Finally My Forever

by Brooke St. James

  I had a tarp and safety goggles in my classroom, so all I needed to buy was the soda and Mentos. I was excited about doing it. It was a crowd-pleasing experiment, and I had a feeling Thomas would really get a kick out of it.

  It was ten till five when I pulled up that Wednesday afternoon. I barely recognized the house. It was amazing what five years of life could change. The landscaping was filled in with beautiful flowers and there was a nice stone sign in the yard with the name of the place and a picture of Thomas' house design etched into it.

  I had 6 two-liter bottles of soda in my trunk, but I decided to leave them in there until I knew they were ready for me. Jesse Bennett was standing on the porch. I hadn't seen him at first, and he kind of startled me. "Oh, hi Mr. Bennett," I said, holding a hand to my chest.

  He chuckled a little. "Hey Carly, how are you?"

  "I'm good," I said. I reached out to shake his hand and he pulled me in for a hug.

  He looked exactly the same, other than maybe a few extra gray hairs. He had the same smiling eyes that made me feel right at home.

  "Thanks for coming today," he said. "Thomas is fit to be tied in there."

  "Aw, is he excited?"

  Mr. Bennett shook his head and laughed a little. "He's been asking for days if it's Wednesday yet."

  I smiled. "I'm so glad to hear that. I'm excited too."

  He put his hand on my shoulder and looked down at me appraisingly. "So you went and became a science teacher, huh?"

  "Yes sir. I'm in my first year at Roosevelt."

  "We'll have to see if we can get you on at Reagan," he said. "Go Rattlers!"

  I laughed. "I'd love to get on at Reagan. I have a good friend who teaches English there, and next month I'll be moving into a house close by."

  "Oh, you got a house in the neighborhood?" he asked.

  "I'm just renting," I said. "I'll be roommates with the girl I was just talking about, my teacher friend."

  He patted my shoulder. "Well that sounds good. You'll be close by. Maybe you can come by here more often. I know Thomas would love it."

  "Maybe so," I said.

  He looked at my car. "Can I help you with your supplies? I brought the sawhorses you asked for. I didn't know what kind of board you needed, so I brought a few options."

  "I just need a long board to line up the sodas," I said. "Like 10 or 12 inches by 6 feet or so would be great, but anything will work, really. I can do it on the ground if I need to."

  He smiled. "No, I have something that'll work."

  We took the next five minutes to set up the experiment in the backyard. I put a tarp on the ground and we placed a board on top two sawhorses. I put a second tarp over his board since I didn't want to get it sticky. He helped me carry the two-liter bottles to the backyard, and I lined them up on the board. "That's all," I said once I had them situated.

  He gave me a look of surprise. "That's it?"

  "Yes sir. Thanks for all the help."

  "Hey, thanks for coming." He gestured across the patio to the back door—it was the place I was standing the first time I laid eyes on Micah. I couldn't help but remember the scene when I looked at the big stones that made up the patio. "You won't have any trouble finding Claire and Thomas in the house," he said. He tossed his head toward the left. "I'm going to head on home and get dinner in the oven. Just leave the board and sawhorses where they are. I'll pick them up tomorrow." He put his hand on my shoulder again. "Thanks again for coming, Carly. It was good seeing you."

  "It was good seeing you too," I said.

  Claire happened to be standing in the kitchen when I came in through the back door. She didn't realize I'd be coming in that way, and she shot me a look of surprise but reached out to hug me the instant she realized who I was.

  "Well hey Carly!" She held me at arm's length. "You look so beautiful!"

  I'd gone home straight after work, taken a shower, and put on a fresh application of makeup just in case.

  "Thank you," I said. "You do too." It was the truth. She was well put together every time I saw her.

  "Thomas is so excited," she said.

  "That's what Mr. Bennett said. I'm glad he's looking forward to it."

  "Do you need help with your things?"

