— Chapter 9 —

Oscar unscrewed the cap and sniffed the contents of the bottle. It didn’t smell like anything. He looked at Asha. “Do you think I should drink some?” he asked.

Asha frowned, took the bottle, and read its label very carefully. “I don’t know…” she said slowly. “What if it’s poisonous? You wouldn’t drink bug spray.”

“True,” Oscar said. “So should I put it on my skin?”

Asha considered this for a moment. “Maybe we should test it first,” she said, handing the bottle back.

“On what?” Oscar asked, looking around.

“How about the rat in the cupboard?” Asha suggested. “It’s dead already, so we can’t hurt it.”

Oscar shook his head. “No way. I’m not reaching into that cupboard,” he said. “Plus, the rat’s probably slimy.”

“Well, we should test it on something first,” Asha said. “Let’s take it outside.”

Oscar carefully screwed the cap back on the bottle and went outside. Asha followed, climbing down the steps after him.

Oscar looked at the big spider, sitting in its web in the corner. “What about him?” he asked, gesturing toward the spider.

“How do you know it’s a boy? Didn’t you read Charlotte’s Web?” Asha asked.

“Okay, ‘her’ then. Should we sprinkle some on her and see what happens?”

Asha looked concerned. “I guess so,” she said. But what if it hurts her? Or kills her? We don’t know what’s in this stuff. Let’s try it on something else first.”

Oscar thought it was pretty silly to be so concerned about a spider, but that’s just how Asha was. “Okay, how about a rock?” he said.

“Perfect,” Asha agreed.

Oscar unscrewed the cap and carefully poured a tiny bit of gravity repellent onto a small rock on the ground. When the liquid came out, he half-expected it to sparkle or fizz. But it just looked like plain water coming out of a bottle.

He and Asha held their breath as they watched it. After a few seconds, the rock lifted off the ground and hung, suspended in the air, several inches in front of them. A breeze came through the clearing, and the rock moved along with it, turning gently like an empty grocery bag caught in the wind.

Oscar and Asha turned toward each other, wide-eyed and grinning.

“COOL!” they cried at the same time. They watched the rock float away from them, then looked around for other things they could use to test the repellent.

“Now should I put some on the spider?” Oscar asked.

Asha considered this for a moment and looked at the rock. It didn’t seem damaged. “Okay,” she said slowly. “But just a little bit.”

Then Oscar realized there was one small problem — he’d have to get close to the spider. “Hmm,” he said, leaning back. “Maybe I should paint it on with a piece of grass or something.” He looked down at the weeds around his feet.

“Give it to me,” Asha said. She took the bottle and approached the web carefully. Then she poured a few drops onto the spider and stepped away.

The kids watched, fascinated, as the spider floated into the air away from her web, attached only by a strand of her silk. Spiders have very small faces, so it can be hard to tell when they’re panicked, but Oscar and Asha were fairly sure they were watching a panicked spider. The creature began moving all her legs very quickly and pulling herself down by her own thread of silk. When she reached her web, she hung on tight, curled into a tight spider-ball.

“Aw, poor thing. It scared her,” Asha said.

Personally, Oscar felt it was just as well for the spider to cling to her web. It was comforting to realize that gravity affected spiders and other scary things as well. At least it meant he didn’t have to worry about one floating toward him out of nowhere.

“She looks okay. I mean, it didn’t hurt her or anything, right?” Oscar finally said.

“I guess not,” Asha said, shrugging.

“I’m going to put some on myself,” Oscar said. He unscrewed the cap and looked at Asha for her reaction.

She raised her eyebrows. “Go for it.”

Oscar poured a few drops into the palm of his right hand. After a few moments, his hand felt very light — so light that it floated upward and took his arm with it.

“That’s the first time I’ve ever seen you raise your hand!” Asha giggled.

Oscar bent over and dripped some more of the liquid on his left shoe. This put him into an awkward position, as his left foot floated up in the air just like his right hand had done.

Asha grabbed the bottle as Oscar fell backward and lay on the ground, looking puzzled, as two of his limbs floated in the air above him. He looked as if he were lying in a broken hammock. Oscar giggled at the odd sensations in his right arm and left leg.

Asha watched, fascinated. She thought for a moment, then sprinkled repellent on both of her shoes. She had barely finished screwing the cap back on the bottle when her feet floated out from underneath her and headed straight for the sky. Suddenly she was suspended in the air upside down. Her pigtails hung over her head, and her hands hovered a few inches above the ground.

The two kids looked at each other, Oscar sideways and Asha upside down, and started laughing harder than they’d ever laughed before. They could barely get words out between their giggles.

“Hee hee hee — gasp — we should use this stuff — gasp — in gym class!” Oscar managed to say.

“A ha ha — gasp — hee hee — gasp — best handstand ever!” Asha giggled.

“We could — gasp — we could climb to the — gasp — top of the rope in, like, FIVE SECONDS!” Oscar shouted.

“You could be — hee hee — the champion of square dancing!” Asha yelled.

Oscar stopped laughing and looked at her. “That’s not funny,” he said. “No one wants to be good at that.”

They paused for a moment, then laughed even harder.

Just then, the sunlight broke through the branches of the big tree and shone on both of them. Oscar and Asha were still giggling as they drifted back to the ground.

“Ow!” Asha said, rubbing her head. “What happened?” She picked dried leaves out of her hair.

Oscar felt his left shoe. “I think the repellent dried,” he said. “Maybe it only works until it… um…” He tried to think of the right word.

“Evaporates?” Asha suggested.

“Yeah,” Oscar said. He stood up suddenly, grabbing the bottle off the ground. “I’m going to put it all over me.”

“Wait,” Asha said. “I think we should do that inside somewhere. What if we float away because we don’t have anything to hold on to?”

Oscar thought of the panicked spider. He was so excited to use more of the repellent, but he knew Asha was right. He sighed and put the bottle in his backpack. “Okay, let’s go.”

They were walking away when Asha suddenly stopped and looked back. “Wait a minute,” she said, running back to the far end of the caboose.

Oscar heard noises inside and knew Asha was closing the case and putting the lock back in place. Finally she reappeared, rolled the door shut, latched it, and jumped back down to the ground.

She’s a great best friend for taking such good care of our treasure, Oscar thought, smiling happily as they headed out of the clearing.