Chapter 30

30

With his new-found confidence and exuberance, Abraham Lincoln Panim decided to take a walk that evening, a walk like he had taken many times before. But with his physical change, this was going to be a walk like no other.

He got up from his bed, put on his jacket, and wrapped his scarf around his neck, but not on his face. He also stuffed the mirror into his pocket, and then he walked to his mother’s bedroom.

“Mom, I’m taking a walk,” he yelled through his mother’s still-closed bedroom door. “I’ll be back in a couple of minutes.”

Mrs. Panim heard her son this time, and said, “Take that walk, and maybe it will help you think!” she screamed back.

He walked outside the house, letting the door close by itself behind him. He entered the fresh air with a big smile on his face, and he began to walk with a cadence that he hadn’t ever remembered that he had in previous walks with himself and his mother.

It was turning to evening, and there was barely enough natural light to use as the street lights popped on, illuminating the area of his walk, which led to the nearby park, as his walks always did.

“Why aren’t people stopping and admiring me?” he said, but while it wasn’t completely dark, it wasn’t as light as it was during the day. “I guess it is too dark for people to admire me,” he thought.

Abraham Lincoln Panim walked his usual walk, and he went by a few other people walking in the park, and a few did, in fact, stop to look at him, some young girls and some older women. He knew they were looking at him, and almost instinctively moved his scarf even further down his neck so it would expose more of his face to everyone.

He reached the point where he normally stopped, sat on the same bench that he had sat on many times before, and took in the night air as people passed him going both ways. Some stopped to look at him, and he sat up when he knew they were staring.

“I have to give them a full look at my features, so I better sit up straight,” he thought to himself as he moved up on the bench.

Abraham Lincoln Panim sat on the bench for some time, and then he saw in the distance a woman jogging with her dog, and as the woman came closer to him, he saw that it was Ariel and her dog Snuff.

“Ariel, Arilel … it’s Abraham Lincoln Panim … please take a rest,” he said as she came closer to him. “Please … .”

Ariel approached, and guided by her seeing-eye dog, sat down on the bench.

“Hi, Abraham Lincoln Panim,” she said, still taking in her breath from her run. “I am really, really glad to see you.”

“And I am too,” he said, thinking to himself, “If she could really actually see me now!”

“Look, Abraham Lincoln Panim, I really want to apologize for the way you were treated the other day. I am sorry that Brandon screamed at you like that. He told me who you were, and what he was so upset about.”

“So he told you about my rat face?”

“Yes, and I really don’t care about that,” Ariel said. “I mean, I can’t really see anything anyway, and you have a nice speaking voice and you are so kind, that well … look, I am blind. Who am I to say anything about how you look, when I can’t even see you?”

“Well, Ariel, things have changed—“

“Yes, they have changed. After Brandon did what he did, I had a long talk with him, and we are no longer a … a … couple, let’s say. He didn’t take it very well, but we aren’t together anymore.”

A big smile crossed Abraham Lincoln Panim’s face, and he tugged at his scarf. “You mean, he is out of your life?” he asked.

“Yes, we are not together anymore,” Ariel said. “He showed what a big jerk he was when he yelled at you like that. I don’t care if you have a rat face, you seem to be a nice guy. Brandon and I were going together for a short time, and it went both good and bad, but I guess you can say that this was the straw that broke the camel’s back. There was no need for what he did, because all we were doing was talking.”

Abraham Lincoln Panim pushed himself up in the bench. “Look, things have changed—“

“Yes, they sure have,” Ariel said.

“Listen, I am not trying to hit on you or anything, but if you aren’t with Brandon anymore … might you like to … well might you like to go out for coffee maybe … things have changed—“

“Yes, I was hoping that you would say that,” Ariel said. “If you hadn’t asked me, I am pretty sure I would have asked you!”

The two laughed, and the conversation stopped, as Abraham Lincoln Panim sat with a broad smile on his face in the moonlight, and Ariel sat back for a few moments.

