Science Fair Flop

by Abby Klein

  “An experiment? What kind of experiment?” Suzie asked.

  “I’m going to see how long it takes for mold to grow on it,” I said.

  “Mold! EEEWWW! That’s disgusting!” said Suzie. “Mom hates mold. She is totally grossed out by it.”

  “I know. That’s why I have to hide it from her. If I told her I wanted to grow mold for an experiment, then she wouldn’t let me.”

  “You’ve got that right.”

  “So, now that we have a deal, you’re not going to tell her it’s in my closet, right?” I asked. “Robbie said I have to leave it in there for at least two weeks.”

  “Two weeks? That’s a long time to hide something from Mom,” Suzie said.

  “I know, but if it works, it’s going to be the best experiment ever!” I said.

  CHAPTER 7

  Gone!

  I kept the food hidden in my closet, and every day I checked each bag to see if anything was growing inside. At the beginning, I thought the experiment wasn’t going to work, because for the first four days nothing happened. Then, on the fifth day, the foods started to grow all kinds of cool mold. Green fuzzy stuff, white bunches that looked like cotton, black goo. It was awesome! Robbie was right. This was a great experiment.

  My mom and dad thought I was doing an experiment with Robbie, so some days I went over to Robbie’s house after school and told them that we were working on our experiment.

  One day, when almost two weeks had gone by, my mom picked me up at Robbie’s house after we had been working on our experiment. At least, that’s what my mom thought we were doing. When I got into the car, I was carrying a big display board that was folded up.

  “So, how is your experiment coming along?” my mom asked.

  “Great! Just great!” I said.

  “I can’t wait to see it!” my mom said.

  “Well, you’ll get to see it soon!” I said, smiling to myself.

  “Maybe I could just get a sneak peek,” she said.

  “Sorry. You’ll have to wait until the science fair tomorrow. I want to do this without your help.”

  We pulled into our driveway, and I jumped out of the car and ran upstairs to my room. I had to put all the stuff on my display board that night.

  I flung open my closet door, got down on my hands and knees, and reached behind my suitcase to grab the bags of moldy food. All I felt was the carpet.

  I moved my hand slowly back and forth across the ground. “I know I put the bags back right here yesterday,” I thought.

  I grabbed the suitcase and threw it out into my room.

  Then I looked back at the spot where the bags should have been, but all I saw was a big empty space.

  “No! No! NO!!!” I yelled.

  Suzie stuck her head into my room. “What’s your problem, Shark Breath?”

  I ran over to her. “Where are my bags of food?” I yelled in her face.

  “What are you talking about?” Suzie said.

  “The bags of food for my experiment. They aren’t there. What did you do with them?”

  “Why would I want bags of moldy food? I didn’t do anything with them.”

  Just then my mom walked into the room. “What is all the yelling about?” she asked.

  Suzie looked at me, and I looked at Suzie.

  “Nothing,” Suzie said.

  “Yeah. Nothing,” I said.

  “Well, I thought I heard you yelling something about food,” my mom said, “and that reminds me, Freddy. Today when I came to get your suitcase for your sleepover at Papa and Grammy’s house this weekend, I found some bags of moldy food on the floor of your closet.”

  I gulped. My eyes got wide.

  “How many times have I told you that you may not bring food into your room?”

  I got a sinking feeling in my stomach.

  “I have no idea how long that food has been sitting in your room. It was covered in mold. It was the most disgusting thing I have ever seen!” my mom said.

  “What did you do with it?” I asked.

  “What did I do with it? What do you think I did with it? I threw it in the trash.”

  “NOOOOOOOOOO!!!!” I screamed. I threw myself onto my bed and started to cry.

  “Freddy,” said my mom, “what is the matter with you?”

  “Now it’s ruined! It’s all ruined!” I sobbed.

  “What’s ruined?” asked my mom.

  “My … my … my experiment!”

  “Your experiment? What are you talking about? I thought you were doing an experiment with Robbie.”

  “Robbie’s idea … mold … food …,” I wailed.

  “Freddy, you need to stop crying. I can’t understand a thing you’re saying,” said my mom. “Why don’t you sit up and take a few deep breaths?”

  I slowly sat up and tried to gulp some air.

  “There,” said my mom. “That’s better. Now, why don’t you start from the beginning?”

  “Well … I couldn’t think of a good experiment for the science fair,” I said, sniffling, “but one day when I was at Robbie’s house, we found mold on some bread in his refrigerator.”

  “Ewwww. Gross,” Suzie said.

  My mom made a face.

  I blew my nose loudly into a Kleenex. “Anyway, that gave Robbie a good idea. He said that I should see how long it took for mold to grow on different foods. I really liked that idea, but I knew you would never let me have moldy food in the house, so I hid it in my closet,” I said, still choking back sobs.

  “Oh, Freddy,” my mom said, patting my back.

  “So the food you threw out today was actually my experiment for the science fair!” I sobbed.

  “Wait!” Suzie said. “I have an idea.”

  I looked up at her.

  “Why don’t you just get it out of the trash can?”

  I grabbed my mom’s hand. “Come on, Mom! Let’s go get it out of the trash.”

