“Look, Mom, I made these.” Ollie announced to his mother.
Dr. Samantha Trace followed her son’s outstretched finger to a small sign that read Serenoa. On the sign was a hand-drawn spiky fan of a plant identical to the actual plants that sat above it. “Nicely done Ollie.”
“I’ve done lots of them.” The new signs stretched down the row they found themselves in. “We’re cataloging the whole greenhouse.”
Sam Trace had seen countless drawings done by her son. She didn’t usually give them more than a casual glance. But seeing Ollie so excited, she took a longer look than usual – something she hadn’t done in a long time. They were exceptionally well done. With only a black and white pen, Ollie had rendered unbelievably lifelike plants. The drawings were almost photographic. Bristling with life. For a moment, Dr. Trace was at a loss for words. “Ollie, These drawings, they’re – ”
“Very impressive, no?” The caretaker of the greenhouse finished her sentence. A big smile on his face, his hand ruffling Ollie’s hair in approval.
“Why yes. It’s more art than science, but impressive nonetheless.” Dr. Trace made a thin smile.
“Oh, but I’m not so sure about the distinction you’re making. So much of science is keen observation and description, and isn’t that what young Ollie has done here with remarkable precision?”
Ollie’s smile widened briefly before he looked up at his mother, eyes expectant.
Dr. Trace paused, locking eyes with her son, and then said, “Why, yes. I suppose so. Keen observation and description are critical pieces of the scientist’s toolkit.”
Ollie allowed himself to smile more broadly.
“I think that’s enough for today though, no? It’s getting close to dinner time and you can do more tomorrow.”
Ollie looked back over his shoulder as he followed his mother out of the greenhouse only to see Xander, Ollie’s impromptu camp counselor with his characteristic big smile, waving goodbye.
As Dr. Trace and her son exited the humidity, the old man turned to examine Ollie’s handiwork. The man thought to himself that the drawing was even more impressive than when he’d seen it earlier in the morning when Ollie had drawn the Serenoa. The drawing looked like it was straining to get off the page and pop into existence.
His eyes drifting off the sign and onto one of the plants behind it, the man noticed something he hadn’t before. He said aloud – he had come into the habit of talking to himself since he spent so much time alone – “Why you’re looking a little unhealthy.”
The man rubbed one of the spiky leaves between his thumb and forefinger. It felt rough and it was pale in color relative to some of the other leaves on the plant. “Are you not getting enough water?”
The man pulled a small device out of his pocket, and tweaked the programming on the automated irrigation software that kept the plants in the greenhouse hydrated. With that done, he walked slowly down the aisle, admiring Ollie’s signs and the plants they referred to.
§
“Befuddled. Honestly, I am befuddled.”
“That’s a stupid word.” Zach informed his father.
“Stupid or not, it’s the right word. It means I am confused and unable to think clearly.”
“I know what it means.”
Jay Jordan ignored his son’s snarky response. “I simply don’t understand where all the food in this house goes. I know the three of you are growing, but this seems ridiculous.”
“What do you need?” Zach knew by now that his father’s observations on the speed at which they ate the food in the house were almost always followed by a request to run to the market to get an ingredient or two for dinner.
“Aren’t you considerate.” Jay smiled at Zach’s request as if he hadn’t heard the exasperation in his voice. “And now that you mention it, yes, I could use some broccoli and some firm tofu. We’re having stir fry tonight!”
“Oh and Zach,” Zach stopped on his way out the door waiting for his father to finish, “don’t take too long please. Your mother took your sisters over to walk the Doctor’s dog again, and I want to have dinner going before they get back.”
§
“You’re not coming with us?” Binny said to her mother, her forehead furrowed.
“You guys did great last time, and Henry has a bottle of wine he wants to show me.”
“Wine! Are you getting drunk?” Cassie interrupted loudly.
“We will not be drinking the whole bottle Cassie.” Dr. Huitre said with a wink.
“I guess you’ll just have a good time with An-ree.” Binny muttered this under her breath mimicking the way her mother pronounced Dr. Huitre’s first name.
Julie and Henry had already turned to analysis and discussion of the label on the bottle and didn’t notice.
