Bananas

It had been a long day and the steady downpour was not helping. Garrett Stanley had finished last place in the two-mile run at his high school track meet and he was in no mood to see anyone. He was usually one of the faster runners on his team, it was fairly common for him to place with the top three finishers. However, today his legs had cramped up unexpectedly and by the end of the race his legs could barely move.

His coach had taken him into the locker room immediately after the race and had the trainer rub down his legs and gave him something to drink. Garret didn’t know what the drink was, but it made his legs feel better within minutes. By the time he was finished with the trainer, the rest of the team was gone and he decided to walk home. Half way there, it started raining.

Now he just wanted to get home, get out of his wet clothes and hide under his blankets, he wished he was invisible. As he approached the side door of his house, he noticed a small package wrapped in regular brown paper, like someone had cut up a brown paper bag to use as wrapping paper. When he picked it up, he saw that his name was written on the brown package. It was just his name, no address and no return address, all it said was “Garrett”

He tucked the package under his left arm and pushed open the door. He headed straight for his bedroom, removed his drenched clothes and stepped into a hot shower. Fifteen minutes later, he was dressed in his pajamas and fast asleep on his bed. The brown paper package was on the floor, right beside his bed, right where he had dropped it.

The sun was shining through Garrett’s bedroom window the next time he opened his eyes. At first he panicked, but then he remembered it was Saturday. As he moved his legs to get out of bed, he could feel that they were still sore. He dropped his feet to the floor and sat on the edge of the bed, mentally preparing for the soreness that would surely come to his legs when he stood. As he sat there, readying to stand, he looked down at the floor and saw the brown, paper package.

Reaching down, he picked it up and once again read his name. He turned it over several times and saw that it was taped up well. He found the end of the tape and started pulling on it. The tape broke a few times, but after a few minutes, he had removed all of the tape. He laid the brown paper package on his lap and slowly opened it. As he unfolded the last flap, he was surprised to see a large, yellow banana.

Garrett was puzzled at first, but then he started laughing. One of his teammates must have put this on the doorstep as a joke. He had heard that bananas can help with muscle cramps. As he was laughing he noticed a small note underneath the banana. He removed the note and unfolded it, he stopped laughing when he saw what the note read.

“This is a magical banana. Whoever eats this banana will have the power of invisibility. Eat it and think.”

Garrett read the note multiple times, still wondering if it was a prank from one of his friends. He looked around the room to see if someone had installed a hidden camera, but every thing looked normal. He shrugged his shoulders, peeled the banana and took a big bite out of it. He expected to feel something but he still felt the same. He took another bite and then another, it was a bigger than usual banana, but soon he ate the whole thing.

He sat there for several seconds but still nothing happened. He looked at the note again and reread it, “Eat it and think.” He looked at his hands, closed his eyes and thought to himself, “I am invisible.” He opened his eyes and he could not see his hands. He clapped his invisible hands and started laughing as they made a clapping sound. He got up from the bed and walked over to the full length mirror in his room. All he could see was his pajama pants and his t-shirt. Every inch of his body was gone. He continued to laugh.

After removing his pajama pants, t-shirt and boxers, he looked in the mirror again. There was nothing there, “this is awesome” he exclaimed.

He looked at the clock and saw that it was nearly lunch time. He slowly opened his bedroom door and peered out into the hallway. He could hear his parents talking, but no one was in sight. He slipped out of his room and closed his bedroom door. Just then his little sister came out of the bathroom, closing the door behind her.

She called to her parents, “Do you want me to wake up Garrett?”

“No, let him sleep. He had a rough day yesterday,” came the response from his mother.

His sister walked away and headed for the kitchen. Garrett followed her trying his best to match his steps with hers. She looked back briefly as she entered the kitchen, but when she saw no one there, she continued on to the refrigerator. Garrett stepped carefully on the cool tile floor as he continued to follow his sister. She removed the makings of a ham and cheese sandwich from the refrigerator and placing the items on the counter, turned to reach for the bread.

While she was turned around getting the loaf of bread from the breadbox, Garrett took the package of cheese and moved it to the other side of the counter, on the other side of the stove. When Kayla turned around to make the sandwich, she stopped, looked around for the cheese and then saw it on the other side of the stove.

“What the heck!” Kayla reached over and grabbed the cheese.