  My mom didn’t move.

  I yanked on her harder. “Come on!”

  “I’m sorry, Freddy,” my mom said, “but today was trash day. Those bags have been taken to the dump.”

  I fell to the floor and started hitting the ground with my fists. “NO! NO! NO!” I screamed.

  “Freddy, stop that this instant!” my mom said as she picked me up off the floor. “You’re acting like a baby.”

  “But you threw out my experiment!” I wailed. “The science fair is tomorrow, and now I don’t have a project for it!”

  “I’m sorry I accidentally threw out your experiment, but this wouldn’t have happened if you hadn’t lied to me.”

  I sniffled and wiped my nose on my sleeve. “So what am I going to do?” I asked.

  “I have another idea,” said Suzie. “You could just draw pictures of what the food looked like with the mold growing on it.”

  “But that’s not as cool as having the real moldy food hanging on my display board,” I said.

  “I don’t think you have a choice,” said my mom. “It’s too late to do another experiment.”

  I hung my head.

  “I just hope you learned your lesson, Freddy,” my mom said.

  I nodded. “Mom?”

  “What?”

  “I think I might need your help after all.”

  CHAPTER 8

  And the Winner Is …

  Both my mom and Suzie helped me finish my display board. The next night we went to the science fair. All my friends were there with their projects.

  Chloe’s board was decorated with pink and purple ribbons, and if you looked at her project, she would paint your fingernails.

  “Don’t go near Chloe’s spot unless you want pink fingernails,” Jessie said, holding up her hands.

  “I thought you didn’t like pink,” I said.

  “I don’t,” said Jessie. “She grabbed me before I could get away!”

  We both laughed.

  “Hey, you guys! Come over here,” yelled Max.

  Jessie and I tried to ignore him, but
he called again. “Jessie, Freddy, come over here!”

  “I really don’t want to see cut-up worms,” I said to Jessie.

  “Me, either,” Jessie said. She stuck her tongue out. “It’s so gross.”

  We walked slowly over to Max’s spot.

  “Come closer, guys, so you can get a really good look,” said Max.

  Max’s board was actually pretty cool. He had glued on some photos of the worms cut in half and then pictures of them whole again.

  “See this here?” he asked, pointing to one of the pictures. “I cut this guy in half, and then a little while later he looked like this.” He pointed to a picture of a whole worm.

  “Wow! I didn’t know that worms could do that,” I said.

  Max had a jar of live worms sitting on the table in front of him. “Do you want to hold one, Freddy?” he asked.

  I took a few steps back.

  “Are you afraid of a little old worm?” Max asked, dangling it in my face.

  “Uh … no,” I said. “I just have to go over to see Jessie’s project now.” I grabbed Jessie’s arm and yanked her away before Max could drop the worm down my shirt.

  “Where’s your project, Jessie?” I asked.

  “It’s over here. Follow me.”

  I followed Jessie to her spot. “Your board is so cool,” I said. It was covered in green plants cut out of paper.

  “Thank you,” said Jessie. “I decorated it myself.”

  She had two live plants sitting in front of her board. One was really green and had big jalapeños growing on it, and the other one was brown and droopy.

  Jessie pointed to the brown one. “I left that one in the closet for two weeks. It didn’t get any sunlight,” she said.

  “It looks dead,” I said.

  “It is,” said Jessie. “I guess this proves that jalapeño plants really do need sunlight to grow. My abuela was right.”

  “Let’s go see Robbie’s project,” I said. “I think you’re really going to like it.”

  We walked over to Robbie’s spot. His display board was covered in charts and graphs and photos of his experiment. The maze he had built for Cheesy was sitting on the table in front of him, and he was holding Cheesy in his hands.

  “Wow!” said Jessie. “This is so cool, Robbie. Did you build this maze all by yourself?”

  “Yep,” Robbie said, smiling.

  “What was Cheesy’s favorite thing to run through the maze for?” Jessie asked.

  “Chocolate-chip cookies,” said Robbie.

  We all laughed.

  “I would run through a maze for chocolate-chip cookies,” Jessie said.

  “Me, too!” I said.

  “Hey, Freddy,” said Robbie, “I haven’t seen your project yet. Will you show it to me?”

  “Well … umm …”

  “What’s the matter?” Robbie asked. “I thought you loved the mold idea.”

  “I did. I mean, I do. It’s just that I had a little accident.”

  “What kind of accident?” asked Robbie.

  “My mom threw out my experiment.”

  “Why would she do that?” Jessie asked.

  “She didn’t do it on purpose. I had it hiding in my closet, and she thought it was trash, so she threw it out.”

  “Bummer,” said Jessie. “So what did you do?”

  “Come over, and I’ll show you.”

  Jessie and Robbie followed me over to my spot. Robbie carried Cheesy in his pocket. “I had to draw pictures of what the moldy food looked like,” I said, pointing to my display board.

  “It still looks good,” said Jessie.

  “It would have been so much cooler to have the real bags of moldy food hanging on my board. There’s no way I’ll win first prize now.”

  Just as I said that, Mr. Pendergast, the principal, turned on his microphone.

