Uh-oh. There’s the bell. I hurry over to my science class and plop down in my usual seat between Spotch and Rand-El. Lucky for me, Mr. Jeddee is late. Even though I’m 99 percent sure of the answer, I ask Spotch if Brian’s been able to get anywhere on his beam design since lunch. I figure maybe with a full stomach the thought of it doesn’t scare him quite as much. It’s actually more hoping than figuring, since nobody else has come up with a different plan.
“Wow. That might be the smallest I’ve ever seen his brain.”
“Yup. He was fine, but as soon as I mentioned the Zorb again, he totally stressed out.”
The door glides open. It’s Mr. Jeddee.
“My apologies for being late today. I had to shuttle back to the space station in order to pick up a very special visitor.”
“Say hello to the professor. He was kind enough to take time out from his busy day in the laboratory to talk to us about a special project he’s working on.”
“Hello there, everyone. I must say, I was quite, quite, quite excited when Mr. Jeddee invited me to your classroom today. I certainly welcome any opportunity to talk about my incredible Growth Ray.”
“Cool! So it makes things bigger?”
“No. Smaller.”
“Then why did you call it a growth ray?”
“Because that’s my name—Professor Growth. But you make a good point. Perhaps to avoid confusion I’ll call it my incredible Growth Shrink Ray from now on. Yes, yes, yes indeed. I do like the sound of that!”
The professor spends the next twenty minutes explaining all the boring details of his Growth Shrink Ray. At least, it’s boring to me, since I don’t recognize half the words. Then he answers a few questions from the class (“How long have you been working on it?” “Three hundred twenty-five years.” “Why did you invent it?” “Because I wanted to make things smaller”). I’m just about to drift off into another daydream when…
“ And now for a little demonstration.”
Okay. NOW we’re talking! The professor pulls a chair to the front of the classroom and aims the ray at it.
“At this point the ray only has a range of a few feet. First I set the reduction dial to the desired level of shrinkage. Let’s say twenty percent of original size. Then I simply pull this lever and…”
“Well, now. That is definitely, definitely, definitely not right. Let’s take a quick little look-see here. There must be something blocking the randorf cabobbulator.”
Okay. That might have been the best classroom demonstration ever! Even better than that time in third grade when Wendy Festnook’s mom brought in her supposedly house-trained raccoon troop. It also gave me an idea.
“Hey, Spotch,” I whisper. “Are you thinking what I’m thinking?”
“Yeah,” he whispers back. “We may not need Brian’s brain after all.”