“Are we in trouble?” Pearl asked as innocently as she could.
“Who is responsible for hanging the mirror on Button Island?”
Pearl took a long breath, then squared her shoulders. “I am,” she said bravely. “Ben didn’t do it, so please don’t get mad at him. I ran into town and got the mirror from the Dollar Store.”
“You left the premises?”
“Yes.” Oh no, was that the wrong thing to say? They weren’t supposed to leave the hospital, and Pearl had gone all the way into town. She clutched the edge of the box, waiting to hear those dreaded words: You are fired. But Dr. Woo just sat there, staring at her. “I thought it would help the lake monster,” Pearl explained. “My parakeet, Lemon Face, loves his mirror. He thinks the reflection’s another bird. And I thought that if the monster had a friend, it wouldn’t feel lonely and it would let Ben go. Ben was stuck on the island. I forgot to tell you that. And the leprechaun, too. I took the leprechaun outside. I’m sorry.” Pearl cringed. “I won’t do it again.”
Dr. Woo sat back in her chair. “A mirror,” she said quietly. “A mirror to combat loneliness.” Then she smiled. “That’s ingenious.”
Pearl couldn’t believe it. She nearly fell off the box with surprise. “What?”
Ben, who’d been sitting as still as a statue, let out a sigh of relief.
Dr. Woo explained. “The lake monster has amnesia. She bonked her head on a troll’s ship, and afterward she couldn’t remember who or what she was. Amnesia is terribly confusing. She started scooting around on her belly on land, making a dreadful nuisance of herself. So we brought her to the hospital for treatment. Her memories are slowly returning, but she’s been very sad and very lonely. The mirror appears to have made her happy. And I think it will help her remember who she is.” Dr. Woo’s smile widened. “Well done, Pearl.”
Pearl was used to hearing What have you done? But rarely had she heard Well done. “Thanks,” she said.
Dr. Woo leaned her elbows on the desk. “And, Ben, you must have played a part as well.”
“Yes, he helped hang the mirror,” Pearl said. Ben nodded.
“Very good.” Dr. Woo opened her desk drawer and pulled out two pieces of paper and wrote on each one. “These are certificates of merit for Curing Lake Monster Loneliness. Congratulations.”
Pearl took her certificate. Ben did likewise. “Thanks,” they both said. Pearl tingled with pride. Even though she’d broken a million rules, everything was going to be okay.
Dr. Woo cleared her throat. “There is, however, another matter we must deal with.” Her voice had turned serious.
It was as if all the sunshine had been sucked from the room. Pearl’s shoulders slumped. “Uh-oh,” said Ben. He sank back onto the box.
Trouble time.
“Do you remember signing the contract of secrecy?” Dr. Woo asked. Pearl and Ben nodded. “The contract states that you will not remove an Imaginary creature from the hospital without permission. You broke this rule.”
“Ben didn’t break it,” Pearl said. “Ben didn’t have anything to do with the leprechaun. It was all my fault.”
“It wasn’t all your fault,” Ben said. “I’m the one who got grabbed by the lake monster. I’m the reason you went and asked the leprechaun for help.”
“Yeah, but you didn’t even want to go outside. I’m the one who talked you into it.”
“Yeah, but I didn’t have to go out there. It was my choice. You didn’t force me.”
Dr. Woo cleared her throat. “It would appear that the two of you have established a strong friendship. That will be helpful as you continue your studies.”
“Continue?” Pearl said. “You’re not going to fire us?”
Dr. Woo sighed. “No, I’m not going to fire you. But you will be punished for breaking the rules. Now, what sort of punishment should I assign?” She reached over and pressed a button on her office intercom. “Mr. Tabby?”
“Yes?” his voice replied.
“Do you have something particularly nasty that needs doing?”
Pearl and Ben exchanged a worried look as a long pause hissed through the speaker. What would Mr. Tabby come up with?
“Yes, I do indeed have something particularly nasty. When they come to work next, I shall assign them the task of…”
Oh please, oh please, oh please, don’t make us take care of the sasquatch again, Pearl thought.
“… giving the sasquatch a flea bath.”
Drat!
21
It was three o’clock on the dot when Pearl and Ben stepped through the wrought-iron gate, certificates of merit in hand. They’d hung their lab coats in the closet, and they’d punched out at the time clock as instructed. Mr. Tabby locked the gate behind them, then said through the bars, “Dr. Woo expects you on Wednesday at precisely eight AM.”
“I’ll be here,” Pearl told him.
“Me, too,” Ben said.
“I can’t say I’m pleased with your decision to return.” Mr. Tabby’s lip curled in a slight sneer. “You have proven yourselves to be overly curious and rather bothersome. But perhaps, next time, you will try to be obedient human children.”
“We won’t break any rules,” Ben said. “You can count on us.”
Pearl smiled. “Yeah, you can count on us.”
“I certainly hope so.” With a twitch of his mustache, he turned and hurried back to the hospital, just as Ben’s grandfather pulled up in his car.
“Would you like a ride to the Dollar Store?” Grandpa Abe asked Pearl.
