14 The Experiment

14 The Experiment Do I have to wear these?' Peanut pulled the school- issue plastic safety goggles over her head and let the elastic strap snap against the back of her skull. 'Safety first so you last,' replied Rockwell, pleased with himself for remembering one of Death Breath's many catchphrases. 'Right, let's do this. Where's this pencil then?' Peanut pulled it out from her blazer pocket and handed it to Rockwell. He cradled it with both hands as if it were the Elder Wand, and slowly lifted it up towards the light. Peanut thought she could hear the Hallelujah Chorus playing somewhere. 'It's beautiful, he said in a strange trance-like voice. Then he burst out laughing.

Peanut, who had thought he was being serious, immediately flushed with embarrassment. Rockwell realised that he'd misjudged the situation. Actually, I—er—think that maybe y-you should do this. It's your p-pencil after all,' he stammered, handing it back to Peanut. Of course I should do this,' harrumphed Peanut. She grabbed the pencil from him and pulled a sketchbook from her rucksack. She sat at the bench and started to draw. Again, she was struck by the pencil's weight and how easily the lead seemed to glide across the page. It was as smooth as silk. She was so caught up with how nice the pencil felt to hold that she'd almost finished the picture before she realised what it was she was drawing. It was an apple. Exactly like the one she had eaten on the way to school that morning. Peanut looked at her sketch and smiled. It was good. Better than usual. In fact, she thought, it might be the best drawing she'd ever done. She held the pencil up to her eye, studied the tip, then picked up the sketchbook, turned around and held it up to show Rockwell. 'What do you think?' 'Crikey!' he exclaimed. 'It's brilliant!'

She felt her cheeks redden. ' Thanks.' She ripped the page out of the sketchbook, grabbed a piece of tape and stuck the drawing to the whiteboard. 'OK,' she said. 'Pick up the apple. Rockwell laughed. ' Yeah, right,' he said. But Peanut wasn't smiling. 'Oh. You mean you actually want me to do this?' he said. 'Come on, the joke's over now. If this is your way of trying to make me look like an idiot it's not going to work. 'Look. You said yourself you have to conduct a controlled experiment to either prove or disprove a hypothesis. Well, my theory is that the stuff I draw with this pencil becomes real. If you're so smart, why don't you prove me wrong?' Rockwell looked at her. He could tell she was serious. 'OK. You asked for it. he said nervously. He reached out towards the picture, extending his fingers as if to grab the apple. He glanced over at Peanut and smiled. He looked back at the drawing and took a deep breath. Then something very strange happened. At the point where Rockwell expected to feel the surface of the paper, he felt nothing. Not a sausage. Nada. In fact, his hand just kept moving. It kept moving into the drawing, straight towards the piece of fruit. Two seconds later, to his utter amazement, his fingertips touched the apple. Instinctively, his hand closed around it and then, miracle of miracles, Rockwell pulled Peanut's sketch out of the sheet of paper and held it in his hand.