Some young girls walked past the bench, and each time, Abraham Lincoln Panim sat up straighter in the bench, as he knew he was being stared at without Ariel even realizing it.

“Boy, a lot of people are walking in the park today,” she said, as she finally got up from the bench and was ready to continue her evening jog.

“Wait, before you go, when can I—“

“How about tomorrow, we meet right here at this exact time? It is where we finally met and spoke anyway, and we can take it from there.”

“OK, Ariel, I will meet you here tomorrow at this exact time.”

“Yes, and don’t forget, Ruff, will also be here, so it will be a threesome!” she said as she started to run away from the bench.

“See you then,” Abraham Lincoln Panim said as Ariel ran off into the distance.

He continued to sit on the bench for a few moments, with his arms stretched out from one side of the bench to the other, and a big smile on his face.

At least this time, when people passed him by and stared at him and giggled, he didn’t respond at all. He had other things on his mind.

Once again, he looked over a few benches, and the older woman was sitting on a bench.

He blinked, and once again, she was gone.

“I must be seeing things,” he said, as he walked home with a happy jaunt that he had never experienced before.

Chapter 29

29

Mrs. Panim came home some time after her son had arrived home. She opened the door after reaching into the mailbox to get the mail, just a few  letters, which she put under her arm as she entered her home. 

As Mrs. Panim came in, she put her things on the couch in the living room, and she moved toward the kitchen. She took a drinking glass out of the cupboard and filled it with water from the sink tap and sat down, looking very tired and worn out.

“Abraham Lincoln Panim, where are you?” she said in a loud voice. “Come into the kitchen, please.”

Her son was in his room, admiring his features with a hand mirror he found stashed away under the bathroom sink.

“Just a minute,” he said, taking one last look of himself in the mirror before leaving the bathroom and tossing the hand mirror on his bed. He also took his scarf and put it around his face as he had done before, sometimes in his house but not every time.

As he walked out of the room, he put on his scarf, tightening it around his face as he had when he was a rat face.

As he was doing that, he looked at the picture of the smiling Mrs. Stottle that was there. He looked at it, almost seeking approval for what had happened to him.

Abraham Lincoln Panim stared at the picture for a second. “I don’t know, it doesn’t look like her smile is as wide as it was the last time I looked at the picture,” he thought to himself. “I must be so happy that I didn’t see it before.”

He thought nothing more of it, and walked into the kitchen. His mother motioned for him to sit down at the kitchen table.

“I have had a very stressful day, lots of things going on where I was, and I hear that a lot of things were going on at school while I wasn’t there,” Mrs. Panim said to her son.

“What happened—“ said her son, but he could barely get the words out before his mother interrupted him.

“I want to focus on what is happening in school, the other stuff is important, but what is happening in school is what I want to speak to you about,” she said.

“Mom, what is it? I am a little busy—“

“Look, I have some good news for you, so you better listen. When I got back to the school late in the day, I found out that the teacher you are subbing for is going to be out indefinitely, so you are going to lead that class for the foreseeable future. You have done well, and you really earned the spot.”

Abraham Lincoln Panim smiled a broad smile, that could even almost be seen behind the scarf, which was still pulled tightly to his face.

“I am really proud of you, Abraham Lincoln Panim. But as proud of you as I am about this, you are not going to use the school as your personal model runway and show everyone how handsome you are now.”

“How did you find out?” Abraham Lincoln Panim said to his mother as he slowly took off his scarf.

“Look, I knew this was inevitable,” she said to him. “I just did not know when it would come. These things happen in our family, or sometimes they do not happen, with others. Remember Mrs. Stottle when she passed away? Remember her aching feet? Remember when we saw her, and her feet had never changed?”

Abraham Lincoln Panim nodded in agreement.

And when it happens, if it happens, it happens,” she said. “And we certainly don’t strut around like a peacock, showing ourselves off as if we are some type of Adonis, somebody above everyone else.”

“But mom—“

“Look, when this happens, if it happens, we are humble. We do not draw attention to ourselves. We simply go about our business, and we don’t forget when people made fun of us.”

