Ivy and Bean stood on the playground of Emerson School. Around them children were running and shouting. There were kids dangling from the monkey bars and dropping off the play structure. There were kids playing wall ball. There were kids arguing about four square. Some fifth-grade girls walked around the field, talking, which looked so incredibly boring that Bean hoped she would never get to fifth grade. Ivy and Bean leaned against the fence and watched. They were hunting for germs.
“I bet MacAdam is full of germs,” whispered Bean.
MacAdam was eating dirt. He liked to do that. But other than eating dirt, he looked perfectly healthy.
“We need someone sicker,” said Ivy. “Look for someone sitting down. If you sit down during recess, it’s because you’re sick.”
They peered around the playground. “Drew is sitting down,” said Bean, “but that’s probably because the Yard Duty got him.”
“What about that kid over there?” Ivy pointed to a first-grade-looking kid that Bean didn’t know. He was sitting by himself on a bench.
“Hey! He coughed!” said Bean. “Let’s get him!”
In a flash, they were at his side.
He looked up.
Ivy nudged Bean and pointed at his nose. It was runny.
“Yes,” said the kid. He coughed with his mouth wide open and then looked back up at them again. “What?”
“What have you got?” asked Ivy.
“What does it matter?” said Bean. “He’s sick.”
“I don’t want to throw up,” whispered Ivy.
“Oh,” said Bean. She didn’t want to throw up either. “You’re not going to throw up, are you?” she asked the boy.
He looked a little worried. “I don’t think so. Maybe.”
Ivy took a step away. Bean stared at him, thinking about friendly squids. “Can I touch your face?” she asked finally. “Me and her, we need to get sick.”
He wiped his nose. “Okay.”
Bean stuck her hand on his face. It was kind of gross. “Breathe on me,” she told him.
He puffed a big breath at her. She could feel the germs hitting her skin.
Ivy was standing far away in the bushes by now. “I’ll just catch it from you,” she called.
Bean rubbed her hands all over her face. “Thanks,” she said to the kid. He sneezed.
Bean and Ivy knew about germs. They didn’t make you sick right away. You had to wait at least a couple of hours. That was okay. Ivy and Bean didn’t want to get sick during science. They liked science.
This month, science was Ocean Life. And today Ocean Life was fish prints. It was art and science mixed together, Ms. Aruba-Tate said. The second-graders nodded. They liked art, too.
Ms. Aruba-Tate explained about fish prints. You took a dead fish and painted it. Then you dropped it pretty hard on a piece of paper. When you picked it up again, there was a paint fish on your paper. Then you used your crayons to draw an undersea environment around the fish.
“Does everyone understand the instructions?” asked Ms. Aruba-Tate, looking around the classroom.
“Are the fish dead?” asked Zuzu.
“Yes, the fish are dead,” said Ms. Aruba-Tate.
“Are you sure?”
“Completely sure,” said Ms. Aruba-Tate. “Any other questions?”
The second-graders shook their heads. Fish prints sounded like fun.
“Now who is our supply person today?” asked Ms. Aruba-Tate.
“Eric!” shouted the second grade.
Eric leaped to his feet, waving his hands in the air. “Thank you, thank you!”
“Eric, please put one fish at each table,” said Ms. Aruba-Tate, handing him a big plastic box.
Eric went around the room, carefully choosing the right dead fish for each table.
“Hurry up!” shouted everyone. Paint and dead fish. This was the best science yet.
Bean was itching to begin. When Eric reached her table, there were just two dead fish left in the box, but he couldn’t decide between them. He looked at one and then the other. “Which one should I give you? The little one or the big one?”
“Just give us one!” shouted Bean.
“Maybe I should ask Ms. Aruba-Tate which one I should give you,” Eric said.
Bean reached into his box and grabbed a dead fish.
“Ms. Aruba-Tate! Bean took a fish!”
Dang. Bean looked at her teacher. Was she going to be sent to the rug? Was she going to miss out on dead fish and paint?
But Ms. Aruba-Tate smiled at Bean. “Next time, don’t grab, Bean.”
Bean loved Ms. Aruba-Tate with all her heart.
Carefully Bean smeared her fish with green paint. She looked down and saw the fish’s eye looking up. Poor fish. She decided to make the most beautiful fish print in the world, to make it up to the fish for being dead. Slowly she laid the fish on her paper and pressed. Then she pressed harder. It had to be good.
“Bean! Watch out!” squawked Vanessa.
Oops. She had pressed a little too hard.
The fish was kind of bent. She lifted it up and peeked at her print. That was kind of bent, too.
“You wrecked it!” said Vanessa. “And your fish print is all lumpy.”
“It’s not lumpy,” said Bean.
“It’s about to have babies,” said Ivy.
“Yeah!” said Bean. She handed the fish to Ivy. “I did it on purpose,” she said to Vanessa.
While Ivy made her fish print, Bean drew an undersea environment for her fish. Kelp. An octopus. A sea anemone. A wrecked ship with ghosts. Science was her favorite subject, for sure.
