The Fortune Teller, the Invisible Man and Me     by: Susanne Sischo

 

PROLOGUE

The story you are about to read is entirely fictitious. It can’t possibly happen in real life. But I guarantee you it will be stranger than the last one you read. So hold on to your brains, cause here we go.

CHAPTER ONE

It had been a year since I had cleaned up the attic and gotten rid of all the junk up there, including the piano. I had lost interest in playing it, so I had called the Salvation Army truck to come pick it up and take it to their thrift store where someone could buy it and get some use out of it. I had converted the attic into a bedroom in case we should have guests drop in on occasion. Such an occasion did occur over the Memorial Day weekend, when my sister, Janice and her husband David came to stay with us for a few days. They would sleep in the attic room. I had put a bed and a dresser up there, in addition to a partition so they could get dressed without looking at each other.

One morning after breakfast, I suggested that we go to the Strawberry Festival in Garden Grove. They all agreed it would be a great thing to do. Besides, the weather was perfect for this. The sun was shining and there wasn’t a cloud in the sky. David had brought the car so he drove us to the festiva. We wanted to stay all day and have lunch there. It would do us all good to be together as a family, at least part of us. The other sisters and their husbands had gone away for the holiday weekend. Bet they weren’t gonna have as much fun as we were!

There were a lot of neat things at the festival. There was a woman doing handcrafted quilts, a man showing dogs, a booth where cakes and pies were being judged, and livestock exhibits, among other things. Not to mention all the food and games that were there also. I was partial to the pizza but Dan went for nachos and cheese. (I’m glad he wasn’t eating beans. You know, beans, beans, the musical fruit...)

After lunch, we walked around and looked at some of the exhibits. Then something caught my eye and I pointed to what I was seeing and shouted, "Hey, guys, look over there! A fortune-telling booth. Let’s go see it." Dan was hesitant about it and said, "Sue, don’t tell me you’re falling for that crazy baloney? You know these fortune tellers are fake." "Yeah, I know. But play along with me, okay? Let’s all play along with the gag. That’s what we’re here for, anyway. To have fun and let our hair down." ‘Okay," Dan said. "Let’s go see it. If you want to see it so bad, we’ll do it. But don’t believe anything she says, all right?’ "Okay," I said, halfheartedly. We made our way to the booth and the fortune-teller told each of us what was going to be in store for us in the future. She told Janice she was going to have a baby. David would get a raise. Dan would get a job. When it came my turn, she said, "Your wildest wish will come true." I thought about this and wondered what she meant. Then she asked me what my wish was. "To meet someone really unusual and special," I said. To which she replied, "You will meet such a person sometime next monh.He will come to your house and visit. You will fall for him instantly." I wondered how this person would know where I live. "Give me your address," the fortune teller said. Without thinking, I did so. I spoke very slowly so she could get it. I knew I wasn’t supposed to give my address out to people I don’t know, but she sounded so convincing, that I went along with the gag.

When I made my way back to where the others were standing, Dan said, "Sue, you took too much time in there. What did you do?" "Well," I began, "the fortune teller said I was going to meet someone really special and he was going to come to my house sometime next month. I wondered how this person would know where I lived, and she said to give her my address, so I did." "Sue, I don’t believe you’d fall for that," Dan said. "After I told you she was a fake, you went ahead and did it anyway? You ought to be ashamed." "I’m sorry I did that, but she sounded so convincing," I said. "Of course she did," Dan said. "She’s an actor. These people are all actors. It’s for the money. It’s not real. You’ll see. No one is coming to visit you. You’ll see." "If you say so," I said.

I looked at my watch and said, "It’s getting late, and I think they’re going to close down any minute. We had better find a place to have dinner." I found a place within walking distance and we went in and had dinner. As we ate dinner we were talking about our day at the festival and my silly encounter with the fortune teller. Sure, I fell for it. I think I had been had. Maybe Dan was right. I don’t think anyone was going to come to visit me at the house next month. But still, I wondered. And little did I know...

 

 

CHAPTER TWO

After we got home from dinner, I turned the television on so we all could watch a movie. I found a crazy movie on about Abbott and Costello. It was where they meet the Invisible Man. We all laughed and laughed and after the show, it was time for me to go to bed. I told David and Janice they could sleep up in the attic room I had fixed for them. They went upstairs to the room and found the bed ready for them. "Good night," I said. "I’ll see you all in the morning." Then I took my shower and went to bed myself. I was tired from the day we had at the festival, but I had had fun.

The next morning, I was the first one up, as usual. As I was drinking my coffee, Dan came out of his room. "Did you sleep well last night?" I asked. "Yes." Dan said. "I tried to sleep, but I kept thinking of the fortune teller. I could hear her words in my head all night. ‘You will meet such a person next month. He will come to your house to visit.’ I can’t get it out of my mind." "Stop it." said Dan. "If I have to spank you to convince you she was a fake, I will. I know you’re too big to put over my knee, but you could bend over and I could give you a whack on the po-po." "Dan, I’m not a baby, for heaven’s sake. Don’t talk like that. It’s dumb." "Okay," he said.

After we finished breakfast, I decided to go into the office and type on the computer for a while. I was looking at all sorts of things on the Web, from classifieds to e-mail messages from different companies I had given my address out to, to a website that had games on it that you could play and win money. I wondered if people really won money playing those games. I never did. All I got were bonus plays. But that was better than nothing. I even shopped online. I bought some music from a website that I had heard about on television. I ordered a lot of music online. I love music, especially old-time music like Dixieland or gospel music. I listen to oldies on the radio when I go to bed at night, except if there’s a Lakers game on.

The day finally came for David and Janice to leave for home. I hated to see them leave. We had had a lot of fun that weekend and it was hard to say goodbye. "I hope you can come visit again," I said. "Don’t be a stranger. After all, we’re family, aren’t we?" "I hope we can get over here again," David said, "but I can’t always get off work and neither can Janice. We have to plan our weekends around our jobs. We work in different shifts. We’re lucky we got this weekend off at the same time so we could come and see you. Maybe we’ll see you again at Christmas." "That would be great," I said. I showed them to the door and walked with them out to the car. "It was nice seeing you again," I said. "Don’t stay away too long. Come back again when you can make it." They drove off and I went up to the attic to make the bed. I took the sheets off the bed and put them in the washing machine. I wanted to make the bed clean in case anyone else wanted to come to stay with us in the future.

