Mr. Armstrong was on the spot now, "It was mainly because of Max and the physical altercation you had with Fern, she didn't want to see anyone get hurt…" Her father was poured another cup of coffee and had toasted a poppy seed bagel he slathered butter on it, "Let's have some breakfast…"

Sue Ellen was slightly satisfied with the answer and now she had decided to have some Corn Pops, she poured the milk into her cereal, and poured herself a glass or orange juice, and she sat down and ate her cereal.

"Your mother told me to keep you inside today," Mr. Armstrong added as he sipped his coffee, "I am sorry about it, but I don't want you to get in trouble."

Sue Ellen sighed; it was a nice day outside, "I am worried about him, I think…"

Mr. Armstrong interrupted her, "He is fine, it isn't like he is dying, I know technically we are related to him but don't get worried sick over him…"

"He has yet to experience life here…" Sue Ellen explained sadly, "He could get hurt!" her eyes were moist with tears, "I don't want to see him hurt…"

"If his condition continues, his mother will pull him out of school tomorrow."

Sue Ellen couldn't accept the fact anymore; Max was getting younger every day, it was to her scary… very scary…

This had stopped her, she didn't want to get into trouble, and so she just sat there eating her cereal… and her emotions.

Mr. Armstrong smiled at her, "If you do your homework I will let you go online all day today."

Sue Ellen smiled, but passed as she realized or thought she realized what he was doing, "So you don't have to deal with me? You don't want to do anything with me after all?"

He explained himself, "I didn't mean it like that; I just think you need to relax a little."

She corrected herself, "I am sorry; I am just so worried about him."

"Perhaps we can watch the Today Show and Maury, and if you are good we can watch Passions."

Sue Ellen smiled at her father, "Really?"

"We rarely do anything together; I want to do some stuff with you."

She lent a good suggestion, "Actually why don't we go to the park?"

"Your mother will not be too impressed…" Sue Ellen lowered her head sadly, until he said, "Unless we don't tell her…"

After they finished breakfast they pretty much started their day bundling up, it was snowing lightly, and they made their day right with a trip to the park.

Sue Ellen and her father sat at the park bench which was clear of snow, they were both relaxing, "Thanks…"

Of course she was feeling a bit better, but she was still eating her emotions…

They of course were sitting in the park talking as they had seen two people at another bench kissing each other on the lips… it was Mr. Ratburn and Mr. Read.

Mr. Armstrong looked shocked, and then he cleared his mind, a bitter northern wind bit at his nose, "Let's go home and have some hot chocolate."

He couldn't believe what he saw; Mr. Read and Mr. Ratburn were kissing, as it must have been about 10 AM the park wasn't too far from the school one could walk there in five minutes from the school and back.


Mr. Frensky was at car number 11 and 12 again, when Moss ran in, "Some of the classic models shown are being showcased at the Ford, Dodge and Chrysler dealerships.

This was a four man operation, plus driver to take them home, there were two Fords on the list he needed, a classic Dodge and a classic Chrysler on the list.

The four men dressed all the same in business suits walked towards the dealerships, the place was busy, but it was risky now, police wanted to root them up, however it was not as easy as expected, they seemed like masterminds in the art of auto theft. They weren't stupid enough to take them when people were around, so they had decided to wait until people had left and the dealerships closed up shop for the evening to make their move.

The owners of the car dealerships left their place of business and the four men had done their business, driving to Teal County was easy, the county line was just a stones throw away; by the time Freeman would have arrived to the dealerships, he wouldn't be able to do anything about it because they had crossed the county line.

"14 cars," Davenport said, "You guys are working fast, and you have almost 25 of the cars on my list."

They ignored the hick and left.

----

That evening Sue Ellen was allowed to go out, despite being well too upset, she needed to attempt to make some new friends, anyone she had talked to… in her mind she had seemed to ruin their lives.

She decided on to go to Leena's, the half bear half rabbit girl was relaxing as she had worn a nice pink dress, "Oh, hi Sue Ellen, what's new?"

Sue Ellen thought it was gutsy to ask, she lowered her head in sadness, "Will you well uh… be my friend?"

"What happened with Fern?'

"You saw what happened the other day, Fern and I almost fought, but we accidentally hurt poor Max…" Sue Ellen explained as she fell to her knees and started to cry.

"Something tells me you are close to him…"

The cat girl continued to sob, "I tend to send everyone on a road to disaster…"

"That isn't true…"

Sue Ellen started to calm down, "When was one time I managed not to ruin anyone's lives?"

"How about when you and Steve were both kidnapped?"

Sue Ellen moaned, "I'd rather not talk about it…"

"You sent his father to jail…"

The cat girl lowered her head sadly, "But he is out on good behavior."

The half bear rabbit girl continued to offer some nice insight, "How about when you saved your mothers life when she got kidnapped?"

Sue Ellen sighed as she was upset with the circumstances, "Going off planet in disguise was far from what I can an adventure…"

"You saved your mother, Max brought justice to those who were suffering…"

Sue Ellen didn't say another word, "Should I see if George wants to do something?"

