Special Effects: Chicken Pox

which break and turn into scabs."

"Sounds like something worse than school!" we joked.

"Poor old Brain!"

"Hope he doesn't die!"

"Maybe we should visit him some time?""

"What if we catch it too?"

"Impossible."

"Oh yeah, I forgot. We never get sick do we."

We talked about "poor old Brain" for a while, then we decided we'd better do the decent thing. And besides, it seemed like a good excuse to get into his house. We skipped the last class and pedalled down the road. It was a great day.

When we got to the place, the gates were shut. They were always shut. The camera on the post watched us as we rode up and stopped. It swivelled slightly, and switched to wide-angle. We could see the lens widening and adjusting to the light. A voice came from the speaker.

"Hello boys. What can I do for you?"

"We've come to see Brain.'"

"Who?"

"Malcolm - we call him Brain. Its just a nickname. We heard he was sick so we've come to cheer him up."

"Very kind of you boys, but no-one is permitted entry. I'm sorry."

"Yeah but we're his best buddies! He'd really appreciate a visit from us!"

"Malcolm is doing very well, thank you. He will be back at school in a few days. You can wish him well then."

"What's the point of doing it then? He'll be well by then?"

The camera swivelled left and right, as if the operator was checking to make sure there were only three of us.

"We could make an exception," said the voice, "But you must promise not to go into any rooms. You will be shown exactly where to go and you must stick to it."

"OK!" we said.