 

 

 

CHAPTER THREE

One day Dan was doing something out in the garage when he fell and injured his leg. I went out to see if he was all right. "Dan, did you break your leg?" "No," he said, "but I think I sprained it." "Then we had better get you to the doctor," I said. His leg had become swollen and all black and blue. It looked horrible. There had to be something besides just a sprain. A sprain won’t make your leg all black and blue. It will just make it hard to walk on. So I called an ambulance to take Dan to the doctor. His condition was worse than I thought. He was going to have to have surgery, which meant being in the hospital for a few days. "How many days will he be in the hospital?" I asked the doctor. "I don’t know, but I hope it won’t take more than a week," the doctor said. "It looks like he shattered his femur. That means he needs a pin put in his leg or a bone graft from another part of his body. That’s pretty extensive. Then there’s the matter of seeing if he can walk when the operation is over. He may have to hearn to walk all over again." "Oh, no," I said, dismayed. "He won’t be able to handle that. He’s always been so independent, even with his bad eye. I admit he’s got a lot of spunk, but this will just put him down to the back bone of a jellyfish." The doctor admitted him to the hospital. He was in a semiprivate room next to a woman on oxygen. I looked at him and then at his leg. I hoped they could fix it so he could be walking again like he was before the injury. I called a cab and went home alone. I would be alone for a while. I looked at the calendar. It was June 24. The fortune teller said someone would come to my house this month, and so far no one had come. I decided to go take a nap. I had just dozed off when I heard the doorbell ring. I went to answer it. It was a young boy selling candy. I told him I wasn’t interested right now. But thanks just the same. He turned and went to the house next door. I went back into the bedroom and laid down again. I fell asleep and woke up and discovered I had slept until four o’clock in the afternoon. Good grief, I thought. I better check the mail. I didn’t find anything interesting in the mail at all. It all went in the shredder, as usual. The only thing worth reading was a book of collectibles and toys from Hammacher-Schlemmer. I don’t know how they got my address, but I enjoyed looking in their catalogues, even if I don’t buy anything.

That night I made myself a bowl of soup for dinner. I wasn’t that hungry. I had eaten a big lunch at the hospital and a bowl of soup was perfect. After that, I put the television on my favorite channel, Animal Planet, to see the Crocodile Hunter. My mom liked him when she was alive, and I do too. I always watch him. My friend from church also watches him. He’s from Australia and he teaches people about endangered animals. His show is very interesting and informative. After the program was over, I watched "Jeopardy" and "Wheel of Fortune" and then went into the office to play cards on the computer. I downloaded a solitaire game that I like to play when there’s nothing on television. I hardly ever win, but when I do, the score gets pretty high.

I woke up the next morning at six-thirty. I went out to the kitchen to make coffee. The sun was just beginning to rise. I turned the television on while the water was heating up in the microwave. I flipped the remote to the TV Guide Channel to see what was on at that time and found nothing really interesting. So I watched "Wild Wild West" on TNT. When the water was done heating up, I went back into the kitchen to fix my coffee. While it was brewing I called the bank to check on my balance in the checking account. Then I called "Tell Me", an automated service that gives you things like horoscopes and sports scores. My horoscope was a pretty good one. I think it said something about having time alone. My coffee had brewed and I put some cream in it. I turned the kitchen light out and went back into the living room to finish watching the show. After that, I went into the office to listen to the radio for an hour. They were playing everything from Elvis to Dean Martin, to Frank Sinatra. They played everything on that station. When my hour was up, I went to the living room and caught the end of CHiPs. The computer show was coming on QVC, so I thought I’d watch that after breakfast. I thought this was going to be a dull, ordinary day. Boy, was I wrong. I had no idea the fortune teller’s words were about to come true.

 

 

CHAPTER FOUR

About nine-thirty that morning the doorbell rang. Could this be my special visitor? I hoped so, but when I opened the door, I discovered it was only the UPS man leaving a box of popcorn I had ordered on the step. He had rung the bell to acknowledge the fact he had left it. Disappointed, I took the box of popcorn into the kitchen and put it under the stove. The stove is built in and there is a cabinet underneath it, along with several drawers you can pull out and put things in, like canned food and pots and pans. I like the popcorn they sell on QVC. It’s better than the kind you buy in the store. That’s why I ordered more. I would have some popcorn to eat tonight while I watched television.

Around ten, I called Dan at the hospital to see how he was doing. He said his leg hurt a little but not as bad as the other day. The nurse said he had just come out of surgery and asked if I would like to come see him. "Okay, but only for a few minutes," I said. I went to the hospital and found his room. When I walked in, he was sitting up in bed eating his lunch. They serve lunch early at the hospital for whatever reason. "How’s your leg today, Dan?" I asked. "It hurts. I hope they give me some pain medication for it," he said. "Are you going to have therapy so you can walk on it?" I asked. "They’re thinking about having me do some kind of exercises for it, but I don’t know how it’s going to help me any. That injury was pretty bad. I hope I will be able to walk on it soon." "Well, you keep trying and do what they tell you, and maybe you will walk normally again," I said. About that time the nurse came in to give him his bath. I had to leave the room, so I went down to the cafeteria to get some lunch. I don’t know how long baths take here, so I stalled down there and ate slowly until about a half hour was up. Then I went back up to his room to spend a little more time with him. At around twelve-thirty, I decided it was time for me to go. "Maybe I’ll see you tomorrow afternoon," I said. "It depends on how tired I am or how I feel. I won’t always be able to come to see you, but I know you can talk on the phone. If I can’t get up here tomorrow, would you settle for a phone call?" "That would be nice. I understand if you can’t make it up here every day. I know when your parents were ill, you got tired of going to the hospital and walking that long hall down to their rooms. You need rest also. Go ahead and go home."

I took the bus back home and checked the mail. The only thing worth any looking at was the Pennysaver, and even that wasn’t really interesting. There were no jobs in there I could do. All of them required you to be bilingual. That really sucked. Why can’t people just speak English anymore? But that’s our culture now, everybody’s speaking more than one language these days.

