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- Story Listed as: Fiction For Teens
- Theme: Action & Adventure
- Subject: Comedy / Humor
- Published: 12/02/2017
Meet Rod Nee
Hi my name is Rod Nee, I am thirteen years old and live in Hong Kong with my parents, Sid Nee and Kit Nee. We live in a tall apartment block in Kowloon and my Dad runs a popular stall at a market nearby selling the world's latest technological gadgets and devices. My best friend and I, Will Hee, are inventors. Will lives with his father Ken in the same apartment building as my family and we have invented some pretty cool stuff together. He is the entrepreneur and I am the technician who makes the inventions work, which of course means I end up doing most of the work. But despite our occasional disagreements, we make a good team and we know that one day one of our inventions is going to make us rich and famous. Unfortunately, so far, we have experienced our fair share of setbacks and disappointments with our inventions. If you like new and exciting gadgets you might like to read about some of our adventures and inventions.
The Invisibility Device
Brrrring Brrring. I pressed hard on the doorbell of Will's apartment.
"Hurry up Will," I screamed "I've finished it".
The door opened slowly and Will looked out at me. He was rubbing his eyes and still wearing his pyjamas, even though it was already 10 o'clock on a Saturday morning . "What you've finished it already? " he asked looking a little surprised.
"Yes, yes I've been up all night working on it" I told him.
"And it actually works?" he asked still looking surprised.
I paused for a moment, "Yeah…you could say that". I pulled the mobile phone sized device out of my jacket pocket and handed it over to him.
"Don't press the green button" I warned.
"Yeah, yeah I know" he said sounding a little annoyed with me, "so how did you finally get it to work?"
"I just fused the black wire to the red wire and it worked" I told him.
Will handed me back the device "Oh yeah of course” he said smiling “the old fuse the black wire to the red wire trick, never fails".
"Anyway" he added, "this invention will be the one that finally makes us rich and famous, because when people find out about it everyone will want one. There are so many hilarious pranks you can play on people with an invisibility device".
"Well, I'm sure there are a lot of ways it could be used other than for playing practical jokes" I told him, "but before we even think about them we have one major problem we need to fix".
"Major problem, what major problem?" he said with a weary look.
"Ummm", I hesitated uncomfortably "I accidently made my Mum invisible".
"What?" he said. "Well just change her back".
"Unfortunately reversing the invisibility doesn't seem to work yet" I told him.
"But it’s supposed to, that’s the way we programmed the software" he insisted.
"I know, but what's worse is she doesn't realise she's invisible and she's gone to the market to do the shopping. I didn't have enough time to work on reversing the process".
"That’s just what we need. Well you better go and find her and bring her home" he said turning quickly into his apartment, but I was too quick.
"Hang on" I said grabbing hold of him before he could shut his door, "you have to help me find her and there is no time for you to get changed. Come on".
"But Rod…. I've just got out of bed, can't I at least eat some breakfast first?" whined Will.
"No way, if she finds out I'll be grounded for a very long time and she will confiscate all our equipment like she did after our last invention. We've got to find her and get her back to the apartment before she realises that she's invisible".
Will started to argue about the difficulty of our task, but before he could say too much I had shoved him into the elevator and punched the Ground floor button.
A soon as the door opened on the ground we charged through the lift door and out onto the street almost falling over old Mrs Chan's shopping trolley on the way. "Slow down you young hooligans" she shouted after us "you wait till I tell your mother Rod Nee … and your father Will Hee." We ignored her and sprinted down the pavement towards the market. We were used to Mrs Chan's threats. She had been yelling these sorts of things at us since we were toddlers. She had worn the same brown cardigan every day since I could remember, whether it was the middle of summer or winter and she was always in a foul mood.
I held my glasses tightly in my hands as I ran dodging pedestrians and Will followed me close behind holding his loose pyjama pants firmly so they didn't fall down. I'm sure he was embarrassed enough wearing his pyjamas in public without the further humiliation of losing his pants.
We finally made it to the market and stood panting at the entrance to the of the old red market building.
Will managed to ask between large breathes "how are we going to find your mum? It’s such a big market."
It was a big market, in fact it was one of the biggest in Kowloon and Hong Kong. But luckily through years of accompanying my mother on her shopping trips I knew her routine and my Mum was a creature of habit. I quickly calculated how long ago she had left the apartment and thus I had a fair idea where in the market she would be. I just hoped we could find her before she found her way to Dad's stall. If she did we were really done for.
