“Largest freshwater lake?” Dr. Suzette Spinner read out loud. “That’s easy. Lake Superior.”

Seated on the couch in the living room, she smiled with satisfaction as she worked on the WRUF application. Most of these questions weren’t difficult at all. A few were tricky, but so far, she was enjoying the challenge.

Dr. Spinner had to admit, recalling amazing facts, useless or not, was a lot of fun…and she was good at it. Maybe she would try to join that silly WRUF organization. At the very least, she’d finish the application, even if she didn’t send it in. It would be good to show all the Spinner boys that they weren’t the only ones capable of becoming Worldwide Reciters of Useless Facts.

It was too bad Samantha wasn’t around to see Dr. Spinner filling in this form, too. Samantha would be pretty impressed that her mother also knew a lot about countries, people, and geography. Of course, Samantha would probably try to turn everything into an international mystery where her family was in some kind of danger.

Dr. Spinner scanned the page for the next question.

“Longest recorded flight of a chicken,” she read out loud. “That’s ridiculous. Does anyone know that? Why would anyone know that?”

She set the half-completed application on the coffee table.

“Where would you even go to find that answer?” she asked.

Then she remembered. She knew exactly the place to go.

Dr. Spinner left the house through the back door and headed up to the apartment over the garage. She went inside and walked straight to Paul’s bookshelf.

A thin, hardcover book in the center of the top shelf caught her eye: Poultry in Motion.

“Leave it to Paul to own a book like that,” she said.

She pulled it from the shelf and began flipping the pages. About a quarter of the way through the book, she stopped.

“Chickens,” she said, reading the chapter title.

Her finger moved down the page.

“Walking…running…dancing…swimming…,” she read. “Flying.”

The longest continuous flight time for a chicken was approximately thirteen seconds. That record-setting journey covered a distance of 301.5 feet.

“More than three hundred feet?” said Suzette. “Amazing. I was going to guess no more than two hundred.”

Dr. Spinner nodded thoughtfully and closed the book. She began to scan the bookshelf.

“Pirate Ships Throughout the Ages,” she read from one spine.

“A Handy Visitor’s Guide to Llanfairpwllgwyngyllgogerychwyrndrobwllllantysiliogogogoch, Wales,” she read off another.

Dr. Spinner grabbed both books. Then, just as she was about to leave, she spotted another book: Major League Baseball: Rules and Special Exceptions.

She smiled and pulled the book from the shelf.

“I’ll read this one with Nipper,” she said as she tucked the book under her arm with the others. “Maybe there’s something in it that can help him save the New York Yankees.”

Someone knocked on the door.

“Nipper?” she called. “Is that you?”

Nobody answered.

“Nipper?” she called again. “I found a book that might contain a way to keep your baseball team from getting kicked out of—”

The door burst open.

Two people in silver suits stepped into the apartment. They were dressed from head to toe in shiny foil. They wore silver boots. Their faces were hidden behind reflective metal screens. Both of them had words etched on the foreheads of their silver hoods. One said Burns. The other said Swelters.

Suzette thought the strange people looked like astronauts, or possibly scientists—the kind that explored volcanoes.

“Where’s Pajama Paul?” barked Burns.

“Who are you?” asked Dr. Spinner. “What are you doing in my brother-in-law’s apartment?”

“Where’s the dog?” said Swelters.

Suzette sprang forward. She pushed between the intruders, bolted out the door, and stopped at the top of the staircase. In the distance, she saw several more silver figures walking around outside the house.

“Nipper! Dennis!” she called as she raced down the staircase. “Go get help! Call the police! Find Sam—”

Dr. Spinner tripped on the last step and stumbled forward onto the paved backyard driveway.

Swish!

Something dropped from above, covering her.

A net?

It was heavy. She could barely move. It was hard to see. She heard the sound of heavy boots marching down the stairs.

“We got the mom!” a voice called out. “But there’s no sign of the uncle or the dog!”

Suzette was facedown on the pavement. The heavy net held her, so she couldn’t get up. Shiny silver boots stomped back and forth around her.

“We’d better take the whole garage,” said another voice. “Someone may be hiding somewhere inside the place.”

R-r-rumble!

Dr. Spinner heard a truck or some other kind of large vehicle approaching.

“Be careful not to set anything on fire!” someone shouted. “There are a ton of papers and old books in that place!”

Through a gap between the thick ropes, she spotted a piece of chalk on the ground. She reached through the netting and grabbed it, then began scribbling on the pavement.

Hisss! Chunka-chunka-chunka!

She heard the sound of heavy machinery in the distance. Something huge was coming down the driveway. The entire backyard was shaking.

She wrote faster.

“Easy does it!” someone shouted. “You don’t want to hurt anyone who might be hiding inside the apartment!”

Chunka-chunka-chunka!

Everything went black.