Ben looked at Mom, Dad, Ant, and Carla. They certainly weren’t their usual selves yet. The aliens had been inside their bodies for quite a long time, much longer than the man Ben had seen behind the shul, and they seemed dazed and woozy, as if they were waking up from a very deep sleep.
He watched as they slowly made their way down from the bimah and to their seats in the front row. The way they moved was more like gliding or floating than walking properly.
Gradually, Ben could see everyone in the shul start to unfreeze. The silence that had been there before was replaced by people coughing, whispering, and moving their feet. Things were definitely returning to normal.
Ben saw the rabbi and the chazan approach the bimah. He hadn’t actually been called up yet, so he wasn’t meant to be there. He quickly bounded down to the front row and found his seat next to Mom, Dad, Ant, and Carla. It felt good to be back with his normal, non-alien family.
“That was pretty exciting,” he whispered to Ant and Carla.
They both looked at Ben. They seemed confused, as if it was foggy in their brains. Ben stared back at them and watched as their eyes slowly opened fully.
“Yes, I do look pretty, don’t I?” said Carla.
“Exciting?” said Ant. “What was exciting?”
“What just happened,” said Ben quietly. “With the aliens and the invisibility ray.”
Ant looked at Ben and shook his head.
“I don’t know what you’re talking about,” said Ant.
“Your suit is dirty,” said Carla.
Ben quickly dusted down his suit and turned his attention to Mom and Dad.
“Mom, Dad,” he said, “are you okay?”
“Of course we’re okay, Benjamin,” said Mom. “Why wouldn’t we be?”
“Well, because … because of you being taken over and everyone in the shul being frozen,” said Ben.
“Frozen?” said Mom. “Oh no, I’m not cold. In fact it’s quite warm in here.”
“Shush,” hissed Dad. “Pay attention, Benjamin. You’ll be called up soon, it wouldn’t be good to miss it.”
Ben couldn’t believe it. It seemed that no one in his family could remember anything. Looking around, it was obvious that no one else in the shul could remember anything either. They were all behaving completely normally, as if it was just a regular Shabbat morning in shul.
Ben felt sad, but he also felt angry. He had put his life in danger and saved the world. He should be a hero. Instead, none of the people in shul knew anything about it. In fact, no one else in the entire world knew anything about it. And none of them ever would.
“Excuse me, excuse me,” said a voice to the left of Ben.
Ben looked up. It was Grandpa. He had just arrived and was trying to get to his seat next to Mom.
“Of course,” thought Ben. “There is someone who knows what I did!”
“Hi, Grandpa,” whispered Ben as Grandpa sat down. “You did it.”
“Well, I had to pay a visit to the bathroom first, but now I’m here, yes,” said Grandpa.
“No, I mean, you got rid of the guards, so I could get in here and defeat the aliens,” said Ben.
“What’s that, Benny?” said Grandpa. “What are you saying?”
“The aliens, Grandpa,” pleaded Ben. “We saved the world.”
“What’s he talking about?” Grandpa asked Mom.
“Nothing,” said Mom. “Now, Ben, be quiet, it’s almost your big moment.”
Now Ben was really miserable. The aliens must have done something to Grandpa’s memory as well. That meant there really was no one who knew what Ben had done. No one at all.
Ben felt himself becoming more and more unhappy, but then he remembered where he was and what was happening. This was not the time to feel sorry for himself.
Ben concentrated on the Shabbat service and went over his bar mitzvah portion in his head. The parsha that week was Vayelech, and thankfully, he found that despite everything that had happened, he hadn’t forgotten it.
Eventually the call came: “Benyamin ben Chaim.” His Hebrew name. He made his way up to the bimah.
After saying the blessings, he took the silver pointer, the yad, in his hand and looked down at the Torah scrolls in front of him. For a second, Ben thought about standing there and telling everyone what had just happened and what he’d done. He had everyone’s attention, so why not? He wanted them to know how lucky they were to be alive and how they owed it all to him.
It was very tempting, but then Ben had a different thought. There were other ways to impress people and show them how brave he was. There were other ways to be a hero. And right now the best way to do that was by giving the greatest bar mitzvah performance he could.
Ben smiled, took a deep breath, and started.