"Come on" I said "I think I know where she will be".
We ran down a few crowded alleyways in the market selling all types of exotic fruits, vegetables and herbs and sure enough up ahead Mum's bright pink designer copy handbag hovered mysteriously through the crowd. It was causing quite a stir amongst the shoppers as people stood gaping at this strange sight. No doubt most people thought it was some sort of trick or advertising gimmick for a handbag trader, but there are always plenty of superstitious people and I saw at least one woman had fainted.
"Wow" said Will when he spied Mums gliding handbag "you really did manage to get the device working".
"Yeah I told you" I said feeling a sudden sense of pride and pleasure at my accomplishment, but then I remembered my predicament "come on, we better try and get her home before she realises, if she hasn't already".
"Mum" I yelled as I got close to the levitating handbag.
"Oh hi Rod and Will" said Mums voice eerily from thin air. Luckily she sounded quite calm which meant she hadn't yet worked out she was invisible. But she added with some irritation in her voice. "What a strange day I have had, people are acting so strangely around me. Old Mrs Lee from the fruit stand screamed when I spoke to her earlier. What is wrong with people today? Is there something wrong with my hair or makeup?"
"No you look perfect Mrs Nee" said Will with a convincing smile. Will was full of compliments when he dealt with females and my Mum was often on the end of them.
"Oh thank you, Will aren't you charming" said Mum. I imagine she was blushing. "Hey why are you still wearing your pyjamas Will ?" she asked.
"Oh look at that Rod I am still wearing my pjs" answered Will not missing a beat "I hadn't even noticed".
"You’re a strange boy Will Hee" she laughed. "Anyway Rod I'm off to see your father at his stall."
"Noooo" I screamed at her with Will joining in with equal desperation .
"What's wrong with you two?"said Mum sharply. "You boys are acting as strange as everyone else today".
"Sorry Mum, but I've got some awful news , dad's not at his stall, he has had nasty accident. He fell off one of his ladders putting up a sign this morning and broke his leg."
In the moment before she reacted to this bad news Will and I looked at each other with anticipation. I could see Will didn't exactly agree with my strategy in this situation and it certainly was a risky plan. It was difficult enough to judge how Mum would react to bad news when you could see her, let alone when she was invisible. Sometimes she was cool and collected, but other times she went completely insane. Imagine her losing it in the market while she was invisible, people would think it was some kind of a poltergeist experience.
"Oh no" said mum in a concerned but relatively controlled manner.
"Don't worry Mum there are no other injuries apart from his broken leg, and he is in good spirits." I added to give her some extra comfort. I was feeling somewhat relieved at her calmness so far.
Suddenly Mum's mobile phone floated out of her handbag. "I have to call that poor man right away" she told me with a sob in her voice.
I heard the phone dialling and I could see the numbers lighting up on the keypad as it floated up in front of me, so without hesitation I grabbed it out of midair.
"What are you doing Rod, how dare you snatch my phone from me" she bellowed as I felt her hand trying to wrench the phone back from my grip.
I managed to hold onto her phone. A group of shoppers had stopped and were watching in astonishment at my interaction with a floating handbag and mobile phone and me arguing with an unseen voice. I glared at them but they did not move and I could see that they were completely mesmerised by the whole scene.
"No Mum I'm going to look after your phone for you" I told her ignoring the growing crowd of onlookers "you won't get through to Dad anyway his phone broke when he fell off the ladder. Come on he's at home with his leg bandaged up, let's go and see him. And please, please let me carry your handbag".
"No" snapped Mum. I knew she wouldn't part with her pride and joy that easily. But I also knew the mysteriously floating handbag had already generated enough attention to her invisibility, so I was prepared to beg.
"Come on" I pleaded "you are looking so fragile Mum, let me make things easier for you". Of course my Mum had never looked fragile in her life.
"All right" she growled and her bag was thrust into my arms. "You better take care of it, if it was an original Chanel it would be worth thousands" she warned me.
"Come on lets go" I said with Mums pink handbag on my shoulder. The crowd of onlookers parted as we passed and I realised we had made quite a spectacle of ourselves. One shopper who looked like a tourist even clapped as if he thought the whole scene was some sort of theatre performance. I hoped Mum hadn't noticed the attention.
As we walked briskly towards the market entrance Will turned to where he anticipated Mum was and said "Oh that’s a lovely blouse you’re wearing Mrs Nee."