“No, thanks,” she said. She didn’t want to be stuck in the backseat of Ben’s grandfather’s car, not with so much excited energy flowing through her. What an adventure she’d had. She wanted to run!
“Be sure to call me and tell me if those leprechaun shoes do something special,” Ben whispered to her.
“Okay,” she whispered back. “You’ll be the first to know.”
“See you later,” he called as he slipped into the car. Then he waved as his grandfather drove off.
Pearl ran across the road, careful not to step in anything yucky. She didn’t want to stain the beautiful pink leather of her new shoes. They made her feet feel light. In fact, they made her whole body feel light.
Right then and there, it didn’t matter to Pearl whether the shoes were magical, because the day had been more exciting than she could have ever dreamed. She picked up the pace, then broke into a run. A lake monster and a leprechaun were now added to the list of Imaginary creatures she’d met. Who would ever believe such a thing?
But many questions remained. Why was Dr. Woo always covered in fairy dust? What had happened to the last apprentice? Who was the dangerous someone who wanted to get inside the hospital?
And the biggest question still to be answered: Where was the Imaginary World?
“Yoo-hoo!”
Pearl had just reached the edge of the Town Park when Mrs. Mulberry’s shrill voice filled the air. She stopped in her tracks to find the president of the Welcome Wagon and her daughter, Victoria, standing in the middle of a concrete duck pond. “What are you doing?” Pearl asked.
Victoria, now dressed in a polka-dot bathing suit, pulled a pair of swim goggles over her glasses. “We’re looking for worms.”
“That’s right,” Mrs. Mulberry said. Her bathing suit was striped and looked like long underwear. “I have it on the best authority that worms like to go swimming on summer days. As soon as we find one, we can make an appointment with Dr. Woo.” She shooed away a duck. “Go ahead, Victoria, stick your head in the water and take a look.”
Victoria frowned. “I don’t want to stick my head in the water.”
“Victoria, sweetie, do what I tell you to do.”
“But there’s duck poop.”
Mrs. Mulberry put her hands on her hips and glared at her daughter. “I’m not going to let that Dr. Woo keep me locked out of her hospital. I must know her secrets. So stick your head in the water and find me a worm!”
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With a moan and then a deep breath, Victoria took the plunge.
Pearl giggled. Dr. Woo’s secrets were safe and sound inside the old button factory. And they’d stay that way. She’d make certain of it. So off she ran, her new leprechaun shoes carrying her down the sidewalk and back to the Dollar Store.
And she didn’t get into one bit of trouble along the way.
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CREATURE CONNECTION
Water-Dwelling Monsters
It was once commonly believed that the world was flat, and if you sailed too far away from home, all the way to the end of the world, your ship would fall off the edge.
We laugh at such a silly thought, but it was not a laughing matter to the sailors, fishermen, and explorers who lived a long time ago. To set sail into unknown waters was scary indeed. Even after it was proven that the earth was round, there was still much to fear, for the oceans not only produced deadly storms but were also thought to be filled with monsters. On most ancient ocean maps, you’ll find drawings of terrifying creatures, lurking and waiting to eat ships. Even Christopher Columbus believed these creatures to be real. So it took great courage to set sail.
Stories of sea monsters are found in most seafaring cultures throughout history. Sometimes they are called sea serpents or sea dragons. Most often they are described as being immense in size, with long necks, small heads, tails, and fins for swimming. In the Hebrew Bible, there is a female sea monster called Leviathan. The ancient Greeks had a water monster named Scylla that waited to crush ships. The Vikings believed a sea serpent encircled the earth. All around the globe, from China to the Pacific Islands, you will find tales of these dangerous creatures.
But sea monsters aren’t just found in stories. They also exist in ship logs, for many sailors throughout history have reported seeing them. And these eyewitness accounts aren’t just limited to sailors. Some of the most famous sightings have occurred in northern Scotland, where people, even today, claim to have seen a long-necked monster living in a lake called Loch Ness. Locals call this monster Nessie.
Why do most seafaring cultures in the world have stories about sea monsters? Perhaps it is because the ocean scares us. It’s dark and deep. We cannot breathe in it. We cannot control it. It is powerful. And so, storytellers have taken this fear and put it into a form—a monster.
But what about the people who say they’ve actually seen a sea monster? Scientists believe that these sightings weren’t monsters but were instead giant squid, elephant seals, or even whales. In all this time, not a single monster has been captured or found onshore.
Even though the existence of sea monsters hasn’t been scientifically proven, they still live on in our stories and in our imaginations.
STORY IDEAS
What do you think? Is the Loch Ness monster fact or fiction? Why do you believe this?
Imagine that you are the captain of a great sailing ship. You have been at sea for two months. You have never been in this part of the world before, and you are eager to find land because your crew needs fresh food and water. You are sleeping in the captain’s quarters when a call comes from the deck. “Captain! There be monsters!” What happens next?
ART IDEA
Create an Old World map. Draw some continents and some islands. Then decorate the ocean with all sorts of hideous monsters.
