Henry was very, very happy when he woke up on Saturday morning- it was his seventh birthday! That meant that Henry's mother would make his favorite chocolate chip waffles for breakfast and he could play soccer inside. Later, Henry's best friends Lucy and Jonathan were coming over to eat cake and play. 

Best of all, though, was that Henry was getting a bike today! He couldn't wait, and all through breakfast he drew pictures of bikes with a new set of seventy-two markers his mother had bought him.

Henry and his parents left for the mall after breakfast. On the way to the mall, Henry could hardly sit still, he was so excited! First he moved to the left. Then, he moved to the right. Then he moved back to the middle and kicked his feet up and down. He was getting a bike! "Are we there yet?" he asked impatiently.

"Not yet," said his dad.

Henry sighed and moved to the left. Then, he moved to the right. He moved back to the middle. "Are we there now?" he asked again.

"Just a couple more minutes," said his mother. "Why don't you think about what kind of bike you want while you're waiting?"

     "Okay." Henry thought about all sorts of bikes: red bikes and green bikes and bikes with bells on the handlebars, bikes with blue tires and bikes with black tires, bikes that had hard seats and bikes that had soft, squishy ones…

     "We're here!" said Henry's dad.

     Henry scrambled out of the car and dragged his parents to the bike store. They had even more bikes than he'd imagined in the car! Henry wandered through the aisles and looked at all of the bikes. There was a pink girly bike with pom-poms and a glittery white basket and a bike with Spiderman on it, but Henry was looking for something else. He walked past a sparkling blue bike and a bright red one, a too-big purple bike and a tricycle. And then he spotted it!

     In the corner, there was a dark green bike. Its tires were black and smelled like brand-new rubber. The seat was black, too, and soft. Henry sat on it, and it was very comfortable. "I want this one!" he told his parents.

     Henry's mother and father talked to the salesman about the green bike. The salesman smiled at Henry. "Good choice! This is a really good bike." He snipped off the sales tag on Henry's new bike and wheeled it out of the shop and into the center of the mall.

     Henry's father took the bike to the elevator, but it was too crowded for Henry and his mother to fit, so they took the escalator. Henry thinking so much about his new bike that he forgot to get off the escalator with his mother. His feet stayed on the escalator a few moments too long, and suddenly Henry was being sucked up with the stairs!

    

First his feet went through, then his legs, and his waist, his arms, neck, and finally his head. Henry was in the escalator! Suddenly he was very dizzy, and there were loud mechanical clanks and ticking sounds all around him. It was too dark to see much more than the giant gears and machines aIl around him. Henry held on to the rail of the escalator and hoped that he'd come out soon.

     But when he came out the other side, something was wrong! Henry clung desperately onto the rail- if he hadn't, he would've fallen up to the ceiling! He upside down.

     "HENRY!" his mother shouted. As Henry came around on the rail as it moved, his mother grabbed him so he wouldn't fall. She looked very confused and frightened. "What's going on? Are you hurt anywhere? Why don't you weigh anything?"

    

"It's okay, Mom," Henry said. "I'm fine, but I think something happened when I went through the escalator."

     "What?" Henry's mother was very confused and scared. "But people can't go through escalators, Henry!" She took Henry to the car. But, there was a problem. When Henry's mother tried to put him in the car, he floated up to the ceiling and stuck there.

     "Ouch!" Henry said. He had hit his head.

     "What on earth!?" Henry's dad exclaimed. "What's going on?"

     "I don't know!" Henry's mom said. "All of a sudden, he disappeared! Next thing I knew, he was at the top of the escalator, clinging to the railing like a monkey, and he was upside down!" She sniffed. "Oh, poor Henry! And on your birthday, too!"

     "We'll have to go to the hospital," Henry's dad said.

     They drove to the hospital, Henry sitting quietly upside down on the roof of the car. He was thinking about what happened when he went into the escalator. What had it done to him? How could he fix it? Henry sighed. At this rate, he'd never be able to ride his new bike.

     Henry's parents explained what happened. The doctors at the hospital didn't know what to say.

    

"I've never seen anything like this before," admitted the first doctor as he watched Henry walk around the ceiling. "But there's no way your son went through an escalator like he said. That's impossible."   

     "I don't know what to say," said the second doctor. "But whatever happened, Henry couldn't have gone through an escalator."

     "I'm stumped," said the third doctor.

