Week 28. Sawubona (“I See You”)

[rayaso]

THE SCIENTIST

The lab was a mess, even to the most charitable visitor. Unfinished projects littered every flat surface, especially the floor, with spare parts and equipment scattered about. Maintenance had refused to clean it until everything was put away.

The problem was, Dr. Vasily liked it that way. He had a jumpy mind and the jumble inspired him. He also knew where everything was and to put it all away would make his ideas neat, ordinary, and useless. It would also take a lot of boring work.

“Nobody’s inspired by a clean room,” he had told Maintenance.

But now he had run out of ideas for his latest project, an invisibility suit.

“I’m stuck,” he thought. “I need a change of scenery.”

Dr. Vasily was famous for inventing the Time Chamber, which allowed him to travel to different dimensions. He decided to visit the Fifth Dimension for a break. The Time Chamber was about the size of a closet. He opened the door, went in, and zapped himself to the Fifth Dimension. The darkness was just what he needed to concentrate.

“I’m hungry,” he thought after a while. “I bet there are brownies on Earth.”

That meant a choice: inspiration or brownies? Brownies won. His invisibility project could wait. He knew that if he didn’t get brownies soon, he would starve.

“Once I finish my invisibility suit,” he thought, “I can take all the treats I want and no one will know it’s me, but right now it’s time to go back.”

Dr. Vasily activated the Time Chamber, and with a bang, a flash, and a little smoke, he transported back to Earth.

“What was that noise?” yelled the cook. “We’ve told you before, no more explosions, especially in the house!”

She was going to have to search Stanley’s bedroom again. Who knew what he had in there?

“I hate that,” she thought, remembering the lizard under his bed.

“I need it in case any Sea-Monkeys escape,” Stanley had said.

The Sea-Monkeys had never hatched, but he had wanted to be ready if any got out of the aquarium.

“Time for a snack?” asked Mom when Stanley gave her a hug. She knew he was hungry when he did that.

She put a plate of double-chocolate peanut butter brownies in front of him with a glass of milk. She loved his smile.

“What are you doing in your room?” Mom asked. She rarely liked the answer.

“It’s a secret,” said Stanley.

“What good is an invisibility suit if everyone knows it?” he thought.

Suddenly, he had a breakthrough.

“Can I have a roll of aluminum foil?” he asked.

“It’s in the drawer,” said Mom. Aluminum foil didn’t sound too dangerous, but with Stanley she never knew.

The aluminum foil was perfect for his invisibility suit. He already had the other parts, a mirror and duct tape, in his lab.

After eating some more brownies, he returned to his lab and got to work.

“If I can reflect light off of me,” Dr. Vasily thought, “no one can see me.”

It took a while to wrap himself in the aluminum foil, using the duct tape to hold everything together. He made a foil hood to cover his head, and then he taped a mirror on his chest. If he was careful, he could move without tearing anything.

The last step was the transmogrifier, which allowed him to change himself into anything he wanted. It was disguised as a large cardboard box with a red construction paper dial on it. He wrote “invisibility” on the crowded dial, then climbed in. The transmogrifier hummed briefly and combined all the different pieces to make an invisibility suit. When he got out, he couldn’t see himself.

“It worked!” shouted Dr. Vasily.

“Inside voice,” yelled the cook, who was afraid to ask what worked. She never liked the answer.

Dr. Vasily walked carefully from his lab to the kitchen.

Mom saw Stanley creep by her covered in aluminum foil and lots of duct tape, with a mirror on his chest.

She didn’t need to ask what he was doing. Stanley had been talking about invisibility for at least a week. She got another cup of coffee, then sat at the kitchen table and watched him walk out the front door.

Mom knew where he was going. He always went down the street to show Annie his inventions. She called Annie’s mother to warn her.

“I think he’s supposed to be invisible,” said Mom. She could hear Joan sigh – Mom heard that a lot from people.

Dr. Vasily went to Annie’s lab. No one said anything to him along the way.

“They can’t see me,” he thought.

He rang Annie’s bell and her assistant opened the door.

“Who’s there?” said Joan. “I can’t see anyone.”

Dr. Vasily walked quietly past her and went to Annie’s lab.

“You’re covered in foil and tape,” said Annie. “What are you supposed to be?

“I’m invisible,” said Dr. Vasily.

“But I can see you,” she said.

“I turned off my invisibility suit,” he said.

“Turn it back on,” said Annie.

“I need to save power,” replied Dr. Vasily. “Isn’t it neat?”

“No,” she said. “You look like a stupid foil mummy with a mirror on you.”

“You’re just jealous,” he said. “What are you doing?”

“Reading. Leave me alone – I’m in time out again. My mom said you can’t stay.”

