CHAPTER ONE Birthday Gift
“FINALLY!!!! I mean…thank you Mom and Dad. What a great present. My first smart phone…and camera. Is the camera smart too?”
Little did Carson suspect at the time, but this camera was not only smart, but GENIUS…maybe even, dare we say MAGIC!
After the cake and candle extinguishment Carson headed out into his neighborhood to try out his new smart phone/camera. His parents could call him if they wanted him so he ventured into the nearby woods. He decided to take a selfie and stood in front of the stone archway and clicked. Then a bit farther along he clicked a selfie by the small lake and as the shutter clicked he noticed a buzz vibrate through his palm. When he looked at the phone a small purple light was just reducing its glow. When he checked the picture he realized that it was a double exposure and when he looked up he was back standing at the stone archway AND also standing by the lake. He couldn’t move his feet and it seemed as if he was part of the scenery. He took another selfie, but this time held the phone without touching the side with his palm where the purple light was and he was back to just being in front of the lake and he could move his feet again.
Now for a very intelligent eleven year old boy who had always been interested in science this situation bore future study. Future being immediately!
He took two more shots and held his palm against the place where the purple light was and it happened again. This time he waited and watched from both locations and just as he was about to click to a new shot that would bring him back to single person, one location normal, a young girl about his age walked by. It was Nancy from down the street.
“Hey Nancy, wanna see my new smart phone?”
But she just kept walking like she didn’t even see him. Was she angry at him? ”
“Hey Nance…you need to shave that beard girl!”
Nothing! And that SURELY would have gotten a response.
“Wow…I must be invisible!”
Just then Nancy walked by his second selfie location.
“You are the prettiest girl at school Nancy!”
Again NOTHING! If that first insult didn’t get a response, that compliment would have made her smile at least!
Carson tried the double exposure again and it worked again. Then he just shot a single selfie not holding his palm over the purple light and it was a normal photo.
Carson raced to get back home as fast as he could and on the way passed Nancy.
“You look nice today Nance!” Carson said smiling widely.
“Oh thank you Carson…you make me blush!”
“YES!!!” Carson exclaimed to himself rushing home, not to tell his parents but to do some very serious thinking!
CHAPTER TWO A Plan Develops
Carson experimented with his camera until the “battery low” warning came on and so he charged it on his nightstand.
He found out that, yes, he was at both places when he covered the purple light with his palm, but just like the still selfie picture, he couldn’t move. Then his ingenious yet practical mind tried the double exposure technique using the video mode!
He was in both places AND he could move too. WOW!
He was so excited that he took a long time to go to sleep and then dreampt about his smart phone that night.
The next morning he was going to test how long the camera would retain the first image or video until he got to some other location where he wanted to be invisible.
I know what you’re thinking and school did NOT allow phones in class!
Carson knew that being invisible was not a very nice thing to be around other people because it was like invading their privacy. And then he thought, “What if the phone malfunctions and I am stuck until the battery goes flat or worse yet…forever?”
After more experimenting he found that as the battery got weaker the double exposure factor lasted a shorter time, but it always returned him to the last place that he was when he photographed or videoed.
Carson was getting ready for his biggest experiment yet, being at the movie theater and the local baseball game at the same time. Just as he was ready to take the picture from the stands at Sterner Field where the Little League played, his hand slipped as he tried to palm the purple light and he dropped the greatest Birthday Gift ever, all the way from the top of the bleachers to the concrete base where it shattered into 21 pieces. He counted them.
His Mom and Dad were upset at first but his Dad then told Carson that there was phone breakage insurance on the gift and that it would be fixed or replaced with no charge. But “NEVER DROP YOUR PHONE AGAIN!”
“Yes Sir!” Carson said, of course.
It was two weeks but finally the phone was ready to pick up at the store and Carson was excited.
You guessed it. No purple light, no double exposure. Carson had to settle on being a boy that could only be in one place at a time and in full view…just like the rest of us.