17 - Why I'm Afraid of Bees (3 page)

A dark-haired woman sat behind a big glass window. She smiled at me when I
came in, and I walked over to talk to her.

“Good afternoon,” she said into a microphone.

I jumped. Even though the woman was right in front of me, her voice came out
through a speaker on the wall.

“Uh… um,” I stammered nervously. “I came about the message on the
electronic bulletin board?”

“Oh, yes,” the woman replied with another smile. “A lot of people learn about
us from their computers. Pardon me for staying behind this glass shield. But the
equipment behind me is so delicate, we have to be very careful about protecting
it.”

I peered over the woman’s shoulder. I could see gleaming metal counters and a
wall of electronic equipment, including what appeared to be heart monitors,
video screens, X-ray machines, and cameras. It looked like something right out of
Star Trek!

I suddenly had a heavy feeling in my stomach. Maybe this is a bad idea, I
thought. “Y-you probably don’t like kids hanging around in here,” I stammered. I
started backing away toward the door.

“Not true,” she said. “Many of our customers are young people such as you. A
lot of kids are interested in changing places with someone else for a week. What did you say
your name was?”

“Gary. Gary Lutz.”

“Nice to meet you, Gary. My name is Ms. Karmen. How old are you. About
twelve?”

I nodded.

“Come over here for a minute,” Ms. Karmen said, motioning with her hand.

Cautiously, I walked back over to the glass booth. She opened a little slot
at the bottom of her window and pushed out a book. I picked it up and saw that
it was a photo album, like the one my parents have from their wedding.

I opened it and started looking through it. “It’s kids!” I exclaimed. “All
about my age.”

“Correct,” said Ms. Karmen. “They’re all interested in switching lives with
someone else for a week.”

“Wow.” I studied the album.

A lot of the kids in the pictures looked big and strong. And cool. Kids like
that wouldn’t be afraid of anything, I told myself. I wondered what it would be
like to be one of them.

“You can pick a boy—or even a girl, for that matter—to trade places with
for a week,” Ms. Karmen was saying.

“But how does it work?” I asked. “Do I just go take over somebody’s room and
live in his house for a week? Go to his school? Wear his clothes?”

The woman laughed. “It’s far more interesting than that, Gary. With our
getaway vacations, you actually
become
the other person for a week.”

“Huh?”

“What we have,” the woman explained, “is a safe, painless way to switch one
person’s mind into another person’s body. So, while
you’ll
know you’re
really you, no one else will recognize you. Not even the other boy’s parents!”

I was still confused. “But… what about my body? Does it get stored here?”

“No, no. We here at Person-to-Person will find someone else to take over your
body for the week. Your parents will never even know you’re gone!”

I looked down at my skinny body and wondered who could possibly want to
borrow it for a week. Ms. Karmen leaned forward in her chair. “So what do you
say? Are you interested, Gary?”

I stared into her dark brown eyes and swallowed hard. I broke into a cold
sweat. This whole thing was really weird—and
scary!
“Uh,” I said. “I
don’t know. I mean I’m just not sure.”

“Don’t feel bad,” Ms. Karmen said. “Many people take some time to get used to
the idea of a body switch. You can think it over for as long as you wish.”

She took out a small camera. “But in the meantime, would you mind if I took your picture? That way, we can find out if
anyone is interested in being in your body for a week.”

“Well, I guess it’s okay,” I replied.

She snapped the picture, and the flash went off in front of my eyes. “But I’m
still not sure I want to go through with it.”

“There’s no obligation,” Ms. Karmen said. “Why don’t we leave it this way?
You fill out a form describing yourself. Then I’ll put your picture into our
display album. And, when we find someone to take your place, I’ll call you to
see if you’ve made up your mind.”

“Okay,” I replied. What harm could that do? I asked myself. There was
no
way
she would ever find anybody who’d want
my
body for a week!

I spent a few minutes filling out the form. I had to write down my name and
address. Then I had to tell all about my hobbies, and how well I did in school,
and things like that. When I was finished, I handed it to Ms. Karmen, said
good-bye, and headed out the door.