She kept looking at the other counter as she made her sandwich. When she was finished, she turned to place the remaining food back into the refrigerator and while she did, Garrett placed her sandwich on top of the stove and turned on the hot plate. When Kayla turned around she let out a scream.

Garrett quietly tipped toed out of the kitchen and went back into the hallway before his parents arrived in the kitchen. While Kayla tried to explain what had happened with her sandwich to their parents, Garrett returned to his room and started laughing hysterically after closing the bedroom door. After he got control of himself, he went over and stood in front of the mirror. He could still not be seen. He closed his eyes and thought to himself, “I am visible.” He opened his eyes, and there he was.

Garrett quickly put his pajamas back on, rubbed his eyes and did his best to look tired. He walked out of his bedroom and into the kitchen.

He threw in an extra yawn, “what’s all the commotion?”

His dad was shaking his head and his mom had a questioning look as Kayla continued to tell all of them what had happened in the kitchen.

“Sounds to me like you need to stop reading those ghost stories, they are getting to you,” commented Garrett as he went into the kitchen to find something to eat.

The next day he wanted to tell someone about his new power, but he was not sure who he should tell. He wanted to pull a few tricks on his friends but did not have the opportunity as it was Sunday and he figured he had already messed with his sister enough. She seemed to be scared every time she went into the kitchen. So instead, he spent the day thinking of the things he could do to mess with people at school the next day. While he was thinking about all the fun he was going to have at school, there was a soft knock on the door. Then his mother peeked in.

“I think you and I need to have a chat.”

She closed the bedroom door behind her as she came in and sat down next to him on the bed. “I’m not going to accuse you of anything, but your face yesterday told me that you know what happened to Kayla in the kitchen.”

Garrett began to speak but she put up her hand to silence him. “Like I said, I’m not accusing you, but I think it would be wise to find nice things to do in your free time instead of mean things. That’s all dear, just work harder at being nice.”

Then she got up, kissed him on the head and left the room. A deep feeling of guilt came over him as he was left alone to think about what she had said. He had spent the day planning on doing things to his friends, he thought it would just be in fun; but the more he thought about it, and remembering how it had affected Kayla, he realized his plans were indeed, mean spirited.

The next day at school everything went on as normal. But when it was lunch time, instead of heading to the lunch room, like the rest of the students, Garrett went to the locker room. He told himself to become invisible and then placed his clothing in his locker. Walking into the lunch room, he looked around. His friends were sitting at their usual place and the bully jocks were in their usual spot. Garrett contemplated which group to mess with first, when the words of his mother came into his mind.

He looked around and saw Sally; like always she sat by herself in the back corner of the cafeteria. Garrett wondered what he could do as an invisible person to help Sally, he had no idea. But he walked passed his friends, tapping several on the shoulders as he passed, and stood behind Sally. Next to her lunch tray, he saw that she was writing in a notebook. He thought she was writing, but when he looked closer he saw that she was drawing, and what she was drawing was amazing.

She was using a charcoal pencil and was drawing the other students, this one was a sketch of the head cheerleader. It looked as if she had taken a black and white photo of the girl. Garrett was amazed at her talent. He must have taken in a deeper breath, because Sally suddenly stopped drawing and looked behind her. Garrett was afraid to move or even breathe. Sally reached out and waved her arm towards him, she missed by just a few inches.

“If you want to see my work, just let me know. You don’t have to be secret about it,” Sally commented as she returned to her work.

This completely freaked Garrett out. How did she know he was there? He quickly walked away, went straight back to the locker, got dressed and became visible again. He pulled a brown paper bag from his backpack and ate his lunch. It was almost time to go to his next class.

By the time he was finished with track practice he was physically and emotionally drained. He spent the rest of the day thinking about Sally and how she had known he was there. He also thought about what an amazing artist she was, and he realized he truly did not know her well, even though they had been going to school together most of their lives. Garrett decided to swing by the local ice cream shop before he went home, a small milkshake would not spoil his appetite for dinner. He ordered a small banana milkshake and sipped it as he walked the rest of the way home.

After dinner, Garrett decided to pull a harmless prank on his dad. He went to his room, stood in front of the mirror and told himself to disappear; nothing happened. He tried it again, but once again he did not disappear. He thought about the banana milkshake, had it canceled the abilities of the other banana? He tried several more times to disappear; he concentrated with more effort, but nothing happened.

Two weeks later, Kayla was surprised when she saw her brother walking down the school hallway, holding hands with Sally, the reclusive girl from P.E. class.