"I guess…"

The two girls had walked over to George's house; the moose boy was watching TV, when Sue Ellen knocked at the door, he was a bit nervous to see her, "What brings you both here?"

Sue Ellen swallowed nervously, she was in fear of rejection, "George will you be my friend?"

George was shocked, "We already are…"

"I don't hang around with you enough," She explained, "Fern and everyone else hates me."

"They don't hate you…"

"Then why did my mom make me stay home from school?" Sue Ellen asked as she was almost crying.

"She felt that you were going to hurt Fern and disrupt the class because of Max's condition, it isn't normal how he is well… age regressing."

In an almost tear filled voice she hugged him, "Thank you for understanding…"


Mr. Armstrong was quiet, too quiet for Mrs. Armstrong's tastes; she noticed something was up, "What's wrong."

"I saw Mr. Read and Mr. Ratburn kissing…" He replied in an emotionless voice.

"David Read and Nigel Ratburn?"

"Yes, I don't know if Mrs. Read knows about this yet or not."

"Best not to tell her, she will get upset…"

Mr. Armstrong needed to tell someone, he was tempted to…

At home the next day, Sue Ellen was still upset with her fathers nefarious comments about well her so called 'social development' to her it wasn't fair, this was no vacation away from school it was far from it, it was getting homework every day.

She sat down having breakfast and she sighed.

"Why don't we go for a walk?" Mr. Armstrong asked curiously.

After they ate breakfast, they went for a nice relaxing walk, until they had seen Mr. Read go into a stag shop.

"Let's go do some grocery shopping…" Mr. Armstrong stressed, as he of course didn't want Sue Ellen to be exposed to that type of stuff, "We need some of the essentials."

They went to the store, and of course Buster was there with Carla, "Buster, shouldn't you be in school?"

"I just had a dentist and doctor's appointment…" Buster lowered his head.

Carla sighed sadly looking at her obviously upset step-son, "Apparently someone beat him up pretty bad yesterday and no one is stepping forward whoever beat him up chipped his tooth and left pretty good bruises on his body."

They had done their shopping together and went out of the store, "I can't believe it, I don't know who did this to him…"

"I think I know who…"

Muffy walked out of the store and leered at Sue Ellen and the monkey girl was making threats of violence to her as she figured the cat girl was going to tell.

Sue Ellen had a change of heart, "Actually… I don't," and she added as she looked at her father, "I of course wasn't there…"

After school, Max was five years old, a bit shorter than D.W. now, Mrs. Armstrong could feel the sadness build up within her, her favorite car was gone, Max was getting younger every day, Sue Ellen was home from school for some well deserved rest.

She sighed as Max's mom dropped him off at school to be put in the kindergartener's class.

Muffy came talking to her like all miss innocent, "Mrs. Armstrong, why did they take Francine?"

"…There is someone out there who is gutsy and wants an easy fix for money… and cars, I lost my Ferrari, it was my prized possession; every week I would wash it, wax it, protect it from rain, keep it in the garage during the winter, clean everything up so it was in pristine condition… I loved that car…"

Muffy of course asked, "Think someone will get it back for you?"

"I hope so, having one vehicle right now is hard, I would at days drive the Ferrari to work and cover it so the elements wouldn't get at it…"

"You really do love that car…"

Buster came forward, "Did aliens take your car?"

Arthur complained about Busters theory, "Buster!" this wasn't the time or the place to throw wild accusations of aliens stealing hot cars.

Buster sighed, "Mr. Kane our old teacher is doing news reports on the stolen cars, it is up to 14 now; and 0 arrests."

Arthur made an observant comment, "Apparently Mr. Manino lost his car."

"The cruise night was a disaster as well, four cars were stolen while… believe it or not everyone was asleep," Buster commented.

Fern walked towards them saying, "I think Mr. Crosswire is stealing the cars to get Francine back."

Muffy gave Fern a dirty look, she talked just above a whisper, "That isn't funny!"

"I didn't say it was…"

Buster laughed at Fern's assumption, "That is a dumb assumption, if he were to do that, and then the police would be on him like a donut."

Mr. Freeman the bulldog man walking down the street poked Buster in the stomach as he heard that comment, "Very funny tubby, if anything I could accuse you of stealing the cars and you being sent to juvie but your mother would kill me, and if you were sent there she would beat you until you were black and blue. 14 cars stolen in five days… it is sick, I will talk to those guys again, because I know if they are stealing the cars, they are going to be making license plates for cars… for the rest of their lives."

Buster chuckled, "Don't forget Bubba…"

"Ah yes, he is anticipating the time when he has his way with whoever is the culprit in these crimes of passion."

Carla gave Mr. Freeman a dirty look as she walked by, "Are you giving my step-son bad ideas?"

"No mam…"

"Good," she turned to Buster as she forgot to tell him something, "Carlos and Mora are guests for dinner tonight."

To Be Continued.