Muffy spent the night tossing, turning, and sighing with relief. She tossed and turned while dreaming that she had been bound to a railroad track by a sneering villain with a top hat and handlebar moustache, and she sighed with relief while dreaming that her heroic father was slicing the ropes and rescuing her from the oncoming Orient Express. In the morning, she awoke with very little fear remaining of the stranger who had threatened her and Bailey the previous day. My daddy has things well in hand, she thought with confidence.

School began much like it did every Monday, with a session of show and tell. The first to participate was Buster, who had carefully placed a large carrot on a platform. "Behold my latest invention," he told the other students, "a robotic carrot."

"Robotic?" said Fern incredulously. "All it does is sit there."

"Yeah," said Buster proudly. "Lifelike, isn't it?"

Francine also had something to contribute. "This is my first Bible," she said, flashing the leather-bound tome in front of her classmates. "Now that I'm a Christian, I'm going to read from it every day. I don't know if I'll read the whole thing, since the reverend tells me the best parts are near the end."

"Whoa, hold on," Binky chimed in. "You're not serious about this, are you?"

"I sure am," said the monkey girl with a grin.

"You'd better think about it some more," Binky advised her. "I mean, isn't there a law against changing your religion more than once?"

The other kids chuckled. "Actually, Binky," the teacher interjected, "the First Amendment to the Constitution gives you the right to change your religious beliefs as many times as you want."

"I have an idea," Arthur spoke up. "Why not be Christian and Jewish at the same time?"

"That's crazy," said Francine. "The Christians wouldn't accept me, and the Jews wouldn't accept me either."

"The Unitarians would accept you," said Beat.

Mrs. Krantz proceeded to announce the program for first period. "As you may know, ambassadors from the Interstellar Alliance will visit New York City this weekend. The Alliance is a lot like the United Nations, except that it has member planets instead of member nations, and they actually agree on things from time to time. For today's creative writing exercise, I'd like each one of you to write an answer to the question, 'If I were an alien, what kind of alien would I be?' Sue, since you are an alien, I'd like you to write about how being an alien makes you feel different from other kids. Are there any questions?"

There were no questions, so the kids started to write in earnest. Sue, for her part, jotted down, "When I found out from my real parents that I was a Yordilian, I was totally shocked. I worried that my friends would treat me like some kind of space invader, but they didn't. Instead they treated me like someone special, and after a while, I realized that I was someone special. As I learned more about life on the planet Yordil, I realized that the Yordilians were a lot more advanced than the people of Earth, and that I should be proud that I was one of them. When the Yordilians invaded Earth, I wasn't sure what to do at first, and I thought and thought for a long time. Finally, I..." She paused and weighted what she would write next. "...I helped stop the invasion, because my friends on Earth may be only humans, but they're still great friends." I am such a good liar, she flattered herself.

George, who was feeling rather uncreative, wrote a detailed description of Jenny, his missing friend from the planet Kressida. "...and when she talks, it's like three people talking at the same time," he concluded. As he put down his pencil, he recalled that the purpose of the exercise was to describe the kind of alien he would want to be. Oh, crud, he thought, slapping his forehead.

The center court of Lakewood Elementary buzzed with activity as first period gave way to second. Muffy, still stubbornly sporting her optical fiber dress, wandered toward the drinking fountain, only to be confronted by an odd sight--little James McDonald, his eyes glassy, his arms stretched out. "Unnnggghhh," moaned the rabbit boy as he lunged at her and pressed his dingy-looking hands against her belly.

"Ewww," said Muffy, backing away. "What's your problem?"

James smiled playfully. "I touched you," he explained. "Now you're a zombie."

Muffy scowled. "Hmph! First-graders and their silly games."

Elsewhere, Alan and some of his classmates, including Mickie and Marina, were discussing what they had heard. "I don't think the Alliance is like the United Nations at all," the boy opined. "The U.N. is basically a place where the nations get together and settle their differences, but in the Alliance, the planets don't really have differences."

"You're right, Alan," said Mickie. "Not only that, but the U.N. was founded on the notion of interdependence--that what happens in one country can spill over and affect other countries. But a civil war on Planet X can't affect Planet Y, because the two planets are light-years apart."

"What do you think, Marina?" Alan asked the blind rabbit girl.

"Er...ah..." she stammered. "I...don't really have anything to say. I yield the floor to you, Alan."

She walked slowly away, tapping the tiled floor with the end of her cane. If only I could see, I'd teach those brainiacs a thing or two, she thought bitterly.

As she made her way down a corridor, her ears picked up a familiar voice uttering, "Hello? Hello?"

"Hello, Muffy," she responded in a friendly tone.

"Oh, it's you, Marina," spoke Muffy's voice through the darkness. "I wasn't talking to you. I'm trying to reach Mrs. Cutler on my cell phone, but she's too busy seeing patients to answer my calls."

"Mrs. Cutler?" said Marina, curious. "You mean Mavis's mom?"

Muffy nodded. "Yeah, that's who I'm talking about. I called Mavis yesterday, and she sounded totally down and...wait a minute, how do you know Mavis?"

Oops, thought Marina. "Well, I..." she started to say.

"Are you friends with her?" Muffy inquired. "I had no idea."

"Er, yes," said the rabbit girl. "I met her at the Braille school."

"What's she doing at the Braille school?" Muffy asked her. "Teaching? Volunteering? I didn't know she was into that."

She watched a somber expression dawn over the blind girl's face.

"She asked me not to tell any of her friends," said Marina, her voice breaking, her eyes tearing up. "But I can't lie to you, Muffy. Mavis isn't teaching Braille. She's learning it."

to be continued