* * *
—
In the end, he wears a navy-blue suit with a burgundy bow tie.
“Looking swag, Melvin,” Raj compliments him.
“It’s not too much?” he asks nervously.
“I like the pocket square,” I tell him.
We go to the 1950s restaurant. When Mrs. Barrymore walks in, it’s clear that she’s made an effort, too. She’s wearing another retro dress and fits right in with the decor.
My grandfather holds out Mrs. Barrymore’s seat for her before she sits down. It’s sweet and old-fashioned.
“I’ve been wanting to try out this place,” Mrs. Barrymore says, looking around. “I hear they make very good hamburgers.”
“Just don’t order it medium rare,” Raj jokes.
My grandfather clears his throat. “So, I’m considering teaching.”
“Really?” Mrs. Barrymore says with a smile. “That’s wonderful! We desperately need more people teaching who are excited about science.”
“And he’s got two PhDs,” I say.
“I’m so impressed! I had no idea.”
My grandfather’s face just keeps getting redder and redder. I think even his bald head is starting to turn red.
We look at the menus.
“I think I want a malted,” I say. “Chocolate.”
“They have malteds?” Mrs. Barrymore asks.
“Yes,” my grandfather says.
Mrs. Barrymore makes a happy sound. “I haven’t had a malted since I was a young girl. The drive-in we used to go to made the best ones.”
“I miss drive-ins,” my grandfather muses.
“What’s a drive-in?” Raj asks.
Mrs. Barrymore and my grandfather burst out laughing like they’re sharing a private joke, and maybe they are. Like Brianna and me. These two old people have both missed having someone else to remember with.
When my grandfather catches his breath, he explains.
“A drive-in is an outdoor movie theater. You used to drive to it in your car and park there to watch it.”
“You’d watch a movie in your car?” I ask. “That doesn’t sound very comfortable.”
“Oh, it was just wonderful!” Mrs. Barrymore exclaims. “There’s nothing quite like watching a movie under the open sky.”
Raj gives me a look. “The old days were weird.”
Mrs. Barrymore and my grandfather ignore us.
“You know what I don’t understand about this generation?” my grandfather asks her. “There’s no good music.”
“I couldn’t agree more,” she says. “Do they even use real instruments anymore? My students tell me they make music on the computer these days.”
They talk like they’ve known each other forever.
That’s when I know that magic truly exists. But it has nothing to do with fairies or spells or wizards. Magic is accident and chance. It’s something unexpected. Like mold in a petri dish or a fat, purring orange cat.
Or maybe even love.
* * *
—
I’ve been working my way through my grandmother’s romance books. They’re kind of addicting. I see why she liked them so much.
But I wish someone would invent a new category of books: on friendship. The books could have their own section in the bookstore, like fantasy or history. They could call it Friendmance or maybe Friend Fiction.
Because friendship is as important as romance. You can have a bad day with a friend. You can eat barbecue chips with them. You can count on them to help you survive middle school.
Just like in the natural world, friends come in all different genus and species. There are best friends, like Raj. And there are old friends, like Brianna, who are important, too. It’s nice to have someone remind you about the good feels of kindergarten and animal crackers.
Then, of course, there are friends who defy classification. Like my grandfather. I’d even say he’s a new species all his own: favorite person (Favorite personus?).
Because he taught me that failure is okay. That experimentation is important in science.
And in life.
Which is why I’m sitting in a chair in the hair salon getting a streak dyed in my hair. I still think blue is a mistake, though.
I went for pink instead.
I have always been fascinated by the story of penicillin. Maybe because I’m a doctor’s kid.
But I also loved the idea of a scientist accidentally discovering a medicine that changed the course of the modern world. As Melvin would say: talk about an interesting result! Not to mention that Sir Alexander Fleming and I have a lot in common. (You should see my messy desk.)
As I dug further into Fleming and his “accidental mould,” I learned that the discovery was just the beginning of the story. Because although Alexander Fleming discovered Penicillium notatum in 1928, it would take fourteen years and hard work by many other scientists to develop it into a practical antibiotic. Penicillin was successfully used to treat a patient in 1942. In 1945, Alexander Fleming shared the Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine with Howard Florey and Ernst Chain. A preserved specimen of Fleming’s “mould” can still be viewed at the Science Museum in London, England.
Maybe the real lesson of penicillin is that success—like life—is a mix of hard work, failure, and even a little magic.
So be adventurous like a scientist. Try new things. Don’t be afraid to make mistakes. It’s part of the process of discovery.
And always look for the unexpected in the world around you.
With warm thanks to my editor, Michelle Nagler, for continuing to let me experiment. Also, to Shannon Rosa for teaching me how to hunt mushrooms.
Alexander Fleming and Penicillin
nobelprize.org/nobel_prizes/medicine/laureates/1945/fleming-bio.html
Caroline and William Herschel
McCully, Emily Arnold. Caroline’s Comets. New York: Holiday House, 2017.