It was one o’clock when I thought I heard the doorbell. I looked through the peephole and couldn’t see anything. The hole was too small for me to see through. On, no, not another boy selling candy, I thought. I opened the door. Whoever was ringing the doorbell had gone, or so I thought. Kids, I thought. I closed the door. Then I thought I heard it again. I wish those kids would stop doing that, I thought. They’re going to drive me nuts. I opened the door again. Again, I saw no one there. Aha! Those kids are hiding in the bushes. They’re doing this just to shake me up. Hey, now, I thought, you guys better go home and bother someone else before I call the police on you. I closed the door again. A few minutes passed with nothing more happening. Then the doorbell rang again. I was exasperated and was at my wit’s end trying to catch those kids in the act. I opened the door and said through the screen,"You kids better go home and leave me alone. If you ring this bell one more time, I’ll call the cops on you and you’ll be sorry." Then what happened next really shook me up. I know I didn’t believe in the invisible man or in ghosts, but how do you explain what happened? I was greeted by a man’s voice, which seemed to be coming from in front of me. Yet I could see nothing but the cars barrelling down the street and the houses on the other side of the road. Who was speaking? The Voice said, "You must be the one the fortune teller talked about the other day." Now, I had to come up with something witty, so I said, "And you must be the empty space I see before me." My knees were4 knocking and I thought I was losing it. Not again, I thought. Not after the piano thing a year ago. I thought I was over this hearing voices stuff. I just stood there frozen, not knowing what I should do. "Why can’t I see you?" I asked. "Are you a ghost?" "Ghosts are dead. I’m very much alive," the Voice said. I thought for a minute. "I know. You’re hiding behind the bushes and you’re throwing your voice to make me think you’re standing in front of me. I know that trick. I’m not falling for it again." "What trick?" the Voice said. "I am in front of you. How else can I convince you?" "Wait a minute, how can this be? There’s no such thing as an invisible man," I said. "That’s only in dreams and movies you see on television. This isn’t happening, is it?" "I’m afraid it is," the voice said. "But how did you manage it? It’s something that supposedly can’t be done." Then I remembered what I had read and seen in the movies that the man had taken a formula that made people disappear. Had this man done the same thing? I was beginning to believe so. "Did you inject yourself with some sort of formula to make you disappear? And if so, how long have you been this way?" The voiice said, "I did do that and I have been this way for just a few hours. I wanted to test it out to see if it really worked, and it did. " "But when can I really see you--I mean with my eyes?" I asked. "I hope I can return to normal in a couple of days, but it seems something always goes wrong and so far I haven’t been able to come back yet. I’m still trying to find out what went wrong." This is really scary, I thought. Maybe I was dreaming. Maybe I was still in bed sleeping and just dreaming this. It HAD to be that! There was no other way. "W-w-would y-y-you like to c-c-come inside?" I said in a shaky voice. "I really would like to come in and get to know you," the Voice said. "Okay, I’ll open the door for you." I opened the door just long enough for a person to come in and then closed it. "Would you like something to drink?" I said, not knowing what to expect. "I have Coke, milk, juice, or I could make a cup of coffee. Or maybe some ice water. Which would you like?" The Voice said, "Maybe I’ll have some ice water. After all, it is hot out and a drink of water would cool me off." "Okay," I said. "i’ll get you a glass of ice water. Would you like a big glass or a small glass?" "A small glass would be all right," the Voice said. I made my way to the kitchen, still shaking all over. Was this really happening? I began to feel like Dr. Kemp when the Invisible Man came to his house. He was really shook. And so was I. I took a Coke out of the refrigerator for myself. I picked a small glass from the cabinet and put some ice in it, followed by the water. I get the ice and water from the refrigerator. It’s got an ice-and-water dispenser in the freezer door. You don’t have to open the door to get ice. The ice is on the left side and the water is on the right. I sat in the rolling chair facing the far wall where a plaque hung, along with some shelves which had ceramic figurines and baskets on them, in addition to an old kerosene lamp. That lamp may come in handy someday if there’s a blackout, I thought. After all, we are having an energy crisis, so they say, but I don’t really believe it. I said to my unseen guest, :"You can sit across from me." I stared in shock, not knowing what I was going to see. My chair moved easily across the floor on rollers. It used to be my mother’s. She used it to wheel herself around the kitchen because her knees were so bad from arthritis. Now it was mine. I thought it was fun to wheel yourself around, even thought I had perfectly good legs to walk on. I took my place at the opposite side of the table. Then, before my eyes, the other chair moved back, then moved forward a little closer to the table. I put the glass of water in front of the chair. I stared at it. I started to drink my Coke, taking short, little baby sips. Then it happened, just as God is my witness. The water glass rose up off the table and hung there for a minute, then I saw it move in the direction of the chair. It tilted and then came down again. I looked at it. I had filled the water glass to the brim, or very close to it, but now there was a little bit less in it. How could this be happening? I’m freaking out, I thought. I done did the Flamingo Flip, or something like that. This happened a couple more times. On the last time, the glass tilted even further back than before and then came to rest on the table. "I--I--I don’t believe it. You really ARE invisible," I said, shocked half out of my wits. "Either that, or it’s a trick."Then it dawned on me we hadn’t really introduced ourselves to each other. I sputtered, "I-I-I’m Susan Williams, but you can call me Sue," I managed to spurt. I said, "It’s n-n-nice to meet you." The Voice said, "I’m Edward Kensington. It’s nice to meet you." Then I had a really bewildering thought. Is this guy wearing any clothes? Or is he naked? "Are you wearing any clothes?" "No," the voice said. "I kind of thought that, but I wasn’t sure. In some movies I watch, the clothes also turned invisible along with the person wearing them. I wondered if that applied to you. Now I know it doesn’t." At about that time he asked for some more water. I got it and watched the same movements I had seen before. It was weird. But the fortune teller said I would fall for him instantly. How could I fall for a man I couldn’t even see? Maybe she meant I’d FAINT. But so far I hadn’t. I had tried to keep my wits about me this whole time and so far was succeeding. I looked at my watch. It was after three. "Would you like to stay for dinner?" I asked. "I wish I could, but I can’t. I would like to get home before it gets dark. I’d like to try to find out what happened so I can come back to where I can be seen again." "Maybe we’ll go out to dinner sometime. Maybe you’ll be back to normal by then," I said. I hoped I was right.

 

 

CHAPTER FIVE

I showed my guest to the door and wished him good luck on his formula. I opened the screen door and held it for the amount of time needed for someone to step out. Then I closed the door, locked it, and put the chain on. I sat down in my chair and began to think. Real hard. About what I had just witnessed. Did I really see that glass of water rise up off the table? Did I really see the water disappear? Or did I have an hallucination? Then I got to thinking about the piano thing a year ago. A talking piano I could handle. I could see it. But an invisible man--well, that’s a bird of a different feather. I hoped he would come back again, but this time, able to be seen. This really gave me the willies.

"Should I call Dan and tell him?" I asked myself. No one answered, of course. There really was no one there but me now. "No, he’ll never believe this one," I answered myself. But then, he got used to the piano, didn’t he? I wondered. But, like I said, this was a bird of a different feather. He’d never get used to this. I went ahead and cooked myself some pancakes and eggs for supper. I ate slowly, thinking as I did so. Maybe I won’t even tell Dan about this. But I have to tell someone, even if they don’t believe me. I’m not asking them to believe me. They don’t have to. After I had cleaned my dishes off and washed the pan and wiped down the stove and the table, I went into the living room to watch television and try to relax. I had to calm down. I know it had been one freaky, creepy day, but I had to calm down. I flipped the TV Guide Channel on to see what was playing. I found an Elvis movie. Elvis, I thought. I always say there ain’t nothin’ a little Elvis won’t fix. So I put that movie on and before I knew it, I was singing along with The King, imitating his every move. After that movie, I felt much calmer and a whole lot more relaxed. I looked at my watch. It was still early, so I decided to watch some more television. This time I found a Disney movie about a boy who lost his dog. It seems the dog ran away from home and the boy couldn’t find him. But at the end of the movie the dog somehow found his way back and everything turned out right. I hate to admit it, but that movie almost made me cry. I had a dog when I was a kid, and he ran out into the street and got hit by a car and had to be put away. That really broke my heart. I was almost ready to cry for the boy when his dog turned up lost. He thought he’d never see that dog again. And then it shows up at his door after a long time. Now dogs are very smart, so I’m told. Pigs, contrary to popular belief, come in a close second. Only dolphins come in first, I think. But we humans can think and reason, and we can speak and ask where to go. Animals can’t do that. They rely on instinct. After the show, I loooked at my watch again. It was ten o’clock. Time to go to bed. I showered and went to bed and turned the radio on. There was music on tonight, to my great relief. Music helps to relax me also. I fell asleep to Dionne Warwicke and after she was done singing I turned the radio off and went right to sleep. I slept right through the whole night, no crazy dreams or anything. I got up at six the next morning. It was getting light outside, and the earlier the light came into my room, the earlier I woke up.

