The last time we saw Aunt Betty, she had put on her glasses and was examining a very odd item that Willie and Grace had found up on Bean Mountain. It was small and round, and had a picture of a funny-looking bird in the center. Behind the bird picture, a globe seemed to be spinning. Aunt Betty had a baffled expression on her face.

"Kids, I have read about this kind of thing before, but I never thought I'd see one!"

"Well, what is it!" cried the impatient Grace. "Tell us!"

Aunt Betty stared out the window at the citizens of Beantown passing by the window of her used book shop. She seemed to be deep in thought. "No, let me do some checking first. I'll get back to you later. May I keep this a few days?"

"Sure!" said Willie. "Just don't lose it! It's our only clue so far."

"Aunt Betty never loses things," she replied solemnly. "I am a little worried now about you kids poking into the radio station mystery any further, though. If this gizmo is what I think it is... Willie and Grace, I want you to promise to stay away from Bean Mountain for a while, OK?"

"Good Grief, Aunt Betty, what IS that thing?" asked a puzzled Willie.

"I'll talk to you two later!" Aunt Betty said sternly as she ushered Willie and Grace out the front door. "I'll call you later."

As Grace peeked in the shop window, she saw Aunt Betty was already dialing a number on her telephone. "What's THAT all about?" she asked. "I've never seen your aunt act so mysterious! She practically pushed us out the door!"

"Beats me! What are you going to do now?"

"Well, I need to wrap up some Christmas presents. I found some pretty gift tags on the Internet and I thought I'd print them out. Want to help?" Grace was the kind of person who got all her Christmas shopping done early.

"Sure, I'll come over. It'll help pass the time until we hear from Aunt Betty." Willie was NOT the kind of person who got his Christmas shopping done early!

Willie called Flop who was snoozing on the sidewalk, and the three set off for Grace's house. If they had looked behind them, they would have notice that they were being followed by a strange man...

The Christmas graphics for this episode came from Pat's Web Graphics