Mr. Read was set to go out for the day, "Jane, I will be going camping with Mr. Ratburn for part of my survival course."

"Ok, we will see you in a day…" Mrs. Read replied as she saw Mr. Ratburn waiting for him."

Mr. Read boarded Mr. Ratburns car and they had driven off to the woods, it was starting to get cold outside, and there was some snow, Mr. Read was cooking on a camp stove, when Ratburn poked his head out of the tent; "Aren't you a little cold?"

The cold air bit at Mr. Reads nose, "A little bit, but dinner is almost ready."

He continued cooking until it was complete, and joined Mr. Ratburn in the tent, they were eating dinner and making love, Mr. Read chuckled, "Hehe, reminds me of Bareback Mountain."

"Our love will remain a secret; we don't want anyone to know until the time is right…"

---------------

Meanwhile, Max was getting used to his situation, he for one didn't want to live here, he wanted to stay with his teacher, his friend, the one he had a crush on, and he was close to her more than the Crosswires. He had sat in one of the extra bedrooms thinking as Mrs. Armstrong was downstairs having coffee with the Crosswires. Mrs. Armstrong was being nice to have coffee with them, despite the fact that she didn't want to because she didn't get along with Ed that well.

She gave some information, "Don't talk to Max about his parents; he will get upset about it."

"Will do," Mr. Crosswire replied as he really wasn't caring.

"Promise me, I already have three kids to take care of, if he comes to school even more upset about you are treating him badly, I will tell you bluntly how Muffy is doing in class… and it is not good."

Mrs. Armstrong finished her coffee and left but she felt some tugging on her legs, it was Max, he had his arms wrapped around her legs. She sighed... he couldn't let go, he was now almost crying, "Don't go..."

She smiled at him, "But I have to, I will see you in school tomorrow."


Louis had his arm bandaged up, he was talking to Giorgio, "I am going to kill him, I will spill his blood, and we will see who gets the last laugh."

Giorgio was chuckling, "Ok, I will be at your funeral then."

Louis wasn't listening, "I will kill him, I will fight him to the death, I don't know who he is and I don't know why he attacked me for working with those strange guys, but I will get my revenge, even if it means being put in the hospital again."

Giorgio sighed as his friend wasn't caring about the consequences, "Look get some rest and I will see you in the morning."

"I've hardly gotten any sleep, once I am discharged from here; we are going to look for him and beat him senseless."

Giorgio sighed, "You are very lucky to be alive, if he hadn't seen me, he could have killed you," In a few short moments Tony, Sal, and Sonny walked in all wearing their fine Italian suits with carnations, "My brothers Tony, Sal and Sonny."

Tony started to speak, "I understand you got hit by the cultists, if you want to place a hit on him, it is $500 up front."

"I will pass, and fight him when we meet again."

Tony smiled surprisingly, "You got balls kid, I like that. I've been trying to rub out someone named Muffy for a while and she is more troublesome, perhaps if we can mend things with the Crosswire family, then we can have the funding to extort the Mayor…"

Sal chuckled, "Good luck… just because Mr. Crosswire has lots of money doesn't mean he will help us, besides, we got a kidnapping to think about."

------------------------------------------

The next day Arthur and his parents had gone to the imposing Crosswire mansion Max was being pretty shy, he didn't really come down until 15 minutes after they had arrived, he really didn't want to talk to him, but Bailey was waiting at the door for him to come out.

The reason was that he just didn't want to and that D.W. was there, she would be rude to him and he didn't want to deal with her right now.

Arthur had talked to him, "I am sorry for what happened, since the forth grade I seen it happen, James… he seemed happy to be reunited with his parents."

His voice was quiet, "He was able to do something… I am not able to I am so helpless right now."

Arthur stopped him from saying another word, "No you aren't Mrs. Armstrong speaks very highly of you as does everyone else…"

"I am… I been here for a night, it isn't the same compared to being at home, I am not used to living the same life as Muffy, and she is rich."

"She's been through it all and back, I wouldn't want to say you would be; but the problem is that she is on the run right now, if anyone from the mafia ever shows up… try to make sure that her parents are safe, it would destroy her to see that something happened to them."

Max lowered his head, "But my parents are arrested and sent to a strange planet, I want them back… I am powerless to do something…" he whispered into Arthur's ear, "I wanted to stay at Sue Ellen's."

Arthur had a question that put Max on the spot; it wasn't a good one to ask at this time, "Max, do you have a crush on Mrs. Armstrong?"

