Invisibility Spray
INVISIBILITY SPRAY – April 5, 2025 – Stony Creek, Virginia, USA
Tomato sauce splattered on Jameson McCoy’s favorite shirt while he ate spaghetti at his kitchen table. “Ah look, Liam!” Jameson exclaimed to his little brother. “This happened before and it left a stain.”
“Mom’s not gonna like that. You better clean it fast,” Liam warned.
Jameson went to the kitchen sink and looked at all the bottles of cleaner stored underneath. He found one called “Liquid Invisible.” The bottle’s label claimed to make any stain disappear. Jameson sprayed some on the spaghetti stain and watched.
“Wow, this stuff works like magic! Liam, come and look. The stain’s already gone.”
Liam wandered over to stare at the shirt. Jameson’s eyes moved back and forth between Liam and the spray bottle. A clever smile curled up his lips.
“You know what, if we could make something bigger look like a stain, I’ll bet this stuff could make it disappear.”
“Something bigger, like what?” Liam asked.
“Like a person. Think about how much fun being invisible would be. If I was to spill spaghetti sauce all over you and then spray you down, you could walk around without anyone knowing you were there.”
Liam shivered and shook as he imagined what it would feel like to be covered in spaghetti sauce.
“Better yet,” Jameson continued, “we could just mix up the spaghetti sauce with the Liquid Invisible. That way, when we spray it on, it does two jobs at once. Let’s try it!”
Jameson unscrewed the spray lid from the almost empty bottle of Liquid Invisible. He added two spoonsful of leftover spaghetti sauce and then filled the rest of the spray bottle with water. After reattaching the lid, he shook everything up to produce a pink liquid.
“Now stand still and hold out your arms,” Jameson said to Liam. “And close your eyes so I don’t erase your brain.”
Liam stood stiffly with his arms outstretched while Jameson sprayed the top half of his body.
“It worked!” Jameson cried. “I can’t see your arms anymore!”
Liam’s eyes popped open. “What do you mean? I can still see them!”
“Of course, you can see them because they belong to you,” Jameson said condescendingly. “But when someone else is looking, they see right through you. Now close your eyes so I can spray the rest of you.”
Liam obediently closed his eyes and Jameson sprayed the bottom half of his body.
“You’re going to have to tell me where you are because I can’t see you anymore,” Jameson said when he was done spraying. “Are you still in the room?”
Jameson kept his eyes pointed forward while Liam slyly circled around him. “Liam, are you still here? You’ve got to give me a sign.”
“Are you sure you’re not tricking me?” Liam asked.
“Yeah, I’m sure,” Jameson said, turning toward the sound of Liam’s voice.
Liam decided he needed to test his brother. He stuck one of his fingers into his mouth and then slowly moved it toward Jameson’s head. Jameson remained motionless and stared forward. Liam inched his finger toward Jameson’s ear. Jameson did not flinch until Liam’s finger made contact.
“Hey, gross! What was that?” Jameson cried in convincing surprise.
“My wet finger!”
“If I could see you, you’d be in big trouble,” Jameson said with a threatening growl.
Liam laughed with satisfaction and decided to keep testing. He crept quietly behind his brother and kicked him in the behind. Jameson flew forward dramatically and landed on the floor.
“Liam, it’s not fair that I can’t see you!” Jameson shouted. “If you don’t stop, I’m going to pound you when that invisibility spray wears off!”
“I’m sorry,” Liam said, stifling a laugh. “I was just making sure you weren’t playing a trick.”
“Well, I hope you’re convinced. Now maybe we can have some real fun.”
“What kind of fun?”
“Let’s go down to the dollar store and find out. But you’ll have to keep talking to me so I know where you are.”
“Don’t worry. I’ll stay close.”
Jameson walked toward the front door of their house still holding the spray bottle. When he turned back toward Liam he looked toward the floor and said, “Uh oh, I think I can see your pants and shoes reappearing. But not your arms and face. Your clothes must be soaking up the spray. You better take them off and let me respray you.”
“I’m not walking down to the store with my clothes off!”
“No one will be able to see you. You’re invisible, remember?”
“What if it starts to wear off before we get back home? No, I’m not doing it. You’ll just have to spray me again with my clothes on.”
“Alright. If you want to risk being seen.”
“I’ll risk it.”
