Pip and the Day Everything Floated: An Unbelievable Adventure Begins!

Pip’s last spoonful of Cheery-Os stopped one inch from their mouth. Last week the world just... CLICKED, and impossible became the new normal, but this was something completely different. The spoon wasn't just stopped. It was floating. Pip let go. It stayed right there. Then the bowl lifted. Milk sloshed in zero gravity. Whoa. Pip ran to the window and looked out. It wasn't just the spoon. Mrs. Higgins's prize-winning roses were pulling themselves out of the ground, roots and all, floating away like sad little balloons. A bicycle, parked by the curb, wobbled and then drifted upwards, its wheels spinning slowly.

The sky wasn't falling. The world was. UP. The floor began to tilt. No, not tilt. The entire house was rotating. Pip grabbed the doorframe as the living room furniture started to slide across the ceiling. The family dog, Bartholomew, yelped as he skidded on the plaster, his claws finding no purchase. "Bartholomew!" Outside, people were shouting, holding onto mailboxes and fences that were now hanging from the ground above them. Cars were drifting into the clouds like confused metal whales. The ground was a ceiling of green grass and grey pavement.

The sky was a vast, blue floor. Everything was upside down. And it was STILL moving. Pip knew this had to be connected to the 'Click'. The world was a giant machine now, and sometimes... machines get stuck. Or go backwards. Backwards. Pip’s eyes shot to the town square, now dangling high above everything else. The giant clock tower. Its hands weren't ticking forwards. They were spinning BACKWARDS. Furiously. That was it. That HAD to be it. The clock was unwinding the whole WORLD! But how do you get to a clock tower when it’s hanging from the sky and you’re stuck to the ceiling of your house?

Pip looked at the coat rack by the door, which was now above their head. An idea sparked. A crazy, wild, probably-won't-work idea. Which meant it was PERFECT. Pip scrambled along the wall, using bookshelves like a ladder, and grabbed the big, red umbrella. Holding it tight, Pip crawled to the open window. Took a deep breath. And jumped. But Pip didn't fall DOWN. Pip fell UP! The umbrella caught the strange, reversed wind, pulling Pip higher and higher, sailing through an upside-down town. It was terrifying. It was AMAZING. Pip dodged a floating park bench and waved at a very confused flock of pigeons flying upside down.

The clock tower loomed closer. Pip crashed onto the balcony of the upside-down tower, tumbling right next to the giant clock face. Inside the works, through a small glass panel, Pip saw it. A tiny gear, glowing with a weird purple light, was spinning against all the others. It was jammed. The entire world, flipped on its head because of one, tiny, stubborn part. There was no way to reach it. Or was there? Floating just a few feet away was a yellow pencil, probably from the school next door. Pip reached out, snagged it from the air, and carefully, carefully, pushed the pencil through a gap in the clock’s casing.

Nudge. Nudge. CLICK! The purple gear popped back into place. The backward spinning stopped. The whole world gave a giant GROAN. For a second, everything hung in perfect, silent balance. Then, slowly, gracefully, the world began to turn right-side up. Pip held on tight as the tower swung back into its proper place. By the time Pip climbed down, the sun was back in the sky, the cars were back on the street, and Bartholomew was waiting at the bottom, tail wagging like crazy. Pip walked back into the kitchen. And watched as a single, forgotten Cheery-O floated down from the ceiling...

and landed, with a tiny plink, right back in the bowl.