by J. G. Kemp
As I drew a black hole in the coloring book I thought, “Suck-up only Bigfoots.” And instantly there was a loud sucking sound.
The confused beasts turned towards the noise. I held tightly to the quantum coloring book and pointed it at them like a shield. They grunted and groaned and began to fly towards me, like big brown furry balls, one after another.
I dug my feet into the ground and braced for impact, but as soon as they touched the book, they were gone.
It looked hilarious. It was awesome. I felt powerful. Bigfoot after Bigfoot flailed through the air, helpless to resist. I made them vanish! I defeated them!
I remembered the other me, hiding under the covers in his bedroom. “I wish he could see me now,” I thought.
Just like before, three of the Bigfoots ran away. They had already grown huge - as tall as skyscrapers - and they were smashing and squishing everything. Not on purpose, but because they were so big. Their feet were as big as the houses.
I watched Ms. Violet’s house disappear under one giant foot. “Oh no you don’t!” I shouted and chased after them, holding the book in front of me.
They must have been too big for the Bigfoot-sucking black hole, because they weren’t slowing down. So, still running, I colored three small black circles and thought, “These holes will appear beneath each Bigfoot… suck them in… and then disappear.”

And poof, the giants were gone. The black holes opened and closed in an instant.
“Take that! Bigfoots!” I shouted, and stopped running. I was out of breath. “Not so big now are you?!”
And then the pain began. It was excruciating! I was standing in the middle of Smudge Street - in plain view. People were looking at me. I had to leave fast. “To the night of party,” I thought, and traveled to the future…
Chapter 7
new fingers
I arrived in the alley behind my house, just as the party was starting. Hazel and my mom were in the backyard. I was still breathing hard and ducked in the bushes before they saw me.
“His teacher says he’s been distracted lately,” my mom was telling Hazel. “And faking sick yesterday? I’m worried about him. Have you noticed anything unusual?”
“He has been acting kinda weird,” Hazel answered. “But everything has been weird - those giants, and the cows, and the lottery.”
“No, that’s not what I mean,” my mom continued. “I just don’t think he’s made any progress. It’s almost been a year. He never wants to talk about it.”
“Well, maybe he’ll be happier, now that we’re rich?” Hazel said. “Like Dad.”
My mom frowned. “No, you can’t buy happiness. And what Brandon needs isn’t money. And your father? Oh, I’m sure he’ll find something to worry about tomorrow.” She sighed. “Just, look out for Brandon, would you?”
Hazel smiled. “Sure, Mom. I always do.”
They went back inside, and I sat there in the bushes. I felt bad. Hazel and my mom just wanted to help me. And I knew what they were talking about - my grandpa dying.
Then I thought about what Olive had said. She was right. I did complain too much. I was too grumpy.
And I was tired. In a few hours I would have to save my life and remake my fingers. I lay down in the bushes and must have drifted off to sleep, because the next thing I knew, it was night, and it hurt!
“Oh no - it’s time!” I blurted out. I shook myself awake. I jumped up and my shirt caught on the bushes and pulled me back down again. “Ouch!” I landed hard on my bottom, untangled my shirt, and then bolted into my backyard.
When I reached my bedroom window, what I saw was horrifying!
“bleeeh,” I wretched. There he was, there I was, the other Brandon, lying on the floor. His fingers were gone! He looked so small, crumpled up, bleeding. I felt sick.
“bleeeeh,” I wretched again, and then quickly opened the window and crawled inside. The other Brandon’s eyes closed and he passed out.
The pain was getting worse. There he was, dying on the floor, and here I was, being erased from time. We would both die if I didn’t hurry.
I ran to my desk and made a new quantum coloring book. In it I drew my fingers. How strange it was, I thought. Both Brandons, in the same room, and I was drawing a picture of fingers. And those fingers would become the other Brandon’s fingers, which were really my fingers. And my fingers were
coloring that very picture of fingers. Weird!
When it was done, the pain stopped at once. I knew I had healed myself. I commanded the cleaning robots in the closet to clean up the blood. I left the quantum coloring book on my desk. I watched myself sleeping for a moment.
And then I said, out loud, as if the sleeping Brandon could hear, “I don’t know what I’m going to do. I’m not sure how to stop it. But I have to try. Even if it hurts. Even if it kills me. Even if I’m erased from time.”
And then I traveled forward. To Grayville Elementary. To the day of the black hole…
Chapter 8
the black hole
I appeared in the old playground, after lunch, inside one of the huge tires. I could see Mr. Stale’s classroom window. As soon as lunch was over, I was going to run to the classroom, and do whatever I needed to do to stop the black hole.
