— Chapter 11 —
That night after dinner, Oscar stashed the other two bottles of gravity repellent safely in his dresser and made a list of things he wanted to do with it. There were only three small bottles total, and they had already used about one-fifth of the bottle Asha had taken home with her.
We should return to the caboose as soon as possible, Oscar thought, to see if there’s any more.
In the meantime, he needed to come up with a plan. Oscar thought for a long time about what he most wanted to do. He wrote:
#1 Fly
#2 Build Tree House in Top of Tree
#3 Climb Rope in Gym Class
#4 Make Toys Fly Around Room
#5 Make Gretchen Fly Around Room
He thought about the last one for a minute. Then he changed it to:
#5 Make Gretchen’s Phone Fly Around Room
Oscar chewed on the end of his pen and tried to think of other things. He thought back to the excitement he’d felt when he’d first found the gravity repellent. What had he wanted to do more than anything else? He added:
#6 Walk Without Tripping or Falling
He thought about it more and wrote:
#7 Run Without Tripping or Falling
And finally:
#8 Play Baseball Without Tripping or Falling
Oscar realized he would need a lot more repellent to make himself less klutzy. Or he’d have to give up using the repellent for fun and use a tiny bit every day when he needed it. But there was no way he would give up the stuff at the top of his list.
Oscar lay awake in bed that night, staring at his shoeprints on the ceiling and wall and wondering how much repellent he’d need to walk without tripping. He didn’t need to float, but maybe he could be a tiny bit lighter. Then the earth wouldn’t pull on him quite so much.
It sounds like a dream, Oscar thought as he yawned and drifted off to sleep.
* * *
When Oscar met Asha in front of her house the next morning, she wasn’t carrying the spray bottle. “Where’s the repellent?” he asked.
“I thought about it, and I don’t think we should bring it to school,” Asha answered. “What if someone takes it?”
Oscar thought about the bully and his friends, but he also thought about his list. “But how can we use it in gym class if we leave it at home?”
Asha frowned. “If we float up to the ceiling in gym, Ms. Parker will definitely find out about it,” she said. “Then we’ll end up in the principal’s office. Who knows what might happen then?”
She had a point, but Oscar was disappointed that he wouldn’t get to show off in front of his classmates. The day had just started, and he already had to scratch something off his list.
“Okay, fine,” he said with a sigh. “But I want to try something. Will you go get the repellent?”
“But…” Asha started to say.
“I don’t want to take it with us, I just want to use a little bit now,” Oscar explained.
Asha went back in her house and returned a moment later, carrying the small spray bottle.
“Spray a tiny, tiny bit on my stomach and back,” Oscar said. He held up his arms and turned in a circle as she sprayed. “Now watch.”
Oscar turned and walked to the end of the block. He dared himself to look up rather than down like he normally would. After a dozen steps, Oscar turned around and walked back toward Asha. He didn’t trip once. When he reached her, he smiled and raised his arms over his head like he saw athletes do in the Olympics.
“Bravo!” Asha cried.
Asha took the bottle back inside, and she and Oscar walked to school. He didn’t trip or fall once, and he felt taller as he walked past the nurse’s office. The nurse glanced up, ready to clean a scrape or unwrap a Band-Aid for him. She smiled at him as he went by.
During class, Oscar passed his list to Asha. She read it, smiled, added something, and passed it back. Now the bottom of the note said:
#9 Find Your Lost Frisbee on the Roof
Oscar nodded. He chewed on the end of his pencil and stared out the window. Some fifth graders were outside playing tetherball. Oscar watched the rope coil around the pole as the ball flew faster and faster. His eyes widened, and he wrote:
#10 Ride Sealing Fan
Oscar passed the note back to Asha, who studied it with a confused look on her face. Then she crossed out something, wrote something next to it, and handed the list back to Oscar, who quickly hid it in his lap as Mrs. Faust looked in his direction. When the teacher turned back toward the chalkboard, he looked at what Asha had written:
#10 Ride Sealing Fan Ride Ceiling Fan (But what if we break it?)
Oscar frowned and wrote back:
Your no fun
They passed the note back and forth:
Your no fun You’re no fun.
If it breaks, how would we explain to your parents?
We won’t break it
We might.
It’s strong
How do you know?
Tied Buzz Lightyear to it before and it was okay
Okay, but I don’t think it’s a great idea.
You worry too much