Slowly, Gary opens his eyes. He seems to just awake from a long sleep. Instinctively, he tries to stretch out but cannot move. That is really surprising. He cannot remember what had happened before he fainted.
Gary rolls his eyes around and figures out that he is locked on a metal frame inside a cylindrical container. His neck is very stiff as if it would break into fragments if he moves. He also sees a big sign on the container that reads, “BRAIN SWAPPER.” He can vaguely see some grotesque alien faces around the container.
“Wow, am I in Heaven? I am too young to die,” he thinks. The last thing he can remember is talking to his principal, Dr. Proctor, about his composition. “Maybe I got hit by a car. Maybe Mr. Smith and the principal didn’t like my composition and I’m in detention in outer space with alien students now. Where do they come from? Mars?” Gary closes his eyes...
______________________________________________________________________
Anger is bubbling in Mr. Smith. Only Gary is absent today, without permission.
“Jim, have you seen Gary today?” Mr. Smith asks.
“The last time I saw Gary was yesterday. I dragged him to principal’s office to explain something,” Jim replies.
“Okay, I’ll go ask the principal,” mumbles Mr. Smith.
As usual, Mike Chung barrels into the conversation. “Does anyone know why Gary is gone? I could really use that information in the next school newspaper.”
“Not now Mike,” Mr. Smith says in his monotonous voice. He walks down to Dr. Proctor’s office.
“Dr. Proctor, my student, Gary, is missing. Jim Baggs said he went to your office yesterday. Did you send him somewhere?”
“No, I didn’t. I only talked to him for a few minutes and then he left.” Dr. Proctor frowns.
“Maybe he’s at home,” suggests Mr. Smith.
“It’s possible. I can ask Ms. Jones to call his parents.”
After Mr. Smith leaves, Dr. Proctor walks over to Ms. Jones’ office and asks her to call Gary’s parents.
A few minutes later, Ms. Jones blunders into principal’s office. She gasps, “Gary’s parents confirmed that he didn’t go home yesterday.”
“Okay, I’ll let Mr. Smith know.”
Dr. Proctor calls Mr. Smith to come to his office. When he arrives, Dr. Proctor says, “Is it possible that Gary ran away because you didn’t like his writing?”
Mr. Smith is irritated by the accusation, “The last person he met is you. He disappeared after a ‘short talk’ with you. We don’t know what your conversation was about.” Slamming the door, Mr. Smith leaves.
Mr. Smith goes to the police station. He reports a missing student, Gary, and opens a case. On the way back, a police officer follows Mr. Smith to Dr. Proctor’s office.
When Dr. Proctor sees the police officer, his jaw hits the ground, but he acts calmly and politely. The officer interviews the principal about what he and Garry talked about yesterday. After the interview, the officer gives Dr. Proctor a card with a phone number on it, and says, “If you think of anything else, please call me with this number.” Mr. Smith and Dr. Proctor send him out.
After the officer leaves, Dr. Proctor’s face changes. He yells at Mr. Smith, “Why did you bring the police here without my permission? Do you know it will cause rumors?”
“I think you have something to do with Gary’s disappearance.”
Dr. Proctors face becomes ice cold, his eyes flash and close into slits.
“Mr. Smith, the reason that I hired you is because you lack imagination and creativity. Now you know far more than needed. I’ll have to send you off.” The principal taps a button on his watch and Mr. Smith vanishes. He presses another button and orders the aliens in the space lab, “Swap Gary’s and Mr. Smith’s brain around. Send the new Mr. Smith to me as soon as possible. His writing class is about to begin!”
______________________________________________________________________
In the space lab, aliens start running around and are as busy as beavers. They attach a large suction cup onto Gary’s head. Monitors are blaring. Suddenly, a large green bolt of electricity bolts through. Gary becomes unconscious…
______________________________________________________________________
When the bell rings, every student gets into their seat.
“Hello class,” Mr. Smith booms, “today we are going to learn how to write science fiction stories. In order to do that well, you need to be able to think outside the box with imagination and creativity…”
Everybody in the class gawks as Mr. Smith rambles on. Even chatty Mike becomes dumbfounded.
After class, Mike, Danni, and Jim get together to discuss about Mr. Smith’s change.
“What’s wrong with Mr. Smith today?” Danni asks Mike.
“No idea. He used to lack imagination and creativity,” Mike admits. “Should we write something about the change of Mr. Smith for our school newspaper?”
“I don’t know. Maybe we should make sure this Mr. Smith is the same one we used to have first,” replies Jim. “He’s so energetic and full of imagination and creativity today. I cannot believe it!”
“Maybe we should check with Dr. Proctor,” Danni suggests.
“Good idea.” When the group knocks on the door, the principal welcomes them into his office.
“Hi sir, we are just wondering if Mr. Smith has been replaced. I mean, the one we used to have doesn’t really support imagination but the one we have today does. Did he have an “attitude change” because you asked him to?”
“No. Anything bothers you guys?” the principal asks with a bogus smile plastered on his face.
Before anybody can say something, Dr. Proctor’s watch beeps.
“Dr. Proctor, we just realized that we forgot a few steps due to the urgency. We need Mr. Smith back so that we can swap his brain with Gary’s thoroughly.”
“Oh! Forget it!” Dr. Proctor taps furiously into the watch. In a flash, he and his students all rocket up and disappear into the deep blue sky.