“But mom, I never told anybody to stare at me, I never told anybody to ogle my good looks, I never told anyone to adore me—“

“Listen to yourself. Listen to the words you are using—ogle, adore—just a few days ago, you were upset at how you looked and would never want anyone to stare at you like they did. Today, you are so different!”

“Mom—“

“Listen, I know when this happens, it puts you in a place that you cannot believe that you are in. Think of those that this never happens to, like Mrs. Stottle. What would Mrs. Stottle think of your behavior right now?

“And the thing that gets me the most is that you never told me. You wrapped yourself up like you always do in the morning with your scarf, and you knew the change had happened. You went to school, making people—and your own students—very uncomfortable around you. And you never let me know—you even came in here a few minutes ago with your scarf on, and you rarely wear the scarf in the house.

“You could have told me. I mean, Abraham Lincoln Panim, don’t get me wrong, I am happy that you went through the change. Like I said, not everyone does. Mrs. Stottle never did, she had to live with that for her entire life.

“But to milk the whole thing like you have done, and to push people’s face right in it, I mean, do you truly understand my mixed emotions here? We don’t judge people by how they look. We judge them by how they act. Remember what Mrs. Stottle used to say, ‘Do unto others—“

“But mom—“

“Listen, we have always been truthful about things, but this time, at one of the most important times of your life, you never told me, never let on to anybody, and then, you made your “debut” at school and made people feel uncomfortable as you strutted around the school like Superman.

“That will not ever happen again, do you understand? Never again.”

Mrs. Panim got up from the table, and went into her bedroom, loudly closing the door behind her. Abraham Lincoln Panim said, “I’m sorry,” but he doubted he heard her.

He picked up his scarf as he left the kitchen, and he went back into his bedroom, laying on the bed where his hand mirror was. He again looked in the mirror, but put it down quickly on the bed.

“Is she so upset that I am now the most handsome man in the world, or is she upset that I didn’t tell her what had happened to me?” he thought to himself as he once again picked up the mirror, admiring his features as he continued to think about what his mother was thinking about him.

“I think Mrs. Stottle would be proud of me,” he thought, as he glanced over to her photo. He saw that her smile was now gone, replaced by something of a blank look on her face.

“I must be tired … I must be seeing things,” as he turned away from the picture, and stared into the hand mirror again and again and again.

Chapter 28

28

The school day ended, and on this day, since his mother was not at work and was at a conference, Abraham Lincoln Panim had to walk home all by his lonesome.

After his class filed out of the room, he got together whatever work he needed to take home, put his scarf around his neck—not around his face--and made his own way down the hall to the exit.

As he did this, he noticed both male and female teachers, school workers and aides, lunch room ladies and whatever students were still in school, almost moving to the sides of the hall, to the left and to the right, parting the hall in half and clearing the way to him to proceed to the exit.

Teachers, students, aides and whoever else was there—both male and female--stared at him as he walked past them, and he had a slight smile on his face as he moved past them, knowing that he was being stared at—and liking the feeling.

Some people whispered, not thinking that he could hear them.

“He is the most handsome man I have ever seen,” said one female teacher to another as “Mr. Abraham” walked past them.

“Rat face? That is the face of an Adonis,” said another.

“Now we have competition,” said a male teacher. “What chance do I have against this guy?”

“My goodness. He is just so handsome,” said one lunch lady to another. “I wish he was my son.”

“I wish I had him as a teacher,” said one of the female students who stood near the exit. “He is so … I mean so—

“Oh dry up,” said a male student standing nearby. “He is way out of your league!”

“Mr. Abraham” opened the door and left the school for the day, walking on the same streets he and his mother regularly passed when they drove by car to and from the school.

And if Abraham Lincoln Panim got a great reaction when he walked down the school hall to the exit, that reaction continued as he walked up and down the streets to his home, from people who did not know him.

“My, what a good-looking young man,” said and elderly lady to her friend, who had just come out of the local supermarket.

“Yes, wouldn’t we all love to have him as our grandchild,” said her friend.

