Chapter 7: The Inverse World

“How dare you call a man ‘nuts.’” whispered the man. But Senior figured that since everyone’s brain was inverse from theirs, to everyone else his voice was loud.

“Well, I meant it in the best possible way,” said Junior, trying to sound innocent.

“He’s just kind of young, okay?” explained Senior, ignoring Junior.

“You don’t need to shout!” shouted the man.

“Boy, are you a hypocrite!” said Junior, and because of the looks on everyone else’s faces, he took it back. According to him, everyone was crazy.

“Where are you from? Why are your thoughts the exact opposite of the truth?”

“Um, Earth. W-why?” cowered Junior.

“So, you’re visitors from another planet, eh?” whispered the man. Everyone gasped.

“And why do you say our thoughts are the opposite of the truth?” asked Senior.

“Because they are!! Look, you say your shirts are several colors, but everyone sees one. You claim our world is dingy brown, when everybody knows it’s very colorful. You try to tell us that we’re whispering, but it’s as plain as day that we’re screaming our heads off. You make it clear that you’re shouting. But you know very well that you...”

“Okay, okay, I get the point!” interrupted Senior. “Our senses are probably just inverse from each other, that’s all.”

“So, if I hold up this green bottle, you can only see...”

“Plain brown,” finished Senior and Junior.

“Okay, and we say this bird on the boy’s shirt is brown. But what color is it really?”

“Gray,” said Junior.

“We’ve always heard myths about people from different planets, but it seems they weren’t myths at all. You prove that myth correct. And apparently, the senses of the people living on your planet are opposite from the senses of the people living on our planet.”

“Really? I was just about to say the exact same thing!”

“But words have the same meaning, don’t they?”

“I think so.”

Junior tugged at his dad’s shirt.

“Excuse us, we have to go now,” Senior told the man.

“Bye, uh, come back soon?” whispered the man.

Senior and Junior turned around and jumped. The man could not see them anymore. They had decided to go back to Sprigg. It took a little while before they finally got there, but not as long. In a few seconds, they could see Mr. DaLoiff and Mrs. Hyken controlling the camera. Junior tried to wave to them, but they still did not move. Besides the fact that there was no static, and this did not take a while, this was exactly like traveling from Earth to Sprigg. Then they felt the familiar sensation of non-cut-into-your-skin glass, and they fell out of the screen.

“I guess I should have told you that people on that world think the exact opposite of yours,” said Mr. DaLoiff.

“Well, we kind of figured that out ourselves,” said Senior.

“Maybe we should’ve told you ahead of time,” said Mrs. Hyken.

TO BE CONTINUED