"Thank you Will, but I'm wearing a dress today, not a blouse, I think you might need to borrow Rod's glasses".
"Sorry Mrs Nee I meant to say dress" said Will. Then he leant very close to me and quietly asked "do you really think it was a good idea to tell your Mum that your Dad has broken his leg? She will go nuts when she finds out you've lied about it".
"I know" I whispered "but it was all I could come up with at the time. Anyway hopefully she will be so relieved when she finds he is not hurt that she will go easy on me. Besides" I added "it’s a lot less risky than telling her she's invisible".
"What are you boys whispering about?" bellowed Mum from somewhere behind us.
"Rod's just talking about his girlfriend again, Mrs Nee" said Will with a smirk.
As we headed out onto the street from the market I began to feel confident. The sun was shining and the sky above was showing some blue for the first time in a week or so. We only had a couple of blocks to walk to our apartment. I reasoned that as long as we could work out how to reverse her invisibility without Mum catching on we might just pull this one off. I would try to convince Mum that the whole Dad accident thing was just a misunderstanding. I had to admit that was going to be tough.
But then just as I was feeling comfortable, out of a crowded convenience store stepped the infamous Sammy Dang. Sammy was one of the biggest bullies in Kowloon and was a constant threat to Will and myself and many others. He had long ago been expelled from school and had many years ago taken a dislike to Will and myself and today he looked at his menacing worst with his black designer clothing and spiky hair. It was rumoured his father was a wealthy businessman and that he was a distant relative of Kowloon's most famous son Bruce Lee. He was followed by two of his gang, the Chang boys, who had modelled their fashion and hair styles on Sammy. The Chang's shared the same last name but as far as anyone knew they were not related and not many people knew their first names and certainly no one used them except maybe there parents. They were known collectively as the Chang boys.
"Nice handbag four eyes" said Sammy standing with his hands on his hips, blocking my path. Sammy was two years older and at least a half a head taller than me and a full head taller than the Chang boys and Will. Sammy smirked at the Chang boys.
His two companions chuckled sadistically on cue.
My heart began racing as it usually did when I was confronted by Sammy.
"Hi Sammy" I managed to spit out weakly.
"Ohhhhh and here's your little girlfriend still in his pyjamas" he added with an intimidating sneer when he saw Will.
"Let me see what a little girl like you keeps in her handbag" he said reaching out and roughly dislodging Mum's handbag from my shoulder. He picked it up and examined it and opened his mouth to deliver another nasty remark.
"Don't touch that bag" shouted Mum and we all jumped. As strange as it sounds I had completely forgotten about Mum's invisible presence.
"Who said that?" said Sammy looking at me and then his two companions.
"Don't you dare touch my bag" growled Mum again and I could hear the anger brewing in her voice. Uh Oh, I thought to myself, this is not going to be good for anyone, especially Sammy.
Suddenly Sammy was standing on his tippy toes with his left ear thrust in the air. It was obvious Mum had hold of him by his ear. I had on occasion been on the wrong side of that manoeuvre and I knew how painful it could be. And poor Sammy had the extra burden of having an invisible tormenter, which would make the situation far more terrifying for him. For an instant I felt sorry for him.
"Drop it or your history you little thug" Mum threatened.
"Arghh" Sammy shouted both in fear and pain "what's happening?"
Sammy dropped the handbag then flailed out at the invisible hand that was tearing at his left ear. "Please let me go" he begged "I'll do anything".
"You must be the big brave Sammy Dang who likes picking on little kids" goaded Mum in Sammy's stinging ear.
"Ahhhhh" screamed Sammy who was now completely overwhelmed by terror.
I had often imagined the moment when Mum finally caught up with Sammy Dang . She had been promising to do so for years ever since I had started complaining about his bullying. I just always imagined that Mum would be visible when she got hold of him.
After several seconds Mum released Sammy and he ran screaming along the sidewalk. The Chang boys looked almost as traumatised as Sammy and took off after him.
"What a little sook" said Mum, "anyway lets hurry up and get home to your poor father".
I picked Mum's handbag off the sidewalk and we started on our way again. I must admit I felt quite comfortable with the fact that Sammy and his gang would be giving myself and Will a wide berth for a while for fear of being attacked by an angry invisible force. But then again if I didn't quickly and discreetly make Mum visible again I myself would be me facing that same angry invisible force.
