Camera- Reptile Skin

Shari and I both were frozen there, staring at the small square. Not moving a
muscle. Not blinking. Watching it darken.
And suddenly, I could see myself.
My huge blobby face. My round, balloon body.
Still enormous. Still enormously fat.
“Noooooooo!” I let out a long cry of horror. “Noooooooo! I want to be changed
back!”
Shari was shaking her tiny head sadly, still staring at the darkening photo.
“What’s that on your face?” she cried. “Yuck!”
I grabbed the snapshot from her and held it close. “Oh, no!” I groaned. “My
skin—it’s all scaly. I look like an alligator or something!”
Shari grabbed back the photo and studied it. “The scaly stuff is on your arms,
too,” she said. “It looks like reptile skin or something.”
And as she said that, I started to itch.
I glanced down and saw red scales covering my arms. Itchy red patches. I started
to scratch. But the scratching made the scales itch even more.
My skin flaked off under my fingernails.
“Oh, yuck!” I moaned. “It itches so bad!”
I scratched my arms. Then I scratched my face. More dry skin peeled off as I
scratched. Chunks of skin.
Shari took a step back. She let the new photo fall to the carpet. “Oh, this is so
horrible!” she declared. “You’re still huge—and now all your skin is cracking off!”

Chapter 23