I went out to the kitchen and made my coffee and did my morning routine as usual. But I couldn’t help but wonder. Would my unseen guest come by today? I didn’t know for sure. I ate breakfast and got dressed. Then I went into my office to read my emails. Today I got six of them. I spent a good two hourrs reading them. Then I checked the paper for jobs. I didn’t find any. Bummer. So I logged out and picked up a book I had been reading from the drawer and took it out to the living room to read. I read everything out loud. It helps me concentrate on the story. That way, my mind won’t wander. (Someone told me my mind was too small to be let out alone.) I enjoy reading. The story I’m reading now is one about a retired Congressman from New York, and his granddaughter who wants to run for his seat. There is an explosion on a boat and four people die. One is hurt. Questions are still swirling around who might have caused the explosion and fingers are pointing everywhere. No one knows who did it or why. I think the whole thing has to do with money. But doesn’t everyting these days? Maybe we will never know who did it. But we sure can find out why.

I called Dan at the hospital again and asked how he was doing. He said he felt a lot better and his leg seemed to be getting stronger. "That’s gerat," I said. "Just keep doing those exercises and you’ll be walking in no time." "Are you coming up today?" he asked. "Yes. I think I will come up and see you for a couple of hours. I want to see how that leg looks today." I went to see him and his leg did look a lot better. The swelling had gone down and it was no longer black and blue. He was sitting in a chair. The nurse had told him to sit in a chair and move his leg up and down so he could strengthen the muscles. He got to where he could almost straighten it out with hardly any pain at all. "Great!" I said. "You’re doing gerat." "I feel better," he said. Maybe they’ll try to get me up on that foot so I can walk tomorrow. They have to see if I’m strong enough first. But I’ll have to wait and see what they say." "Well," I said," as far as I’m concerned, you’re just about ready to jump out of that chair and run over here. But don’t do it yet. You’re right to listen to the nurses. Like Mom said, ‘Always follow orders.’" "Right," Dan said. We both giggled. About that time they brought lunch into the room. It was some sort of mushy-looking crud that passed for potatoes and gravy. Urgh! Hospital food! It looked awful, like something I’d better not repeat. But he ate it anyway. When you’re hungry, anything looks--and tastes--good. I know that. Once, when I was twenty years old, I saw something in the refrigerator that looked like meat. I made a sandwich with it. Do you know what it was? It was fat. Not meat--fat. You know, like animal lard? But, like I said, when you’re hungry, anything tastes good. My mother asked me what I had for lunch and I told here, "That meat in the refrigerator." "What meat?" she had asked. "That meat wrapped up in the plastic. I made a sandwich with it." "Sue," she had said, "that wasn’t meat. That was old beef fat." I about gagged. Why had I done that? I guess because I was hungry.

It was two o’clock before I left for home. "Good night, Dan," I said. "I’ll call you tomorrow and see how you’re doing. Maybe I’ll come see you again also." I left his room and took the bus home. I got to the house and checked the mail. The TV Guide magazine had come this day. I put it under the one I was using for this week. There was also a tabloid newspaper that I suscribed to. There were also a lot of envelopes, most of them wanting money. I shredded these, because I didn’t want to send money. There was a light bill also. I paid that and put it in the little stand on top of the television set. I put all my outgoing mail there. It would go out the next day. My unseen guest did not show up that day, but then, how could I tell if he had? I laughed at that thought as if it were a joke. Then the doorbell rang. Edward? I wondered. But when I opened it, it was only a young girl selling cookies for her Girl Scout troop. I had enough munchies to kill an elephant and didn’t need any more. I told her I wasn’t interested. I closed the door and locked it. I put a frozen dinner in the oven for myself. I was going to have turkey and stuffing. I like the Marie Callender’s dinners because you can do a little bit of cooking along with putting the dinner in the oven. I had to heat the turkey in a pan of water. It took only about a half an hour. I went into the living room and sat down to watch television. There was a dog show on tonight. I was watching all the dogs go through their routines and wondered which one woud\ld win best in show. They all looked really geat and all seemed to be enjoying their run around the ring. I watched "Jeopardy" and "Wheel of Fortune" next. Then I looked at the TV Guide channel to see what movies were playing. Nothing on but movies about warriors. Yuck. I don’t like that. I went into the office to play cards on the computer and stayed there until nine. There was a computer show on one of the shopping channels at that time. I turned that on and watched it until it was time for bed. I showered and went to bed. There was no basketball game on tonight, so I could listen to the music. I listened to the radio for about an hour. Johnny Mathis was singing now. I turned it off after his song and rolled over and went right to sleep. I wondered what tomorrow would bring. I had to wait to find out.

 

 

CHAPTER SIX

When I got up the next morning, the sun was shining. It was going to be a beautiful day. It was really warm outside with no wind blowing at all. I made my coffee and did my morning routine as usual. But today was different. I had to go to the store to get some things I had run out of. I took the bus to the store and stocked up on soup, eggs, potato chips, Coke, hot dogs, buns and meat for dinner. I also bought some more things for lunch, in addition to some more frozen dinners. I alternate cooking with frozen dinners. Sometimes I’ll cook two or three times a week, maybe even four or five. I cook eggs, different sorts of meat, like rib eye steaks, ham, hamburger patties, pork chops--you get the idea. I put frozen fried potatoes in the oven to cook so I can have them with my meat. I don’t eat as much as I used to. When you get older, your appetite changes. You don’t need to eat big meals all the time. But I do still get vegetables in my diet, from the Marie Callender’s dinners. I guess it’s enough to keep me going. So far this year, I haven’t been sick at all, except for a sinus cold. I’m pretty regular, if you know what I mean. After I had bought groceries, I took the bus home. I carried two bags over one arm and two over the other. I have my own way of carrying groceries. If there are too many bags, I call a cab to take me home. But that’s rare. I like to take the bus everywhere I go. After I got home, I put one of the pizzas I had bought for lunch into the oven. It was pepperoni, one of my favorite kinds. Actually, when it comes to pizza, they’re ALL my favorite kinds. There’s only one problem. Pizza stays with me. It’s heavy. So when dinnertime came, I just fried me a couple of eggs. That’s something light and quick to make and it’s not really that filling. I had got some tapes in the mail today, so I went into the office to listen to them. I also have a radio with a cassette player in there, in addition to the typewriter and the computer. I enjoy listening to the tapes I get from the music websites. They all have good music. I always manage to find a tape of gospel music whenever I order from the websites. I love singing the old hymns, and that’s the only way I can still do that. We don’t sing hymns in our church any more, so I buy tapes of them so I can keep the heritage alive. I hope they will start singing hymns again in church someday.

I was in the office up until nine-thirty. I went out to watch television for a little bit. The only thing worth watching was the Animal Planet channel. There was a show on about frogs. Now frogs may be ugly, but they’re not gross. (Well, they may be beautiful to another frog.) After this program ended, I made my way to bed. Not a very eventful day. I hadn’t even gotten up to see Dan today. Now it was too late to do that. I had to wait until tomorrow.

