisted. "He said my music's of the devil."

"Well, maybe it is," was his mother's comeback.

"You're always saying stuff like that, Mom," Logan complained.

By this time Mr. Cooper had stepped into the living room, the argument having attracted his attention.

"Did you know that when you play 'Another One Bites the Dust' backwards, it says, 'start to smoke marijuana'?" Zeke related to the apparently sympathetic Mrs. Cooper.

"Dude, I've never seen a kid with two butts before," Logan mocked the pom boy.

"That's enough, Logan," said Mrs. Cooper firmly.

Then Mr. Cooper cleared his throat. It was an unmistakable signal that the debate was over, and his would be the last word. Everyone fell silent.

"Ezekiel," said the duck man calmly, "if you don't like hearing my son's music, you're welcome to call your parents and go home."

While Zeke stared at him in shock, Logan pumped his fists triumphantly. "Yes! Dad rules!"

Indignant at her husband's statement, Mrs. Cooper laid down the children's book and jumped to her feet. "You owe the boy an apology, Mel," she demanded. "If he doesn't want to listen to Logan's wicked music, he shouldn't have to."

"I've said it before and I'll say it again, Valerie," said her husband icily. "Music isn't good or evil. It's just sound."

"Except for cop-killer rap," Logan added. "That's evil."

Then Mrs. Cooper began to recount a tale. "Logan, did I ever tell you about the girl who started cutting herself while listening to heavy metal music?"

"Don't think so," replied the sloppily-dressed duck boy.

"She had to be taken to the hospital," his mother went on. "She was speaking in a weird language. I think she was possessed."

When he had heard this, the steely-faced Mr. Cooper motioned for his wife to follow him. Everyone watched in stupefied silence as the couple disappeared into their bedroom. It could mean only one thing—an argument was brewing.

"For years you've filled the children's heads with nonsense about evil spirits," said Mr. Cooper scaldingly. "And for years I've put up with it, thinking there was no harm in it. But now that I see what such superstitions can do to a boy like Zeke, I have no choice but to put my foot down."

Mrs. Cooper gaped in astonishment and outrage, as if her husband were trying to shove her off the face of the Earth. "Jesus cast out evil spirits," she said slowly and fervently. "The Bible says so. If you don't believe in evil spirits, you don't believe in the Bible."

"Would it please you to know that Reverend Fulsome doesn't believe in evil spirits?" said her husband with an air of assured victory.

"You're lying!" Mrs. Cooper retorted.

"If you don't believe me, call him right now."

Logan, Zeke, and Odette still hadn't budged when Mrs. Cooper emerged from the bedroom and marched determinedly toward the phone.

The reverend, dressed for hot weather, was humming 'Rock of Ages' while mowing his lawn. Hearing a ring from his cell phone, the rabbit man shut off the mower and took the call. "Oh, hello, Valerie. What can I do for you?"

The duck woman's question was direct and to the point. "My husband claims you don't believe in evil spirits. Tell me it isn't true."

The reverend took a deep, thoughtful breath. "I wish I could. Other than a rather embarrassing experience at the Tibble house last year, I've seen little to convince me that demons exist. I've come to believe that the Biblical stories of Jesus casting out evil spirits are more allegorical than real. It was common during New Testament times to believe that evil spirits were the cause of everything from leprosy to..."

The shock was too much for Mrs. Cooper to bear, and she slammed down the receiver before Reverend Fulsome could complete his lecture.

By this time her husband had walked up behind her, the tip of his beak level with her shoulder. "Well?"

Fighting back the disgust and disbelief that filled her heart, Mrs. Cooper glared at her husband, then made a passing glance at Logan and Odette.

"Tomorrow," she announced calmly but emotionally, "we go to a different parish."

----

The Krantzes needed less than an hour to locate Sue Ellen, still dressed in her scuba gear, at a police station near the beach. She cowered behind one of the officers when she saw the moose couple approach.

"Don't let them get me!" she pleaded tearfully. "They want to kidnap me!"

"What gave you that idea?" asked Mrs. Krantz. She took a slow step forward, but Sue Ellen only gripped the officer's pants more tightly.

"Poor girl's been out in the sun too long," Mr. Krantz remarked.

"I heard you!" Sue Ellen spat at him. "You said you wanted to abduct me!"

Mrs. Krantz let out a high-pitched giggle. "That's not what we said, dear."

"Then what did you say?" asked the fearful cat girl.

Mrs. Krantz bent over and looked her directly in the eye.

"We want to adopt you."

Sue Ellen screamed in stark terror. "Don't let them get me!" she begged the officer.

Powerless to resist, the frantic girl was carted away by the affectionate Krantzes.

"That's the funniest thing I ever heard," Mr. Krantz chuckled. "You didn't hear us right because of the pressure in your ears, so you thought we were gonna kidnap you."

In the back seat of the convertible, Mrs. Krantz was vainly attempting to fasten a seat belt around the waist of the squirming Sue Ellen.

"You can't adopt me!" she protested loudly. "You're my teacher!"

"But I love you so much," gushed the moose woman.

The entire neighborhood heard Sue Ellen's rants as the Krantzes dragged her, scuba tanks and all, through the door of their house. "I won't let you adopt me! I won't let you..."

Once inside, she threw herself on the couch and wept bitterly. The Krantzes looked at each other, as if wondering whether a continued display of affection was the solution.

Then Mrs. Krantz reached out and dried Sue Ellen's tears with her fingers. "Okay," she said sweetly. "You win. We won't adopt you."

The images of cat girls with curly hair and antlers began to fade from Sue Ellen's frenzied mind. Her fear subsided. She sat up, sniffled, and rubbed her nose.

"What's for lunch?" she asked in a quivering voice.

----

The Saturday that had started sunny ended with cool temperatures. At the Powers residence, Alan celebrated the evening by playing his first game of chess against his long-lost sister, Tegan.

The teenage girl sat at one end of the coffee table, the silver barette still fastened over her crown. "Chess is a lot more interesting when I play with the blocker," she told Alan.

"The blocker?" Alan repeated. "You mean the thing on your head?"

"Yes," replied Tegan as she quickly made her first move. "It emits an electromagnetic pulse at the same frequency as my brain waves. As long as I wear it on the top of my head, it stops merging from taking place. Without it, I'd have no choice but to merge with everyone around me."

"I wonder what it's like," Alan mused.

"I can get to know a person very quickly by merging," Tegan related. "I can look directly at their feelings and memories. I can't do that by talking."

Sensing a subtle hint that his sister was tired of vocalizing, Alan played against her in silence. "Checkmate," she declared after what seemed like only a few minutes.

"I can't believe you beat me so easily," Alan marveled. "Were you reading my mind?"

"Nope," Tegan answered with a friendly grin. "I can't read your mind without you knowing it."

They played another game, in which Tegan handily defeated Alan yet again.

It was soon bedtime for the kids in the neighborhood. Mrs. Krantz tucked in Sue Ellen, but didn't kiss her. Tegan stayed up an hour after Alan had retired, then laid herself down in the guest bedroom. Her silver barette remained affixed to her head as she rested.

But she didn't sleep. At one a.m. in the morning, a shadowy figure carefully and noiselessly opened the door to Alan's room. Tegan, dressed only in her gray nightgown, crept to her brother's bedside as he snored obliviously.

Her head was only a foot away from his when she lowered her barette. The two siblings became one mind, part sleeping, part waking. His dreams became her dreams, and she knew exactly what she wanted to see in them.

"Dream about Fern..."

----

to be continued