Dr. Pickle woke up. He had no idea how long he’d been sleeping. It took him a moment to remember who he was, where he was, and why he had tried to hypnotize himself.
He picked up the mirror and checked his face. No change.
“Now what am I going to do?” he asked.
That was strange.
He had felt his mouth move when he spoke, but the mouth in the mirror didn’t move.
He brought his hands to his face. He could see his hands touching the face in the mirror too.
The cheek in the mirror was still all puffed out, but his own cheek felt soft and flat. He moved his tongue around inside his mouth, even though the tongue in the mirror was sticking out at him.
He set the mirror on his desk.
“This is very interesting,” he said aloud. Clearly, the face shifts to whoever stares at it, he realized.
He turned the mirror over, facedown.
He hadn’t read about this in any of his psychiatry books. He slowly raised the mirror, caught a glimpse of the hideous face that was still there, then quickly lowered it back down on his desk.
This discovery would make him famous! He picked up the bust of Sigmund Freud. “Even more famous than you,” he said to it.
But would all that fame be worth it? What if someone else’s face got stuck along the way?
“What would you do?” he asked Dr. Freud.
There is a reason it is called a bust. It was made of bronze, and felt heavy in his hand.
He flipped the mirror over, and slammed Sigmund Freud down on top of it.
The face shattered.
Up in Mrs. Jewls’s class, Kathy suddenly felt very dizzy and confused.
She looked at the sentence she had just written. “I can’t read this!” she exclaimed. “It’s backward.”
“Let me see,” said D.J., taking it from her. “How did you do that? That is so cool!”
“Warm!” Kathy replied.
19
Push-Downs
Stephen lay on the playground, surrounded by his classmates. He grunted as he pushed down on the blacktop with all his might.
Nothing happened.
“You can do it!” urged Maurecia.
“Push harder, Stephen!” encouraged Joe.
Stephen pushed harder. He grunted louder.
Still, nothing.
Louis, the yard teacher, blew his whistle. “What’s going on here?” he asked as he made his way to Stephen.