The next morning I called Dan and the nurse said he was strong enough to try to walk. I thought that was the best news I’d heard all week. I went up to see him. He was sitting in the chair, like before, moving his leg and straightening it out. This time there was no pain in his leg at all. "See if you can stand up and take a step toward me," I said. Then the nurse came in and I asked, "Is he able to take a step toward me from the chair?" "Let’s try it and see how he does," she said. The nurse took Dan’s hand and he stood up on his feet. He slowly tried to take a step toward me, and succeeded. Then he tried another and succeeded at that one. Then another and another. But before he got to me, his leg got wobbly and he had to sit down again. "You’re improving, Dan," I said. "Keep it up and you’ll be walking in no time." By this time I was getting hungry so I said goodbye to Dan and went down to the cafeteria for some lunch. I had something light, just in case my guest were to come and wanted to go out for dinner. I promised him we would. But would he be able to be seen? I don’t know. I went home and checked the mail. Not much. Just a bunch of bills. I don’t mind paying bills. That’s what all my money is for, isn’t it? To buy food and pay bills. All the stubs went into the shredder along with the envelopes. I put all the bills into the stand on top of the television. They would be going out tomorrow. About that time, the doorbell rang. My heart pounded. Would it be him? I opened the door. "Are you out there, Edward?" I heard the same voice as before. "I’m right here." Come in," I said. The door opened and stayed open for a little bit, then closed again. I knew it was my guest, because I still couldn’t see him. The formula hadn’t worked. But I guess I didn’t mind that. "May iI get you anyting?" "No," the Voice said. "But maybe we can talk for a while and then maybe go out for dinner." Then I thought about going out. What would people say? What if they saw the food disappearing and the utensils moving? Would they be scared? I hoped no one would notice. I knew a restaurant we could walk to. When the waiter saw me, he said, "Do you want the lounge or the coffee shop?" "Which would you like?" I asked my guest. "Maybe we should go into the lounge. It’s dark in there. Maybe nobody will see." "The lounge," I said. He showed us to a booth. "I thought I heard you talking to someone a minute ago," he said. "How many are in your party, one or two?" Uh--" I began. "One, but I’m really hungry enough to have two dinners. I’ve had a very busy day and skipped lunch," I said. That was the best one I ever thunk up. "Would you like anything to drink?" "Coffee," I said. "Two of them, also?" Yes," I said. "I’m a coffee nut." She put two cups of coffee on the table. The same thing happened as with the water, the cup rising up off the table and tilting up and then coming down to the table again. When the waiter returned, he asked what I would like to order. "I think I’ll have spaghetti." "How about you?" I whispered to my guest. "I’d like meat loaf," the Voice said. "There you go again, talking to yourself. Now tell me what you’d like." "Meat loaf," I said. The waiter was shocked. He said, "I can’t believe you’re going to eat meat loaf right on top of spaghetti. You’re going to get sick." "No, I won’t," I said. Would you like soup or salad with your dinners?" "Salad," I said. "What would you like with yours?" "Soup," the Voice said. "And, what kind of soup do you have?" "Come on, now! You can’t eat all that. You know you can’t," the waiter said. Then he remembered my question. "We have vegetable or chicken noodle," he said. "Which do you prefer?" "Vegetable," the voice said. "Vegetable," I said loudly. Would you like mashed or baked potato with your meat loaf?" he asked. "Mashed," theVoice said. "Mashed," I said loudly. "I’ll be right back," he said and left to fill the order. "That was a close one," I said. "He thought I was talking to myself." The cup rose up from the table and tilted again, then came to rest back on the table. Then the water glass did the same thing. The waiter came with my salad and soup. The soup bowl slid over to the other side of the table. The spoon lifted up from the table and went into the soup bowl. Taking a spoonful of soup with it,the spoon came to rest oin the air above the table and then the soup disappeared from the spoon. This happened again and again, until the bowl was empty. Weird, I thought. This is getting creepy. Then another drink of coffee followed by another sip of water. The waiter had put a carafe of coffee on the table. I poured some more into my cup and added more cream. The pitcher rose off the table until it was even with the cup and tilted so coffee would pour into the cup, followed by the creamer doing the same thing. I stared at what I was seeing. My heart was thumping. But I had to eat. Soon our dinners came, my spaghetti and my guest’s meat loaf. This time the fork and the knife were working together. Then the fork left the plate with a piece of meat on it, which also disappeared abrupty, followed by a forkful of mashed potatoes and then vegetables. I was sucking up my spaghetti and making a mess of my face. I grabbed a napkin and wiped my face. Just then the waiter came by and asked how everything was. "It’s fine," I said, not wanting him to see what I had seen. He’d think he was off his nut. I think I was already off mine. The pitcher rose up from the table again, pouring more coffee into the cup across from me, followed again by the creamer. The cup tilted up and then rested again on the table. Then another sip of water. About that time, the waiter returned and asked if I wanted dessert. "No, thanks. I couldn’t touch anything else." Then I asked my guest, "Would you like anything else?" "No," the Voice said. "You’re doing it again, talking to yourself. You’re weird," the waiter said. "But I like you as a customer and want you to come back again." "We-, I mean--I will," I said. I paid the bill and we went out the door. I opened the door so it wouldn’t look creepy to the other patrons, who I hoped hadn’t seen anything unusual. I walked to the door and asked if my guest would like to come in. "I think I’d better be getting home. It’s getting dark." "Good night," I said. "And good luck on your formula." Then I closed the door and locked it. Phew! I thought as I slumped into the chair. This invisible bit is freaking me out! When is his formula going to work? I hope it’s soon. I had no idea how wrong I really was.

 

 

CHAPTER SEVEN

The next few days wet by without incident. I decided to catch up on some housework I had been putting off for too long. The kitchen floor looked like a pigpen. I swept all the crumbs out the door and then turned the tap on until the water got hot, put the plug in the sink, squirted some dish soap into the water, and poured some bleach into this solution. I took a mop I had hanging outside and used it to scrub the floor. I really have trouble getting those black spots off, but I managed to get them to where they were barely noticeable. After about a good forty-five minutes, I put the chairs back, along with the garbage can and the case of Coke. Then I went to clean the bathroom. That didn’t take long. I cleaned the tub, the sink and the toilet. Now I don’t know anyone who likes to clean toilets. That’s a really gross job, or it can be. But you have to do it anyway. So I did. I poured some cleanser into the toilet bowl and swirled the brush around, scrubbing hard at the stains, trying to get them off. It looked better when I got finished. Then I decided to dust the furniture. I polished everything, even the television set, which was really made of plastic wood, not real wood. I dusted and polished in the office also. Then I vacuumed the house, which didn’t take me long at all. By the time I got done, I was beat. I fixed a sandwich and some chips for lunch. Not much work to that. Then after I checked the mail, I took a nap. I slept until two-thirty. Around five, I cooked some meat for dinner, along with some fried potatoes (the frozen ones, remember?). I was too tired to do anything after that. I hadn’t even called the hospital to see how Dan was doing. I wonder if he was walking on his own now?

