"Ah, kids, that's great! Great" he waved his hands in the air like a clown. "That's one big chore done and out of the way! Here you go, how about ten dollars each for a couple hours hard work?"

"Wow, what a play!" yelled Coach throwing up his ball cap. Red grabs his skateboard and jumps up in the air to land on four wheels with a big clack.

"Oh, Mr. Loblally," said Pandora, "thank you very much, but do you want this pretty box? Your mother said it should be thrown away. . .

"To the bottom of the ocean!" asserts Horsehead Miller.

"What's that? I don't know. You mean that was in the basement?" All the kids nod.

"I saw it!" says Missy with wide eyes.

"Oh, sure, take it. I don't remember ever seeing it; I'm sure it's not important. Here, can you help me with just one more thing? I have an old crate of gardening things I'm sure I will never use."

As the boys followed the Bird Lady's son to a greenhouse, the girls tried to figure out how to open the box. But it was a mystery.

"Here," said Nikki," this panel slides this way, and now this side swings out a little, and. . ." suddenly the lid of the box sprang open just as the boys and the Bird Lay's son came back, and a puff of white smoke burst up. Pandora and the two girls screamed in surprise. The Bird Lady's son's back was turned, since he was walking backwards with the crate, and didn't know what was happening. But the boys saw the whole thing.

As the white smoke billowed up, a distinct rustling of feathers was heard flapping with a strangely plaintive cry. The Bird Lady's son passed through the cloud and sneezed.

"Bless me, must be hay fever," he said, "I just can't, can't, achoo! imagine what. . ." and he went and dumped the box in his truck instead of dumping it on the curb.

"Oh, remember!? Remember how it was?," shouts Pandora at Sweets Slop Shop. "That's when it all started!"

The kids hunch over their ice cream lost in thought. But all their thoughts are the same. They are all frowning. They think Pandora is right. "But what is it?" asks Red.