I have a reputation to maintain. And I am doing exactly that as I am standing in front of the Mayor’s Office and take pictures to prove the World I am not a ‘fake’.

Less than three hours ago, I was with Brad, enjoying his new selection of mushrooms. And now, I am attempting to enter the City’s equivalent to the Oval Office, without getting caught. The harder part was to get the camera to be as unnoticeable as possible.

The camera… My good ol’ Ghost Cam… Camy… She’s like my best friend. We took some pretty pics together. Last year, I coupled her with a Geiger counter to register radiations from spectres. Two hours ago, I added some new gizmo. A friend from UT gave me some spare superconducting thin films he was experimenting with. It is a good cloaking device, at least one I can afford.

It didn’t take long to upgrade my little friend, but scheming a plan to salvage my credibility had been a different and more complex matter. My friends didn’t believe my status update on ‘MugBook’. Though they believed all my ranting about aliens. But this status, they called it fake. Fake! This is the biggest blow I ever received!! An indelible stain on my honour!!!

Back to my plan. First, I had to ensure Camy was really invisible. I took her to the mall for some testing. The results were conclusive, grandiose! I have now some great material to post on the "Pervs' up" group page, most likely deserving an award with the series I have on hand: “The secrets of Victoria Secret; a journey in the dressing rooms”. Camy's invisibility cloak: checked and confirmed.

The second step was to find a location for my grand scheme. I wanted to take pics in the Oval Office, but it is not easy to do. Mainly because I am on the other side of the country. So, the City's Mayor's office would do, I thought.

I look at the wall clock. It will be almost three hours now since I experienced the side effects of Brad's mushrooms. I had no problem circulating in the City Hall, I followed a visitors group. The Mayor's office door is just in front of me. I check around to ensure no one sees me, then I slowly turn the doorknob.

Phase three of the big plan can start. There is no one in the office. This lets me with a lot of possibilities. First, I take picture of the desk, the decorated walls and the flag sitting in a corner of the room. Then, most important part: selfies in the Mayor’s chair! So far, things are going okay. I take some more random pictures for good measure. I survey the surrounding of the Mayor’s office. I think I have now enough material to prove I am not a fake.

Exiting the room, I take the direction of the guided tour, to facilitate my way out of the building. I almost reached the group when I see a guard. I ignore him and walk past him when he asks me what I am doing in the corridors and that I shall return to the group of visitors. Not asking for more, I walk briskly, thinking I am lucky today. As soon as I can, I leave the guided tour and take the exit. Finally in the street, I exhale deeply. I didn’t realise I was keeping my breath.

Reaching home, I start examining today’s catch. The ‘Victoria Secret secrets’ will have to wait a bit. My main objective is to confirm I have the flagrant proof to shut up my so-called friends calling me fake on my ‘MugBook’ wall. I am plugging Camy to my desktop when the phone starts ringing.

 “Hey Brad! You slimy bastard! You didn’t tell me the invisibility was lasting only three hours or so!! I almost got caught in the Mayor’s Office!!!” Brad is apologising profusely, telling me he never really checked on the side effect of the mushrooms and how long it lasted. I let it go for now as I feel quite the achiever with my little escapade. As I give Brad the details of my special visit of the Mayor’s Office, I check the pictures. I pick one of the selfies I made on the Mayor’s chair. I look at it, puzzled. I don’t understand. Camy did work perfectly, she caught me on the film while I was invisible to the rest of the world… but… why are the Greys standing behind me? Was I not alone in the Office?

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A/N

This is my entry for the 9th Challenge of the SciFriday series.

The prompt was along those lines: You are invisible for three hours. Tell what you do during those three hours.

Limitation: post the story in one page (around 800 words).

My story is 768 words, not counting this A/N.

I have to admit I didn't really know what to write about. I was thinkinig about robing a bank or pranking some friends... Then, I discussed with hubby. He told me a story in few sentences. Considering our days and age, someone becoming invisible would brag of it on social media... and tried to take a selfie of themself while invisible... So, three hours to build a camera that would take pictures of the invisible. 

I took his idea and started from here... but I got lost with the building of the camera, so I didn't focus on it only... 

I hope this story is entertaining enough. Let me know what you think of it.