13 A MILE IN YOUR SHOES

CHAPTER 13 A MILE IN YOUR SHOES In a matter of weeks, the medicated mosquitos managed to get everywhere, and pretty soon everybody had recovered and things went back to normal. "I don't think I want to do any more mixing for a while," Franny said. "But before I take this thing apart, I'd like to try one last mix." The Mixer-Upper whirred for a moment then and made the ding sound like a microwave oven.

There was a hiss and the door opened, and a very strange figure stepped out. It was Franny and Igor, mixed together.

Their two bodies were mixed together, but so were their two minds. They could hear through each other's ears, see through each other's eyes. "WOW. This fur is really itchy. I can't believe that you ever stop scratching yourself!" After walking around for only a few minutes, they were ready to be unmixed. They hit a few buttons and stepped back into the machine.

There was a whirr and a ding, and the door creaked open again.

Franny gave Igor a big hug and said, "Why don't you go play or something while I take this thing apart?" Franny watched as he got out one of his puzzles and made space on the table to put it together. She felt like she understood him better, after being all mixed up with him for a minute. She set down her wrench and joined him. "I'll bust that thing up later," she said. "I get why you like puzzles now. It feels good to work on a problem that you KNOW can be solved. Can I do one with you?" Igor smiled and made room for her at the table. "I wanted to apologize, so I made you a special puzzle," Franny said.

"I used a painting you made of us together. It's pretty much my favorite painting in the whole world." The two worked on the new puzzle for hours and hours. Even Franny's mom, who was no longer a toad, sat down and helped.