‘No, dear, I want him as my … husband!” the other woman said, and both chuckled but never lost their gaze of him.

Abraham Lincoln Panim could see out of the corner of his eyes that male and female, young and old, were staring at him as he walked home, and staring at him with awe.

He thought to himself, “I like it, I really do,” as he tugged on his scarf. And why shouldn’t I like it … I have been through hell all through my life because of that … that … rat face that I have, err, had, so why shouldn’t I like all the attention I am getting now?”

Abraham Lincoln Panim came to the front door of his home, took out his key, and put it into the keyhole as two young girls stopped in their tracks to look at him. The key was already in the keyhole, but he purposely took extra time to turn the key and let himself in as the young girls giggled when he turned around and winked at him.

“Yes, I can get used to this, I can get used to this every day,” he thought to himself. “I can never tire of this … and I deserve it, anyway.”

Chapter 27

27

As the students hurriedly followed Melissa out of the class for lunch, Abraham Lincoln Panim picked up his scarf, put it around his face as he had been doing, took his lunch out of his bag, and went straight to the teachers’ room.

He opened the door, sat down where he normally did, and kept his scarf on when he began to eat his lunch.

Mr. Sedall was talking to his usual group of teachers in the back of the room, and then seeing “Mr. Abraham” sitting and eating lunch, he winked at the other teachers and came over to where “Mr. Abraham” was eating lunch.

“Hey Abraham, I can’t believe you are still here,” Mr. Sedall said. “You have a lot of guts, coming in here again. But I give you a lot of credit, you must really be a glutton for punishment.”

Abraham Lincoln Panim continued to eat lunch, not acknowledging Mr. Sedall’s presence at all.

“Hey Abraham, I am talking to you,” Mr. Sedall said, raising his voice with each syllable. “I’ve been here 20 years, and when I talk to you, I want you to listen, and to listen good. But then again, you really think you are taking over that class from a real teacher, somebody who has been here even longer than me, so what can I expect?”

Abraham Lincoln Panim continued to eat lunch without acknowledging Mr. Sedall’s presence.

“Hey, if you aren’t going to give me respect, at least eat your lunch without your scarf on,” and with that, Mr. Sedall pulled Abraham Lincoln Panim’s scarf off his face.

“Look at me, Mr. Sedall, where did you get the impression that I had a rat face,” Abraham Lincoln Panim said, as Mr. Sedall blinked and did a double take when he saw the young teacher’s handsome face.

“But … but … you had a rat face … what happened to … ?” said Mr. Sedall, barely getting the words out of his mouth. The other teachers there saw what had happened, and crowded around Abraham Lincoln Panim and Mr. Sedall.

“Where is my rat face, Mr. Sedall?” Abraham Lincoln Panim asked once again. “I am quite handsome, aren’t I? And I am certainly better looking than you!”

“My, he sure is,” said one of the female teachers to a few of the other female teachers who had crowded around Abraham Lincoln Panim and Mr. Sedall when the commotion happened.

“I’ll say,” said another female teacher.

“I want his phone number,” said another.

Mr. Sedall rose from the couch, brushed himself off in a nervous sort of way, and walked to the other side of the room while the female teachers, and the male teachers, began to talk with “Mr. Abraham.”

As the bell rung to end lunch, three of the female teachers walked out of the room together.

“That is the last time I listen to that blowhard Sedall about anything,” one said. “He does this to all the subs, and I really can’t stand it, I don’t care how long he has been here.”

“Yeah, he’s a blowhard,” said another, and Mr. Sedall was right behind them as the left the room.

“He had a rat face,” Mr. Sedall said to them. “My eyes were not playing tricks with me. HE HAD A RAT FACE!”

Abraham Lincoln Panim walked back to class, without his scarf on. As he walked past teachers and other students, all of them pretty much stopped in their tracks to look at “Mr. Abraham,” but he shooed them away.

“Yes, I am so good looking, but let’s get to class before the bell rings, or we are all going to be late,” he said. “We can all admire my handsomeness another day.”