“OK,” said Dr. Vasily, who left her room and shut the door behind him.

“I’m invisible now,” he said through the door.

“No, you’re not,” said Annie.

Dr. Vasily walked slowly to the front door and left.

Joan didn’t say anything to him; she just sat at her desk and wondered again how Stanley’s parents put up with him.

“I’d have him do more chores,” she thought. “And I sure wouldn’t let him leave the house covered in aluminum foil.”

On his way back, Dr. Vasily walked past Mrs. Schmidt, who lived nearby. She used a cane and lived by herself. Stanley liked to visit her -- she kept a bowl of hard candy and had a friendly cat named Jake.

“Hello, Stanley,” she said.

“I’m invisible,” Dr. Vasily replied.

“Why, so you are dear,” she said. “Say hello to your parents and visit me when I can see you.”

“O.K.”

As silently as possible, he returned home and went to the kitchen. The cook was making something smelly for dinner. He went straight to the cookie jar to get some more brownies.

“The best part of being invisible,” he thought, as he lifted the lid.

It was empty. It had a new label: “invisibility jar.”

“Invisible brownies – the best kind!” he thought, as he groped around inside it, hoping to feel one, without success.

Dr. Vasily went back to his lab. He was tired of no one seeing him, so he carefully took off his invisibility suit, packed it in a bag, opened the door to the Time Chamber and sent it to the Fifth Dimension.

“If I wear it over there,” he thought, “maybe Overlord Vqrut won’t eat me.”

It was then that he noticed the signs. There was a new one on the Time Chamber’s entrance (“Caution: Radiation Area”) and another (“Laboratory of Dr. Vasily”) on his lab’s door.

“The engineer’s been busy,” he thought. “Maybe now Maintenance will leave me alone.”

“Dinner’s ready!” he heard the cook shout.

“There’ll be dessert,” he thought. “With a dinner that stinky, there’s always dessert. It better not be invisible.”

There was no dessert, but dinner tasted better than it smelled.

After eating, he went back to his lab. He needed a new project.

“Maybe Annie can help,” he thought. “I’ll call her tomorrow.”

He started to clean up the lab a little. Annie liked things neat, and maybe his Mom would bake some cookies. Tomorrow was going to be a good day.

* * * * * *

If you enjoyed this story, you can vote for it along with many other fine entries here.


                 Sea-Monkeys

There are six earlier stories about Stanley.
“The Teddy Bear Detective”
https://rayaso.livejournal.com/22954.html
“Home on the Range”
https://rayaso.livejournal.com/26263.html
“The Mars Expedition”
https://rayaso.dreamwidth.org/1771.html
“Keep It Safe”
https://rayaso.livejournal.com/35790.html
“The Pirates”
https://rayaso.livejournal.com/37750.html
"The Gold Run"
https://rayaso.livejournal.com/39532.html

Comments

[viagra.livejournal.com]

Oh my gosh; I think I love Stanley! When I'm playing the movie of this story in my head, Stanley looks an awful lot like Butters from South Park to me. I think that the funniest part of this to me is the fact that he created something that lets him travel to other dimensions and called it The Time Chamber. What a perfect name.

I also really enjoy that Stanley's mom, er, the cook, harbors that little bit of trepidation when she knows he's up to something, but still lets him be himself—he's not hurting anybody by being invisible! That's good parenting right there. Stay weird, Stanley.

Great work!

[rayaso.livejournal.com]

Thank you so much! I don't really have a picture of what Stanley looks like in my head, so Butters is a good one. He's kind of a combination of Dennis the Menace and Calvin, with (I hope) something of my own thrown in. You're right -- Time Chamber is a bad name for something that sends him between dimensions, but he's only about 8, so he makes mistakes. It is actually his bedroom closet, which is why it is dark when he visits the Fifth Dimension. Stanley does have good parents. They play along with and facilitate his imagination. His mother is the cook as well as maintenance and his father is the engineer in this story. The roles change depending on what adult is needed in his current fantasy. Stanley will always be weird.

[bleodswean.livejournal.com]

STANLEY!!!! I loved this! I always always always get giddy in a Stanley story at the moment I realize that it IS a Stanley story! Perfectly wrought introduction, G, and fantastically funny middle and delightfully appropriate ending. I loved this installment!

[rayaso.livejournal.com]

I'm so glad you like these stories. I try and delay the identity of the main character as long as I can. The first thing that popped into my mind was invisibility, which is the opposite of the prompt, and that led me to Stanley. He's a fun character to write. Your input always means a lot to me.

[lyssa027.livejournal.com]

That meant a choice: inspiration or brownies? Brownies won. His invisibility project could wait. He knew that if he didn’t get brownies soon, he would starve.

