The rains fell unexpectedly hard on Tiny Town. People ran for cover under trees and waiting sheds. Mr. Ramirez rushed into "Melissa and Peppermint Plutonia's Science Adventure Shop".

"Good morning, Mr. Ramirez!" said Peppermint and smiled.

"Hi Pep!" he said shaking the rain from his soaking coat. "Terrible rains out there! And me without an umbrella."

"Peppermint, why don't you get Mr. Ramirez a towel?" Melissa said from behind the counter.

Melissa was a little girl of seven, but the town knew her to be one of the smartest kids around. And although she and her robot Peppermint Plutonia ran the Science Shop, it wasn't unusual that the town would call on them to help out with things they couldn't solve.

"So what can we do for you today, Mr. Ramirez?"

"Oh, I'm shopping for a microscope for my little Billy. You got any?"

"The standard kind or the electron kind?"

"I think a beginner's set will do," answered Mr. Ramirez scratching the back of his neck.

Melissa went to one of the shelves that displayed the microscopes and pulled out a grade school microscope set. Meanwhile, Peppermint Plutonia handed a grateful Mr. Ramirez a towel. "Shall I wrap it for you, sir?" Melissa asked.

"Please. And here, keep the change!" Mr. Ramirez said, pushing a few bills towards the cash register. "By the way, you have any ointment? I seem to be developing some rashes," he said scratching his hands and wrist.

"No, sir. Perhaps the drugstore around the corner," Peppermint advised. Mr. Ramirez gave his thanks and hurried off into the rainy streets. Melissa and Plutonia shrugged at each other. Neither of them knew that the worst was yet to come.

The next morning when the rains slowed to a drizzle, there was panic in the town square. Melissa and Peppermint were on their way to the store, when they decided to see what was going wrong. When they arrived, they found the square filled with horrified citizens. They were looking at the stonecut statue of their town's founder. It's face was gone, as if it had been erased overnight. "And his arms look like they've melted!" yelled a man in a checkered shirt.

While the crowd was focused on the statue, Peppermint Plutonia was detecting a different sort of panic happening elsewhere. "What's wrong, Pep?" Melissa asked.

"The earthworms are having a fit," she replied. "Go open the shop, I'll look into this." Melissa nodded and went to the shop.

Peppermint knelt beside the root of a large tree and dug her hands into the dampened soil. She held the dirt in the bowl of her two hands and began to sift it through her fingers. Soon, an earthworm appeared wriggling in the soil. "I'm adjusting my headband frequency so I can hear what you're saying, okay little guy?" said Peppermint as she smiled at the earthworm.

"It burns! It burns!" cried the worm . Peppermint gently put the worm back into the ground, and took a few soil samples.

"What happened?" Melissa asked, scratching her face. Peppermint glanced around the square.

"The paint seems to be peeling off the buildings," she said. "I even detect that my metal skin is undergoing a minute level of corrosion. If my hunch is accurate, every second we spend out here endangers everybody."

"Citizens of Tiny Town! Head indoors! We're in terrible danger!" cried Melissa. And because it was Melissa who was alerting them, the citizens knew better than to question her. They stampeded straight into the Science Adventure Shop. "Oh great," said Melissa as she frowned.

There wasn't much room in the shop. Everyone was standing shoulder to shoulder. They had to take tiny steps just to give Plutonia and Melissa a bit of walking room.

"Have you figured out who ruined our statue?" asked an elderly man who waved his cane. "Yeah! Was it an evil ghost?" asked someone. "Or aliens?" suggested another. "Yes, tell us, Melissa!" the crowd cried . "Who did this?"

"Not who, folks," Peppermint Plutonia said, "more like a what"?

Some townsfolk took off their hats to scratch their heads. "When do you think this problem started, Melissa?" Peppermint asked."With the melting statue?"

"Maybe." Peppermint said. "But I think it began with Mr. Ramirez."

"Not Mr. Ramirez!" Old Ms. Cortez blinked. "He"s such a sweet old man!"

"But I didnıt do anything!" said Mr. Ramirez, who was in the back and was panicking.

"I didn't mean it that way!" Peppermint stressed. "I meant I noticed this problem the day Mr. Ramirez walked into the science store yesterday. He was scratching himself, and he said he seemed to be developing some rashes."

"Hey, Iım developing rashes too!" yelled a construction worker, his face all red. "I've also got some!" fretted a round woman. "Iım itching as well, Pep," Melissa said scratching her face. "So you think the statue scratched it's face off?" asked Old Mrs. Cortez who bit her lip.

"No." Peppermint wiped her optics. "I think the rain did."

"But the rain is our friend!" Mrs. Cortez said.

"Not this rain." Peppermint said, passing a beaker into the crowd. "Mr.Ramirez, I notice that the rains have returned. Would you please collect a sample of rainwater for us. And please try not to get wet."

"Sure thing, Pep!" "Now, I also noticed this morning that some thing is eating through my metal skin," Peppermint continued. "This thing is also poisoning the soil, where our town's trees get their nutrients. This thing is also eroding our buildings. And it also took the face off our beloved town's founder. If this "something" can eat through metal and stone, imagine what it's doing to your skins."

