15. Disguise Falling

CHAPTER 15 DISGUISE FALLING George and Harold rummaged through their houses until they found what they needed. There was no way they were going to show up at school looking like themselves again. They'd learned that lesson in our last book. George and Harold needed a disguise, and it needed to be convincing.

When they arrived at school, George changed into his costume behind the bushes and climbed onto Harold's shoulders. Then they headed into the building. Normally, any stranger entering Jerome Horwitz Elementary School would need to sign in at the office and go through a security screening. But George and Harold noticed that things at school were a little more relaxed today.

Their first clue was that there were no adults in the office. At least it looked that way. Upon closer inspection, they discovered that the school secretary, Miss Anthrope, was sound asleep on the floor under her desk. Some third graders were giving her a foot massage, while the sixth-grade AV club was answering the phone and filing papers. "That's weird," said George.

As George and Harold walked down the hallway, things just got weirder and weirder. First, they noticed a brownish haze in the air. "I wonder what that brown fog is all about," said George. "I don't know," said Harold. "I can't smell a thing because of my cold." "Me neither," said George. As they roamed from room to room, they noticed that the other teachers were asleep, too, and their students were doing all sorts of odd things for them. Some kids were giving the teachers massages, and others were shaving their teachers' beards, plucking their eyebrows, and giving them haircuts.

The mathletes were filling out the teachers' tax forms, while the shop kids were washing all the cars in the faculty parking lot.

Finally, George and Harold reached the cafeteria, where several teachers were lying on the lunch tables getting Ashiatsu massages and mani-pedis at the same time. "Boy, things sure have gotten a lot better around this place since Rid-O-Kid 2000TM came along!" said Ms. Zurry. "I'll say," said Ms. Guided. "I was happy enough when my students were finally able to sit still and pay attention all day. But when I found out that they'd follow my every command without question, it changed my life!"