The Invisible Day (7 page)

“I’m a total loser at school,” said Jody casually, as if she were dismissing a dull book. “Everybody hates me. I talk too much and I’m a nerd. They don’t get me. I’m smarter than they are, by a mile, and I have a mouth full of metal.” She smiled at me. “In case you haven’t noticed.”

“I like your metal mouth,” I said. “It makes you shine.”

“Oh, you should hear what they call me at school. Tinsel-Teeth. Appliance-Head. Fence-Face.”

I laughed, but I was embarrassed, too. I knew that if Hubert, or better yet, Alyssa, had
braces, I would get very creative with names.

“Anyway, I don’t care about them. I don’t even care that I’m a total disappointment to my mother. My brain alarms her. She just wants me to go shopping with her. And I just hope she finds the right thing to wear when I’m accepting the Nobel Prize.”

It was comforting to know that even a genius teenager, with years of experience, did not have a perfect relationship with her mother. Maybe nobody does.

But I was here for a reason.

“I’m sure you will win the Nobel Prize,” I said. “You’ll be famous and rich and travel all over the world. And I hope it’s for discovering a foolproof potion for making invisible things reappear.”

S
he got the point.

“Okay,” she said. “Let’s get on with it. I hope I remember everything. I know the one thing I’m short on is masticated chicle. But maybe you can help me with that.”

“What?”

“Masticated chicle. That’s my fancy name for chewed-up gum. It’s actually the gum juice that I use, but the gum has to get chewed first. Enough to release the juice but not so much that the flavor disappears.”

I was thinking two things: Eww, gross—and Hubert.

Jody was rattling on.

“See, I can’t chew the gum myself because of my braces. And I can’t really store the juice for very long because fresh seems to work
best. There used to be these two kids, twins, who lived next door. Cleo and Kimberly. They had great jaws. But they moved to Pittsfield. So now I have to scramble for my supply. We need about a cupful. Of gum juice.”

“You mean right now? Before we can do anything?” She didn’t seem to realize that I was about to scream.

“Yep.”

“Well, lucky for you … I mean, lucky for me, I happen to have a champion gum-chewer downstairs, waiting for me across the street. He can blow a bubble inside a bubble inside a bubble!”

“That’s a very handy skill,” said Jody in mock admiration.

“I’ll go get him,” I said.

“Well,” said Jody. “We also don’t have any gum.”

When I stepped outside, the street seemed like a surprise. Just that it was still there, quietly
being a street, holding Jody and this crazy house right in its middle.

Hubert was looking at his watch, probably counting the seconds until he went to the police station. He didn’t see the door open and close, and he certainly didn’t see me approaching.

“Hey,” I said from a few feet away. He moaned.

“Oh, no! Billie! What happened? Why aren’t you here?”

I told him the whole story. When I came to the gum part, his face turned from a stormy scowl to beaming sunshine.

“That’s easy!” he said. “I’m the master chewer of all time! Did you tell her?”

“Yes, you show-off. And now’s your chance to put your skills to good use.”

“Let’s go.”

We set out down Eighty-fourth Street, away from Central Park and toward Columbus Avenue, figuring that’s where the stores would
be. There was a little newspaper kiosk one block down that had magazines and candy and lots of gum, right there on the street.

Hubert bought three packs of Banana Bubbalot and I stole another eleven packs, some banana and the rest cinnamon. It felt bad to keep stealing, especially after seeing the pickpocket, but we didn’t have a choice. I knew I would have to fix things later. Hubert was embarrassed, but he couldn’t help his dopey little smirk when I stuffed his pockets full of gum.

“Okay, big shot, start chewing.” We began our mission.

Something nudged my leg. I looked down to see a puppy sniffing at me. His head rubbed against me like an invitation to play. His owner was trying to get a newspaper out of the box with one hand while he held the pup’s leash with the other. I knelt down to stroke him. When I looked up at Hubert, he was
watching in alarm. The owner couldn’t figure out why his pet was sniffing at nothing with such pleasure. Hubert quickly leaned over to pat the puppy.

“Nice dog,” he said. “I guess he can smell my gum.” The man tugged on the leash, and the puppy moved on to a hydrant.

W
e sat on a bench outside the ice cream store, tipping our faces into the sun and chewing intently.

“Do you think I can still get a sunburn?” I wondered aloud. Hubert didn’t answer.

“We don’t have anywhere to put the gum,” he said after a minute.

“Wait here a sec,” I said.

I stood up and poked my head into the ice cream store. There were stacks of paper cups behind the counter. I promised myself it was the last time I would do this.

I waited for the lady to get busy wiping tables, and then I ducked under the little counter hatch and swiped a couple of cups.

Back outside, Hubert was looking around in dismay.

“I’m here,” I said, sliding onto the bench next to him.

“I don’t like the way you keep disappearing,” said Hubert. I laughed.

“What were you doing?”

I put the cups in his lap to answer the question.

“You’ve got to stop this, Billie,” he scolded. He was bent over, pretending to scratch his leg, while he talked to me so that no one would think he was a loony.