The shop fell silent.

Mr. Ramirez returned with a beaker half-full of rain water. "Here's the culprit!" he announced as he passed the beaker up to Peppermint.

"Thanks, Mr. Ramirez," she said, pulling out a small strip of paper from behind the counter. "Guys, this is called a litmus paper. It can measure the acidity of chemicals. I'm going to dip it into this rain water. If it is not acidic the paper will turn purple. And if it is an acid, the paper will turn red."

The crowd grew tense. All eyes followed the litmus paper as Peppermint lowered it into the beaker. When the strip came out, it was as red as the itch-ridden wrists and hands of Mr. Ramirez!

The crowd exploded into a mixture of gasps and tears. "We're doomed!" wept Mrs. Cortez . "Tiny Town will be eaten alive!"

"Letıs not lose hope, Mrs. Cortez," Peppermint said. "That's right!" Melissa said. "If I remember my chemistry book correctly, there are two elements that can turn rainwater into acid. Sulphur and nitrogen."

Peppermint nodded. "And you get sulfur and nitrogen when you burn fuel."

"You mean like in cars?" Mr. Ramirez asked.

"Yes, automobiles give off Nitrogen Oxides," Peppermint said. "But our town is a strict bicycle riding community. We don't have any motor vehicles. However, judging from the intense redness of our litmus paper, I'd say we're dealing with a high concentration of sulfur dioxide. Mixed with rain, this chemical can become more acidic than even vinegar."

"But sulphur dioxide comes from burning coal and oil," Melissa noted. "We don't burn enough of that stuff either to produce a big amount."

"I guess we should start looking elsewhere, then," Peppermint said.

"Where?" Melissa asked.

The crowd watched as Peppermint Plutonia and Melissa, both armed with umbrellas and goggles, went out into the town square and looked up at the sky.

"See anything?" Mr. Ramirez yelled.

Peppermint nodded. "I see dark smoke mingling with the rain clouds! It's coming from the east! The wind appears to be blowing it into our town!"

"We have to find the source, Pep!" Melissa said, holding up her arms.

Peppermint wrapped her arms around Melissa and engaged her jetpack. The two of them shot into the sky and they followed the trail of thick smelly smoke. They flew past forests, past the beaches, and over the ocean.

"I hope this isn't a volcano!" Melissa said. "If it is, there isn't much we can do to stop it."

"I donıt think you have to worry!" Peppermint smiled. "I see a smoke stack straight ahead!"

Sure enough, there was a smokestack! It rose like an obelisk from the middle of a small island. And sure enough, the ocean winds were blowing its smoke in Tiny Town's direction.

As they looked for a spot to land, Melissa and Peppermint found the island to be thriving with tropical plants and animals. They soon found the giant smokestack. Itıs base had a giant iron box. Beside the box was a large pile of smoldering squares. The two saw a tiny cottage nearby.

An old woman in mittens came out. "Oh my! Guests!" She smiled when she saw them. "You're just in time! I'm making toast! I just love toast! Do you like toast? I bet you do! I'll get you some!" And she twisted a latch on the giant iron box and a long rectangular door opened. Inside the box was a giant furnace full of coal. A large metal sheet sat on top of the burning fuel. The old woman put on a pair of mittens and slid the metal plate out. On the sheet were two pieces of burnt toast. "Darn! I can never get them right!" The old woman frowned. "Oh well, if at the hundreth you don't succeed!" She picked up the two burnt squares and tossed them on the mound of smoldering squares.

"Um, do you really need all that fuel just to cook two pieces of toast, Granny?"

"Why certainly!" chortled the woman merrily. "How else do you make toast?"

"Granny, your stove is sending smoke all across the ocean and into our town."

"Is it?" The old woman was taken aback. "Oh dear! I had no idea! I'm so sorry! I couldn't tell! The darn thing goes up so far that I can only see a blur!"

"Maybe we can help, Granny!" Melissa said. " If I can get you an electric toaster that can make two pieces of perfect toast, will you promise to stop using your oven?"

"But where would I get the electricity to run it? There's none of that here!"

"I can build you a mini hydro-electric dam to power it," promised Peppermint.

In a matter of two hours, Peppermint used her great strength to build the dam. Later, Melissa set up the electric wiring while Peppermint went back to town to fetch a toaster. "So you plug it in the socket like this," Peppermint demonstrated once she had returned. "Next, you place the bread in. Then wait a few minutes until they pop up!"

"And presto!" Melissa laughed, as the toaster 'ding-ed'. "Perfect toast."

"Mmmm! It does smell good!" the old woman said. She picked one up, closed her eyes and took a careful bite. Suddenly, a tear streaked down her cheek. "How lovely!" she said and smiled.

Peppermint and Melissa gave each other a wink. And as the sun began to set, the moon crossed the smokeless sky and the three of them sat by the beach and had lots of perfect milk and lots of perfect toast.