     "It's really dusty up here," Henry said, who wasn't paying attention. He sneezed.

     Henry and his parents said goodbye to the dumbstruck doctors, who gave Henry a lollipop and said that they hoped he'd get well soon.  "If doctors can't cure Henry, maybe a scientist would know something," Henry's mom said.

     So, Henry, his mom and his dad drove to the famous Ulderbrick University to talk to the heads of the science departments. Three scientists listened to Henry's parents and watched Henry explore the lights on the ceiling.

     "I've never heard of anything like this before, but whatever happened, it's impossible to go through an escalator," said Dr. Augershmidt. "What do you think, Dr. Waugerdit?"

     "Nope, not possible," said Dr. Waugerdit. "But, what could've happened?"

     "I don't have a clue," said Dr. Emolclinostismin, "but it wasn't an escalator."

     "Ouch!" said Henry and blew on his fingers. "These lights are hot."

     Henry and his parents thanked the stumped scientists and went back to the car. "Well, doctors couldn't cure Henry and scientists couldn't think of anything," said Henry's dad. "Maybe we should go home so I can call NASA."

     "Let's go home," Henry agreed. "I'm hungry, and Lucy and Jonathan are coming over."

     "Well, I guess we could do that," Henry's mom agreed. They left the university, Henry's mom carrying him, and got back into the car to drive home.

     "Whoaaaa!" Henry said when he got home. Everything that was so familiar looked so strange upside down! The couch was upside down, the TV was upside down, the refrigerator was upside down, and all the rest of the furniture. He ran around the ceiling, making sure not to run into any lights.

     Running made Henry tired and hungry, so he asked his mom to make him macaroni and cheese for lunch before his friends Lucy and Jonathan came over.

     "Alright, honey," Henry's mom said, "but how are you going to eat it?" Just like everything else, Henry would have to hold the bowl upside down in order to eat! His spoon would have to be upside down, too, or all the food would fall —splat!—on the floor.

     "You're right, that's too confusing," Henry said with a sigh. "Could I have a peanut butter and jelly sandwich, then?"

    

Henry's father brought in a ladder so they could hand Henry his food while he was sitting on the ceiling. Henry ate his sandwich and tried not to drip any jelly on his parents. He drank water out of a sport bottle so it wouldn't spill.

     Jonathan came over while Henry was finishing his lunch. He had a present with purple and orange striped wrapping paper under one arm. "Hey!" he said, wiping peanut butter off of his nose. "Where did that—oh! Hi, Henry!" Jonathan dropped  the present in shock. "H-how did you get on the ceiling?"

     Henry sighed. "It's a long story." And he began telling Jonathan about the escalator and the doctors and the scientists.

     Just then, Henry's dad came in. "I just called NASA," he said with a sigh, "and I talked to three professionals, but none of them knew what to do!"

     "Oh, that's awful!" Henry's mom said. "What should we do?"

     Then, Lucy arrived. "Hi, Jonathan!" she said. "Where's Henry?"

     "Hi Lucy!" Henry waved from the ceiling.

     "Whoa!" Lucy said. "Are you wearing suction cup shoes, Henry?"

     "It's a long story," said Jonathan.

     So, Henry began telling his story over again from the beginning. "Well, it started when we went to the mall….".

    

    

Once he was done with his story, Lucy and Jonathan had lots of questions for Henry.

     "You mean you went through the escalator?" Jonathan asked.

     "What was it like in there?" Lucy said. "Was it dark?"

     "Did it hurt?" said Jonathan.

     "No," said Henry. "It was just dark and noisy, and it made me feel dizzy."

     Lucy smiled suddenly. "Dizzy like you didn't know which way was up?" she asked. "So dizzy that up felt like down?"

     "Oh!" said Jonathan. "That must be it!"

     "Yup," Henry agreed. "The escalator made me upside down. The only problem is, how do I fix it?"

     "Hmm…" Jonathan thought for a moment.

     "That's a tough one," Lucy said.

     "Cake time!" said Henry's mom.

     Henry's mom, Henry's dad, Lucy and Jonathan sang happy birthday to Henry. Then Henry's mom took the cake up the ladder so Henry could blow out the candles. He closed his eyes tight and made a wish.