As we got closer to our apartment I could see a figure in a brown cardigan wheeling a trolley towards us in a determined manner. I knew instantly it was Mrs Chan and that I had to keep Mum away from her. I turned behind me and called her name. No answer. "Mum?" I called again a bit louder. But again no response. "Where is she Will?" I asked desperately.
"I don't know, I can't see her" answered Will comically.
"Ha, ha, you're a laugh a second Will" I told him.
Ahead of us Mrs Chan had stopped frozen in her tracks. At first she looked confused and then suddenly she screamed.
"Oh no" I said to Will "Looks like Mum is talking to Mrs Chan".
As we raced towards Mrs Chan we could hear Mum's voice saying "Mrs Chan, Mrs Chan, what's wrong. Can't you see me? "
Mrs Chan was frozen with a terrified look on her face. "A ghost, a ghost, I can hear a ghost" she told Will and I as we confronted her. She then screamed "leave me alone" and raced down the street wheeling her trolley at a dangerously high speed.
"No, Mrs Chan" I called pathetically after her "there is no ghost". I knew at that very moment that I was in big trouble.
Will and I stood alone on the pavement with only Mum's invisible and angry presence somewhere close by. I half expected an invisible hand to clip me over the ear.
A moments silence then came Mums angry but controlled voice "Rod Nee, I'm not sure how you have done it, but you've made me invisible haven't you?"
My heart sank to a new low, "Maybe" I answered nervously.
"No maybes about it. Another one of yours and Will's ridiculous inventions I expect".
"Sorry Mum" I broke down "I sort of tested it on you and then I couldn't reverse it".
"And your father has he really broken his leg?". The sheepish look on my face was enough to answer the question for her. "And poor Mrs Chan thinks she has just experienced a ghost. Oh Rod Nee you are sure going to pay for this one… And Will Hee don't think I won't be speaking to your father about this, I'm sure he will be as thrilled as Rod Nee's father will be".
Will momentarily pleaded his innocence, but from experience he knew there was no point when dealing with my Mum.
Defeated Will and I looked at each other. Will shook his head slowly at me.
"Well hurry up boys" Mum ordered "we are going upstairs to the apartment and you are going to make me visible again within an hour or your punishment will be doubled".
It was an uncomfortable ride to our apartment in the lift. Mum didn't say a word for the entire trip, which was a good thing given we shared the lift with other tenants. Once we got in the apartment Mum stayed in the lounge room while Will and I retreated to my bedroom to work on the device. We squabbled as to what we should do.
"What happens if we can't reverse it?" said Will.
"I don't want to even think about that" I told him. Although in fact I had been thinking about it. Mum would be punishing me with invisible slaps and ear tugs for the rest of her life, right when I least expected it. At least when she was visible I could see them coming.
I twisted a few wires, adjusted a few plugs, played with the software and turned the power on and off a few times, but Mum remained invisible. Finally Mum burst into the bedroom in the middle of another adjustment and scooped the invisibility device right out of my hand. "All right boys enough is enough" and with that she threw the device against the wall and it scattered into a hundred plastic and metal pieces. This shocked us, but then to our relieve Mum started to visualise right in front of eyes. First she was just an outline but soon she took shape and colour, till finally after a minute or so she was completely solid again.
"Hooray Mum your visible again" I shouted with joy despite her having broken an invention I had spent hundreds of hours perfecting. I hoped she would share my enthusiasm.
Mum looked somewhat relieved but I knew from experience that her anger would return and her desire to punish me would not diminish.
Will studied her critically for a moment and said "by the way Mrs Nee your makeup is a little bit smudged".
Mum gave him a painful grimace. This was no time for humour.
Just then I heard the door to our apartment open and Dads footsteps. "Kit" he bellowed, "are you home?"
"Sid" yelled Mum quickly departing my bedroom "you wait till I tell you what these boys have been up to."
Will then turned to me and said "no offence Rod but no one is going to want to buy an invisibility device that you need to smash to reverse the process. I say we dump that invention and start working on something new".
"Like what?" I asked him.
"I've got a few ideas" he told me.
Will then jumped to his feet and tiptoed to my bedroom door. "Where are you going?" I had hoped Will was going to hang around, as I would need a bit of support because it was going to be a tough evening.
"I don't need to have an invisibility device to know when I need to disappear" he answered. And with that he was gone leaving me to face my parents alone.
“Rod Neeeeee” my mother called from the lounge room “come here right now, your father and I need to talk to you”.