I made it most of the way home without getting into trouble. A block and a
half from my house, I ran into my three most unfavorite people in the world—Barry, Marv, and Karl.

“Hey, guys!” Barry cried with an ugly smile. “The Klutz is up and walking
around. That must mean we didn’t do a very good job of pounding him yesterday.”

“No,” I insisted. “You did a good job. You did a
very
good job, guys!”

I guess they didn’t believe me. They all jumped me at once.

When they were finally finished—about five minutes later—I lay on the
ground and watched them walk away through one swollen black eye.

“Have a nice day!” Marv called back to me. All three of them roared with
laughter.

I sat up and pounded the ground with my fist.

“I’m sick of this!” I wailed. “I want to be somebody else—
anybody
else!”

Slowly and painfully, I dragged myself to my feet. “I’m doing it,” I decided.
“And nobody’s going to stop me. Tomorrow I’m going to call Person-to-Person
Vacations. I want them to put me into somebody else’s body. As soon as they
can!”

I spent the next few days changing my Band-Aids and hoping the woman from
Person-to-Person Vacations would call me.

At first, I ran to answer the phone every time it rang. But of course it was
never for me. Usually, it was one of Krissy’s dumb friends, wanting to giggle
and gossip.

One afternoon, I was reading a science-fiction book in my usual spot behind
the big maple tree. I heard a sound, and peered around from behind the tree.

Sure enough, there was Mr. Andretti walking across the lawn. He was dressed
in his beekeeping outfit. As I watched, Mr. Andretti went to the screened-in
area off the garage and started opening up the little doors to his beehives.

Bzzzzzz.

I covered my ears, but I couldn’t shut out the loud, droning hum. How I hated that sound! It was just so frightening.

I shivered and decided it was time to go back inside.

As I climbed to my feet, a bullet-sized object shot right by my nose. A bee!

Were the bees escaping for real this time?

I gasped and stared over at Andretti’s house. Then I almost choked. There
was
a big hole in the screen around the beekeeping area.

A
lot
of bees were flying out!

“Ow!” I cried out as a bee landed on the side of my head and buzzed loudly
into my ear.

Frantically, I batted it away. Then I ran toward the house. For one wild
moment, I thought about calling the police or maybe the paramedics.

But, as I slammed the back door, I heard an all-too-familiar sound. “Haw haw
haw!”

Once again, Mr. Andretti was laughing at me.

I pounded my fist into my other hand. Oh, how I’d like to sock that guy in
the nose! I thought.

I was interrupted by the sound of the phone ringing.

“Give me a break!” I cried as I stomped off to answer it. “Don’t Krissy’s
moron friends have anything better to do than talk on the phone all day long?”

“Whaddya want?” I snarled into the mouthpiece.

“Is this Gary?” a woman’s voice asked. “Gary Lutz?”

“Uh… yes,” I answered in surprise. “I’m Gary.”

“Hi, Gary. This is Ms. Karmen. From Person-to-Person Vacations? Remember me?”

My heart started thumping in my chest. “Yes. I remember,” I answered.

“Well, if you’re still interested, we’ve found a match for you!”

“A match?”

“Correct,” said Ms. Karmen. “We’ve found a boy who wants to switch bodies
with you for a week. Are you interested?”

I hesitated for a few seconds. But, then, as I gazed out the back door of the
kitchen, I saw a big, fat bee throwing itself against the outside of our screen
door. “Haw haw!” Mr. Andretti’s scornful laughter boomed across the back yard.

My mouth tightened into a thin line. “Yes,” I said firmly. “I’m really
interested. When can we make the switch?”

“Why, we could do it now,” said Ms. Karmen. “If that’s all right with you.”

My pulse raced as I thought. My parents were both out for the afternoon, and
Krissy was playing at a friend’s house. The timing was perfect. I’d never get
another chance like this!

“Now is great!” I exclaimed.

“Terrific, Gary. It will take me about twenty
minutes to get to your house.”

“I’ll be waiting.”

The next twenty minutes seemed to take forever. While I waited, I paced back
and forth in the living room, wondering what my new body would be like.

What would my new parents be like? My house? My clothes? Would I actually
have some friends this time around?

