She straightened up and looked me in the eye. “I guess that’s who I am,” she said.
“But it’s not,” I said. “That’s just my point. It’s only part of who you are. Because you’re also inventive and daring. Even fun to be with sometimes. But it wasn’t until you disappeared that the hidden parts of you started to show. Isn’t that weird?”
Her mouth slipped into a smile without her noticing.
“I was thinking the same thing about you,” she said. “Not that we’re ever going to be friends or anything. But you’re not as creepy as I thought. You covered up for me, and you were pretty resourceful. Like with Mr. Donaldson. And J. P.’s pj’s!” She laughed. “You’re funny and sort of clever. You even, you know, sort of handed over J. P.”
“He does seem to find your knobby knees pretty appealing, don’t you think?”
“Very funny,” said Alyssa, pushing past me on her way to the living room. But I could tell she thought so, too.
“Don’t say thanks or anything,” I called after her, sort of kidding.
“Don’t worry, I won’t.” She was sort of kidding, too.
“Oh, hello, Alyssa,” said my father, passing around a tray of ginger ales. “That’s right, isn’t it? Alyssa? I wasn’t sure who that was, lurking in the hall.”
“She’s our surprise guest,” I said. “She just showed up out of nowhere.”
“Can you join us for lunch?” asked Dad.
Alyssa actually grinned at me. “Oh sure,” she said. “I’m here to stay, whether you like it or not.”
Epilogue
We had so much fun during lunch, eating crepes and imitating my father’s terrible French, that I almost forgot about the bathtub situation. Until the smell seeped into the living room.
“What is that?” asked my dad, starting to his feet. “What were you doing in there, Billie?”
“I’ll deal with it,” I said, scurrying to the bathroom.
“I’ll help,” said Alyssa, right behind me. “But we’re using these.” She giggled and handed over the latex gloves. “They were in your coat pocket.”
On the ride home, when I described the mess to Hubert, he plugged his ears and hummed like a dial tone. Amazingly, Alyssa had stayed and helped me till the tub was gleaming. That was truly the most surprising thing that happened all day.
Ever since Alyssa’s adventure, Jane has been begging me to “get gone.” Though it is often tempting, I have so far managed to resist. But I did give her a big reward for keeping our secret. I made her a pair of fairy wings, using wire hangers and tutu material and a whole tube of silver glitter. She couldn’t believe her luck, but I couldn’t believe mine either—that she didn’t blab the whole story to Mom.
Jody is writing a book, keeping track of all her inventions and their possible benefits to humankind. One of these days she’ll be famous, I bet, but first she has to figure out how to keep her ideas from being used by bad guys—and also how to blend the antidotes more aromatically!
Jean-Pierre came with me as Official Tester when I bought Hubert the coolest yo-yo we could find, to replace the one sitting in my mother’s office drawer. The yo-yo craze has subsided at school, but Hubert is still determined to conquer a Skin the Gat, and the Glow-Mobilo will definitely help him achieve that goal.
It wouldn’t be quite true to say that Alyssa and I are living happily ever after. We certainly aren’t friends the way I am with Hubert. But when Mr. Donaldson made us partners for the “Life in a Castle” project, we built a pretty good model of a cloister without pouring glue in each other’s hair.
And, once in a while, in the middle of math, maybe, or on line in the cafeteria, she’ll look over at me and say, “Remember when Michele was bald?” or “So, what color are J. R’s pj’s?” and we’ll laugh till it hurts. We share a secret, after all: a memory that’s only ours.
Marthe Jocelyn
is the author of The Invisible Day, The Invisible Harry, and Earthly Astonishments. She has also written and illustrated two picture books, Hannah and the Seven Dresses and Hannah’s Collections. Before becoming a full-time author and illustrator, Ms. Jocelyn was a children’s clothing and toy designer.
Ms. Jocelyn lives with her husband, painter Tom Slaughter, and her daughters, Hannah and Nell. They divide their time between New York City and Stratford, Ontario.
Abby Carter
has illustrated many children’s books, including The Invisible Day, The Invisible Harry, Twin Surprises, Never Babysit the Hippo, and Never Ride Your Elephant to School. She lives in San Francisco, California.
Text copyright © 2002 by Marthe Jocelyn
Illustrations copyright © 2002 by Abby Carter
Published in Canada by Tundra Books,
75 Sherbourne Street, Toronto, Ontario M5A 2P9.
Published in the United States by Dutton Children’s Books,
a division of Penguin Putnam Books for Young Readers
345 Hudson Street, New York, New York 10014
All rights reserved. The use of any part of this publication reproduced, transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording, or otherwise, or stored in a retrieval system, without the prior written consent of the publisher—or, in case of photocopying or other reprographic copying, a licence from the Canadian Copyright Licensing Agency—is an infringement of the copyright law.
National Library of Canada Cataloguing in Publication Data
Jocelyn, Marthe
The invisible enemy
eISBN: 978-1-77049-035-2
I. Carter, Abby II. Title.
PS8569.O254I583 2002 jC813′.54 C2001-902544-0
PZ7.J579Io 2002
We acknowledge the support of the Canada Council for the Arts and the Ontario Arts Council for our publishing program.
We acknowledge the financial support of the Government of Canada through the Book Publishing Industry Development Program for our publishing activities.
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