As he said this, Abraham Lincoln Panim had many thoughts running through his mind.

“Did I really say this? … Should I be saying this? … Doesn’t it make me look stuck up and full of myself? … “

“YES, YES, YES … !” he said out loud as he approached the classroom.

When he opened the classroom door, “Mr. Abraham” went to his desk, and saw the students file in, with Melissa once again the first one into the room.

She sat in her usual first seat in the first row, and as her fellow students came into the room, they scowled at her, each and every one of them, and as each student came in and looked at her, she slid further into her seat.

“Melissa, sit up in your seat, or you are going to fall on the floor,” “Mr. Abraham” said to her, as the class laughed. “I was on the floor the other day, and I can tell you from personal experience that it is not a good place to be.”

He continued, “I think Melissa might have, what shall we say, her tail between her legs a little bit right now. Melissa knows what she did, and she has to live with it. Let’s move on to our work.”

The day went well for Abraham Lincoln Panim and his class. The students were attentive, they did the work they were supposed to be doing, and everything went as well as he could have hoped.

Every so often, he would see both teachers and students peering through the small glass in the window that was in the classroom door. He would look over, give whoever was at the door a wink, and those at the door would scamper away.

“Boy, I am so happy to be in this class, because ‘Mr. Abraham’ is, like, the most handsome man I have ever seen,” said one girl in the back of the room to another girl just ahead of her.

“Yes, he is so dreamy,” said the other girl.

“Who is so dreamy?” “Mr. Abraham” asked the two girls as they spoke to each other.

“Umm … umm … well … you are, ‘Mr. Abraham.’ You are!”

“Well, you might find me dreamy, and you might be right, but we still have some work to do, so let’s put the dreams aside and get to what we are supposed to do,” “Mr. Abraham” said, with a definite chuckle in his voice.

He eyed Melissa in the front row, and she sunk further down into her seat as Abraham Lincoln Panim spoke to the other two girls.

He turned to Melissa and said, “And Melissa, sit up in your seat,” he said. “That tail between your legs seems to be pushing you off the chair. It’s better if you sit up.”

And she did just that. Or at least tried to, as all eyes of her fellow students were on her, with that same scowl that they came into the room with after lunch.

Chapter 26

26

Mrs. Panim and her son arrived at school that morning, and as usual, the two entered the main office together. The principal sifted through her usual papers that she received each morning.

“Oh, I see that they want me at the district headquarters today,” she said to a woman behind the front desk and to her son. “I guess I better be going there now, it looks like an all-day thing. Claire, can you call them and tell them I will be there right away?”

The woman nodded in agreement, and sat down at her desk and made the call as “Mr. Abraham” signed in and went directly to his class.

He opened the door of the room, went directly to the desk, sat down, and thought for a moment.

“Do I take off my scarf right away and show how things have changed, or do I give these kids the shock of their lives by putting that off a bit?” he thought.

Abraham Lincoln Panim decided to keep the scarf on for now, and went through some work on his desk as the bell rung to begin the day. His class soon filed into the room, led, as usual, by Melissa, who did a double-take when she came into the room.

“Mr. … Mr. … umm—“

“Yes, I’m here,” “Mr. Abraham” said to her and the other students who all couldn’t believe their eyes that “Mr. Abraham” was still their teacher.

“But … I thought—“

“Well, I guess you thought wrong. Now how about sitting down and let’s get the work out that I gave you the other day.”

The class sat down, but all had looks on their faces of not believing that “Mr. Abraham” had returned.

Abraham Lincoln Panim, still with the scarf around his face, took note of this.

“Well, how about paying attention to the work we need to do rather than to my rat face?” he said. “Now you know my secret, but let’s delve into something way more important.”

The class finally got out their work, still with signs of disbelief on their faces.

“You never know what other surprises there might be during the day, so let’s get to what we need to do!” “Mr. Abraham” told them, almost with an impish twang to it.

The morning progressed as it should have, with the students doing their work as instructed by their teacher.

It was getting near lunch time, and Abraham Lincoln Panim was in the middle of conducting a spelling test with the class.