If only I still had that invisibility device I thought to myself as I trudged out of bedroom to face my punishment.
The invisibility device(Matt McKean)
Meet Rod Nee
Hi my name is Rod Nee, I am thirteen years old and live in Hong Kong with my parents, Sid Nee and Kit Nee. We live in a tall apartment block in Kowloon and my Dad runs a popular stall at a market nearby selling the world's latest technological gadgets and devices. My best friend and I, Will Hee, are inventors. Will lives with his father Ken in the same apartment building as my family and we have invented some pretty cool stuff together. He is the entrepreneur and I am the technician who makes the inventions work, which of course means I end up doing most of the work. But despite our occasional disagreements, we make a good team and we know that one day one of our inventions is going to make us rich and famous. Unfortunately, so far, we have experienced our fair share of setbacks and disappointments with our inventions. If you like new and exciting gadgets you might like to read about some of our adventures and inventions.
The Invisibility Device
Brrrring Brrring. I pressed hard on the doorbell of Will's apartment.
"Hurry up Will," I screamed "I've finished it".
The door opened slowly and Will looked out at me. He was rubbing his eyes and still wearing his pyjamas, even though it was already 10 o'clock on a Saturday morning . "What you've finished it already? " he asked looking a little surprised.
"Yes, yes I've been up all night working on it" I told him.
"And it actually works?" he asked still looking surprised.
I paused for a moment, "Yeah…you could say that". I pulled the mobile phone sized device out of my jacket pocket and handed it over to him.
"Don't press the green button" I warned.
"Yeah, yeah I know" he said sounding a little annoyed with me, "so how did you finally get it to work?"
"I just fused the black wire to the red wire and it worked" I told him.
Will handed me back the device "Oh yeah of course” he said smiling “the old fuse the black wire to the red wire trick, never fails".
"Anyway" he added, "this invention will be the one that finally makes us rich and famous, because when people find out about it everyone will want one. There are so many hilarious pranks you can play on people with an invisibility device".
"Well, I'm sure there are a lot of ways it could be used other than for playing practical jokes" I told him, "but before we even think about them we have one major problem we need to fix".
"Major problem, what major problem?" he said with a weary look.
"Ummm", I hesitated uncomfortably "I accidently made my Mum invisible".
"What?" he said. "Well just change her back".
"Unfortunately reversing the invisibility doesn't seem to work yet" I told him.
"But it’s supposed to, that’s the way we programmed the software" he insisted.
"I know, but what's worse is she doesn't realise she's invisible and she's gone to the market to do the shopping. I didn't have enough time to work on reversing the process".
"That’s just what we need. Well you better go and find her and bring her home" he said turning quickly into his apartment, but I was too quick.
"Hang on" I said grabbing hold of him before he could shut his door, "you have to help me find her and there is no time for you to get changed. Come on".
"But Rod…. I've just got out of bed, can't I at least eat some breakfast first?" whined Will.
"No way, if she finds out I'll be grounded for a very long time and she will confiscate all our equipment like she did after our last invention. We've got to find her and get her back to the apartment before she realises that she's invisible".
Will started to argue about the difficulty of our task, but before he could say too much I had shoved him into the elevator and punched the Ground floor button.
A soon as the door opened on the ground we charged through the lift door and out onto the street almost falling over old Mrs Chan's shopping trolley on the way. "Slow down you young hooligans" she shouted after us "you wait till I tell your mother Rod Nee … and your father Will Hee." We ignored her and sprinted down the pavement towards the market. We were used to Mrs Chan's threats. She had been yelling these sorts of things at us since we were toddlers. She had worn the same brown cardigan every day since I could remember, whether it was the middle of summer or winter and she was always in a foul mood.
I held my glasses tightly in my hands as I ran dodging pedestrians and Will followed me close behind holding his loose pyjama pants firmly so they didn't fall down. I'm sure he was embarrassed enough wearing his pyjamas in public without the further humiliation of losing his pants.
We finally made it to the market and stood panting at the entrance to the of the old red market building.
Will managed to ask between large breathes "how are we going to find your mum? It’s such a big market."
It was a big market, in fact it was one of the biggest in Kowloon and Hong Kong. But luckily through years of accompanying my mother on her shopping trips I knew her routine and my Mum was a creature of habit. I quickly calculated how long ago she had left the apartment and thus I had a fair idea where in the market she would be. I just hoped we could find her before she found her way to Dad's stall. If she did we were really done for.
