Francine Frensky was sitting on the roof of the apartment building, looking down at the people and cars driving by. She liked being up here. No one else ever came up here, not even her parents. It's the perfect place for her and her thoughts… and her drums. She loved playing her drums and singing whatever she wanted with no one to tell her no. Not the landlord, not her parents, not even her older sister, Catherine. It wasn't until she heard the sound of squealing tires that snapped her back into reality. She looked down as she saw a limo drift professionally around the corner and fish-tail it into a parking spot right in front of the building. Francine knew who was driving, but was still genuinely surprised when Bailey stepped out of the driver side. He walked around to the back door but it burst open before he could open it. Muffy hopped out and starting calling out. "FRANCINE! FRANCINE! WHERE ARE YOU? WHERE IS IT?"
"Up here, Muffy," she called back, waving the piece in the air. "It's right here."
"I'll be right up," Muffy shouted. "Stay there!" It didn't take long. Right through the lobby, a quick elevator trip to the top floor, and a set of stairs and she was on the roof. She looked over at her friend holding the top of the missile. Francine's skin was darker than that of Muffy, although the shape of their faces were quite similar. Francine was wearing her normal outfit; a red sweater, blue jeans, sneakers, and yellow barrettes in her hair. Personally, Muffy could upgrade her wardrobe in a variety of ways, but Francine always refused. Oh well. What are best friends for if they aren't able to accept the poor outfit choices of the other. "Can I see it?"
In response, Francine held up the piece. It wasn't the top of a missile like Muffy originally thought. "What is it," Muffy asked.
"It looks like the top of a rocket," Francine answered. "But that's not all." She then turned it over showing Muffy the set of legs attached to the rocket. "It looks like some legs from an action figure. But, what action figure?"
"I've got this," Muffy said pulling out her smartphone. "There's this setting on my phone where I can take a picture of something broken or incomplete and it recreates it. She then took a picture of the legs and her phone did the rest. In less than 10 seconds, the image was complete. "Who is that?"
"I think that's one of the wrestlers Binky likes." They both stopped and looked at each other. "BINKY!" they said in unison.
"But, hold on a sec," Francine said shaking her head. "There's no way Binky could make and launch this rocket. He must have had help." For the second time, the lightbulbs in both of their heads went on at the same time. "BRAIN!" they exclaimed.
"Of course," Muffy said, hitting her fist on her open palm. "It all makes sense. We have to find them."
"Great idea," Francine said. "That way, we can make them pay for what they did." She then turned to Bailey, who stood there silently the whole time. "Bailey, you check downtown, Muffy uptown, and I'll check the residential area."
"Good plan," Muffy replied. She then turned to her butler. "Bailey, my ride." They all went back down to the front door and Bailey walked out towards the back trunk of the automobile. When he opened it, he reached in and pulled out a small bicycle, streamers flowing from the handlebars, a luxurious, reclining seat. It looked like it was made for a princess, which it technically was. Francine's bike, on the other hand, was not so luxurious. Small, dented, slightly rusted, with a straw basket on the front. But, Francine didn't mind. It got her where she needed to go and fast. When they both had their helmet situated, they all parted ways, determined to bring Binky and Brain to justice.
Elsewhere…
"So, where are we going to go now," Binky asked. "I'm getting tired of carrying all this stuff."
"Well," Brain started, "we can't go back to my house. It's definitely not safe… yet. We're only going back there when the rocket is all constructed and all we need is the fuel and the coating. At that time, I'd only need about 10-15 minutes to get all prepped for launch."
"We should go to someone else's house," Buster proposed. "It worked really well at Sue Ellen's."
"He's right," Arthur added. "Whose house should we go to?"
"How about Mr Ratburn's," Binky asked. Brain looked at him, expecting Binky to start laughing like he was joking. But, when no joke came, Brain questioned,
"Wait. You were being serious?"
"Well, yeah," he responded. "No one would ever think to go there."
"Well, that true," Brain said scratching his head. "But, Ratburn might turn us in to the authorities if he finds out what we did of what we plan on doing. Flying a rocket into space isn't exactly legal for a third grader. Let's keep thinking."
Everyone pondered some more, until Brain got an idea. "How about Fern's place?"
Buster looked at him, his head cocked sideways. "Fern," he questioned.