Carolus Linnaeus
linnean.org/education-resources/who-was-linnaeus
Mistakes
Jones, Charlotte Foltz. Mistakes That Worked: The World’s Familiar Inventions and How They Came to Be. New York: Delacorte Press, 2016.
Scientists
Fortey, Jacqueline. DK Eyewitness: Great Scientists. London: DK Publishing, 2007.
Yellow Fever
Anderson, Laurie Halse. Fever 1793. New York: Simon & Schuster Books for Young Readers, 2002.
Mellie’s Gallery of Scientists
James Carroll and Jesse Lazear
CARROLL LIVED: 1854–1907
LAZEAR LIVED: 1866–1900
CARROLL’S BIRTHPLACE: Woolwich, England
LAZEAR’S BIRTHPLACE: Baltimore, Maryland
SCIENTIFIC INTERESTS: Bacteriology, virology
NOTABLE ACHIEVEMENTS: Yellow fever was a deadly disease. Carroll and Lazear were two doctors on the US Army Yellow Fever Commission, which was studying the disease. A hypothesis known as the mosquito theory suggested that yellow fever was spread by the insects. Both Carroll and Lazear deliberately allowed an infected mosquito to bite them, and they contracted the disease. Carroll recovered from yellow fever, but it badly damaged his heart. Lazear died of yellow fever.
INVENTION: Proved that mosquitoes transmitted yellow fever
CARROLL QUOTE: “Four days later, I had fever, and on the day following I was carried to the isolation camp as a patient with yellow fever.”
LAZEAR QUOTE: “I rather think I am on the track of the real germ.”
Alexander Fleming
LIVED: 1881–1955
BIRTHPLACE: Ayrshire, Scotland
CHILDHOOD: Fleming’s parents were farmers, and he appreciated th
e natural world.
SCIENTIFIC INTERESTS: Bacteriology, immunology
NOTABLE ACHIEVEMENTS: Fleming discovered the first true antibiotic—penicillin. He noticed that a mold had stopped the growth of a bacteria in a culture plate. He originally called it “mould juice.” He would share the Nobel Prize for Physiology or Medicine for the discovery and development of penicillin.
INVENTION: Discovery of penicillin
QUOTE: “I certainly didn’t plan to revolutionize all medicine by discovering the world’s first antibiotic, or bacteria killer. But I suppose that was exactly what I did.”
Caroline Herschel
LIVED: 1750–1848
BIRTHPLACE: Hanover, Germany
CHILDHOOD: Caroline was a singer, and her brother William was a musician. They often performed together.
SCIENTIFIC INTEREST: Astronomy
NOTABLE ACHIEVEMENTS: Caroline, who left Germany for England in 1772, began her career by assisting her astronomer brother, William. She went on to become the first woman to discover a comet. Caroline was also the first female professional astronomer, as she was paid a salary. She was awarded a gold medal by the Royal Astronomical Society.
INVENTION: Discovered comets and cataloged stars and nebulae
QUOTE: “This evening I saw an object which I believe will prove to-morrow night to be a comet.”
William Herschel
LIVED: 1738–1822
BIRTHPLACE: Hanover, Germany
CHILDHOOD: William was the son of a musician, and he could play the oboe, harpsichord, violin, and organ.
SCIENTIFIC INTEREST: Astronomy
NOTABLE ACHIEVEMENTS: After moving to England, William constructed his own telescopes to look at the sky. He discovered the planet Uranus. Because of this discovery, he was knighted by King George III and was appointed court astronomer. Aided by his sister Caroline, he cataloged over 2,500 nebulae and star clusters.
INVENTION: Discovery of Uranus
QUOTE: “I have looked further into space than ever human being did before me. I have observed stars of which the light, it can be proved, must take two million years to reach the earth.”
Antonie van Leeuwenhoek
LIVED: 1632–1723
BIRTHPLACE: Delft, Dutch Republic (the Netherlands)
CHILDHOOD: Van Leeuwenhoek had a hard childhood. When he was quite young, his father died, and he was sent away to school.
SCIENTIFIC INTERESTS: Microbiology, microscopy
NOTABLE ACHIEVEMENTS: Known as the Father of Microbiology, Van Leeuwenhoek was the first person to observe the microscopic world. He constructed powerful microscopes and observed microorganisms such as bacteria, which he called “animalcules.”
INVENTION: Discovery and observation of the microscopic world
QUOTE: “Whenever I found out anything remarkable, I have thought it my duty to put down my discovery on paper, so that all ingenious people might be informed thereof.”
Carolus Linnaeus
LIVED: 1707–1788
BIRTHPLACE: Råshult, Sweden
CHILDHOOD: Linnaeus did not enjoy studying and preferred to look at plants.
SCIENTIFIC INTERESTS: Botany, zoology
NOTABLE ACHIEVEMENTS: Linnaeus created a formal system of identifying and classifying the natural world and established a uniform naming structure.
INVENTION: Created the taxonomy system of binomial nomenclature (two names).
QUOTE: “If you do not know the names of things, the knowledge of them is lost too.”
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The Third Mushroom Page 11