The next day I got a phone call from the hospital. It was the nurse. She said Dan could come home. He was strong enough to walk normally. That was the best news I’d heard in a long time. "Is he coming in an ambulance?" I asked the nurse. "Yes," she said. "He will be coming home around noon." "Great!" I shouted into the phone. I completely forgot my manners and had yelled into the phone, I was so excited. Around noon, just as she had said, the ambulance showed up. Dan was in a wheelchair. "But I thought you could walk," I said, dismayed. "I can, but the rules say you have to be in a wheelchair when you leave the hospital, whether you can walk or not." "Do you have to go to the doctor for any kind of follow up treatment any time soon?" I asked when we were inside. "No. The doctor said I don’t need any more therapy. Just walking around like I did before the injury. That’s all." "Let’s celebrate," I said. "Let’s go out for lunch." "That sounds good," Dan said. Where will we go?" "How about Spires?" "I like that place," Dan said. "My dad used to go there all the time. They have really good food there." We went to the restaurant and had our lunch. After lunch, we were sitting at the table letting the food settle when I said, "Dan, I have to tell you something. But it has to wait until we get home. I’m not going to tell you here in public." "Why?" he asked. "Is it dirty?" "No," I said, laughing. "But it might shock you." We took the bus back home and after I had unlocked the door and we were in the house, Dan asked, "Well, what is it you’re going to tell me? I’m ready for anything." "Are you sure?" I said. "Because this might freak you out." "Go ahead. Try me," he said. So I began to tell him what had happened while he was in the hospital.

"Remember when we went to the fair and I lagged behind at the fortune telling booth?" I asked. "Yes, and I thought you’d never get out of there," Dan said. "And when she said someone would come to visit me? Well, you may not believe this, but she was right." "Huh?" Dan said. "But I thought she was a fake." "So did I," I said. "I was sitting in my chair here when the doorbell rang a couple weeks ago, and I looked through the peephole to see who was out there, and I couldn’t see anyone, so I opened the door and still couldn’t see anyone. I thought it was kids hiding in the bushes. I ordered them to go home. But then I heard a man’s voice saying I must be the one the fortune teller was talking about. I said he must be the empty space in front of me. Then I wondered why I couldn’t see anyone. I just stood there shaking. I thought it was some sort of trick, but I soon found out it wasn’t. This man was invisible, Dan. I’m telling you the truth. Don’t believe me if you don’t want to, but it’s the God’s truth. He was."

"Sue," he said, "you’re right. I don’t believe you. But I know you’re always pulling jokes on me. This one’s even better than the piano. This one really takes the cake." "All right," I said, "don’t believe me. But you’ll soon find I’m telling the truth. And you better be ready." "Well, I guess you’ve never lied to me before. I’ll play along, just to humor you. Okay?" "Okay," I said. "When is this person coming here?" he asked. "He just comes when he wants to. You can’t tell when he’s going to come. You just have to wait for it to happen." "I’m willing to wait," Dan said.

It was nearly five o’clock when we finished talking about my strange visitor. We had to eat something. My stomach was yelling, "FEED ME! FEED ME!" in its own growly way. So I made dinner for both of us and we ate and talked some more. We got up from the table. cleaned the dishes and wiped the table and stove down, then we watched television until bedtime. I bet Dan didn’t sleep a wink. But I sure did. I was tired out.

We were both up early the next morning. I looked at Dan and asked, "You couldn’t sleep, could you?" "No," he said. "I kept thinking about your story. It sounds too far-fetched to believe." I could see he was confused. How could I convince him that what happened was genuine? That what I saw was not an hallucination? Maybe Edward would come over and straighten the whole thing out. I hoped so. I went into the office to get my email on the computer. I got three this morning. One was an order confirmation and the others were offers for credit cards. I deleted them all and emptied the trash folder. We had lunch around eleven o’clock. Just something light. We had sandwiches and potato chips because I was planning on getting pizza for dinner tonight so we could eat it while we watched "Tarzan" on pay-per-view. I had already ordered the movie. It would be on at five-thirty that evening.

It was about one o’clock when I heard the doorbell. "Okay, Dan, get ready. This may be him," I said. But no. It was just a kid selling magazines to raise money for his school’s computer lab. "False alarm," I said jokingly. He didn’t laugh. Around two the doorbell rang again. I opened it. "Is that you, Edward?" The voice from the outside said, "Yes, it’s me." "Come in," I said. "I would like you to meet someone." Then I looked at Dan and said, "Don’t be shocked. I was at first, but now I think I’m getting used to it." The door opened and hung open for a minute, then closed as before. Still invisible. What rotten luck. I looked at Dan and said, "Dan, this is Edward." "But there’s no one here," Dan protested. "You’re going to introduce me to empty air?" "No," I said. "He’s right here beside me. Come over here and meet him." "Uhhhhh-" Dan said, shuddering."I-I-I’m Dan, S-S-S-Sue’s brother. It’s nice to meet you---I think." "It’s nice to meet you, Dan," the Voice said. "Who said that?" Dan asked in shock. "It sounded like a man’s voice." "It was," I said. "Sit down, Dan," I said to him. I could see his face had gone white. He didn’t look good. I told my guest he could sit in the chair by the window. The chair rocked a little bit and then came to a stop. "That chair--did it move?" Dan said. "Yes, it did," I said. Then he looked me right in the eye and said, "I didn’t know you could do magic tricks. You’re pretty good, throwing your voide and making the chair move. You ought to be on stage at the Tropicana." ‘But that wasn’t me," I said, trying hard to convince him. "May I get you anything to drink?" I asked them. Dan said he wanted a glass of juice. I have vegetable juice in the refrigerator that I had not opened in ages, but it was still good. I gave him a glass of juice with some ice in it. "What would you like, Edward?" I asked. He said he wanted Coke. I had Coke now, so I could get him one. "Do you want it in a glass or in the can?" "You can put it in a glass with some ice," he said. I brought it into the living room and set it on the table beside the chair beside the window. Dan looked over at the chair by the window. The glass lifted off the table and tilted up, then came back to rest on the table again. Dan’s moth was wide open in amazement. The motion was repeated until the glass was emptied. "Now how the heck did you do THAT?" I heard him say in astonishment. "I didn’t," I said. "You mean what you were saying is true? There really is an invisible man in that chair drinking that Coke? Wow!" That was all he could say. He had fainted. "Dan, are you all right?" I said, trying to revive him. "I--I-I think I’ll be all right now. But what a dream!" "It wasn’t a dream," I said. ‘You were wide awake. You saw the Coke glass rising up off the table and the Coke disappearing and you fainted, that’s all." Around four I asked Edward if he wanted to stay for dinner. He said he would like to. I made something quick and easy for us, pancakes and eggs. "Do you like pancakes and eggs, Dan?" "Yes," he said. "Great. Then we’ll have those." "Edward, you like pancakes and eggs?" I asked. "Yes," he said. I made two pancakes and one egg for each of us. "Does anyone want coffee with their dinner?" I asked. Dan said, "Not me. I’ll have water." Edward wanted coffee with his dinner. I made Dan a glass of ice water and Edward and myself coffee. Then Edward asked where he should sit and I told him, "You can sit on the end on my left. I’ll sit in the rolling chair." I said grace and we all started to eat our dinner. Dan could see the cup rising and tilting up, then coming back down to the table again. Then he saw the knife and fork working together to cut the pancakes up, then the fork rising up and the food disappearing from it. He just sat there for a minute and then began to eat his dinner. "I think I’m convinced about your invisible man. I believe you now." After dinner, I asked fi anyone wanted dessert. No one did. About that time, Edward had to get home before it got dark. I opened the door and said good night. Dan waved from his place on the couch. I closed the door and locked it. Dan’s face was a mess of astonishment and confusion. "What did I see?" he asked. "Did I really see food disappearing and cups rising up off the table? Tell me I’m asleep." "You’re not asleep, and neither am I, "I said. We both giggled, although it didn’t sound very natural. "How did he get this way?" Dan said. "Well," I said, "I asked him the same thing. He said he had injected himself with a formula that makes people disappear and wanted to see if it worked. It turns out that it did, but now he can’t seem to find a way to get back to being visible. That’s all I can say. How can I tell you more?’ "You can’t," he said. "But I thought that invisible man stuff was just a story. You know, not real?" "That’s what I thought too," I said, "until it happened to me."