"Yes," Brain stated. "It's perfect. She's shy, doesn't really talk to many people, and, vice versa, people don't really talk or pay that much attention to her. Plus, she's got a pretty big house."
"Well, that does sound like it could work," Arthur started, but then shook his head. "But, how will we know if Fern will even let us in?"
"It's a risk we're going to have to take," Brain answered. "Let's go." And with that, the gang headed off to their next location.
It didn't take long to get there. Most of the children in Elwood City lived relatively near each other. They were soon standing outside of Fern's house. It was a large, white house with wooden sidings,lots of windows, each one surrounded by a blue, wooden frame, a large paved driveway, and a cobblestone path that led from the end of the driveway all the way up to the front porch. The porch itself was quite small, the front of it guarded by a line of unkempt bushes and the only decoration on it was a two-person bench. The group all crowded on the porch in front of the door. They looked around at one another, none of them wanting to ring the doorbell. Finally, Brain pushed them aside and pressed it. Ding-dong. It didn't take long before the door opened a crack. A small face appeared in the small opening, the eyes darting to all the people that stood before her, until they settled on Brain. Then, the door opened all the way and there was Fern Walters standing on the other side. She was a shy girl, resembling a dog, with long, floppy ears and a small triangular nose. Her skin was a gray mixed with some purple. She was dressed like she normally was; a purple, buttoned up shirt with a yellow collar, dull yellow pants and dark brown shoes. On the top her head, she wore a red bow in her hair that rarely came out, not even when she slept. "Hey," she said quietly. "What are you guys doing here?" She was clearly blushing.
Before Brain could say anything, Binky shoved him aside and whispered to him, "I'll handle this." He then turned to Fern. She had to look up to see Binky eye-to-eye. "We're working on this project. We're making a rocket, but we kinda hit a roadblock. You see, we wanted to put some poetry on every piece of the rocket, so if it gets found by someone or something, they can appreciate some good poems. But, the problem is, none of us are good poets. That's where you come in. You're a great poet. We knew that you'd be the best person to help us."
Fern smiled. It was true. She loved poetry and she was always ready to help out friends in need. "Ok," she said, her voice full of confidence. "Come on inside. I'll show you some of my work and you can pick out what you want." They all thanked her and walked inside. When she gestured for them to follow her to her room, everyone hesitated. Finally, Brain broke the silence.
"I'll go," he said trying to push past everyone, but he was stopped.
"No," Binky said firmly. "I'll go." He then turned and faced Brain. "You make that rocket ready to fly. It's my turn to take one for the team." And with that, he turned and lumbered up the stairs. The others waited a moment and ducked into the other room and got right to work.
When Binky arrived at the top of the spiral stairs, he looked down the hall and saw only one door opened. He cautiously pushed it open and peeked inside. It was Fern's room. It wasn't much different than his room. A large bed, an opened window, and shelves for his stuff. There was also random sheets of paper and books scattered on the floor, reminding him even more of his room. The only main difference was the large desk on the right wall. That's where Fern was, most likely writing out another one of her detective stories. He didn't feel like bothering her yet, so he turned to the bookshelf to his immediate right and pulled out a book. Reading the cover aloud, he said, "One Fish, Two Fish, Red Fish, Blue Fish." Fern turned around on her swivel chair.
"Good job, Binky," she said with a smile. "I didn't know you could read so poetically." She laughed and went back to writing.
"Hey," Binky said, a touch on anger in his voice. "I may be dumb, but I'm not stupid." He put the book back and walked over to her desk. Looking over her shoulder, he asked, "Whatcha working on?"
"The latest caper of brilliant detective Virgule Watteau," she answered with a sparkle in her eye. Watteau was a French character she created that had a striking resemblance to Fern, who had a partner that resembled George Lundgren, a moose boy in their class. "You want to read it?," she asked holding it out to Binky.
"You bet," he replied, eagerly reaching out to grab it, but stopped himself. "Actually," he said, before he looked down and grabbed a book of the floor with different pictures and descriptions, "I'll read the bios on each of the characters first."
"Alright," Fern said, spinning back around to get back to work. "I'm genuinely surprised you guys came to me, Binky," she continued. "I mean, don't you really like poetry too?"
"Yeah, I do," Binky replied, "but, not as much as you. If anyone would be helpful to us, it would be you."
She blushed at the compliment. "Well, thank you."