"Come on" I said "I think I know where she will be".
We ran down a few crowded alleyways in the market selling all types of exotic fruits, vegetables and herbs and sure enough up ahead Mum's bright pink designer copy handbag hovered mysteriously through the crowd. It was causing quite a stir amongst the shoppers as people stood gaping at this strange sight. No doubt most people thought it was some sort of trick or advertising gimmick for a handbag trader, but there are always plenty of superstitious people and I saw at least one woman had fainted.
"Wow" said Will when he spied Mums gliding handbag "you really did manage to get the device working".
"Yeah I told you" I said feeling a sudden sense of pride and pleasure at my accomplishment, but then I remembered my predicament "come on, we better try and get her home before she realises, if she hasn't already".
"Mum" I yelled as I got close to the levitating handbag.
"Oh hi Rod and Will" said Mums voice eerily from thin air. Luckily she sounded quite calm which meant she hadn't yet worked out she was invisible. But she added with some irritation in her voice. "What a strange day I have had, people are acting so strangely around me. Old Mrs Lee from the fruit stand screamed when I spoke to her earlier. What is wrong with people today? Is there something wrong with my hair or makeup?"
"No you look perfect Mrs Nee" said Will with a convincing smile. Will was full of compliments when he dealt with females and my Mum was often on the end of them.
"Oh thank you, Will aren't you charming" said Mum. I imagine she was blushing. "Hey why are you still wearing your pyjamas Will ?" she asked.
"Oh look at that Rod I am still wearing my pjs" answered Will not missing a beat "I hadn't even noticed".
"You’re a strange boy Will Hee" she laughed. "Anyway Rod I'm off to see your father at his stall."
"Noooo" I screamed at her with Will joining in with equal desperation .
"What's wrong with you two?"said Mum sharply. "You boys are acting as strange as everyone else today".
"Sorry Mum, but I've got some awful news , dad's not at his stall, he has had nasty accident. He fell off one of his ladders putting up a sign this morning and broke his leg."
In the moment before she reacted to this bad news Will and I looked at each other with anticipation. I could see Will didn't exactly agree with my strategy in this situation and it certainly was a risky plan. It was difficult enough to judge how Mum would react to bad news when you could see her, let alone when she was invisible. Sometimes she was cool and collected, but other times she went completely insane. Imagine her losing it in the market while she was invisible, people would think it was some kind of a poltergeist experience.
"Oh no" said mum in a concerned but relatively controlled manner.
"Don't worry Mum there are no other injuries apart from his broken leg, and he is in good spirits." I added to give her some extra comfort. I was feeling somewhat relieved at her calmness so far.
Suddenly Mum's mobile phone floated out of her handbag. "I have to call that poor man right away" she told me with a sob in her voice.
I heard the phone dialling and I could see the numbers lighting up on the keypad as it floated up in front of me, so without hesitation I grabbed it out of midair.
"What are you doing Rod, how dare you snatch my phone from me" she bellowed as I felt her hand trying to wrench the phone back from my grip.
I managed to hold onto her phone. A group of shoppers had stopped and were watching in astonishment at my interaction with a floating handbag and mobile phone and me arguing with an unseen voice. I glared at them but they did not move and I could see that they were completely mesmerised by the whole scene.
"No Mum I'm going to look after your phone for you" I told her ignoring the growing crowd of onlookers "you won't get through to Dad anyway his phone broke when he fell off the ladder. Come on he's at home with his leg bandaged up, let's go and see him. And please, please let me carry your handbag".
"No" snapped Mum. I knew she wouldn't part with her pride and joy that easily. But I also knew the mysteriously floating handbag had already generated enough attention to her invisibility, so I was prepared to beg.
"Come on" I pleaded "you are looking so fragile Mum, let me make things easier for you". Of course my Mum had never looked fragile in her life.
"All right" she growled and her bag was thrust into my arms. "You better take care of it, if it was an original Chanel it would be worth thousands" she warned me.
"Come on lets go" I said with Mums pink handbag on my shoulder. The crowd of onlookers parted as we passed and I realised we had made quite a spectacle of ourselves. One shopper who looked like a tourist even clapped as if he thought the whole scene was some sort of theatre performance. I hoped Mum hadn't noticed the attention.
As we walked briskly towards the market entrance Will turned to where he anticipated Mum was and said "Oh that’s a lovely blouse you’re wearing Mrs Nee."
"Thank you Will, but I'm wearing a dress today, not a blouse, I think you might need to borrow Rod's glasses".