“I hope all of you studied your words, and I hope all of you can pass this test. I mean, even a rat-faced teacher like me thinks that if you study hard enough, you shouldn’t have any trouble with this test, or for that matter, any other that I give you.”

The students began to move unevenly at their desks, as they felt that “Mr. Abraham” was reminding them of the horrid day when they exposed him as a rat face.

“OK, here is the first word. The word is ‘referendum,’ and today, I will give you a sentence with the word in it, used properly. ‘The conference approved a move for a referendum next year.’ The word is ‘referendum.’”

Some of the students quickly wrote down the word, others seemed to be having trouble, including Melissa. “Mr. Abraham” saw that she was having a problem, and walked over to her at her desk.

“What’s the problem, Melissa?” he asked. “Are you having a problem spelling the word ‘referendum’ or do you just want to pull off my scarf again?”

Melissa fussed at her desk. “Well, I really didn’t think you would be here again—“

“So you didn’t study,” “Mr. Abraham replied. “Because I was the rat-faced sub, you didn’t think I would be coming back here, is that it?”

Melissa hesitated, by finally said, “Yes, and why are you still wearing your scarf if we know that you have a rat face?” she asked.

“You are right, Melissa, I really should take the scarf off,” and with that, Abraham Lincoln Panim virtually ripped the scarf right off his face, to show the class his new features.

Melissa nearly fell out of her seat when she saw “Mr. Abraham’s” new countenance, and as she was doing this, the other students craned their necks to see what all the commotion was about, with some doing their own double takes when they saw what their teacher now looked like.

“He is soooooo handsome now,” one female student said after seeing “Mr. Abraham’s” new face for the first time. “Maybe he was wearing a mask the other day.”

“Maybe he had plastic surgery,” another one said.

“It was Melissa who hatched this whole thing with you the other day. It’s Melissa’s fault,” another student sitting near Melissa told “Mr. Abraham.”

“No, come on, let’s not get into that here,” “Mr. Abraham” said. “But it looks like Melissa didn’t study for her spelling test. I am sure she knows what she did and didn’t do, and we will leave it at that.”

Melissa sunk in her chair at what had happened.

“OK, let’s get back to the spelling test,” “Mr. Abraham said, and even though the class did get back to the test, most of the students weren’t paying much attention as the words were read out to them.

“He is so handsome,” one female student said to Melissa, who was sitting in front of her. “What is the matter with you anyway? What did you get us all into? You made us look really bad!”

Melissa sunk further into her chair as the test went on, and she counted the minutes until the lunch bell rung, running out of the class at full speed.

Chapter 25

25

Abraham Lincoln Panim got up from sleep, and walked into the bathroom, taking his day’s clothes with him, pretty much forgetting about his “nightmare” from his sleep time.

He did what he always did each morning, prepare for his shower, step into the bathtub to take the shower, and when it was over, turning off the water and coming out of the tub, wiping himself down.

Abraham Lincoln Panim put on his underclothes and then, finally, looked into the mirror, still not remembering his “nightmare” from that evening’s sleep time.

He peered into the mirror, looked real hard and long, and saw his new features.

“That’s me!” he screamed.

“Anything the matter?” Mrs. Panim chirped from outside the bathroom.

Abraham Lincoln Panim stood there without a sound.

“Abraham Lincoln Panm? Anything wrong in there?” his mother now yelled.

“No … mom … nothing … is wrong,” Abraham Lincoln Panim finally responded. “Everything is right!” as he continued to stare in the mirror with glee at his new countenance.

He got fully dressed in the bathroom, not once taking his eyes off of the mirror.

“I do look so good now, I can’t believe it,” he said to himself. “I look better than I ever dreamed I could look. I am actually handsome … so handsome—“

“Abraham Lincoln Panim, why are you taking so much time in the bathroom today?” his mother asked, this time from outside the door. “You are going to school today, aren’t you?”

Abraham Lincoln Panim, continuing to look at himself in the mirror, took some extra moments to respond.

