The sight of the infamous door made Alan nervous, and Fern even more so. Yet, as Alan reminded himself once again, "He must not have all of his memories, or else he would've come looking for me and Tegan by now."
"Makes sense to me," said the poodle girl, who waited anxiously for someone to answer the doorbell or, preferably, for someone to not answer it.
"I wonder what I'll say to him if he doesn't remember me," Alan mused. "'Hi, I'm the kid who mowed your lawn all summer, and you owe me five hundred dollars with interest.' How does that sound?"
Fern grinned wistfully at him. "That's so clever," she said. "Yeah, I think he'd fall for it."
They stood motionlessly on the dusty welcome mat, expecting to be greeted by either a raging monster or a forgetful friend. "I guess he's not home," said Alan finally.
Turning, he wrapped his fingers around Fern's hand, and they strolled away from Mansch's house together. The girl's skin was warm and slightly oily to his touch. "I love it when you hold my hand," said Fern, who appeared to be stifling a giggle.
"It's just a friendly gesture," said Alan without breaking his stride. "It doesn't mean I'm interested in you romantically."
"Oh," said Fern, her smile disappearing.
Alan's tone became serious as they took a side trip through an orchard. "It's not that I don't like you, Fern. I do like you…but we're not destined to be together."
"I do like you, Muffy," Van confided in his friend. "But I'm still young, and so are you. We should enjoy our childhood now, and worry about the birds and the trees when we're older."
"But I'm very mature for my age," said Muffy insistently, "and kissing's what mature people do. C'mon, it doesn't have to mean anything, you can just kiss me for the heck of it."
Van gazed into space and thought for a few seconds, then leaned forward in his wheelchair. "Okay," he said, narrowing his eyes. "Just this once, just for the heck of it."
"It's because I'm a dog, isn't it?" said Fern bitterly.
It was in the shade of a chestnut tree, with broken nuts littering the grass, that Alan tried to explain the situation to her. "It has nothing to do with that. Imagine…imagine traveling into the future, and seeing yourself married, and meeting the person you'll marry. How would that change things for you?"
The girl's eyes widened in astonishment. "Did that…did that happen to you?" she asked.
Alan nodded, a proud smile on his face.
"Who is it?" Fern inquired eagerly. "Is it Beat Simon?"
"No," replied Alan, chuckling. "What makes you think Beat and I would…"
Fern shrugged. "I just figured, since you're smart and she's smart…"
"No, it's not Beat," Alan told her. "And I'm surprised you didn't ask me if you're the one."
I'm surprised too, thought Fern. "So, who's the lucky girl?"
Muffy pressed her lips against the tip of Van's beak and waited for something to happen. The kiss lasted for about five seconds, yet left her feeling as if it had never started. She drew back her face, disappointed.
"Well, that was…nice," said Van, a lack of enthusiasm apparent in his voice.
"I've never kissed a duck before," said Muffy. "It's like…it's like kissing hardened oatmeal."
"I can't help it if I don't have lips," said Van defensively.
"How do ducks do it, anyway?" said Muffy, looking down at her gesturing hands. "I mean, if a girl duck and a boy duck touch their beaks together, how can they feel anything at all?"
"When my mom and dad kiss," replied Van after a moment's reflection, "they usually have their beaks open, unless it's just a peck."
"Ewww," said Muffy with disgust. "Open-mouth kissing? That's so gross!"
"I don't believe it," said Fern after picking up her jaw from the ground. "You and D.W. Read?"
"Yeah," said Alan, shrugging. "Crazy, isn't it? But that's what Jason told me, and he's my son from the future, so he should know."
"But you don't have to go through with it, right?" said Fern earnestly. "The future's not like a movie, where the ending never changes."
"It's not that simple," said Alan, solemnity in his voice. "I also learned from Jason that…that millions of people will live or die depending on what I do with my life."
Fern could offer him nothing but a blank stare.
"I'm going to become a great weapons scientist," Alan related. "I'd tell you more, but I'd be giving away the future, and it's highly classified information anyway."
"Oh, come on, Alan," said Fern impatiently. "What you're talking about is just one possible future. You're still free to do whatever you want, to marry whoever you want…"
The boy shook his head. "I don't know, Fern. If I'm the one who builds the ultimate doomsday weapon, then I must have a good reason for doing it. Maybe I have a good reason for marrying D.W. as well."
Muffy leaned backwards in the passenger seat of Bailey's car, her arms folded, her face locked in a sulk. "Me and my silly romantic notions," she muttered. "I honestly believed Van and I could have a life together. How was I supposed to know that kissing a duck's beak was so unfulfilling?"
"I wouldn't discount ducks if I were you, Miss Muffy," said Bailey encouragingly. "When I was much younger I became involved with a lovely duck girl, and we came up with some very creative ways to…"
"I didn't ask for your life story, Jeeves," the monkey girl grumbled.
A road sign whizzed by, imparting the message ELWOOD CITY, 84 MILES. Muffy glared at her shiny, painted fingernails. George was a little dorky, but at least he has lips, she thought. Maybe it's not too late to start over with…
Her cell phone rang without warning. She flipped it open: "Hi, Muffy Crosswire here."
"Watch your back," uttered a strange, threatening male voice, and the call ended with a series of beeps.
Muffy followed her first impulse, turning her head and craning her neck to look through the back window. Among the handful of cars moving in their direction, an old, rather dented green one was traveling faster than the others—much faster.
Bailey glanced at the rear-view mirror, and saw that the unknown vehicle was rapidly closing the distance between them. "Hmm," he said to himself. "Someone either just escaped from Hell, or is in a dreadful hurry to get there."
It's going almost as fast as a jet, thought Muffy. The driver's features became visible as the car pulled alongside Bailey's hybrid, and she imagined that the ruddy-looking man might be a superspy on an urgent mission. In an instant the two cars were parallel, as the other had suddenly slowed down.
"I think he's trying to tell us something," remarked Bailey, noticing the driver's cold stare and grim smirk as he turned his face to them.
"He scares me," said Muffy. Her first impression wasn't helped when the mysterious driver abruptly yanked his wheel to the right, and the sides of the two vehicles collided with a resounding, earth-shaking crunch…
To be continued