"Sorry Mrs Nee I meant to say dress" said Will. Then he leant very close to me and quietly asked "do you really think it was a good idea to tell your Mum that your Dad has broken his leg? She will go nuts when she finds out you've lied about it".
"I know" I whispered "but it was all I could come up with at the time. Anyway hopefully she will be so relieved when she finds he is not hurt that she will go easy on me. Besides" I added "it’s a lot less risky than telling her she's invisible".
"What are you boys whispering about?" bellowed Mum from somewhere behind us.
"Rod's just talking about his girlfriend again, Mrs Nee" said Will with a smirk.
As we headed out onto the street from the market I began to feel confident. The sun was shining and the sky above was showing some blue for the first time in a week or so. We only had a couple of blocks to walk to our apartment. I reasoned that as long as we could work out how to reverse her invisibility without Mum catching on we might just pull this one off. I would try to convince Mum that the whole Dad accident thing was just a misunderstanding. I had to admit that was going to be tough.
But then just as I was feeling comfortable, out of a crowded convenience store stepped the infamous Sammy Dang. Sammy was one of the biggest bullies in Kowloon and was a constant threat to Will and myself and many others. He had long ago been expelled from school and had many years ago taken a dislike to Will and myself and today he looked at his menacing worst with his black designer clothing and spiky hair. It was rumoured his father was a wealthy businessman and that he was a distant relative of Kowloon's most famous son Bruce Lee. He was followed by two of his gang, the Chang boys, who had modelled their fashion and hair styles on Sammy. The Chang's shared the same last name but as far as anyone knew they were not related and not many people knew their first names and certainly no one used them except maybe there parents. They were known collectively as the Chang boys.
"Nice handbag four eyes" said Sammy standing with his hands on his hips, blocking my path. Sammy was two years older and at least a half a head taller than me and a full head taller than the Chang boys and Will. Sammy smirked at the Chang boys.
His two companions chuckled sadistically on cue.
My heart began racing as it usually did when I was confronted by Sammy.
"Hi Sammy" I managed to spit out weakly.
"Ohhhhh and here's your little girlfriend still in his pyjamas" he added with an intimidating sneer when he saw Will.
"Let me see what a little girl like you keeps in her handbag" he said reaching out and roughly dislodging Mum's handbag from my shoulder. He picked it up and examined it and opened his mouth to deliver another nasty remark.
"Don't touch that bag" shouted Mum and we all jumped. As strange as it sounds I had completely forgotten about Mum's invisible presence.
"Who said that?" said Sammy looking at me and then his two companions.
"Don't you dare touch my bag" growled Mum again and I could hear the anger brewing in her voice. Uh Oh, I thought to myself, this is not going to be good for anyone, especially Sammy.
Suddenly Sammy was standing on his tippy toes with his left ear thrust in the air. It was obvious Mum had hold of him by his ear. I had on occasion been on the wrong side of that manoeuvre and I knew how painful it could be. And poor Sammy had the extra burden of having an invisible tormenter, which would make the situation far more terrifying for him. For an instant I felt sorry for him.
"Drop it or your history you little thug" Mum threatened.
"Arghh" Sammy shouted both in fear and pain "what's happening?"
Sammy dropped the handbag then flailed out at the invisible hand that was tearing at his left ear. "Please let me go" he begged "I'll do anything".
"You must be the big brave Sammy Dang who likes picking on little kids" goaded Mum in Sammy's stinging ear.
"Ahhhhh" screamed Sammy who was now completely overwhelmed by terror.
I had often imagined the moment when Mum finally caught up with Sammy Dang . She had been promising to do so for years ever since I had started complaining about his bullying. I just always imagined that Mum would be visible when she got hold of him.
After several seconds Mum released Sammy and he ran screaming along the sidewalk. The Chang boys looked almost as traumatised as Sammy and took off after him.
"What a little sook" said Mum, "anyway lets hurry up and get home to your poor father".
I picked Mum's handbag off the sidewalk and we started on our way again. I must admit I felt quite comfortable with the fact that Sammy and his gang would be giving myself and Will a wide berth for a while for fear of being attacked by an angry invisible force. But then again if I didn't quickly and discreetly make Mum visible again I myself would be me facing that same angry invisible force.