By the time Ms. Karmen arrived, I was a wreck. When the doorbell rang, my
hand was sweating so much, I could barely turn the doorknob to let her in.

“Let’s go in the kitchen,” Ms. Karmen suggested. “I like to set up my
equipment on a table.” She opened a small case and took out some black boxes
with monitors on them.

I showed her the way to the kitchen. “So who’s this kid who wants to switch
places with me?” I asked.

“His name is Dirk Davis.”

Dirk Davis! I thought excitedly. Even his name sounded cool. “What does he
look like?”

Ms. Karmen opened up a white photo album. “Here’s his picture,” she said,
passing it to me.

I looked down at a picture of a tall, athletic-looking blond boy in black
Lycra bike shorts and a blue muscle shirt. I blinked in surprise.

“He looks like a surfer or something!” I cried. “Why in the world does he
want to switch bodies with me? Is this some kind of trick?”

Ms. Karmen smiled. “Well, to be honest, it’s not exactly your
body
he’s interested in, Gary. He wants your
mind.
You see, Dirk needs someone
who is good in math. He has some very hard math tests coming up in summer
school. He wants you to take them for him.”

“Oh,” I said. I felt relieved. “Well, I usually do pretty well on math
tests.”

“We know that, Gary. Person-to-Person does its homework. You’re very good at
math. Dirk’s good at skateboarding.”

I sat down at the table.

Bzzzzzz.

A bee buzzed right under my nose. “Hey!” I yelled, jumping back up. “How’d
that bee get in here?”

Ms. Karmen glanced up from her equipment. “Your back door is open just a bit.
Now please sit down and try to relax. I need to fasten this strap around your
wrist.”

With a nervous glance at the back door, I sat back down. Ms. Karmen strapped
a black band around my wrist. Then she started fiddling with some wires attached to one of
her machines.

Bzzzzzz.

Another bee flew in front of me, and I wiggled around in my chair.

“Please sit still, Gary. Otherwise the equipment won’t work.”

“Who can sit still with all these bees buzzing around in here?” I asked. I
lowered my eyes and saw three fat bees walking across the table.

Bzzzzzz.

Another bee flew past my right eye.

“What’s up with these bees?” I was starting to panic.

“Don’t pay any attention to them,” Ms. Karmen said, “and they won’t bother
you.” She made one more adjustment to her machine. “Besides, Dirk Davis isn’t
afraid of bees. And, as soon as I flip this switch, you won’t be, either!”

“But…!”

ZZAAAAPPPP!

A blinding white light flashed in front of my eyes.

I tried to cry out.

But my breath caught in my throat.

The light grew brighter, brighter.

And then I sank into a deep pool of blackness.

Something was wrong.

Colors returned. But they were a total blur.

I struggled to make everything come clear. But I couldn’t seem to focus on
anything.

My new body didn’t feel right, either. I was lying on my back, and I felt
light as a feather, light enough to float away.

Could this be Dirk Davis’ tall, muscular body? It certainly didn’t feel like
it!

Was this some kind of trick? I asked myself. Was the picture of Dirk Davis a
phony? Was he really a lot smaller than he looked in the photo album?

I reached out one of my hands and tried to touch my stomach. But my hand felt
really weird, too. It was small, and my arm seemed to be bending in several
places at once!

What’s going on? I wondered, trembling with fright.

Why do I feel so
weird?

“Whooooa!” I cried out as I finally managed to touch my body. “Yuck.” My skin
was soft. And it was covered with a fine layer of fuzz.

“Help! Ms. Karmen! Help! Something’s wrong!” I tried to shout.

But there was something wrong with my voice. It came out all tiny and
squeaky. Little mouse squeaks.

I rolled over onto my stomach and tried to get up. I spread my arms to
balance myself.

I gasped as I realized my feet weren’t even touching the ground!

I was flying!

“What’s happening to me?” I cried in my squeaky little voice. I floated
forward and crashed into a kitchen cupboard.

“Ow! Help me!”

I moved my strange new arms and realized I had some control over which way I
flew. I felt some weird muscles in my back going into action. Testing my new
muscles, I flew over to the kitchen window.