Raymond Butcher

Billy Webb returns to recount strange happenings to journalist Trevor Trotman. Billy has been having trouble with certain items he acquires from a mystery man, including pancake mixture that gives his whole class hiccups, a flying bike, and a strange watch. Billy and Trevor soon discover the perpetrator is the same person, who appears every time Billy reads a certain book.

Young Billy Webb likes to swap things with his schoolmates. He meets Alfonso Bonzo, an 'Italian exchange student' who also has a talent for swapping things (thus his self-description: he is an Italian student who exchanges things). Billy makes a series of magical but increasingly risky swaps with Alfonso, leading to unexpected and sometimes sinister consequences as Alfonso's true nature becomes questionable.

Buddy is an aspiring teenager who is a very good musician and has pressure to go further than his Dad's teddy boy rocker days...