I was ready. I was determined. I had to do this. It might hurt. I might die. I might explode, or disappear, but at least the other Brandon would live, and Grayville would be safe. The universe would be safe.
And then I heard sniffling. It was coming from another tire. The sniffling turned into weeping. Someone was crying, someone else was there, hiding in the old playground. “I’m glad I didn’t appear in that tire,” I thought.
Then the bell rang and the crying stopped. I peeked out of the tire and saw, walking back towards the school, Isaac Crumb.
Why was Isaac crying? Is that why he came to the old playground, to cry? Isaac always made other kids cry, why would he cry?
I watched, puzzled, as Isaac and the students of Grayville Elementary funneled back into the school.
The black hole would appear any minute. No one could stop me now.
I crawled out of the tire and the pain began. I ran towards the school as fast as I could. The pain increased, but I kept running.
I had a mission. I ran towards the window of Mr. Stale’s room. With every step the pain grew.
“AHHHHHH!” I shouted. It hurt too badly. I was being ripped apart. I was burning. I was freezing. “I can… do… this!” I gritted my teeth and trudged forward. It felt like chains were hanging off me. Chains covered in needles. I fell to the ground.
“AHHHHHH!” I shouted again. I crawled forward, on my hands and knees. Mr. Stale’s classroom was only ten feet away. I was nearly there. But it hurt SO BAD! My head pounded. My muscles throbbed. I… had… to… save… the… universe…
I tried to shout. But no sound came out. I tried to pick up a rock and throw it at the window, but I was too weak. I couldn’t move. I was powerless.
“YOUNG MAN! WHAT ARE YOU DOING?!” It was Principal Snort, standing over me.
“No! I have… to… stop it!” I stuttered. “You… don’t… understand!”
Principal Snort grabbed my hand. “Young man, you will be coming with me,” he said, and began to tug me away.
“NO!!” I tried to break free, but his grip was too strong. “I have to stop it!” I shouted louder. My voice was stronger. The pain was going away.
“SILENCE!” he snapped.
And then it happened.
I heard a scream. It was Olive’s scream. The black hole was made.
Principal Snort looked through the window into Mr. Stale’s room. He must have seen the other me, sitting there in the classroom, because he had the strangest look on his face. And then he turned and ran.

The pain was gone. I had failed. It was all happening, just like before. I stood and watched Olive fall into the black
hole, and then Isaac Crumb, and Spencer.
I stared, defeated, as the black hole got bigger and bigger and then I felt it. It pulled ME, and I was gone!
Chapter 9
alone in the dark
I fell - faster and faster and faster - into the dark. An awful high-pitched squeal rang in my ears - louder and louder as I fell faster and faster!
And then I was ripped apart! At least, it felt like I was ripped apart. It felt like every atom in my body exploded!
And then suddenly it stopped - the falling, the ringing, the ripping.
And there was nothing. I was alone. In the dark.
It was silent. I couldn’t tell if I was still or moving. I couldn’t tell up from down. I may have been floating. I may have been standing. I don’t know. It felt like everything, like all of space was… gone.
But it also felt like… everywhere.
I know how strange that sounds. And I can’t explain it. But it felt like nowhere and everywhere, at the same time.
And time was different too. I don’t know how long I was there. It could have been seconds. It could have been days. It could have been years. There was no time.
But it also felt like… ALL time. Like all the time that had ever happened or would ever happen.
No space, no time. All of space, all of time. That’s the only way I can describe it.
And I felt like… you won’t believe me, but I felt like… everything and nothing.
And I know this is going to sound really strange, but… I felt like the quantum coloring book. That’s the only way I can describe it. I felt like I was the quantum coloring book. I felt like anything was possible. Like I could make anything, just by thinking it. No paper, no drawings, no colored pencils. I felt powerful.
And I felt lonely.
I tried to shout but no words came out. There wasn’t any sound. I didn’t have a body. I didn’t have anything.
But I remembered.
Do you know that expression, “Before you die your whole life flashes before your eyes?” Well, I wasn’t sure if I was dead, but I remembered everything that ever happened to me:
Like my mom giving me clues when we played board games, and taking care of me when I was sick.
And me playing baseball with my dad, and riding beside him in the fancy black sports car.
And Hazel, jumping up and down like a crazy witch, and saying she liked it when I was in a good mood.
And Spencer, Spencer White, my best friend. Building forts and digging holes and eating lunch together.
And Isaac Crumb, kicking my chair. And Mr. Stale’s mustache, and Mrs. Goop, and Mr. Snort, yelling at me. And Ms. Violet and Chippers.