Brownies always win for me too ;)

This reminds me so much of the Muppet Babies cartoon that I used to watch when I was younger ;)

[rayaso.livejournal.com]

Brownies win for me as well, but an invisibility suit would be a temptation that would be hard to resist. Still, brownies . . . . If you were a little kid, what could cause you to pass up double chocolate peanut butter brownies, fresh from the oven, with a glass of milk?

[dadi.livejournal.com]

What a lovely, funny story :)

[rayaso.livejournal.com]

Thank you! I'm glad you liked it. Thanks for reading.

[karmasoup.livejournal.com]

I just love how perfectly you get into this kid's head, and I absolutely adore the juxtaposition of his imaginary world, his perspective of the real world, and a couple of parents, a friend (and a sweet old neighbor) sorting their way through it. This had me snickering out loud in so many cute places! <3

[rayaso.livejournal.com]

I really enjoyed our children's' "make believe" period. It was so much fun watching and playing along. I tried to bring a little of that here. His parents and the other adults, even Joan, play along because, really, why not? A few years ago there was a little girl who would walk past our house with her father and she was always wearing cowboy boots, a pink tutu, some weird shirt and a tiara, sometimes with fairy wings, sometimes not. Her father always looked so proud (as he should have). I wondered what was going on in her head. I'm glad you enjoyed the make believe in this story and found it believable for a little kid.

[adoptedwriter.livejournal.com]

I love how this shifts from what Stanley/Dr. Vasily sees and what others see.

[rayaso.livejournal.com]

Thank you. I tried to present Stanley's point of view most of the time, but I also wanted to show the adult world's reaction to it, as well as show what was really going on, outside Stanley's head.

[kittenboo.livejournal.com]

This is so much fun. I love the back and forth between the real world and his imagination!

[rayaso.livejournal.com]

Thank you! Writing Stanley's imagination is so much fun, but I wanted to add the counterpoint of the adult world so that readers could have some idea about what is really going on.

[roina-arwen.livejournal.com]

This is so cute! I remember Sea Monkeys. I don’t think mine ever hatched either!

[rayaso.livejournal.com]

Thank you! I could never grow Sea Monkeys -- I wonder if anyone could. It's like getting a Slinky to walk down stairs, like they showed in the TV commercials. I could never do that either. I'm glad you liked the story.

[d0gs.livejournal.com]

I love this so much; the imagination is rich and entertaining and it captured my heart!

[rayaso.livejournal.com]

Thank you so much! I had a lot of fun writing this, so I'm glad you liked it. I was worried that people might be tired of reading stories about Stanley.

[alycewilson.livejournal.com]

I love Stanley so much! Thank you for making my day with this entry.

[rayaso.livejournal.com]

And your comment made my day! Thank you for taking the time to read and comment on this story. I always have fun writing about Stanley, so I'm glad you liked it.

[flipflop-diva.livejournal.com]

This is adorable! I love that his mom, and even Annie's mom and the neighbor, play along with him too. And the invisible brownies was the best (I mean, not if you really want a brownie but in the story!). Too cute!

[rayaso.livejournal.com]

Annie's mom played along, but very reluctantly. She has a more prim and proper viewpoint, and Stanley doesn't really fit in. She doesn't really understand or appreciate the imaginative part of her daughter, which is why she is often put in time out. Mrs. Schmidt, on the other hand, is more than willing to play along, especially if that means she'll get a visitor.

[marlawentmad.livejournal.com]

I adore this series of stories. You effortlessly glide between the inner world of Stanley and the outer world he inhabits. It is such a delight to occupy those two spaces at once, and a literary feat to write it so clearly and full of wit and humor. Stanley reminds me of a grown-up character on a TV show I am watching for the first time; Abed from Community.

[rayaso.livejournal.com]

Thank you so very much! I enjoy writing Stanley and he is the only character I have ever written more than one story about. We enjoyed Community when it first came out, and I remember Abed, and I see what you mean.

[halfshellvenus.livejournal.com]

Oh, this turned out so well! I loved the components of Stanley's Dr. Vasily's invisibility suit-- perfect kid logic. And Mom's counterresponse of making the cookie jar an Invisibility Jar.

The Time Chamber was about the size of a closet.
I'll bet it was exactly the size of a closet. ;)

He rang Annie’s bell and her assistant opened the door.
Hahahahaha! How rude. :D

I can see how things like explosions (in OR out of the house) would be alarming, and could try a parent's patience. But I like that she's such a good sport about his fantasy games (which will be some of her richest memories of Stanley as a boy, later on), and he's lucky not to have Joan for a mother. What a killjoy!

I see that Sea Monkey conversation made it into this story. :D Oh, Sea Monkeys--one of the great disappointments of my childhood, and one of the last things to mysteriously outlive "Truth in Advertising" laws.