As we got closer to our apartment I could see a figure in a brown cardigan wheeling a trolley towards us in a determined manner. I knew instantly it was Mrs Chan and that I had to keep Mum away from her. I turned behind me and called her name. No answer. "Mum?" I called again a bit louder. But again no response. "Where is she Will?" I asked desperately.
"I don't know, I can't see her" answered Will comically.
"Ha, ha, you're a laugh a second Will" I told him.
Ahead of us Mrs Chan had stopped frozen in her tracks. At first she looked confused and then suddenly she screamed.
"Oh no" I said to Will "Looks like Mum is talking to Mrs Chan".
As we raced towards Mrs Chan we could hear Mum's voice saying "Mrs Chan, Mrs Chan, what's wrong. Can't you see me? "
Mrs Chan was frozen with a terrified look on her face. "A ghost, a ghost, I can hear a ghost" she told Will and I as we confronted her. She then screamed "leave me alone" and raced down the street wheeling her trolley at a dangerously high speed.
"No, Mrs Chan" I called pathetically after her "there is no ghost". I knew at that very moment that I was in big trouble.
Will and I stood alone on the pavement with only Mum's invisible and angry presence somewhere close by. I half expected an invisible hand to clip me over the ear.
A moments silence then came Mums angry but controlled voice "Rod Nee, I'm not sure how you have done it, but you've made me invisible haven't you?"
My heart sank to a new low, "Maybe" I answered nervously.
"No maybes about it. Another one of yours and Will's ridiculous inventions I expect".
"Sorry Mum" I broke down "I sort of tested it on you and then I couldn't reverse it".
"And your father has he really broken his leg?". The sheepish look on my face was enough to answer the question for her. "And poor Mrs Chan thinks she has just experienced a ghost. Oh Rod Nee you are sure going to pay for this one… And Will Hee don't think I won't be speaking to your father about this, I'm sure he will be as thrilled as Rod Nee's father will be".
Will momentarily pleaded his innocence, but from experience he knew there was no point when dealing with my Mum.
Defeated Will and I looked at each other. Will shook his head slowly at me.
"Well hurry up boys" Mum ordered "we are going upstairs to the apartment and you are going to make me visible again within an hour or your punishment will be doubled".
It was an uncomfortable ride to our apartment in the lift. Mum didn't say a word for the entire trip, which was a good thing given we shared the lift with other tenants. Once we got in the apartment Mum stayed in the lounge room while Will and I retreated to my bedroom to work on the device. We squabbled as to what we should do.
"What happens if we can't reverse it?" said Will.
"I don't want to even think about that" I told him. Although in fact I had been thinking about it. Mum would be punishing me with invisible slaps and ear tugs for the rest of her life, right when I least expected it. At least when she was visible I could see them coming.
I twisted a few wires, adjusted a few plugs, played with the software and turned the power on and off a few times, but Mum remained invisible. Finally Mum burst into the bedroom in the middle of another adjustment and scooped the invisibility device right out of my hand. "All right boys enough is enough" and with that she threw the device against the wall and it scattered into a hundred plastic and metal pieces. This shocked us, but then to our relieve Mum started to visualise right in front of eyes. First she was just an outline but soon she took shape and colour, till finally after a minute or so she was completely solid again.
"Hooray Mum your visible again" I shouted with joy despite her having broken an invention I had spent hundreds of hours perfecting. I hoped she would share my enthusiasm.
Mum looked somewhat relieved but I knew from experience that her anger would return and her desire to punish me would not diminish.
Will studied her critically for a moment and said "by the way Mrs Nee your makeup is a little bit smudged".
Mum gave him a painful grimace. This was no time for humour.
Just then I heard the door to our apartment open and Dads footsteps. "Kit" he bellowed, "are you home?"
"Sid" yelled Mum quickly departing my bedroom "you wait till I tell you what these boys have been up to."
Will then turned to me and said "no offence Rod but no one is going to want to buy an invisibility device that you need to smash to reverse the process. I say we dump that invention and start working on something new".
"Like what?" I asked him.
"I've got a few ideas" he told me.
Will then jumped to his feet and tiptoed to my bedroom door. "Where are you going?" I had hoped Will was going to hang around, as I would need a bit of support because it was going to be a tough evening.
"I don't need to have an invisibility device to know when I need to disappear" he answered. And with that he was gone leaving me to face my parents alone.
“Rod Neeeeee” my mother called from the lounge room “come here right now, your father and I need to talk to you”.
If only I still had that invisibility device I thought to myself as I trudged out of bedroom to face my punishment.
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