How To Be Invisible

Naomi tapped on Bertie’s bobble hat. “Look Bertie...” she said, pointing to a little black book under her arm.

The young boy squinted, trying to make out the silver letters against the black fabric. “What is it?” He couldn’t tell what it meant, but he had a feeling that something good was going to happen. His elder sister never smiled unless she was getting something.

”I’ve found a book on How To Be Invisible!”

”How is that possible?” Bertie asked, hopping out of bed to join his sister.

“We should read to find out!”

Bertie lowered his head. Everyone in the class could read well, apart from him. Being the dunce of the class was a heavy burden. Shrugging his shoulders, he sighed as he jumped right into his bed.

Naomi slammed the book by her pillow, causing an avalache of teddies. “Oh Bertie! I can read it with you.” She twirled, grabbed the book an flipped through the pictures. “You’ll be fine! It has pictures in it.”

With his mouth wide open, he scurried back onto his sister’s bed. “That’s fine!”

It was easy to get through the book. Most of the pages were illustrations of ferrioucous beasts, beautiful angels, mischievous fairies and random poetry with innuendo that no child would understand.

“Why would anyone want to eat a snake’s head?” Bertie asked.

Naomi shook her head. “Some people are weird.” It was not long until they got to the last page. “What did you think of that?” his sister asked him.

“I still don‘t know how to be invisbile.”

Naomi flet the plumpness at the back. She felt around it until she pulled a bundle of cash out of it. Jumping for joy, Bertie snatched one of cash notes. “Wow! 50 dollars! I’ve never felt this much money before.”

Naomi yawned as she covered her brother’s mouth. “Well, let’s tell Momma about it in the morning. We should go to sleep.”

They said their good nights and sweet dreams as they always did, but it took Bertie several tosses and turns in order to doze off to sleep.

Bertie woke up to the smell of fried eggs, toast and fried tomatoes. As delicious as Momma’s fry ups were, he craved spicy sausages. He hadn’t it since Christmas when Naomi told Momma she didn’t want to eat animals anymore.

“So what kept you two awake all night?” Momma asked the moment she placed her coffee on the table. “Something about being invisable.”

Naomi popped the book on the table. “We found this book on how to be invisible, but it dosen’t tell us how to be invisible.”

”Instead we got money!”

Momma’s face froze. “Money? What do you mean?”

“I found the book outside our house,” Naomi explained. “It had money at the back of the book.”

Momma snatched the book from the table and went straight to the back, counting each note as she pulled it out.

“We cannot keep this!” Momma cried as one pile became two. “We must return this to the original owner. Somebody might be looking for this book. If any of you have taken any money from here, you need to return it.”

Bertie with reluctance, moved the dollar bill on the table with a shaking hand. “I can’t help but think of all the candy and toys we could have bought with that.”

“Now Bertie-Sweetie, there’s more to life than toys and candy. When you get older, you’ll understand. You’ve done the right thing. Now you carry on eating your breakfast before it gets cold.”

By the time Momma finished counting, the plates were empty. Momma had a small appetite and let the kids share her scraps. With disbelief and bloated cheeks, she laid back on her chair and drank her half-cold coffee.

“How much was in there?” Bertie asked.

“$20,ooo dollars!”

“Really?” Naomi gasped, orange juice poured from her mouth. They could really do with the money, Momma wanted to redo the apartment for ages and Naomi wanted to fix her old bike.

Momma skimmed the pages. “As much as I’d like to keep it, we should really give this back to it’s owner. These pictures and poems must mean something to the owner.”

Bertie and Naomi saw Momma’s face sink to her chest at the first page. She slammed her mug on the corner of the table. Her finger hovered towards the top left corner. The children peered over and saw an address for Mr. Sam Deals.

“Who’s that?” Bertie asked.

“That’s your father.”

The address for Sam Deals lead the family to a hospital in The city centre. Bertie and Naomi had many questions for Momma, but her quivering lips meant she was unable to answer them all.

“How did he sent the book to us when he’s sick in bed?”

“Why did he leave us?”

“What did all the stuff in that book mean?”

They had to wait half an hour before they could see their dad. Bertie always wanted to see his father, but in a cancer ward. Naomi folded her arms and pouted. ”I will never forgive Papa for leaving us.”

Momma looked down on them. “He had his reasons.”

All the dads on TV were shown as brave, funny and macho. Sometimes they were skinny and sometimes they were fat, but they were always full of love. Bertie didn’t know where to look with all the tubes plugged into his father’s body.

Momma chuckled. “Wow Sam, you’ve done more on your deathbed for us then you ever did in the ten years we’ve been married.”

“I’m sorry for leaving you all,” Papa whispered. “I wish I did more for you before I was ill. Now I only have days to live. I hope you all enjoy the book and the money.”

It was the only time Bertie ever hugged his father, but his touch haunted him forever.