    

     The next few days were very interesting and fun for Henry. His parents taped a small, thin futon to the ceiling for Henry to sleep on, and everything he drank came in sport bottles so he wouldn't spill. He didn't have to go to school, and a TV reporter even came to his house to talk to him! That night, Henry was on the ten o'clock news for two minutes and thirty-two seconds. His mother taped it. He could also run around wherever he wanted on the ceiling and he even made a slide out of piece cardboard and the staircase ceiling. Lucy and Jonathan came over to talk after school.

     But then, Henry got bored. He couldn't play outside or eat macaroni and cheese. More newspaper and TV reporters came to Henry's house to talk to the famous "Upside-Down Boy", and then Henry's parents had to hide him and stay inside all the time. He couldn't play with his toys. Worst of all, he couldn't ride his new green bike.

     After he got tired of the slide and running around, the only thing Henry could do was sit and think. So he sat, and he thought. And he thought some more, and a little bit more, until he came up with a plan. On Thursday afternoon, he invited Jonathan and Lucy to his house.

     Lucy and Jonathan had to sneak through the back door in order to through the reporters. "What's wrong, Henry?" asked Lucy.

     "I need your help," said Henry.

     "What do you need us to do?" said Jonathan.

     "I need you to get the heaviest weights from Dad's room, and my helmet from outside, and the duct tape in the kitchen, and lots and lots of rope."

     "Huh?" said Jonathan.

     "…well, okay," said Lucy.

     Lucy tied and taped the heaviest weights from Henry's dad's room while Jonathan helped Henry to climb up the ladder so he'd be closer to the floor. "Perfect," said Henry.

     With lots of maneuvering and help from Jonathan and Lucy, Henry managed to tie himself to the weights. He buckled his helmet on his head.

    

"Wow! You're right side up!" said Jonathan.

     "It really worked!" said Lucy. "But where are you going?"

     "The mall," Henry said. "I need to go through the escalator again. That way, I'll be right side up again."

     "But how will you get there? I thought that your parents wouldn't let you outside!" Jonathan said.

     Henry sighed. "I know. I guess I'll just have to walk there without them knowing."

     "I know!" Lucy said. "I'll call Grandpa! He'll help you."

     Sure enough, Lucy's grandfather listened to Henry's story and believed him. "I'll drive right over," he said. "And then we can go to the mall."

     "Thanks!" said Henry with relief. He didn't really think that he would've been able to walk to the mall by himself with weights on his feet.

     Ten minutes later, Henry, Lucy and Jonathan snuck outside and into Lucy's grandpa's car. "Nice to meet you, Henry," Lucy's grandpa said and hugged his granddaughter. "I hope this plan of yours works."

     "Me, too," Henry said.

     When they got to the mall, Henry stepped carefully out of the car and walked inside. His feet clunked along with each step. People in the mall stopped at stared at him—he had weights tied to his feet and ropes all around his legs and shoulders to tie him to the ground.

     Henry ignored them and walked to the bottom of the escalator, the opposite of the one that sucked him up the first time. His hands were trembling as he climbed onto the escalator. Would it work? What if something went wrong?

     "Good luck, Henry!" Jonathan cheered from behind.

     "Yeah, go Henry!" Lucy cheered.

     Lucy's grandpa smiled and waved encouragingly.

     Henry smiled back and waited. The end of the escalator was coming up. It was getting closer, and closer, and closer… and then, suddenly, Henry's feet were being sucked up! Then his legs went, and his waist, his arms, neck, and finally his head. Henry was in the escalator again! Just like the first time, Henry became suddenly dizzy. He shut his eyes tight and held onto the rail. All around him, there was ticking noises and grinding noises.

     And then, he was out! Henry smiled a big smile and waved to Lucy and Jonathan and Lucy's grandpa. "It worked! It worked!"

     They left the mall and went to the car. On the drive back, Lucy and Jonathan helped Henry take the weights and the rope and the duct tape off. Lucy's grandpa dropped Henry, Lucy and Jonathan off at Henry's house.

     The three children snuck around the back again and into the house.

     "Henry!" Henry's mom said. "Where have you been!?" Then she gasped. "Oh! You're back to normal! Thank goodness!" She picked him up and hugged him.

     Henry's father came into the room. "Henry! Phew! We were worried sick!" He frowned. "Why are you wearing a helmet?"

     "Oh!" Henry remembered suddenly and smiled a great big smile. "My bike! I want to ride my bike!"