CREATURE CONNECTION
Leprechaun
In the Atlantic Ocean, there lies a beautiful green island that is known today as Ireland. The Irish people are renowned worldwide for their love of storytelling, a passion that goes way back to their ancient ancestors, the Celts. Celtic stories are inhabited by conquering heroes, powerful gods, and magical creatures like fairies, also called “the wee folk.” In Celtic stories, there are two types of fairies: the social kind, who love to be around other people, and the solitary kind, who always want to be alone. The most solitary of all is the leprechaun.
The leprechaun stands about two feet tall, always dresses sharply, and wears his apron, for he works as a cobbler (also known as a shoemaker). He gets paid for the shoes in gold, and he keeps his gold close by his side or hides it. Because he wants to be left alone and because he tries his best to avoid humans, he is a difficult fairy to find. The best way to find him is to look at the end of a rainbow or to listen for the sound of his little hammer.
According to legend, if a human takes a leprechaun’s gold, he or she can demand that the leprechaun grant a wish. But leprechauns are very smart and tricksters by nature, so most of the time the human ends up without the gold and without a wish.
This tradition of granting wishes is found in Arabic folklore in the form of a genie who, if captured, will also grant wishes.
Today, many people recognize the image of the leprechaun, with his beard and large top hat. Usually dressed in green, his image is used on greeting cards and decorations to help celebrate St. Patrick’s Day. And guess what? According to tradition, there are no female leprechauns.
So the next time you’re walking in the woods, keep your ears tuned for the sound of a little hammer, and you might just catch a glimpse of the solitary fairy called the leprechaun.
STORY IDEAS
You are on assignment for your school newspaper. You need to interview a leprechaun. But leprechauns aren’t easy to find because they are very good at hiding. What clues will you look for? You have to be trickier than he is, so how will you catch him?
You are a leprechaun, and you have been asked to make a pair of shoes for the fairy queen. These must be the most special shoes in the world. What kind of material will you use? What will the shoes look like? What special powers will the shoes have?
ART IDEA
Create your own Pot O’Gold board game. Make gold coins, leprechauns, and rainbows out of cardboard and color them. Get a pair of dice. Draw a path with a starting square and a finishing square. Make up rules. For example, if you land on a gold square, you get a gold coin. If you land on a black square, you have to go back to the start. The leprechaun who gets the most coins wins.
SCIENCE CONNECTION
Why Do Some Things Float and Some Things Sink?
When Cobblestone the leprechaun tried to swim across the lake, he was pulled down by the weight of his tool-filled apron. This was no big surprise. The apron was heavy and heavy things don’t float. Heavy things, like rocks, sink to the bottom.
But wait a minute—if that’s true, then how does a heavy object like a wooden rowboat float? How does a huge object like a ferryboat float? And why did the tool-filled apron float when it was set inside a plastic pot?
Let’s start with something we all know is good at floating: a rubber duck. If you place a rubber duck in your bath, you will notice that it doesn’t sit on the water’s surface—part of it is actually under the water. As the duck settles, it pushes away water until the amount of water that it has pushed weighs exactly the same as the duck itself. The scientific word in this situation is displacement. The duck has taken the place of the water, and thus the water has been displaced by the duck. Because the duck and the displaced water weigh the same, floating occurs.
Now take a marble and set it on the water’s surface. The marble is heavy, and because of its small, round shape, it can’t push away enough water to match its weight. Thus it sinks to the bottom.
There’s a way to make the marble float, however. Go into the kitchen and get a plastic bowl. Place the bowl on the water. Now set the marble inside the floating bowl. The bowl may sink a little, because of the added weight, but it will continue floating. The shape of the bowl has allowed it to push away enough water to match the additional weight of the marble.
Shape is very important when it comes to floating. Cobblestone’s apron sank to the bottom of the lake not only because it was heavy but also because it was soft and basically shapeless. But Pearl put it into a plastic pot that was wide and hollow, and had a solid shape, allowing enough wate
r to be pushed aside to match the apron’s weight.
So now when you see a boat traveling across the water, you will better understand why it is shaped the way it is—so that lots of water can get pushed aside.
EXPERIMENT IDEA
See how many marbles you can add to a plastic bowl before it sinks.
CREATIVITY CONNECTION
Make Your Own Mirror
There are two ways to make a mirror—the hard way and the easy way.
Most mirrors we use today are known as back-silvered mirrors. A sheet of aluminum is cut and polished in a factory, and then it’s set behind a thin layer of glass. The glass protects the aluminum from being scratched. But for our purposes, a sheet of polished aluminum is expensive and difficult to work with.
What about aluminum foil, you ask? Even though you probably have a roll in your kitchen, it won’t work well for this project, because it’s not shiny enough. And it gets crinkled too easily.
So let’s make a mirror the easy way.
Go to your craft store and buy the following things:
A small wooden picture frame. The frame should contain a piece of glass and a piece of cardboard.
A plastic mirror sheet. This can be found in the mirror section of the craft store. It doesn’t cost very much, and it’s easy to cut and work with.
Craft glue. (You might already have some at home. If your parents own a hot-glue gun, you can ask them to help you.)
A tube of acrylic paint—you choose the color. Look through your supplies at home.
A paintbrush. I bet you have an old paintbrush lying around. If not, get one.