§
Zach had a feeling Zoe and Gabe might be at the park. And sure enough he was rewarded when he saw the big cloud of tight curls swinging back and forth on the swingset.
“Don’t get on that thing.” Zoe said to her brother as he approached the now sunken jungle gym. It had been cordoned off with tape, apparently by some city official, until it could be restored to its rightful height. Zoe wondered what explanation that person had conjured up in their mind for the huge hole underneath the play structure. She was relatively sure it was nothing even close to the truth.
Zach had thought he was over most of the jitters he had felt when talking to Zoe, but as he approached her, the butterflies in his stomach took flight in large numbers. All he could muster was a sheepish “Hey”.
“Hey.” Zoe seemed unsurprised at Zach’s sudden appearance in the park. “Whatcha up to?”
Gabe came over, just slightly out-of-breath. “Hey Zach.” He’d dropped whatever he was doing as soon as he saw Zach.
“My Dad’s daily request that I get ingredients for dinner.” The butterflies were making quite a ruckus at this point.
“What’s for dinner at your house?” Zoe asked.
Dinner. House. Zach knew he recognized those words. He was even pretty sure he knew what they meant. But strung together they just felt kind of foreign. Zach could tell he should say something soon as Zoe’s eyes were widening and her eyebrows rising. But somehow the bigger eyes just made Zach feel more flustered. “I can’t remember.” Was all Zach could muster.
“You can’t remember what you were supposed to get?”
“Zach remembers everything. He said so.” Gabe chimed in.
“Not today apparently.” Zoe said to her brother.
Zach managed to take his eyes off Zoe long enough to collect his thoughts. “Oh no. I am good at remembering stuff. Really good.”
“Uh. OK.” Zoe sounded neither interested nor impressed.
“I can recite Pi.”
“Pie?” Gabe’s grin got large.
“Not pie dummy. Pi. P. I. No E. It’s a number.”
“Oh.” Gabe tried to hide his disappointment. “I guess that’s good too.”
Zach retreated momentarily up into his brain, mentally floating at high speeds down aisles of file cabinets until he found the one with the information he needed. He could picture the computer screen where he’d looked up Pi one day the previous March when he was bored. It floated in front of him just as it had months earlier.
Zach read aloud. “3.141592653589793238462643”
Zach took a moment to breathe and looked down from his mental computer screen. Zoe’s look of indifference had faded. Zach decided to look back up at the screen and keep going before he totally lost his place.
“3832795028841971693993751”
Zach couldn’t help but steal another glance. Zoe’s head had turned ever so slightly and her lips were slightly apart now. What had he been doing again? Oh right. Pi. Zach tried to look away from Zoe’s face but no matter where looked the computer screen was gone. Maybe that was a good place to stop anyway.
Zoe kept staring for a moment. Then as if realizing that she had been staring she looked down, anywhere but at Zach. “Uh, cool. I mean. Very cool.”
Zach thought at first that Zoe was trying to hide her excitement, but then he wondered if maybe he had fantasized that she was impressed.
“That was like a million numbers.” Gabe said.
Welcoming the interruption Zoe creased her eyebrows at her brother. “Don’t be ridiculous.”
“Fifty actually. I…” Zach was going to say I could keep going but he wasn’t entirely sure that he could keep going, and more importantly he wasn’t sure that he should keep going. He wanted more than anything for Zoe to confide in him about how she had created the huge hole in the ground the other day. And he thought that the best way to do that was to share his secret with her. Caleb even seemed to agree. But Binny was dead set against it. And the guilt he was feeling about what he’d said to her earlier was still bitter in his stomach.
Zach switched gears, “…I think it was 50 anyway. I’m not exactly sure.”
“That’s cool.” Zoe said.
“That’s way cool.” Gabe echoed.
“Anyone could do it with enough time and practice Even you.” Zoe’s eyebrows were furrowed again.
Zach bit his lip.
§
“So what do you talk about with him?”
“I dunno. Art and science and stuff.” Mostly I got to draw all day. Ollie pushed the piece of fish with a fork, chasing an errant pea around his plate.
“He hasn’t said anything to you?”
“Nope.”
Samantha Trace grabbed the fork from her son’s hand and placed it on the table. “The fork is for eating your food, not playing with it.”
