He pressed a button marked ACTIVATE on the side. As usual, nothing happened for just long enough for Greta to snap, "Is it broken?" Then, suddenly, it began spinning rapidly, until it was nothing but a streak of whirling color. Within seconds, the briefcase had been transformed into a compact, but impressive-looking, spaceship.
"Wha dat?" said a voice.
Nicola spun around.
It was their youngest cousin, Jessie. She was wearing pink pajamas and staring with wide eyes at the spaceship.
"Go back inside, Jessie," said Nicola, in what she thought was a firm, kindly parental voice.
"No," said Jessie in an equally firm, kindly voice. "Wha dat?"
"It's a spaceship," said Sean. "Now scoot off, kiddo."
Tyler unlocked the spaceship. The glass bubble on top hinged back and a ladder slid down to the ground.
"Jessie come for a ride!" Jessie's voice rose to alarming levels.
"Can't you control her?" said Greta to Nicola. "Isn't she, like, a relative of yours?"
Nicola shrugged. She had no idea how to handle naughty children except to just give them whatever they wanted. Katie bent down beside Jessie. She was good with children because she had four very naughty little brothers.
"If you quietly go back inside, we'll bring you back something really special from our trip," said Katie. "Would you like something pink or yellow?"
Jessie put her finger to her lip. "Ummm, I think, pink. No, yellow. Pink!"
"I don't think you should bribe her," said Greta. "She'll get unrealistic expectations about life. Do as you're told and go inside, little girl."
Jessie stomped her feet and screamed, "No!"
A light went on inside the house.
"We'd better hurry," said Sean.
"What's going on out there?" called out a voice from inside.
Frizzle, thought Nicola. (Frizzle was the Berry family's own private swear word.)
"Go, go, go!" she said. The Space Brigade began scrambling up the spaceship ladder.
Jessie screamed like both her legs had been broken. "Me come, too!"
"We'll bring you back something pink, honey!" Katie ran to the ladder.
Jessie got a firm grip on the hem of Nicola's dress. (She was wearing a floaty, floral summer party dress to please Grammy.)
The front door of the house swung open.
"Oh, please let go, Jessie," begged Nicola. She staggered to the spaceship with the little girl dragging along the grass behind her.
"Prepare for blastoff," said Tyler.
Nicola's foot was on the second rung of the ladder. Jessie was clutching her leg with both fat little hands.
A voice from the front porch said, "What in the world . . . ?"
Jessie's grip loosened. Sean and Katie leaned out of the spaceship and pulled Nicola inside. She strapped herself into her passenger pod. Through the glass bubble lid of the spaceship she could see her crazy Great-aunt Annie striding across the front lawn toward Jessie, her mouth moving rapidly. Nicola couldn't hear what she was saying, but she had a feeling it wasn't, "Have a great trip in space, kids!"
Tyler twisted around to look at her with questioning eyebrows.