one …” I sat down. I smeared the disgusting stuff on my face, myshoulders, my stomach. I flipped over and wiggled around, just to make sure. I opened my eyes, hoping hard that I would be there.
“It’s not working!” I wailed.
19 • Try, Try Again
T he door swung open. Jody’s brown eyes peered around it. Pepper poked her nose in.
“Oh!” remembered Jody. “It has to be dark! You know, ‘in order to come out of the darkness, the light must first be extinguished …’”
I wondered if that was a real quote from somebody.
Jody lurched across the room in her cast and pulled down the window shade. She flipped the switch on the wall as she went back out the door, leaving me in the kind of dark that is inside a theater just before the show begins.You can see the shapes of people all around you, but nobody has a face.
I sloshed around for about a minute, wondering how long it might take. I closed my eyes. I let my head go all the way under and came up again quickly. I rubbed the muck into my hair like shampoo. The combined smells of dog biscuits and talcum powder and fungus were beginning to get to me. I plugged my nose. I started to wipe the biggest chunks off my knees, when I realized that I could sort of see my knees!
“I can see my knees! I can sort of see my knees! It’s working! Everything’s coming back!” I stood up and did a slippery jig.
The door flew open with a crash.
“Get out of here!” I shouted at Jody. “You don’t have to see
everything!”
“Ooops, sorry,” she said, retreating to the hallway. “It’s just so cool, so cool, so totally cool.”
I heard Hubert’s voice calling from the attic, muffled but excited.
“Yeah,” Jody shouted up to him, “it’s working!”
“Hey, Billie,” she called to me. “You can take a shower and rinse it all off now.”
Hubert’s feet clunked down the stairs. They were standing there in the hall, waiting for me to appear.
I pulled the shower curtain closed and turned on the tap. I could hear Jody yammering away. Well, I guess she deserved to be a little pleased with herself.
The shower was delicious after the bath. I used the Mango Shower Gel that was on the bath sill and rinsed away every gloopy drop of dog biscuit and gum. I washed my fabulous, reawakened hair and let the water pour over me like a waterfall on a Hawaiian hillside.
But, as I scrubbed my wonderful, visible legs and my lovely, reappeared arms, I realized that something wasn’t quite right. Most ofme was back, pale and freckly as usual. But my hands and feet were still a bit vague. I can’t think of another way to describe it except that they weren’t really all there. As if the felt pen ran out of ink before the picture was finished.
I dried off and got dressed, with my heart as heavy as it had ever been. My hair was still drippy and tangled so I swooped it up in a towel turban. I didn’t bother to put on my sneakers.
I opened the door to the hall to face my friends. Pepper put her paws right up and sniffed me all over. Jody actually jumped up and down, with her cast thudding against the wooden floor. Hubert was grinning like he just won first prize at the Computer Fair.
Then I held up my hands. For a second, they didn’t get it. Then they focused on the faintness of my fingers.
“Oops,” said Jody.
20 • Halfway There
M y feet are the same,” I said, lifting one and then the other for them to inspect.
“Oh, no!” cried Hubert. “What are we going to do now? Everybody’ll notice if she doesn’t have hands!”
Jody’s face was screwed up in concentration. She looked like an old gnome.
“Don’t panic,” she said. “There has to be a solution. There is a solution to every problem.”
“That’s what my mother says,” I said.
“Your mother is right,” said Jody. “Turn on the tap in the sink. The cold tap.”
We all pushed into the bathroom together, eager to try anything. The cold water rushed into the marble basin, and Jody shoved my
“It’s not working!” I wailed.
19 • Try, Try Again
T he door swung open. Jody’s brown eyes peered around it. Pepper poked her nose in.
“Oh!” remembered Jody. “It has to be dark! You know, ‘in order to come out of the darkness, the light must first be extinguished …’”
I wondered if that was a real quote from somebody.
Jody lurched across the room in her cast and pulled down the window shade. She flipped the switch on the wall as she went back out the door, leaving me in the kind of dark that is inside a theater just before the show begins.You can see the shapes of people all around you, but nobody has a face.
I sloshed around for about a minute, wondering how long it might take. I closed my eyes. I let my head go all the way under and came up again quickly. I rubbed the muck into my hair like shampoo. The combined smells of dog biscuits and talcum powder and fungus were beginning to get to me. I plugged my nose. I started to wipe the biggest chunks off my knees, when I realized that I could sort of see my knees!
“I can see my knees! I can sort of see my knees! It’s working! Everything’s coming back!” I stood up and did a slippery jig.
The door flew open with a crash.
“Get out of here!” I shouted at Jody. “You don’t have to see
everything!”
“Ooops, sorry,” she said, retreating to the hallway. “It’s just so cool, so cool, so totally cool.”
I heard Hubert’s voice calling from the attic, muffled but excited.
“Yeah,” Jody shouted up to him, “it’s working!”
“Hey, Billie,” she called to me. “You can take a shower and rinse it all off now.”
Hubert’s feet clunked down the stairs. They were standing there in the hall, waiting for me to appear.
I pulled the shower curtain closed and turned on the tap. I could hear Jody yammering away. Well, I guess she deserved to be a little pleased with herself.
The shower was delicious after the bath. I used the Mango Shower Gel that was on the bath sill and rinsed away every gloopy drop of dog biscuit and gum. I washed my fabulous, reawakened hair and let the water pour over me like a waterfall on a Hawaiian hillside.
But, as I scrubbed my wonderful, visible legs and my lovely, reappeared arms, I realized that something wasn’t quite right. Most ofme was back, pale and freckly as usual. But my hands and feet were still a bit vague. I can’t think of another way to describe it except that they weren’t really all there. As if the felt pen ran out of ink before the picture was finished.
I dried off and got dressed, with my heart as heavy as it had ever been. My hair was still drippy and tangled so I swooped it up in a towel turban. I didn’t bother to put on my sneakers.
I opened the door to the hall to face my friends. Pepper put her paws right up and sniffed me all over. Jody actually jumped up and down, with her cast thudding against the wooden floor. Hubert was grinning like he just won first prize at the Computer Fair.
Then I held up my hands. For a second, they didn’t get it. Then they focused on the faintness of my fingers.
“Oops,” said Jody.
20 • Halfway There
M y feet are the same,” I said, lifting one and then the other for them to inspect.
“Oh, no!” cried Hubert. “What are we going to do now? Everybody’ll notice if she doesn’t have hands!”
Jody’s face was screwed up in concentration. She looked like an old gnome.
“Don’t panic,” she said. “There has to be a solution. There is a solution to every problem.”
“That’s what my mother says,” I said.
“Your mother is right,” said Jody. “Turn on the tap in the sink. The cold tap.”
We all pushed into the bathroom together, eager to try anything. The cold water rushed into the marble basin, and Jody shoved my
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