"You're welcome," Binky said, and then turned back to the book he was holding. He read the first thing he saw, "The Grey Dove?" This perked Fern's interest as she turned around and faced Binky as he kept reading. "A villainous, mastermind that was always one step of Watteau, always making off with the rarest treasures…. and Watteau's heart?" He looked further down the page where there was a picture attached. It looked just like him in a cape, top hat, and a monocle. When he looked over at Fern, she was already out of her chair, diving at him. He was taken aback, thinking she was jumping into his arms, and was surprised again when she snatched the book out of his hands, slamming it shut.
"DON'T YOU HAVE ANY SENSE OF PRIVACY," she yelled. Yet again, this shocked Binky. He had never heard Fern yell before. No one had.
"Uh…. umm," was all he could say.
"THIS DIARY IS SECRET," she continued to exclaim. "HOW COULD YOU GO AND READ SOMETHING LIKE THAT?" She stopped to let it sink in, before taking a big sigh. "I'm sorry, but you have to leave." And with that, she was pushing Binky down the hallway and down the stairs.
When they heard the yelling from upstairs, Arthur, Buster and Brain all stopped what they were doing to listen in. It wasn't long before the yelling stopped and they heard someone coming down the stairs. They picked up and hid their project and went to see, and were all shocked to see Binky being pushed by Fern. "Uh, hey guys," Binky said. "I think we have to go."
"What," Brain exclaimed, "But, we aren't finished yet."
Fern looked over at the group of three. "I'm really sorry, but you guys can't be here anymore. Not after what Binky did." She then gave up pushing just Binky and instead went on to prod them all out the front door. Before they could say another word, they were on the front porch and with one final shove, Buster fell off the steps into the grass and Fern slammed the door. Brain could clearly hear her crying on the other side of the door, but he didn't do anything, except turn and help Buster up.
"Thanks," the rabbit said, dusting off his knees. "What just happened," he said gesturing back to Fern's house.
"I don't know," Arthur answered. "Why don't we ask Binky?" They all simultaneously turned to him.
"Hey, it's not my fault," he started. "I told her I was reading a book and she said it was alright. How was I supposed to know it was her diary?"
"Maybe it said "Diary" on the front," Brain asked.
"Nope," Binky said, shaking his head. "It didn't say that."
"Well, whatever happened," Arthur said, breaking them up, "we only got halfway done. We have to go somewhere else to finish it."
"Ratburn's house," Buster suggested.
"No," Brain said. They couldn't go to the house of their 3rd grade teacher. "Not Ratburn's house. Why does everyone want to go there?" No response came because everyone was trying to think of somewhere else. After a solid two minutes, no one had thought of anywhere else.
"Well, it looks like we're going to Ratburn's after all," Binky said. Brain solemnly nodded and they started down the street. Fern peeked out of one of the windows, watching the group depart. She gave a sigh, wiped her eyes, and opened the diary to the page was looking at. Thankfully, Binky didn't see that the picture of him was only covering up another picture. The real thief to her heart, Brain.
Francine peddled hard and fast down the sidewalk, not bothering to say "excuse me" as she blew by countless numbers of people. She didn't care. She had a person she had to see. After a few more minutes of pedaling, she skidded to a stop in front of a house. Sue Ellen's house to be exact. She had to get some information and this was the best place to start. Sue Ellen knew close to everything going on around Elwood City. If anyone would know where to find Brain and Binky, it was her. She marched up the front walk and rang the doorbell. When no one came, she rang it again. "Come on, come on, where is she," Francine muttered with her arms crossed, tapping her foot furiously. Just after the third ring, the door was opened by Sue Ellen.
"I had a feeling it was you, Francine," she said, and then smiled. "What can I do for you?"
"I'm kinda in a rush," she said. "Have you seen Brain or Binky today?"
"Well, yeah. Why," she asked.
Francine continued to pepper her with questions. "When did you see them? What were they doing? Where are they going next?"
"Uh… they didn't say where they were going next," she started, "I saw them a little over an hour ago, and they were making some kind of rocket ship?" Francine stopped asking questions and just stared wide-eyed back at the cat-girl.
"What did you say," she asked slowly. "The last part."
"That… they were building a rocket ship," she replied with a question. "Why? What's going on?"
Thanks, Sue Ellen," she said and immediately tore down the front walk and hopped back on her bike. She then continued to pedal up the streets as fast as she could.