Samantha and her father stood outside their garage in the backyard.

“Hold these for me,” she said, handing him her red umbrella and Nipper’s hand lens.

She grasped the garage door handle and yanked it upward, and the door rolled up and out of sight.

The space inside was filled with huge cardboard boxes, neatly labeled and stacked to the ceiling. In between were pinball machines, exercise equipment, and other loose items.

“I remember that popcorn popper,” said Mr. Spinner.

Samantha remembered it, too. When she and Nipper had stayed with Buffy in New York, her sister had made them sleep in bare stables on piles of shredded newspaper. Her parents had gotten to stay in a deluxe guest suite filled with arcade machines, massage chairs, and an old-fashioned popcorn popper.

Samantha searched until she located a box marked FASHION DISASTER. She tore off the tape and opened the top. Inside were a pair of greenish-gray rubber boots, a deck of Word Whammy! cards, a stack of travel brochures, and a black top hat.

“Here,” she told her father, picking up the hat and holding it out to him. “I need you to wear this.”

“A stovepipe topper?” he asked. “Why?”

“It’s too big for me, Dad,” she answered. “See?”

Samantha put the hat on her head. It slid down over her eyes and stopped at her nose. She took it off and pointed it away from both of them, holding the rim with both hands. She squeezed the rim of the top hat.

Zing-zing!

A red leather boxing glove shot out from the top of the hat on the end of a spring, then zipped back inside.

“This belonged to one of those clowns in the SUN,” she told him. “We might need it…for extra protection.”

“Sure,” said her father, taking it from her.

He handed back the umbrella and magnifier and adjusted the top hat on his head.

Samantha smiled. Buffy would not be happy to see this.

“Great,” she told him. “We’ll start by heading downtown to the kogelbaan.”

“Whatever that is, I’m ready,” said her father.

“Then we’ll ride through the salt mine and come out of The Thinker,” she said.

“I’m all for intellectual pursuits,” he replied.

“It’s a statue, Dad,” said Samantha.

He nodded.

“I’ll show you the monocycle pit along the way,” she told him. “But I don’t want to waste too much time before we go to the museum.”

“Good,” said Mr. Spinner. “And I’ll be there to keep track of any mathematical details…or illumination issues.”

He helped Samantha close the garage door, and then they walked down the driveway and headed downtown.

Along the way, they discussed magtrain mailboxes and slidewalk fire hydrants. She told him about the kogelbaan and the daredevils of the CLOUD, and how the SUN clowns had chased them from Mali to Seattle to Buffy’s theater in New York.

It felt weird traveling with her father instead of Nipper. But now she felt ready for any trouble the SNOW might throw her way.

“Your brother might have had a point,” Mr. Spinner said as they approached the car wash.

“What?” Samantha asked. “Bath not math?”

“No,” he answered. “It might have been a good idea to bring Dennis.”