“Abraham Lincoln Panim—did you hear what I said?” his mother asked again.

“Umm … yes, everything is good.”

“So are you going to school today? Are you going to teach that class?”

“Umm … oh yes, am I going to teach that class!”

“That is what I am asking you.”

Abraham Lincoln Panim continued to stare at himself in the mirror.

“Yes, mom, I mean, yes, I am going to teach that class!” he blurted out.

“Great. Are you coming out of the bathroom now?

Abraham Lincoln Panim was done dressing, but not done admiring himself in the mirror.

“My, I think I am about the most handsome man I have ever seen,” he thought to himself. “No more rat-faced boy for me!”

He picked up his scarf, looked at it a few times, and decided to put it around his face as he normally would do.

“It’s not the right time to tell mom about what happened,” he thought to himself as he finally emerged from the bathroom, all dressed and ready to go for the day at school.

He exited the bathroom, and went to the kitchen to eat breakfast. His mother came to the kitchen a few minutes later, and stared at her son as he ate some cereal.

“Why do you have your scarf on now?” she said to him, pointing out that at home, he rarely wore his scarf.

“Just getting ready for the day,” Abraham Lincoln Panim said, as he looked up from his breakfast, and sported a wide grin from under his scarf that only he knew about. 

Chapter 24

24

Abraham Lincoln Panim went home after the incident with Brandon and Ariel, still not sure about what to do at school.

He took out his key, opened the door to the house, and made a bee line directly to his bedroom. He prepared for bed, and crawled into it. With the lights off, he was still able to see a framed picture of a smiling Mrs. Stottle that he had on the desk in his room.

“If Mrs. Stottle was still around, what would she tell me to do?” he thought, as he finally dozed off.

He had a rough night, the worst that he could ever remember. He tossed and turned and had visions of Brandon and Ariel jumping back and forth in his nightmares.

He heard the taunts from Brandon--“rat-faced boy” and “Eddie Munster”--constantly in his nightmares, and he tossed and turned all night.

He also saw bright lights as he slept, going off and on constantly, and loud noises, not lightning and thunder but something bright and very loud, hurting both his closed eyes and ears.

And Abraham Lincoln Panim also saw himself with his rat face and without his rat face, as both images flashed off and on during the intensity of the nightmare.

The intensity of his nightmare was so much that night that he ended up falling out of the bed onto the floor.

He woke up, lying on the floor, and in the pitch black of night, he felt he needed to go to the bathroom and put cold water on his face. He went to the bathroom with the lights out, reached out for the faucet, put on the cold water, and cupped his hands so that he could gather water, which he threw on his face.

Abraham Lincoln Panim felt the cool water on his face, and then decided to take a drink of the cool water to try to further calm himself down. He reached for the cup dispenser on the wall, pulled out a cup from its bottom, and filled up the cup with water.

He took a drink of the cool water, stood there for a moment, and then dropped the cup where he thought the trash can was. He heard the cup hit the floor.

He bent down to pick it up, but could not find it, so he stood up, turned on the light, found the cup and put it in the trash can.

He stood up, intending to put more cold water on his face. He turned on the faucet, cupped some water in his hands, splashed it on his face, and looked in the mirror to see how he looked after another splash of water.

He looked, was ready to walk away, but did a double take, and looked in the mirror again.

He stared into the mirror for a couple of seconds and saw his face. It was rid of any semblance of his former rat face. His nose was smaller, there were no whiskers coming out of the sides of his lip, and his mouth and teeth were straight and normal.

He peeled away the top of his pajamas, and saw that there was on hair at all where it had been before.

Abraham Lincoln Panim continued to stare into the mirror, looking at his new countenance with astonishment.

“This has got to be part of a nightmare,” he thought to himself. “This isn’t me. This can’t be me.”

He continued to stare into the mirror, shook his head a few times, and then went to bed.

“Let me get through this nightmare,” he thought to himself, and then went into a deep sleep.

As opposed to his initial sleep that evening, this one was a calm one, a good one, a restful one.