R. L. Stine_Mostly Ghostly 07 by Freaks, Shrieks Page B

SUDDENLY FELT dry as cotton. I couldn't swallow. I realized I was breathing hard, gasping for breath even though I was sitting still.
    Mr. Harvey sat on the stool beside me. He held on to the headphones and bounced gently up and down.
    Dr. Smollet began typing frantically on a computer keyboard. “Max, watch the monitor!” he shouted.
    His voice was muffled because of the headphones I was wearing.
    Nicky and Tara stepped up beside me. “This is totally awesome of you,” Tara said. “I repeat. We'll owe you big-time.”
    “Yes, you will,” I agreed.
    On the monitor screen, I saw my profile and the chimp's profile. Leaning over the keyboard, Dr. Smollet kept typing.
    I felt a buzzing in my head. Soft at first, then louder.
    On the screen, my head and the chimp's head slid closer together.
    The headphones began to vibrate. I reached my hands up and pressed against them. The buzz increased to a roar.
    Nicky and Tara held me by the shoulders. The three of us stared at the monitor as my head and the chimp's head moved closer … closer together … closer …
    Until Mr. Harvey's head covered mine.
    I felt a whoosh of wind, as if someone had blown a puff of air inside my head.
    It lasted only a second. A strange, frightening feeling that made my whole body shudder.
    I gripped the headphones as if holding on to a lifeboat. And suddenly, I felt as if I was underwater. The air seemed to ripple like water. And I felt light, floating.
    The monitor screen blurred. The white lab walls gleamed brighter and brighter until they washed everything else from my sight.
    I blinked—and everything slowly drifted back into focus.
    “Max? Are you okay?”
    I could hear Tara's voice. But it sounded very far away.
    “Max? Max?”
    I blinked a few more times. Then I glancedaround, struggling to see clearly, my head still buzzing.
    Mr. Harvey hadn't moved from the stool next to me. He still gripped his headphones and bounced up and down. Dr. Smollet was typing on his keyboard. Nicky and Tara stood next to me, their faces creased with worry.
    I stuck my tongue out and made a loud spitting noise at them.
    Oh no!
Why did I do that?
    “Sorry,” I said. I tugged the headphones off.
    “Max? How do you feel?” Dr. Smollet asked. He stepped over to my stool and took the headphones from me. “Are you okay?”
    “I guess,” I said. “I don't feel very different.”
    “Oh, thank goodness!” Tara cried.
    “Hoo hoo hoo,” I said.
    Huh? Monkey noises?
    Dr. Smollet smiled and nodded. “I think the transfer is working,” he said.
    “I still feel like me,” I said. “I don't really feel hoo hoo hoo very different.”
    I tested my memory. I remembered my name … my address … my phone number.
    Yes! I was still Max Doyle.
    The brains didn't switch. I was still
me!
    I suddenly thought about lunch. Would there be a banana?
    Dr. Smollet kept smiling at me. “Success! I'mvery pleased,” he said. “It will take a short while for the chimp's brain to settle into Max's brain. But when it does—”
    “Hoo hoooo,” I said, hopping up and down on the tall stool. “Hoo hoo hooo.”
    “When the brain settles down,” Dr. Smollet continued, “Mr. Harvey will be able to tell us— through Max—everything he saw.”
    “Hoo,” I said, nodding. I reached out one hand and worked at removing a piece of fuzz from Tara's shirt.
    “Max, do you feel totally weird?” Nicky asked.
    I hopped up and down. “Hoo hoo,” I said. “Yeah. Kinda weird. It's like there's someone else in here with me.”
    Dr. Smollet picked up the chimp. “Mr. Harvey seems a little dazed,” he said. “I'm going to take him to the kitchen over there and give him something to eat.”
    He turned and started walking toward a white door at the far end of the lab. Mr. Harvey waved to us over Dr. Smollet's shoulder.
    “When I come back, we'll question Max,” Dr. Smollet said. “At last, you two kids will have some answers!”
    He and the chimp disappeared into the kitchen.
    Nicky