After borrowing Bob's old Polaroid camera, they headed to the park. They brought all sorts of junk with them. A frisbee, a frying pan, an aluminum pie plate, a garbage can cover from the alley outside their building, old toys, round pillows, anything they could find that might resemble a UFO.
"Okay," Louise said, picking up a stick that was lying on the ground. "Hand me that pie plate, Gene. I'm gonna attach it to this."
She took a piece of string and tied one end to the stick. She attached the other end of the string to the aluminum plate with some duct tape. She held the stick high so the plate dangled from it. "Okay, Tina," she said. "Snap a photo!"
Tina took the picture. Gene and Louise gathered around her to watch it develop.
Well, it didn't look like a real UFO at all. The string was visible. The stick was visible. Louise was visible. It just looked like a photo of somebody dangling something from a string. Louise was disappointed.
"Forget the stick idea," she said. "We've just gotta chuck things up in the air and shoot them."
Gene picked up the trash can lid. "I'll throw this!"
He hurled it into the air. Tina tried to snap a picture of it, but she missed.
Louise snorted. "You stink at this, Tina! Let me have the camera!"
She snatched the camera from Tina. Gene retrieved the lid and tossed it up in the air again. This time Louise was able to get it right in the middle of the viewfinder.
"What's it look like?" Tina asked as the photo came out of the camera.
Louise was dejected. "It looks like somebody threw a garbage can cover up in the air."
She was right. That was exactly what it looked like. This picture wasn't going to fool anybody either.
"Maybe we should call it quits," Tina said.
But Louise didn't want to give up. "Come on, give it another chance! I know this is a million-dollar idea."
They tossed more things up in the air, but none of the pictures came out looking good. "These aren't UFOs," Gene said. "They're UFFOs! Undoubtably Fake Flying Objects!"
"We're almost out of film," Louise said. "We only have one shot left. We'll have to make it count."
Tina picked up the round pillow. "Here goes."
As Tina threw the pillow up in the sky, Louise stepped backward to get a good shot. She accidentally bumped into Gene just as she pushed the button on the camera. It fell out of her hands onto the ground.
Louise was steamed at Gene. "Why can't you watch where you're standing? You made me mess up our last picture!"
"I didn't mean to!" Gene put his hands over his face in shame.
Luckily, the camera was unhurt. Tina went over and picked it up. A photograph was sticking out of the slot and the image was just beginning to develop.
"Just throw that last one away," Louise said. "It's no good."
"Wait a second," Tina said, some excitement building in her voice.
Gene and Louise gathered around for a peek. They could see that this picture didn't look like any of the other photos they had taken. The impact of Louise and Gene smashing into each other had shaken the camera. The image of the pillow was so fuzzy that you couldn't tell what it was. It might easily have been an alien spaceship as much as anything.
"What do you know?" Louise exclaimed. "It's great!"