Max stumbled with the answer, "What? Me? No."

Arthur was starting to get a bit blunt with him, "I think you do…"

Max was shocked by the aardvark boy's accusation, "What does that have to do with anything?"

"The love notes? The apples? The fruit basket? Buster would never write anything like that, he would probably write 'I think you are hot' to Mrs. Armstrong."

Max was a bit annoyed with him; he had some good reason to be, "What is wrong with a student having a little crush on the teacher?"

"Just answer me this, did you write the love notes?"

Max didn't know what to do would Arthur tell everyone that Max had a crush on Mrs. Armstrong, this wouldn't sit well with both Sue Ellen and himself he didn't really trust Arthur but to himself he seemed ok, he lied to save his skin, "…No."

"…I believe you," he replied nervously, "I personally think it was Binky or Buster who wrote them."

Max sighed sadly as he covered his eyes, he didn't want anyone to see him cry; he had decided to swallow his sadness.

He had waited there while D.W. was ordered to sit with her parents until they left, D.W. just glared at him, because she had her heart set on going to the studios where Mary Moo Cow was filmed.

This was it he was sick and tired of D.W. berating him all the time, he wanted to finally do something and this was the time for some change, he was tired of being pushed around, and if she wanted to go and see Mary Moo Cow, Monday would be the day. He needed something because he knew he would get upset with D.W. and would probably hit her. No he would definitely hit her.

He had decided to go to Arthur's house, it was a short walk to get there from Muffy's; when he got there, and Arthur was sitting outside while D.W. was at the Tibble's

"Is she here?" Max asked nervously.

Arthur smiled at him, "No, she is at the Tibble's why?"

"I am tired of her always bossing me around!" Max whined, "Doesn't she have consideration for other people?"

"No, she's been like that ever since she was four years old."

"If she wants me to be considerate to her then I will help her with her dream..."


After The Read family came home, Mr. Read had went out to Mr. Ratburn as he was waiting for the use of the hot tub, soon they were in the buff; and were enjoying the bubbles until Mrs. Read knocked on the door, finding it unlocked she had found them both in the hot tub naked, "David?"

"This isn't what you think Jane," Mr. Read replied defensively, "We are doing a play called 'Two Guys Naked in a Hot Tub.' It is a comedy for the Elwood City Cultural Society. Remember those two old Muppets from Sesame Street who complain about everything? Then laugh? We are doing the play similar to that."

Surprisingly Mrs. Read bought the story, "Ok, I believe you but stop being so secretive…" and Mrs. Read had left.

--------------------------------------

Buck and company had another plan, they had some time to go out of the cells for a little bit, and Muffy had seen some of the swords, reflecting on when she was in the fourth grade, "A little bit of last year…"

Mrs. Clarkson smiled as she grabbed one, "They use these for mock sword fights for inmates," As they were striking metal to metal, steel has no emotions, "Standard Kutai dueling swords with a leather grip handle…"

A group of inmates surrounded them, a lead alien speaking a strange language.

An old snobbish bear man looked at him, "He doesn't like you… I don't like you either so you just watch yourself…"

Muffy and Maria had swords ready, vivid memories of fighting with these weapons of doom ran through their minds.

"You will be dead!"

Maria struck him down with the sword and soon they were taking out inmates left, right and center.

One inmate chasing at them with a pointed kendo stick tried stabbing them but they cut it in half.

Soon the guards had come, inmates were dead, Muffy neutralizing them by cutting them and Maria dealing the deathblow though Muffy had some good shots causing some inmates to bleed to death. About 15 minutes of fighting, about 50 inmates and 20 guards were dead, Muffy and Maria were killing now in self defense. But were knocked unconscious with use of shock sticks by some guards.

They were sent back to their cells; Reno and Buck were waiting for them they regained consciousness.

"So?" Buck asked.

"We killed some inmates," Muffy explained.

"Got sent back to the cell…" Reno stated as he looked at his wife, "Maria, I know that wasn't the best plan."

"How was your plan?"

"Didn't work, I tried seeing if some uniforms were being used so we would take them, escort you both out of here and we kick the pilots off the shuttle, and make our way to safety.

---

Monday had come quickly, Max had stormed up to Arthur's house, he knocked on the door, and Arthur answered, "Where is D.W. I am going to look after her."

Arthur didn't expect this, "Sure…" he had called D.W. and she came downstairs with a glint in her eyes and a smile on her face.

She walked outside, "Where are we going?"

All Max had said was, "To see Mary Moo Cow."

To Be Continued.