Solids, Liquids, Guess Who's Got Gas?
Page 4
After school, Cora meets me in my lab.
“When winter comes, are we going to use your lab, Lucy? I mean, brrr!” Cora wraps her arm around her body and shivers.
“Maybe not every day,” I say. “But an ice lab sounds fun, doesn’t it?”
Cora doesn’t look convinced. “Maybe,” she says.
We talk about the excitement of the day and look at my specimens again. Cora still really likes the Swallowtail butterfly I collected.
“Are you ready for the Harvest Festival?” she asks.
That question would have really bugged me just a few days ago, but now I can answer with confidence. “Yes! What about you?”
I’m surprised when Cora doesn’t even hesitate. “You bet!”
Chapter Nine
The Harvest Festival
“Are you sure about this, Lucy?” Dad asks. He takes a step back to stand with Mom and Thomas.
“I sure am,” I answer.
“She’s a man!” Thomas says.
Mom laughs. “Even I can’t believe how great your Harvest Festival costume turned out this year! But, Lucy, are you prepared for the fact that many people won’t know who you’re supposed to be?”
“Yes, Mom,” I say. “Nobody knows Irving Langmuir!”
With my dad’s suit coat, a scarf-tie, and my hair under an old hat Mom found at the resale shop, I look just like the picture of the scientist who studied plasma. And I couldn’t be happier!
“Well, let’s go, then,” Dad says, and we pile into his pickup truck for Granite City Elementary School.
The parking lot is already full of cars when we get there.
“It looks like all of Granite City has shown up for the Harvest Festival,” Mom says.
“I want to win a cake. A whole cake!” Thomas squeals. He’s finally old enough to remember last year’s festival, where he really did win a double layer chocolate cake in the Cake Walk.
Inside, I look everywhere for Cora, except I don’t know who—or what—I’m looking for. I should have begged her to tell me what costume she’d decided on.
I look in the gym where the games are set up. I look in the music room where the Cake Walk is, and I see Thomas is already standing on his lucky number four, waiting for the music to start.
In the hallway, I pass Miss Flippo.
“Hello, Mr. Langmuir,” she smiles. “I’m awfully pleased to make your acquaintance. I’ve been a fan since college.” Miss Flippo keeps a straight face and shakes my hand, and then we both burst out laughing. I wish my mom were standing right here to see that someone really did know who I was supposed to be.
“Have you seen Cora?” I ask.
“Oh, yes, indeed. She just flew by here a moment ago. She went that way.” Miss Flippo motions toward the cafeteria.
“Thanks!” I say as I hurry off. I can’t wait to see Cora.
The cafeteria is where all the yummy food is. Not cafeteria food today, though. Today it’s brownies and chili soup and hot dogs and caramel apples. It seems like everyone is trying to get into the cafeteria!
Right in front of me is a big black, yellow, and blue butterfly with wings so big they block the door. It looks like a Swallowtail, and I’m just thinking how much Cora would love that costume when the butterfly turns around.
“Cora!” I say. “That is the perfect costume for you!”
Cora the Swallowtail stares at me blankly. “Lucy? Is that you?”
“Yep, it’s me! Well, actually I’m Irving Langmuir,” I say.
“Irving who?” Cora asks.
“I’ll explain later,” I tell her, and we push her wings through the cafeteria doors.
Georgia comes rushing over to us, dressed in blue scrubs and looking more like a surgeon than our new friend from Alabama. “Lucy! Cora!” she squeals. “You were right. This is the best day of the whole year!”
“Outta my way, folks!” Stewart Swinefest swaggers in wearing cowboy boots and a big cowboy hat sitting down over his eyes. He has a sheriff’s badge on his shirt, and he comes right over to us.
“Pardon me, doc,” he says to Georgia. “You’re breaking the law here, butterfly.” He looks from Cora to me. And then he bursts out laughing. “Lucy, who are you supposed to be? I thought for sure you’d be a goosey!”
I wonder if Stewart Swinefest knows his last name means “pig party.” I almost tell him, but I decide to ignore him instead.
“Come on, girls,” I say. “Let’s go get some apple cider.”
About the Author
Michelle Houts is the award-winning author of several books for young readers. She lives on a farm with a farmer, some cattle, goats, pigs, and a Great Pyrenees named Hercules. She writes in a restored one-room schoolhouse. As a second-grader, Michelle begged her parents for a chemistry kit but wasn’t quite sure what to do when she actually got it. Lucy’s Lab allows her to be the scientist she always wanted to be.
About the Illustrator
Elizabeth Zechel is an illustrator and author of the children’s book Is There a Mouse in the Baby’s Room? Her illustrations appear in books such as Wordbirds by Liesl Schillinger, The Little General and the Giant Snowflake by Matthea Harvey, and cookbooks such as Bubby’s Homemade Pies by Jen Bervin and Ron Silver, as well as a variety of magazine and literary journals. She lives in Brooklyn, NY where she teaches Kindergarten.