  "Mr. Bennett helped me already. I'm all set up outside."

  "Jesse, please. And call me Claire. You don't have to work outside. There's plenty of space in the arts and crafts room."

  I shook my head. "Thanks, but we can't today. This one makes a mess. It's definitely an outside experiment." I glanced at her with a curious expression. "How many students do we have?"

  "There are ten at art class, but a couple of them weren't sure if they could stay. Would you like to walk back there and see what they're doing?" She glanced at the clock. "They should be wrapping it up."

  I nodded. "Sure."

  I followed her down the hallway toward the art room. The house was familiar but entirely different at the same time. The living room was furnished with comfortable leather couches, and there was a huge entertainment system with a big screen TV and videogames. Built-in bookshelves were covered with books and all sorts of games. It was a fun, welcoming environment, one totally suited for a name like Happy House.

  "This is really beautiful," I whispered as we made our way down the hall.

  She looked back at me with a smile. "Thank you so much. We love it! I can't be here all the time so we have a lady from our church running it. She's great. Her name is Joan McClellan."

  "I know Ms. Joan," I said.

  "You do?"

  "I think so… if it's the same lady who was painting with me that day."

  Claire gave me a big smile and nod. "I'm sure it was. I believe Joan was here that day."

  We came to stand in the door of the art room. Seeing the familiar gray color on the walls made me smile internally. The site of Thomas when he looked up and saw me made me smile for real.

  "Carlyyyyyy!" he called, standing up and heading my way immediately.

  The room was full of people. The students were sitting at tables that were arranged in a U-shaped formation, and the person I assumed was the art teacher was standing in the middle. There were people standing around the perimeter of the room. I figured they were the friends and loved ones of the students. Everyone looked my way as Thomas shouted my name and begin walking toward me. I smiled and held my arms out to hug him.

  "Everyone, this is Ms. Carly," Claire said as Thomas hugged me tightly. "She's the one who came to do a science experiment with you guys."

  "I know about science!" someone shouted.

  "Hi Ms. Carly!" two others shouted.

  "I'm staying for the science class!" someone said.

  "Me too!"

  "Me too!"

  "Why don't you guys finish up what you're doing here, and Carly will be ready for you when you're done," Claire said.

  "We're done," the art teacher said smiling. "We were just packing up our things."

  All of the students stood and began taking off their smocks and packing up their brushes, and their caretakers moved forward to help them.

  "Come see what I painted," Thomas said, dragging me to the area where he'd been sitting.

  I looked at his mom for permission, and she smiled and gave me a little nod, so I followed him. He retrieved his picture from the table and handed it to me.

  "I painted a treasure chest!"

  "We all painted a treasure chest," his neighbor said, turning to face us. He had an ornery expression on his face, which made me want to take up for Thomas, even though I knew better since he had disabilities too. Thomas ignored him and looked at me with a smile.

  "The Bible says to store up for yourself treasures in heaven where no one can steal them, and I'm gonna have lots of treasure in heaven."

  "I'm gonna have pirate treasure in heaven," his neighbor said. "And I'm gonna have it on earth when I go to the beach next summer. My mom said Galveston has treasure."

  "I'm not talking about Galve
ston anyway, Benji," Thomas said, rolling his eyes a little. I had to bite my lip to keep from smiling. I enjoyed seeing Thomas taking up for himself. "I'm not talking about pirate treasure either. In heaven there's other treasures. Like in heaven I'll probably look like my brother Micah and sing and play guitar."

  The mention of his brother hit me for a second, but only until I realized that Thomas was saying he would be "normal" in heaven. That statement had an even greater impact on me then hearing Micah's name.

  "And I'm gonna have my own mansion," Thomas added, staring at Benji daring him to say something back. "And I'm finally gonna get to see Jesu—"

  Thomas stopped short of saying the name Jesus and I watched as he sank his face into his hand, pinching his nose and making a scrunched up expression. Then, all of a sudden, that high-pitched wheezing sound started.