Since the small store near their house was accessible along a safe sidewalk, the two boys were allowed to go there alone. They made the short walk and then hid in the shadows of a tree which grew close to the store’s entrance. While they crouched, Jameson spotted a coiled garden hose used to rinse mud from the entryway.
“Liam, when the next customer comes, grab the end of that hose and dance around with it in front of their face. Since they can’t see you, they’ll think it’s come alive.”
Liam giggled, crawled to the hose, and waited. Their neighbor, Mrs. Bushman, arrived. As she approached the entrance, Liam leaped in front of her with the end of the hose. A startled Mrs. Bushman jumped backwards before hurrying around the hose.
“Did you see that?” Liam called with a laugh.
“Drop the hose and come back over here,” Jameson called back.
“Okay, I’m right behind you in case you’re wondering,” Liam announced.
“Let’s think of something else fun we could do,” Jameson said mischievously. “You know, you could walk inside and take anything you wanted and no one would know.”
“But that would be stealing.”
“Yeah, you’re right,” Jameson said with a sigh. “I guess we can’t steal, but there’s got to be some other way we can use your invisibility for more than just scaring people.”
The boys thought for a minute before a brainstorm hit Jameson. “I got it. You can pretend like you’re a ghost. You whisper in Mr. Faulkner’s ear and tell him to let us have something for free.”
“You think he’ll believe I’m a ghost?”
“If he can’t see you but he hears someone talking, what else is he going to think? You can tell him you’re one of those ghosts like we saw in that Christmas show.”
“Let’s try it.”
“Before you go in, I’ll spray you down again really good so no parts show.”
Jameson used the rest of the mixture in the bottle to coat Liam in a layer of the invisibility spray. When he was done, Jameson led the way into the store. As usual, the store’s owner, Mr. Faulkner, sat at the checkout counter near the entrance.
“Hello, Jameson,” Mr. Faulkner said with a suspicious grin. “Have you got any money today?”
“Hello, Mr. Faulkner,” Jameson replied without answering the question. He walked right to a candy display, picked out two large candy bars, and put them on the counter in front of Mr. Faulkner. At the same time, Liam wriggled around the counter so that he was right behind Mr. Faulkner.
Mr. Faulkner, turned his head slightly in Liam’s direction. “What are you up to Jameson, and why do I smell tomato sauce?”
Jameson shrugged his shoulders.
From behind Mr. Faulkner a ghostly sounding voice said, “Mr. Faulkner. You can’t see me but this is the spirit of Christmas past. You should be nice and give Jameson those candy bars.”
Mr. Faulkner froze and then grinned just a little. “Is that you, Liam?”
“No. I’m a spirit. You must give away those candy bars or you will die lonely and unhappy.”
Mr. Faulkner’s grin grew into a smile and then a laugh. “You boys always keep me on my toes,” he said to Jameson. “I guess making me laugh is worth something. Go ahead and take one, but only one.”
“Really?” Jameson cried.
“Just this once. Don’t come back here begging for more or sending more of your spirits to haunt me.”
Jameson grabbed the candy bar and hurried out of the store before Mr. Faulkner could change his mind. Liam followed quickly behind, raising his arms over his head in triumph. “It worked! It worked!” he shouted when they were well away from the store.
“Oh, there you are,” Jameson said, looking in Liam’s general direction. “Here, I’ll hold out half of the candy bar so you can grab it with your invisible hand.”
Jameson split the candy bar not quite evenly and handed Liam the smaller piece. The younger brother took it without question and said, “Now we should spray you and see who else we can fool if we’re both invisible. We could even sneak into somebody’s house.”
“We’re all out of invisibility spray,” Jameson said, holding up the bottle he had left near the tree. “How about we pick a house and you can sneak in while I watch from outside?”
“It’ll be more fun together. Let’s go mix up more of the spray.”
“I think we need more Liquid Invisible. That’s the secret ingredient.”
“Let’s just try.”
The brothers wandered home and spent a half hour mixing cleaners from under their sink with spaghetti sauce and different amounts of water. No matter what they used, whenever Liam sprayed his brother, Jameson remained stubbornly visible. And then Liam slowly reappeared.
“I’m glad it was only temporary,” Jameson said thoughtfully. “I was getting tired of only hearing your voice. Still, you’re really lucky. Hardly anyone gets a chance to be invisible, even for part of a day.”
Please remember to subscribe for weekly reminders about new stories. You can subscribe by clicking here: Subscribe. You can also follow new content on any Podcast platform or on YouTube. For the full list of stories, return Home.