 

 

CHAPTER EIGHT

"I wonder where this man lives," I started wondering. "He must live within walking distance to my house. I never see a car when he comes." "Maybe his car is invisible," Dan joked. "I don’t think so. According to the movies and stories, a formula to make people disappear can only work on living things, like people or animals. Not inanimate objects like cars." "You’re right, "Dan said. About that time, I looked at my watch. It was getting late and we should be getting to bed. I hoped Dan would sleep better tonight, after the strange things he had seen. When two people see the same thing, it’s either mass hysteria, or hypnotism. Those things didn’t factor in any of what we had seen. Our minds are sharp as tacks. We don’t usually fall for tricks. I know there had been no trickery going on. If this had been a trick, there would be pancakes and eggs all over the floor anad coffee would be spilled everywhere you looked. I went into the kitchen and found none of this, to my relief. Then I went to bed. So did Dan. We were both wondering what tomorrow would be like. Would Edward come again? Would he be visible this time--and wearing clothes? I didn’t know. I had to wait to find out what would happen.

It was seven o’clock when I got up the next morning. Dan was still sleeping. I let him sleep because I thought he might have had nightmares and could use a little more time in bed. When he got up, it was nearly seven-thirty. "How did you sleep, Dan?" I asked. "Better than the night before," he said. "Now that you’ve convinced me your story is true, I feel better. A little freaked out, but I feel better about it."

At eleven the doorbell rang. Was it Edward? I opened the door and asked who it was. It was just a realtor asking if we were going to sell our home. I said we had no plans to sell the house. He walked away but left me a couple of note pada. I like to put my "hen scratches" on them, you know when I’m writing things down? That’s what I use them for. Or for grocery lists. But I have such a sharp memory I don’t really need note pads anyway. I just collect them. At noon the doorbell rang again. "Edward, are you out there?" "Yes," he said. "Come in," I said. The same thing happened as before. No luck yet. Still couldn’t be seen. Then he asked us if we would like to visit him sometime. "Where do you live?" I asked. "I live about a block and a half down from here," he said. "You mean in that house that looks like a spook house?’ ‘Yes, that one." "We would like to come. What is your address?" I wrote it down as he said it. "When would be a good time?" "Any time after one o’clock," he said. "May we come tomorrow?" I asked. Then I turned to Dan and said, "Would you like to visit him?" Dan said, "Well, I----I guess so. But he’s still invisible. How am I going to explain this one to my co-workers? They won’t believe this." "We’ll be over tomorrow around one or one-thirty. Maybe one-fifteen," I said. "May I get you anything?" I asked. "No," he said. "I think I’ll just sit here for a while." "Okay," I said, looking at the chair by the window. About an hour passed and then I said, "I’m going outside for a while. Does anyone want to come out?" "No, we’re fine," Dan said. "Edward, I thought this stuff was just something someone made up. How can you be invisible? It’s not supposed to be real." "Sue told you how it happened, and she’s telling the truth. I did test out a formula to make people disappear and now I’m trying to see how I can get back. I’ve been this way for almost a month with no end in sight yet." "Would you like a Coke?" Dan said. "Well, I think I might have one. I can get it." Dan heard the refrigerator door open and close, then saw the can of Coke making its way back to the chair. He heard the sound of it being opened and then saw it tilt up and then come to rest on the table by the window. When he saw this, his face didn’t go as white as before. He must be getting used to this. The can rose up from the table and tilted, going back further each time, until it was empty. Then it lifted off the table and made its way to the kitchen. "I’ll take care of it later," Dan said, staring wide-eyed at the chair by the window. "You’re not wearing clothes, are you?" he suddenly asked. "No," Edward said. "But it’s going to get cold soon, and you have to wear clothes when you go out," Dan said. "You could wrap your face up in bandages or use a mask and put gloves on your hands and sock and shoes on your feet and no one would know. "It’s too hot for that now," Edward said. "I hope I can get this formula right so people can see me again. I can’t even see myself in the mirror when I’m in the bathroom." "I was kind of suspecting that, " Dan said with a smirk on his face. About that time, our guest had to leave. He said he had some things to do at home, but we could visit him tomorrow. "We’ll see--I mean, we’ll come to visit you tomorrow," Dan said. (With an invisible man, you can’t very well use the word "see", now can you?)

 

 

CHAPTER NINE

Dan was still wondering about what he had seen, but was slowly getting used to the idea. I had pretty much accepted it myself and was no longer shocked at what I saw. It was one o’clock when we left to go visit our friend. We had already had lunch so we didn’t have to eat anything until dinner. We were going to go out to dinner, Dan and I were. I wanted to go to Hof’s Hut. He said that would be fine with him. We reached Edward’s house at around one-ten. I knocked on the door. It opened and I heard him telling us to come in. I couldn’t tell where he was or if I could even see him. The sun was too bright, making the house dark. When we got inside, we found it to be just a normal house like everyone else’s on the street. Just your average pieces of furniture, two chairs, a couch, some end tables and a coffee table, a television set, the usual. No piano, though. I guess he didn’t play any musical instruments. I heard Edward calling from the kitchen. He asked us if we would like anything to drink. "We really don’t want anything right now, but thanks anyway," Dan said. We sat on the couch in the living room and looked around the house. Would Edward be able to be seen this time? Something told me not to get my hopes up. I waited for him to come out of the kitchen. There were magazines on the table. I picked one up and flipped through it. There was nothing in it but dog food. How strantge! A mail-order company that sells dog food? I don’t get it, I thought. It must be some old junk mail he had before this happened. I looked at the date. May 1999. Too old. It should be thrown out. About that time, I heard the chair next to me creak and looked up. I still couldn’t see Edward. But I knew he was there because the chair creaked. There was a plate of cookies on the table next to the chair he was sitting in. I saw one rise up off the plate and start disappearing so I knew he was there. I went over to get one. They tasted stale. But I liked them because they had chocolate chips in them. Even stale chocolate chip cookies taste good. Then another one rose up off the plate and began disappearing. About that time, I heard the chair creak again. I looked up. "Is he gone?" I asked. "I can’t tell," Dan said. I heard the refrigerator door in the kitchen open and close. This time it was a glass of milk coming toward the chair. You have to have milk with cookies. We watched as the glass tilted up and came to rest on the table, then stay there for a few seconds while another cookie was consumed, followed by the milk. This is so weird, I thought. It’s like food eating itself, I thought amusingly. But the only food that eats itself is cannibals. Ha Ha Ha. That’s really gross. "Does anyone else live here with you?" I asked Edward. "No. I’m here alone. I never had any interest in marriage or anything like that." "Hey, neither have we," I said. You have something in common with us." "Does being invisible affect your thinking in any way?" Dan asked. He was still fascinated. "So far, it hasn’t," Edward said. The glass rose up off the table and tilted again, only a little further back. Then another cookie rose up off the plate and started to disappear, followed by another drink of milk. I went over to get another cookie. I brought one to Dan also. We sat and talked until around four o’clock. "We’re going to have to leave. We want to go out to dinner tonight, just Sue and me. She says Hof’s Hut is a good place to eat," Dan said. "I know," Edward said. "She took me out to dinner about three weks ago. I really loved it." "You took him out?" Dan said. "I promised him we would go out to dinner one night. But I was hoping he would be visible. He wasn’t, but still we managed to do it anyway." "What did everybody say when they saw the food disappearing?" "No one seemed to notice," I said. "We were in the lounge." "Maybe we’ll talk again," Dan said as we made our way to the door. "I hope we can see you--I mean REALLY see you--sometime again." "So do I," Edward said. "So do I."