  "He's crying about Jesus again," Benji said in a frustrated tone to the art teacher as if he was tattling on Thomas.

  "Thomas loves Jesus," she said patiently.

  "Yes I do," Thomas said. "He's the one who died for me so I can go to heaven." He blinked extremely hard a few times and I could tell he was struggling to hold back another crying fit. "That's why you should love him too, because He died for you too."

  I was touched by how emotional Thomas was. The amazing part was that it wasn't the thought of being normal in heaven that made him cry, it was simply the thought of seeing Jesus. There was peace and beauty in the simplicity of it, and I couldn't take my eyes off of Thomas. I didn't know much about Jesus, but my heart told me Thomas was onto something.

  Benji just shook his head as if he didn't understand where Thomas was coming from. "So when are we doing science?" he said in a matter of fact tone. He looked across the room. "Can I go to science class?" he asked the lady I assumed was his mom.

  She nodded.

  "How many do we have staying for science class?" the art teacher asked, loud enough to cut through the chatter. All of the students raised their hands.

  I put a hand on Thomas' back. " I'm all set up in the backyard so I'll meet you guys out there." I motioned to his painting. "I love your treasure chest by the way. I think it's beautiful that you're storing treasures in Heaven." He handed it to me. "You can have it if you want."

  He was so sweet that I had to struggle not to cry. I smiled and took it from him saying I'd be proud to own it, and would probably frame it for my new house.

  I went outside to wait for them, and Claire promised she would walk everyone out to me as soon as they finished up. There were 10 students watching the experiment, and I instructed them all to stand in a line several feet away from my set-up where they could see what was going on.

  Everyone else, including Claire, stood behind them to watch, seeming just as curious as the students.

  "Okay, guys this is a super fun experiment because we get to watch things bubble up and explode."

  "Like a bomb?" one of them asked, laughing.

  "Not quite like a bomb. It's safer than that, but it's still fun. Have any of you ever seen the Mentos and Coke experiment before?"

  All of them looked around to see if anyone would raise her hand, but no one did.

  "Okay good. You're in for a treat. I want everybody to pay attention because the soda you see in front of you is going to bubble up and fly out of the bottle as soon as I add this candy to it."

  I got ooh's and ahh's as a reaction from the students, which made me smile.

  "So scientifically, it's a physical reaction that's happening. You know how when you take a sip of soda you can feel it bubbling in your mouth?"

  Some of them looked confused, but most of them nodded and agreed.

  "Well that's called carbonation. And carbonation reacts to the type of candy I'll be dropping into the soda. This certain type of candy makes it produce more and more bubbles really fast and all of a sudden, it will spray out of the container."

  They murmured and looked at each other excitedly.

  "Now I've done this experiment lots of times, so I already know what's going to happen."

  I went behind the makeshift table and grabbed hold of one of the bottles. "I'm going to drop five pieces of candy into each bottle. Some of them will spray up this high." I demonstrated with my hand about 5 inches above the bottle. "And some of them will spray up this high." I stood on my toes and stretched my hand as high as I could to show a height of about 4 feet above the bottle."

  They clapped at the potential of it going that high.

  "Now, it's your job to guess which one will be the highest."

  I came out from behind the table and gave them each a pair of safety goggles even though they wouldn't really need them from their place several feet away. I gave them each a handout with pre-drawn bottles and a pencil to record our results.

  "We have Coke, Pepsi, Sprite, root beer, Coke Zero, and orange soda. You'll see six bottles on your piece of paper. Each of them is marked with a different type of soda." I glanced at the crowd behind the students. "Parents, they might need a little assistance keeping their data straight if you don't mind."

  I shifted my attention back to the students. "You can draw your results above the little bottles, or you can simply write down how high you think it was or which one was the highest. There are no rules with how to chart your results. I just wanted you to have a piece of paper so you can keep track if you want to."

