By the time Dot arrived at Aloysius’s house, she was quite frankly scared to go inside. In the time it took for her science fair meeting to wrap up, Malia’s text messages had gone from Where are you?? to Help! It doesn’t speak to S.O.S. Bring ice cream. Bring candy. Bring whatever you think a child will like.
You sure? Dot typed back. Remember what happened to Woo kids with too much sugar.
Yes, came her certain response. Trust me on this one. Must bribe.
Even though Dot thought such bribery was likely unnecessary, no one had to tell her twice to pack junk food. So she rummaged around in her locker’s personal snack supply and arrived armed with a backpack full of candy. And three different flavors of potato chips, “borrowed” from the school cafeteria’s snack bar, just in case she—rather, the child—was in the mood for something savory.
“We’re in here!” called Malia once Dot had closed the front door. Dot followed the sound of Malia’s voice down a hallway until she found them. The scene Dot encountered wasn’t the bedlam she expected, but it was still plenty weird. Everyone was sitting on the floor, legs crossed beneath them, in total silence. It looked like one of her mom’s silent Buddhist retreats.
“Hello!” she said, prompting everyone but Aloysius to come to life. “I’m so sorry I’m late. Science waits for no one.” She dropped the freakishly heavy snack bag onto the floor.
“How was your meeting?” asked Bree.
“It was good! I mean, there’s no better way to end one’s day than discussing bacteria and how it responds to music.”
“Bacteria? What kind of bacteria?” Aloysius exclaimed before Dot had a chance to finish. “What kind of music?” His entire face brightened, and his eyes grew huge and sparkly and alive, like the alarmingly oversize eyes of a Disney princess.
“It speaks,” whispered Malia, so low Dot could barely hear her.
“I’m working on a project for the middle school science fair, about whether bacteria has a preference for different types of music,” Dot explained. “So I’m growing three different samples of bacteria—all collected from the same gross place on the school drinking fountain—and exposing each one to a different type of music: classical, the Beatles, and Taylor Swift.”
“That is so gross,” said Malia.
“Taylor Swift?” asked Bree.
“When did you collect the samples? Are you growing them in identical environments? Is there a control sample that isn’t listening to any music? How has the growth been so far? How often are you tracking and recording it? Does it seem like one genre has a considerable lead?” Aloysius was a veritable fountain of questions.
“WHAT ARE YOU GUYS TALKING ABOUT?” Malia grumbled.
Dot sighed. “Aloysius is just showing a genuine interest in my project.”
“Right. Cool. We’re going to go tear into these snacks. You guys want anything?” Malia asked, snatching up the bag. Dot barely had time to respond before Malia and Bree made a beeline for the door and disappeared from sight.
“So, it looks like you have a lot of your own experiments going on in here, huh?” Dot asked as she surveyed the room. It reminded her a little bit of her own room when she was his age.
“Yes!” He wandered over to the bookshelf and started pulling volumes off it. “Right now I’m working on a few things to test the nature of ionic and covalent bonds,” he said casually, like that wasn’t something better suited for a high school student. “Sometimes I find ideas for experiments from the Internet, but lately I’ve been reading some of these really great textbooks my mom found for sale in our old town. None of my classmates can really read yet—like at all—and it can be frustrating to feel like I have no one to connect with.”
Dot understood that feeling well. In fact, she had felt the same for pretty much her entire time at school. She would often find herself getting ahead of course work, and she used to sneak more advanced books into class and place them on her lap or in her desk so she could occupy herself while the rest of the class moved at a slower pace.
“Would you want to check out any of these?” Aloysius asked, spreading a bunch of books out on the floor.
“Yes!” Dot said. “I would love that!” In a weird way, she felt like she actually had a lot to learn from this little boy.
Dot gave him the full update on her science fair project: where she got the idea, how often she was charting the progress, and how the bacteria showed a distinct distaste for Taylor Swift. Malia and Bree had filed back into the room and sat nearby, silently consuming gummy worms.
“What kind of bacteria wouldn’t like Taylor Swift?” asked Bree, who seemed personally insulted by the news.
“How’s it going in here?” came an adult voice. Wendy appeared in the doorway, wearing a long black dress.
“Mom, Dot’s currently working on an experiment about bacteria listening to music!” Aloysius exclaimed.
“That’s wonderful, sweetie. I’m so glad you had things to talk about.” She beamed. Then, to Dot, she added, “It seems like you’ve all had a nice afternoon.”
“It was a pleasure,” Dot said, and meant it. This job had magically exceeded all of her admittedly low expectations.
“So, we’ll see you again tomorrow?” Malia asked. After all, this was supposed to be a regular after-school gig.
“Oh, not tomorrow,” Wendy said, a wrinkle forming in her brow. “Aloysius will be attending a mini Mensa after-school program for the next couple weeks.”
“The next . . . couple weeks?” Malia said.
“Yes. The program starts tomorrow, and runs through the fall break. We’d still love to hire you for regular sitting, just as soon as his program is through.”
Dot inhaled sharply. The fall break was when they needed the deposit for the venue. They had exactly two weeks to earn it, and now there was no chance this job would help them reach their goal.
Dot looked at Malia. She looked back at Dot. Bree just stared at the floor.
“Of course we’ll be here as soon as he’s back!” Dot said. It wasn’t great timing, but a job was still a job. And against all odds, she’d actually enjoyed this one.