Mr. Symarian looked distinctly put out. “Josh, I take you are quite finished now.”
“Yes,” Josh said, smiling contentedly, “I am quite finished now.”
“Very well,” the teacher said, “it is time for me to reveal my true nature.” He paused dramatically.
There was a long silence. The silence grew longer.
Finally Josh couldn’t stand it anymore. “Well?” he said. “I’m waiting.”
“I stand before you, Mr. Symarian intoned. “Transformed!” And again he held his pose.
“I don’t get it,” Josh said.
“I told ya teach,” Sid said. “They don’t get that kind of stuff around here. It’s too, you know, dimensional.”
“Dimensional?” Charlie asked. “What’s dimensional about standing there looking exactly the same as before?”
“You wanna I should explain it to them?” Sid asked.
“Yes,” the teacher said, looking disheartened. “I suppose someone should.”
“He’s not the same as before,” Sid said. “You’re looking through the back now.”
“The back?” Josh said. “The back of what?”
“The back of him. See, the teacher here is higher dimensional. He’s got other directions — you just can’t see ’em. This is a big trick where he comes from — flip over and show everyone the other side. I keep explaining to him that down here the back side and the front side look the same. But does he listen? Does he ever listen?”
“You guys are making this stuff up,” Josh said, “aren’t you?”
Sid sighed. “Teach, turn half way first.”
Suddenly Mr. Symarian was gone. Josh and Charlie looked in astonishment at the space where he had just been. Then, just as suddenly as he had vanished, he reappeared in the same spot.
“Hey,” Charlie said. “How did you do that?”
“I simply took the advice of our little friend here. I rotated a quarter circle, paused for a moment, and then rotated another quarter circle. I must say I find this entire episode extremely disappointing. As you can see, I have now returned to my original orientation.”
“I can’t see any difference,” Josh said, looking over at Charlie. “Can you see any difference?” Charlie just shook his head.
“See teach?” Sid said cheerfully, “It’s like I been tellin’ ya. On this world they really can’t tell the front from the back. But the quarter turn trick — that gets ’em every time.”