The Imagination Machine

Chapter 20

"Lucretia, what are you doing? Stop messing around." Rudy walked up to where Lucretia had fallen and put his hands on his hips. Then he stepped around Lucretia and started to keep walking.

"Wait!" Courtney steadied Sable with one hand and rushed over to Rudy, blocking him with a hand to his chest.

"What's the big idea?" Rudy asked. 

"Didn't you hear that sound?" Courtney said.

"What sound?"

Lucretia scrambled to his feet. "What happened?" he asked.

Rudy grinned. "I dunno, man. You just kinda fell."

"Are you okay?" Courtney asked. 

Lucretia frowned and walked over to where he had fallen. He put his hands out and pushed. He frowned again and put his other hand out. With both hands, he shoved as hard as he could. He appeared to be pushing against thin air. 

Rudy laughed out loud. "Dude, what are you doing?"

Courtney was confused too. "Are you trying to mime or something?"

"There is something here! Something solid. Come over here and feel it!" Lucretia waved her over.

"Have you lost your mind?" Rudy said. 

Courtney handed Sable to Rudy and cautiously walked over to where Lucretia stood. She looked at him warily. "You want me to...feel the air?"

"Just come and feel where I have put my hand," Lucretia grabbed her hand and placed it where his had been. To Courtney's utter surprise, the air in front of her began to ripple, like a wave in the ocean. When she started to move her hand forward, it began to disappear.

Courtney jumped backward and swore in surprise.

"I'm telling mom you said a bad word," Rudy said in the distance.

"Rudy, come here and look at this!" Courtney called her brother over. She grabbed his hand and put it where hers had been. The air rippled where Rudy's finger touched it, and his hand also began to disappear as he moved it forward.

Rudy's eyes widened. He stepped back and said the same bad word Courtney had. 

Lucretia was moving back and forth along the length of where the air was acting strangely. But when he put his hand where Courtney and Rudy had, the air didn't ripple. Instead, he appeared to be pushing something solid. Lucretia brought his fist down hard. There was a loud thud and Lucretia stepped back, shaking his hand in pain. 

"What is this?" Rudy whispered in awe. "Some kind of force-field?"

"It is like a wall," Lucretia said. "Only you cannot see it."

"How come when you touch it, it doesn't move?" Rudy asked Lucretia.

"Yeah. Why is it only solid for him?" Courtney said. She stared hard at the air in front of her. There was nothing abnormal about it. She could see the grass and the top of the mountain beyond, but when she put her hand out again, the air rippled and shifted around it. It was like a wave that spread outward from wherever she touched it. It was like throwing a rock into a still pond.

Suddenly, Rudy stepped forward and thrust his head into the 'wall'.

"Rudy, wait!" Courtney yelled, but it was too late. Rudy's head had already disappeared into the wall, or force-field, or whatever it was. Then he stepped back and his head reappeared. Eyes wide, he turned to face them.

"What happened? What did you see?" Lucretia asked.

"Nothing, I couldn't see anything!It was too blurry," Rudy said.