Chet had been planning ever since last Halloween…the most spectacular event that he or Billy B. or anyone had ever taken part in! He was going to perform his famous disappearing act right in front of Jane and Sally and Jeff C. and Daryl. He had sent away for the magic trick from Universal Studios and it promised complete satisfaction…or your money back. He had practiced it in front of his action figures of; Daniel Boone and GI Joe. His mom, Thelma, had also witnessed it and promptly responded that she knew how he did it… Everyone was coming to his house in Parrish Addition at six P:M:. His mom was preparing hot dogs…that was really hot…and her homemade apple cider.

Billy B. decided that he would attend Chet’s soiree as the Invisible Man…as a challenge to Chet’s disappearing performance. He considered that if Chet’s disappearance was lame…he would be a good alternative as the H.G. Wells literary character. On this date in 1938 had been the famous radio broadcast of Orson Wells adaptation of the War of the Worlds. The dramatic radio program had so frightened its listeners that many believed that it was really happening and that the Earth was being invaded by Martians. The fear was so great that Orson had to publically apologize for the broadcast and the fear that it widely engendered. Billy B.’s mom said that she had heard the radio show as a girl and that she not only had never forgotten it…but that she still wondered if it might have been true…

Daryl had been secretly assisting Chet with his disappearing act. He was going to bring his magician’s cape and black top hat for Chet to wear…and he assured him that with his practice and the real magician’s garments…he would be a success beyond his wildest imaginations. The local radio station was set to play the original tape of Orson’s performance just before Chet took the stage in his living room for his gathered audience. Neva Jane was going to accompany Billy B. to hear her childhood radio fantasy…25 years after it had first aired.

As the hallway Grandfather Clock struck 6…the War of the Worlds began… Thelma was passing out the hot dogs and the apple cider. Neva J. said that the program was as scary as it was when she first heard it…and that it gave her…goose pimples… Billy B. had to unwrap the bandages that encircled his head in order to eat the hot dogs and drink the cider. Jane and Sally were dressed like Martians in commemoration of the 25th anniversary of the infamous program. At the conclusion of the narration of disaster and destruction for the earth and its inhabitants…Daryl whispered to Chet, ‘You’re On!’ Chet stood on the stage and began to explain how he was going to disappear before their very eyes…and he did…without fanfare…he was gone…in mid-sentence… Jeff C. asked Thelma for another hot dog and just a dash more apple cider. Daryl announced for everyone to fix their gaze at the back of the living room…but Chet was not there… Suddenly there was a loud exploding just outside the front door of Chet’s house. When Billy B. opened the door..there was Chet…but he was green and had an antenna protruding out of his head…and he had an eerie glow…

‘Come with me…quick…we have to get on the last ship…the next laser beam is aimed at my house,’ said Chet…