1 Nathan stood at the vending machine in the break room of his father’s office building. It was early Saturday evening, and he and his little brother Alex had come to hang out at the office while their dad worked. Alex crossed his arms. “I didn’t want mint gum!”
2 Nathan shrugged his shoulders. “Dad and I both voted for it, so that makes it fair,” he said.
3 The boys stepped into the dark hall as Alex complained, “Next time I get to choose. You didn’t even ask—aaaaahhh!”
4 Alex suddenly jumped back into the break room, crashing into Nathan. “Watch out!” Nathan yelled.
5 Flattened against the wall, Alex asked quietly, “Didn’t Dad say we were the only people here?”
6 “No one else is here, Alex,” his brother scolded. “Why are you whispering?”
7 Alex shut his eyes tightly and said, “There was someone standing at the end of the hall staring at us. I think he’s watching us!”
8 Nathan sighed. His little brother could be a real pain sometimes, especially when his imagination ran wild. But Nathan decided that he would agree with Alex just to try to calm him. Nathan found a pencil and notepad. “Why don’t you sit down and tell me what this guy looked like,” he suggested.
9 “He was huge and dressed all in red! And he was really mean looking, with beady eyes that sort of glowed—like they were on fire!” Alex exclaimed.
10 Something Alex said made Nathan a little suspicious. “Let me take a look,” he said.
11 The brothers tiptoed toward the doorway. Finally Nathan leaned around the corner just the tiniest bit. When he saw a movement at the far end of the hall, he didn’t even stop to see what the person looked like.
12 “Run, Alex!” Nathan yelled, dropping the gum. He grabbed his brother’s hand and raced down the hallway.
13 The light from Dad’s office was like a nightlight offering comfort from a bad dream. The brothers tried to get through the doorway at the same time and ended up in a tangled heap on the floor.
14 “What’s going on, boys?” Dad demanded to know.
15 Nathan and Alex started talking at the same time. Both boys were breathless, but they told Dad about the stranger down the hall. By the time Nathan got to the description of the red shirt, Alex was calling it “a scarlet cape.” Dad lifted his chin and arched his eyebrows.
16 “And you said this stranger was really huge?” Dad asked. Alex nodded. “Well then, let’s go take a look,” Dad said.
17 Even with their father along, the boys didn’t want to return to the scary creature. “Come on, boys, it will be fine,” Dad assured them. “I promise I won’t let anything bad happen to you.” He led them back to where they had last seen the mysterious stranger. Just before they got to the hallway that led to the break room, Dad turned on a light switch. Then he looked around the corner to the end of the hall. The boys heard him chuckle. “Okay,” he said to Alex, “your turn.”
18 Slowly Alex leaned around the corner and looked. Then he leaned a little farther. Finally he stepped all the way into the hallway. There, down the hall, was his own reflection looking back at him. It was almost as if his reflection were teasing him. It was bad enough to have an older brother who sometimes made fun of him. Now he could see himself doing the same thing.
19 Dad smiled. “I guess neither of you noticed the new mirror at the end of the hall.”
20 Nathan’s mouth formed a grin, and then Alex started to laugh. Their mysterious stranger was no stranger after all! Even Nathan hadn’t examined the situation closely enough to notice that Alex was wearing his bright red soccer jersey.
21 “Hey, where’s that gum I wanted?” Dad asked.
22 Nathan’s cheeks began to feel hot. He was thankful that Dad hadn’t seen the gum on the break-room floor. “I’ll go get it,” he said quickly.
23 “By the way,” Alex said, “that stranger told me he doesn’t like mint. So next time, he and I vote for strawberry.”