  “There are some amazing projects here tonight,” he said. “You are all wonderful scientists. But now it is time for me to give out the prize for the best experiment.”

  “I hope I win! I hope I win!” Chloe squealed as she waved her pink fingernails in the air.

  “The winner of this year’s science fair is …”

  I held my breath.

  “Robbie Jackson.”

  “That’s me! That’s me!” Robbie yelled.

  Everyone started clapping.

  When he walked up to get his prize, all the noise must have scared Cheesy, because he jumped out of Robbie’s pocket and ran right toward Chloe.

  “EEEEEEEEEK!!!! EEEEEEEEEK!!!!! A mouse! A mouse!” she screamed, and she jumped up onto her display table.

  Robbie dove toward Cheesy and chased him through the maze of tables.

  I ran to Robbie’s display and grabbed one of the chocolate-chip cookies he had used for his experiment. I broke it into pieces and threw it onto the floor.

  “Freddy, what are you doing?” asked my mom. “You’re making a mess.”

  “You’ll see,” I said, and smiled.

  Cheesy stopped running, turned around, and headed right for one of the cookie crumbs. As he nibbled on it, Robbie caught him in his hands.

  “Thanks, Freddy,” Robbie said. “You’re a genius.”

  “I just figured all these tables were like a big maze,” I said.

  “You’re lucky Freddy thought of that,” Robbie said to Cheesy, “or else I might have lost you. I hope you learned your lesson, little guy.”

  “I think we both learned a lesson,” I said. “Right, Cheesy?”

  “Squeak! Squeak!”

  Freddy’s Fun Pages

  FREDDY’S SHARK JOURNAL

  STUDYING SHARKS

  Check out these three ways that scientists can study sharks in the ocean.

  Scientists can tag sharks. First they catch the shark, and then they stick a tag into one of its fins. If the tag is electronic, then it gives off a sound that can be detected by equipment the scientists have on their boat. This way they can follow the movement of the shark.

  Scientists can put on diving gear and get into a big cage that is lowered into the ocean from a boat. People on the boat throw dead fish into the water to attract the sharks. The divers in the cage wait for the sharks to swim close, and then they can take pictures of them with underwater cameras.

  Scientists can observe sharks up close by wearing a special diving suit called a chain-mail suit. It is made of lots of small metal hooks that the sharks cannot bite through. If the scientists wear these suits, then they can get close enough to pet the shark!

  TRY YOUR OWN EXPERIMENT!

  These three experiments are

  some of Freddy’s favorites.

  Maybe you’d like to try one for

  your next science fair!

  Experiment #1

  How permanent are permanent markers?

  YOU WILL NEED:

  a permanent marker alcohol

  four clothsvinegar water

  1. Draw three lines about six inches apart from each other with the permanent marker on a piece of cloth.

  2. Pour some water on the first line and rub it with another cloth. Did the line disappear?

  3. Pour some alcohol on the second line and rub it with another cloth. Did the line disappear?

  4. Pour some vinegar on the third line and rub it with another cloth. Did the line disappear?

  Which of the liquids (if any) made the marker line disappear? You can also test different brands of permanent markers to see if you get different results.

  Experiment #2

  Do different brands of microwave

  popcorn leave different amounts

  of unpopped kernels?

  YOU WILL NEED:

  a microwave

  three brands of

  microwave popcorn three bowls

  paper and a

  pencil

  1. With an adult’s help, pop one bag of brand A microwave popcorn. When the bag is cool enough to open, dump the contents into a bowl. Separate the unpopped kernels from the res
t of the popcorn. Count the kernels and write down the number on a sheet of paper.

  2. Do the same thing with one bag of brand B popcorn and record the number of unpopped kernels.

  3. Do the same thing with one bag of brand C popcorn and record the number of unpopped kernels.

  Did all three brands leave the same number of kernels unpopped, or did any of the brands leave fewer unpopped kernels than the others?

  Which one would you rather buy?

  Experiment #3

  Do all brands of bubble gum make the same size bubble?

  YOU WILL NEED:

  a few different brands

  of bubble gum a ruler

  a pencil and some paper

  1. Unwrap a piece of bubble gum. Chew it until it is soft enough to blow a bubble. Blow a bubble and have your mom or dad measure it (before it pops!) using the ruler. Blow and measure five bubbles with this piece of gum. Don’t forget to record the size of your bubbles on a piece of paper.

  2. Spit out your first piece of gum and put a different brand of bubble gum into your mouth. Repeat the steps from above with this piece of gum.

  3. Spit out your second piece of gum and put the third brand of bubble gum into your mouth. Repeat the steps with this piece of gum.

  Did you blow bigger bubbles with one brand than with the others? You can also test whether some brands stick to your face more than others when the bubbles pop!

  Have you read all about Freddy?

  Don’t miss any of Freddy’s funny adventures!

  About the Authors

  ABBY KLEIN has been a first-grade and kindergarten teacher for twenty years. She and her husband and two children live in Vermont. They have four dogs.

  JOHN McKINLEY has been drawing all his life. For the Ready, Freddy! books, he hides the word “fin” in every picture. He and his family live in Northern California.

  Ready, Freddy!