  "When's it gonna explode?" one of the girls said, staring at the bottles with wide-eyed timidity.

  I smiled. "As soon as I add the candy, but you'll be fine, I promise."

  Chapter 9

  The key was to add all five candies as quickly as possible. I had a little tube shaped contraption that helped me add them all at once. I explained to them what I was doing as I loaded the tube with candy. Aside from a little traffic noise and a barking dog in the distance, you could have heard a pin drop. They watched intently as I stood poised to drop the candies into the first bottle.

  "You'll notice that I emptied out some of the liquid already," I said, pointing with my free hand to the two-liter. "I emptied the same amount out of each one, so they'll all have an even chance at winning the contest."

  "What's the contest," Thomas blurted out, swaying front and back with excitement.

  "Well, once we're done we'll see which one has the least liquid. If it has less liquid at the end, that means more of it came out during the experiment." I used my hand to demonstrate a gushing motion, which made them all laugh and clap. "All right, so I want you to get it in your head which one you think will be the winner. You don't have to say it out loud, but I want you to think about which one will have the highest geyser."

  "What's a geyser?" one of them said, raising her hand.

  "It's the shape the soda takes when it spews out of the top of the bottle. It looks like water coming out of a hose. So think about which one you think will have the biggest geyser—that'll be the winner. You can write it down on your paper if you want."

  I watched as they made their decisions and some of them wrote something on their paper. I gave them about 30 seconds to finish up.

  "Okay, are we ready?" I asked. I couldn't help but smile at all of their reactions. Some of them stared at me with untrusting expressions, and others couldn't stand still from all the excitement.

  I did the Coke first. I dropped the candy into the bottle and stepped back as the geyser erupted from the top. The students watched in awe as soda shot into the air, and then seconds later settled down. They clapped, and cheered, and nudged each other before recording the results on their paper.

  I knew Coke had a middle-of-the-road reaction. That's why I did that one first. Next came root beer, which was always a bit of a disappointment. The geyser only went a few inches above the bottle and not very much soda was lost. I heard one of the parents commenting that root beer was their pick and they were surprised it performed so poorly.

  One by one, I went down the line, adding candy to the bottles and watching the reaction of t
he soda. I always had fun watching students observe this experiment, and tonight was even better than usual. Thomas and his friends were all so expressive and sweet. It was an absolute pleasure to be there, and I smiled the entire time.

  Coke, Pepsi, and Sprite all had average reactions. Root beer and orange soda were both fairly disappointing, but I saved the best for last with Coke Zero. I did this experiment when I was student teaching, and one of the students said, "Coke Zero's the hero." It was a true statement that stuck with me. It always went the highest.

  I saved Coke Zero for the grand finale. I dropped the candy into the bottle and we all watched in amazement as the Coke spewed what must have been ten feet into the air. It went so high that everyone gasped and took a step back even though they were standing far enough away to be out of danger. The reaction only lasted a few seconds, and once it settled down, everyone whooped and cheered.

  I just stood there and watched their reactions for the next few seconds before calling them up to inspect the bottles so we could talk about how much liquid was left in each one. They gathered around and we talked for a while about our observations and scientific experiments in general. I gave them very basic information about making scientific observations, developing a hypothesis, and carrying out experiments. I was done about thirty minutes after I started, and afterward, the students and their caregivers all thanked me before making their way back into the house or to their cars.

  I thanked them all for having me and told them what a pleasure it had been. Claire and Thomas volunteered to help me clean up, but I told them I would make quick work of it and they should go say goodbye to their guests.

  It took me about 10 minutes to hose everything down and wrap it up, and by the time I made it inside there was only one other family there, and they were just leaving.

  "That was so much fun, Carly," Claire said sincerely when I came inside. "Thank you for taking time out of your week to come do that." She gestured to the door. "Vanessa was just telling me how much she and Mark enjoyed it."