“I am eating it.” Ollie whined.
“That’s not what it looks like from here.”
“Well maybe you don’t know what you’re looking at.” The words left Ollie’s mouth before he realized he’d probably crossed a line with his mother. But the sharp words didn’t come. His mother was looking at him. Hard. But she seemed to be thinking intently about what to say next.
“Has he asked you to do anything other than draw signs for the plants?” Ollie’s mother asked him.
“He didn’t ask me to do that. That was my suggestion!” Ollie was relieved that his mother had decided to ignore his impertinence.
“Are you at least learning something about what we do at Luce Labs?”
“You do experiments on plants and animals to find medicines. And sometimes the animals die. But he said it’s noble for them to die. Because they’re giving their lives to save the lives of others.” Ollie said between mouthfuls of fish and peas.
“He used the word ‘noble’?”
“Yes. ‘Noble’.”
Samantha Trace’s expression changed as if a cloud had passed over head, “Well we should probably start thinking about getting you into some sort of real camp in a few days.”
“Noooo. I like it there. It is real camp. But just for me. No other kids to deal with.”
Lips pursed into a thin line, Samantha Trace just looked at her son for awhile, “Eat your dinner.”
§
“I’m getting tired.” Cassie whined. “It wasn’t as hilly last time.”
“I decided to take a different way.” Binny replied.
“Want me to take a turn holding the leash?” Penny offered?
“But I get it back as soon as we get to the park.” Cassie waited for agreement before she handed over the leash.
“Come on. We’re almost there.” Binny said.
Binny had been taciturn on the way up the hill from Dr. Huitre’s house. What she was seeing now was giving her even more to stew about. Off in the distance she could see her brother. Even though he was a fair ways away, she could tell it was him from the gawky way he moved. Sitting in the swing next to him was someone she’d never met before, but Binny already knew who it was.
§
“Zaaaach.” Cassie ran over to her brother almost dragging Rembrandt along with her. “Look. I brought Rembrandt.”
Rembrandt barked loudly making sure he was heard. Surprised, Zach almost jumped out of his skin, stepped backwards, and tripped over a tree root falling backwards in an embarrassing, and painful, thump.
“Are you afraid of the dog?” Gabe asked absent-mindedly as he gave the large creature a good head scratching.
“I’m Cassie.” Cassie interjected.
“Of course not.” Zach replied, feeling the red rising in his cheeks.
“Gabe, introduce yourself.” Zoe instructed her brother. “You’ve already met anyway.”
“I’m Gabe.”
“We have?” Cassie asked with excited surprise.
“Of course Zach’s not afraid of dogs. He’s always tripping over himself and landing in the dirt whether there’s a dog nearby or not.” Binny said, referring to her brother as she and Penny arrived on the little gathering.
Zach made a face as he gathered himself up from the ground and brushed off his pants.
“Aren’t you going to introduce us to your friends Zach?” Binny continued in a haughty tone.
“Zoe this is my sister Binny and her friend Penny. Binny, and Penny, this is Zoe and her brother Gabe.”
Small waves were exchanged while Zach contemplated how things might get worse.
“Is this your dog?” Zoe asked.
“It’s Dr. Huitre’s dog. He’s our mom’s friend.” Cassie offered.
“Their mom. Not my mom.” Penny added to no one in particular.
Lines formed at the corners of Binny’s already pinched mouth. “He’s not her friend. He was her doctor. A long time ago.”
“He lets us walk Rembrandt whenever we want.” Cassie continued, blithely ignoring her sister’s discomfort.
“He’s beautiful.” Zoe got down on a knee to commune with Rembrandt, petting him, and rubbing his cheeks with hers.
Zach tentatively approached Rembrandt, hoping to rescue his reputation. Standing as far away as he could while still being able to reach the dog, Zach extended a stiff arm and stroked the dog’s mane.
That Rembrandt’s bark was cheerful was open to interpretation. And while Zach managed to keep his balance, at the sound Zach cut short his petting activities and shuddered. Zach’s discomfort didn’t go unnoticed by the others. Zach wondered if Zoe could produce another hole in the ground, this time for him to crawl into.