And Olive. I missed Olive. I remembered her mousy sneeze and her messy brown hair. “Why do you carry around that black lunch box, Brandon Black?” she would say.
My grandpa gave me that lunchbox. I missed my grandpa most of all. Why did he have to die?
And the next thing I knew, I was crying. I was crying hard. Harder than I ever cried in my whole life.
He used to read to me, and take me to Grayers games, and watch movies with me, and play hide-and-seek, and teach me about tanks and planes and battles.
I loved my grandpa. And he was gone. And I was alone.
They were ALL gone. Everyone. Everything. They were only in my memory. They could only live in my heart. Just like Ms. Violet said, just like my mom and dad said.
I don’t know how long I cried. But then the strangest thing happened.
I remembered how my grandpa used to make a funny face by pushing his nose up with one hand and pulling his cheeks down with the other, and I started to laugh.
I laughed and cried even harder than before, because it was so funny! It was hilarious!
I remembered how my grandpa and my dad used to cluck around like chickens when we played board games.
Or how Hazel and my mom would jump up and down, screaming and hugging. One time they jumped on the popcorn and spilled it all over the floor and my dad and grandpa ate it up with their pretend chicken beaks.
It was all so silly. Everything. All of it. My family. My life. The whole world. The whole universe. It was the funniest thing I could imagine. I laughed and laughed and laughed.
And then I was happy. Happier than I’d ever been. And I knew exactly what to do.
I KNEW!
I imagined a quantum coloring book and it appeared in front of me. I imagined my hand, holding a pencil, and there it was. I opened the book and made one tiny dot on the page.
“This is everything. The whole universe. Just the way it is.”
And then I felt like I did in my dreams, like everything was growing, like it all went on forever and ever, smooth and spiky and endless.
I saw light. And colors: beautiful bright yellows and deep reds, and rich purples and greens and oranges. Vibrant pinks and piercing blue. Space and time and color exploded from everywhere…
… and then I was home.
Chapter 10
grayville in color
I was sitting in my house. It was the afternoon. And Hazel was there.
“Mom! Mom! The mailman is here. He’s holding a package! It’s the new books!” Hazel called. “Mom, come quick! Mom! Mom! Mom! This has to be it. This has to be it! Ahhhhh! I’m so excited! Mom!! Come here quick!”

ding dong. The doorbell rang.
“Mom! Come on!” Hazel ran to the door, grabbed the package from the stunned mailman, and ran to the dining room. “Ahhhh, this is the best day of my entire life! Ahhhh!” Hazel started jumping up and down with glee.
I must have been smiling at her because she stopped jumping and said, “Brandon, why do you look so happy? Wait a minute… you don’t want to color do you?”
I didn’t say anything. I just smiled.

“Come on!” she said. “It will be just like old times.” She pulled out a chair for me and opened one of the books.
“Oh, the board game your father wanted.” It was my mom. “Brandon, you might like this.” She handed me the box.
“Um… Mom?” I asked.
“Yes, Brandon?”
“Um… maybe we could play it tonight, when Dad gets home. And… maybe we could invite Ms. Violet, and Spencer, and Olive. They might like to play too.”
Hazel looked at my mom, and my mom looked at Hazel. They smiled at each other.
“Yes,” my mom said. “That’s a wonderful idea. It’s nice to see you in such a good mood, Brandon.”
“Yeah, what’s got into you all of a sudden?” Hazel asked.
I just smiled at them. “Oh, nothing,” I said. I sat beside Hazel at the table and picked up a pencil. “I’m just glad to be home.”
the END
Following the story:
special features: super awesome stuff!
Behind the scenes : some math and science behind the story
For the complete Quantum Coloring Book experience, purchase the paperback version of this book, which includes additional special features. Awesome!
Special Feature - Behind the Scenes
some math and science behind the story
- Black Holes, Big Bangs, and the Multiverse -
Want to know some awesome things about real black holes? I did, and this is what I found out:
1. A real black hole doesn’t look like a hole, it looks more like a black ball. It has so much gravity, light itself can’t escape. That’s why it’s black.
2. The closest real black hole to Grayville is over 3,000 light years away. That means it would take sunlight from our sun 3,000 years to reach the black hole. It takes sunlight only 8 minutes to reach Earth, and the Sun is 93 million miles away. Imagine how many miles 3,000 light years is!
3. If you fell into a real black hole, you wouldn’t survive, so don’t try it. And some scientists think that whatever goes into a black hole might come out in another unive
rse. And there would be no way to get back. Yikes!
4. There are huge black holes in the centers of galaxies. And there are billions of galaxies in our universe.