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“Erin, I’m not so sure about this,” I said softly, thinking hard.<br />
“Huh? Not so sure about what?”<br />
“Not so sure I want to be famous,” I replied. “I mean, I really don’t know if I want the whole<br />
world to know about the mirror.”<br />
“Why not?” she demanded impatiently. “Everyone wants to be famous. And rich.”<br />
“But they’ll take away the mirror,” I explained. “It’s an amazing thing, Erin. I mean, is it magic?<br />
Is it electronic? Is it someone’s invention? Whatever it is, it’s unbelievable! And they’re not going to<br />
let a kid keep it.”<br />
“But it’s yours!” she insisted.<br />
“They’ll take it away to study it. Scientists will want it. Government guys will want it. Army<br />
guys. They’ll probably want to use it to make the army invisible or something.”<br />
“Scary,” Erin mumbled thoughtfully.<br />
“Yeah. Scary,” I said. “So I don’t know. I’ve got to think about this. A lot. In the meantime, it’s<br />
got to be a secret.”<br />
“Yeah, I guess,” she said doubtfully. “But think about the science fair, Max. We could win the<br />
prize. We really could.”<br />
“I’ll think about it,” I told her.<br />
I haven’t thought about anything else! I realized.<br />
“April wants to try it,” she said.<br />
“Huh?”<br />
“I convinced her. I told her it didn’t hurt or anything. So she wants to try it on Wednesday. We<br />
are going to do it on Wednesday, aren’t we, Max?”<br />
“I guess,” I replied reluctantly. “Since everyone wants to.”<br />
“Great!” she exclaimed. “I think I’ll beat your record.”<br />
“The new record is ten minutes,” I informed her. I explained about Lefty and his dinnertime<br />
adventure.<br />
“Your brother is really a nut,” Erin remarked.<br />
I agreed with her, then said good night.<br />
I couldn’t get to sleep that night. I tried sleeping on one side, then the other. I tried counting<br />
sheep. Everything.<br />
I knew I was sleepy. But my heart was racing. I just couldn’t get comfortable. I stared up at the<br />
ceiling, thinking about the mirror in the little room above me.<br />
It was nearly three in the morning when I crept barefoot out of my room, wide awake, and<br />
headed up to the attic. As before, I leaned heavily on the banister as I climbed, trying to keep the<br />
wooden stairs from their usual symphony of creaks and groans.<br />
In my hurry to get to the little room, I stubbed my toe on the corner of a wooden crate.<br />
“Ow!” I screamed as quietly as possible. I wanted to hop up and down, but I forced myself to<br />
stand still, and waited for the pain to fade.<br />
As soon as I could walk again, I made my way into the little room. I pulled a carton in front of<br />
the mirror and sat down on it.<br />
My toe still throbbed, but I tried to ignore it. I stared at my dark reflection in the mirror, studying<br />
my hair first, of course. It was totally messed up, but I really didn’t care.