We walked down to the restaurant and had dinner. We sat and stared at each other and at our food, not knowing what to make of what had just happened. We had to get used to this or we’d go bananas. Come to think of it, I already had gone bananas even before this. But I guess being invisible wasn’t so bad. It might be fun. You could go anywhere and do anything. You could make people think their house was haunted and silly stuff like that. Do you know what I’d do if I could be invisible? I’d play the piano like Joel did on Sabrina when she made him invisible. That would really scare people. Then I got to thinking. What if I still had my piano and he came over to play it? I couldn’t tell if it was Kimball playing or Edward. I’d have to ask which. If Kimball didn’t answer and Edward did, I knew it would be him. I really missed having that piano. Now I wish I had it back again, but it probably was with someone else by now. I’d probably never find it again.

"What does Edward do for a living?" I said out loud, not realizing it. "I’ll bet he’s a physicist or some kind of scientist. Scientists will test things on themselves sometimes. Like Dr. Jonas Salk who tested the polio vaccine on himself to make sure it worked? I’ll bet that’s what he does." "I really don’t know," Dan said. "I thought he might be some sort of doctor or medical person. But I really can’t say what he does. I never asked him." "Neither

did I," I said. If he comes again, I’ll ask him." Would he come again? Would he be visible? I could only hope. Maybe we would never know what he did in his line of work, to tell the truth.

 

 

CHAPTER TEN

A week went by with nothing unusual happening, and I began to wonder where Edward was or why he hadn’t come to visit like he usually did. I began to miss him and wished he would come soon. While we were waiting for anything, I cleaned up the house. Dan was out in the back yard, letting the sun warm his leg. His leg was perfectly normal now. He could walk with no pain whatsoever and he was walking every day down to the liquor store for things like potato chips or candy bars. This guy really loves his junk food. Well, I should talk. I like it too, I must confess. He bought a big bag of Dorito nacho cheese tortilla chips and some bean dip, along with a bottle of Coke. We sat out in the yard and ate and drank while we listened to the radio I had brought outside from my bedroom. The one I listen to out in the yard takes batteries. It’s not like the cassette player in the office. We listened to my station, KLAC. Dan and I were dancing to an Elvis song that was playing. The day was perfect for being outside. The birds were singing and there was no wind at all. I began to think rain had finally ended for good, or at least for this year. But I knew, all too soon, it would be winter again.

Around two o’clock I got a little sleepy. I told Dan I was going in the house to take a nap. "Go ahead," he said. "I’ll be fine out here." I went in and tried to sleep, but I just dozed off for about an hour. I came back out into the yard. "Let’s go down to the Taco Bell and get some nachos for dinner.\," I suggested. "It’s almost four o’clock." "Well, I guess I could eat something," Dan said. He was pretty full from the chips and Coke that we had eaten and drunk, but we had to get something for dinner. He liked nachos and cheese, and so did I. I ordered two, one for me and one for him. We ate there at the Taco Bell to pass the time. "What do you think will happen tomorrow?" he suddenly asked me, out of the blue. "I don’t have any idea. But let’s take it as it comes."

The next morning I was up at six-ten. The light outside my window was almost full daylight. I was wide awake. I was in the kitchen drinking coffee when Dan came out of his room to join me. "How did you sleep last night?" I asked. "I slept really well for a change," Dan said. "No weird dreams or anything like that. I slept straight through." We had breakfast and got dressed. I looked over my email messages on the computer. Most of them were offers for credit cards. I have one credit card and that’s enough. No more credit cards other than VISA and Discover. I always use the VISA when I buy everything on line, because it’s the only number I can remember right off the top of my head. At least I can pay it off every month. I have enough money to cover the payment without going broke.

About one-thirty I heard the doorbell. Was this Edward? I wondered. I opened the door a crack and said, "Edward, are you out there?" I heard his voice from behind the door. "Yes, I’m out here. I want you to see something." See something? Did he say he wanted us to SEE something? What did he mean? I opened the door. There was a man standing there, a man I had never seen before, but his voice sounded oddly familiar. I looked him up and down and said, "Edward--Edward-? I stared at him. This must be a disguise, I thought. Maybe he’s still invisible under all that clothing and he’s got a mask on his face and gloves on his hands. I reached up to touch hiis face. "It feels so real, like skin," I said in amazement. "Can you take that off for me?" "What are you talking about?" Edward said. "This IS my real face. The formula finally worked. I’m back. Give it a tug if you don’t believe me." I reached up and tried to pull what I thought was a mask off. "Ow! That hurt!" he said. "It IS his real face. He is back!" I shouted. I examined his hands. They were real also. Then he took his shoes off so I could see his feet. Yes, he was all there. I didn’t want to ask him to undress in front of me. I asked him to go into the bathroom and come out with a towel around his vitals. He did. Yes, his whole body was there also. He was really back. "Now, let’s REALLY celebrate. Let’s all go out to dinner, the three of us. No one’s going to think I’m weird any more." We all went to Hof’s Hut and had dinner. It was good to see someone sitting across from me holding that cup of coffee and the fork with the food on it going into a mouth I could see. Although it had been fun while he was invisible, this was much better. Then he said, "I’m not going to test any more formulas on myself after this. I’m hanging it up and doing something else." "What do you have in mind?" I asked. "Maybe I’ll get a job with the medical profession as a general practitioner. I was always fascinated with medicine. I want to help people get healthy and stay healthy." I looked at him and said, "That would be great."

And as for what happened with the invisible stuff, Dan and I vowed not to tell a living soul---or a dead one either. And as for the fortune teller’s prediction that I would fall for Edward? Well, let’s say that now that I could realy see him with my eyes, nature just HAD to take its course, didn’t it?

 

 

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