“Yeah, yeah, I know. It’s almost over. I hope. Now get chewing! And don’t fool around with any of your tricks.”

We peeled off the paper, chomped into the gum, and worked it into soft, juicy wads. Hubert can fit seven jumbo pieces of Bubbalot in his mouth at once, so his cup filled up faster than mine. We wandered back to Jody’s house, chewing all the way, pausing only to spit the next ready wad into a cup. Making the change
from banana to cinnamon was a taste challenge, but Hubert put one
banana
aside for his last piece, just to look forward to.

“Won’t you come in with me this time, Hubert? Please, please, pretty please? With Bubbalot on top?”

“I’ll think about it.” He was getting better at looking in the right place when he looked at me. He stood on the stoop, pretending he hadn’t decided, but I could tell he was too curious not to come in, now that he knew we wouldn’t be locked in the broom closet and used for soup ingredients.

Jody’s voice crackled through the intercom and Pepper’s barking greeted us as we opened the door. We headed up the stairs like regular visitors, with me in front and Hubert behind, groaning about how many steps there were. But he shut up quickly when he saw the lab and the chemicals and the train.

“Hey there!” Jody smiled at Hubert, her braces glinting under the skylight.

“Hey,” he said back, already a fan.

“Still chewing, huh? How much have you got?” We showed her our cups. Mine was only half full, but Hubert was almost done.

My jaws were aching, like I’d just spent the afternoon smiling at my gram’s friends.

“I have to take a break,” I said. “Hubert, you can fill mine.” I sat down in the rolling chair and rubbed my cheeks.

“I got everything together while you were out. I hope I remember everything,” Jody said.

Hubert kept on stoically chewing. He was playing with Jody’s satin bag, taking out the makeup and lining up the pots on the table.

“What does all this other stuff do, anyway?” Hubert asked as he unwrapped another piece of gum. “Is it all magic?”

“These are scientific experiments,” Jody scolded. “Magic is for babies. I am a scientist and an inventor.”

“Sorry.”

“That clear lipstick makes everything you eat taste like strawberry pie, which just happens to be my favorite food.”

“That might be the greatest invention I ever heard of,” I said. “Except for Hubert, it would have to be Banana Bubbalot!”

“Yeah,” said Hubert, “and I sure could use it. My mother is the worst cook.”

“And this lipstick …” Jody rolled out the tube of coral that I had first looked at in my own bathroom. “Well, maybe you should just try it and see.”

I
took it from her, and it disappeared. But I could feel the slim case, to roll it in and out.

“It’s not going to, you know, do any permanent damage, is it?”

“Just try it.”

“Billie, don’t,” said Hubert.

Jody flashed me a silver smile. “I promise, you will not turn into a werewolf.”

I rolled the lipstick over my lips, expecting a tingle or a flavor. But nothing happened. Jody was looking my way with an expectant grin.

“Nothing’s changed a single bit. There must be something wrong with it. Did you give me the right one? Are you teasing me for fun?”

The words tumbled out like a high-speed tape.

“Oops.” I covered my mouth as if I’d burped at the lunch table.

Jody shook with laughter. Hubert snorted. How did I fall for this?

“You mean that now I speak in rhyme? And this will happen all the time? What about when I’m at school? They’ll all think that I’m a fool!” I had horrible visions of trying to present my Small World Project in verse. Alyssa’s smirk flashed in front of my eyes.

“Fix me up without delay! Give me something right away!” I glared at Jody, wishing she could see my fury.

“This one’s easy,” Jody reassured me. “Just wipe it off with a tissue and then gargle with vinegar.”

She heaved a gallon jug of Grand Union
white vinegar from under her table. I wiped my lips raw on the sleeve of my sweatshirt and then took a swig. I wanted to vomit at once. I swilled it around for maybe four seconds and then spat it out into the saucer that Jody was offering.

“I better not be talking in rhyme …” I tested the cure. They both applauded.

“That was funny,” said Hubert. “You’re pretty smart, Jody. Now what do we do with all this gum?” He handed her two full cups.

“Let’s get going,” said Jody. “You’ll have to carry all this stuff. I’ll need my hands for the railings.” She gave him back the gum, along with a canister of talcum powder; a box of dog biscuits; a net bag of something dried and black and twisty, like fungus; and two test tubes from a tray on her lab table.

“When I did Pepper in the kitchen sink, she kept jumping out, and there was such a mess afterward, you wouldn’t believe. I think we’d better do this in the bathtub.”

“Wait a minute,” I said. “I have to take a bath?”

“Of course you have to take a bath. What did you think?”

“I guess I didn’t really think,” I mumbled. Hubert was the color of cherry bubblegum, he was so embarrassed.

“Come on,” said Jody, limping to the stairs.
“We haven’t got all day. My mother is going to be home before you know it.”

“Oh, shoot,” said Hubert, looking at his watch while trying to keep the cups upright, “it’s really late, Billie. You better get moving.”