Kyle nodded. “Definitely!” he said.
Ryan led them to the garage and showed off the wooden maze he and his dad had built. Only one path went from the starting point to the treat cup at the end. There were several dead ends.
“The glue is still drying,” Ryan said, “but it will be ready to go tomorrow.”
“What treat are you using?” Mia asked.
“Honey bread,” Ryan said. “Or maybe peanut butter. I haven’t decided yet.”
They were suddenly interrupted by a scream from inside the house. “Eeeeek!” a shrill voice shrieked. “There’s a mouse in my room!”
“Uh-oh!” Ryan exclaimed.
“Is that your sister?” Mia asked.
Ryan nodded. “Yeah, that’s Megan. And she doesn’t sound happy.”
“The cage was latched,” Kyle said as they ran into the house. “I closed it myself.”
“Maybe it’s a wild mouse,” Ryan suggested hopefully.
“Go away, mouse!” Megan screamed. “Get it out of here!”
They quickly checked the cage in Ryan’s room. Heavy Metal was gone.
“I guess he had a little taste of freedom and wanted more,” Kyle said.
Megan screamed again. “The little monster is eating my favorite shirt!”
“Coming!” Ryan shouted.
Kyle, Mia, and Ryan dashed out the door into the hall. A big, yellow cat ran into Megan’s room ahead of them.
“Don’t you dare eat my mouse, Clancy!” Ryan yelled.
Megan was standing on her bed, jumping up and down and looking terrified. “Where is it?” she hollered. “Can it climb up here? I know you did this on purpose, Ryan!”
“No, I didn’t!” Ryan protested.
Kyle saw a red sweater on the floor. The mouse ran through the sleeve, out the cuff, and dashed under the bed. The cat pounced.
“Clancy, no!” Ryan shouted.
Mia quickly grabbed the cat and held it at arm’s length so she wouldn’t get scratched. “Heavy Metal is not a cat snack!” she scolded it.
The mouse suddenly dashed out from under the bed and ran under the dresser.
“Get it!” Megan shrieked. “Get it!”
Kyle picked up the sweater and knelt down. “Block that side, Ryan!”
“What if he runs toward me?” Ryan asked, sounding scared.
“Catch him!” Kyle said.
But Heavy Metal was either too tired or too scared to run. When Kyle pushed the sweater under the dresser, the mouse ran into the sleeve to hide. Kyle carefully picked the sweater up and carried the mouse back to Ryan’s room.
“See, the cage door is still latched,” Kyle said. He opened it and put the mouse back inside.
“Then how did he manage to get out?” Ryan asked.
“Through here,” Mia said. She pointed at a corner of the cage. One of the wires was bent. Heavy Metal was already trying to wiggle through the opening again.
Ryan bent the wire back into place. “I’d better keep my bedroom door closed from now on,” he said. “Just in case.”
“Good idea,” Kyle said. “Your sister is scary when she freaks out!”
Peanut-Butter Bread and a Missing Batter
Ryan called Kyle again after dinner on Saturday. “I’m about to start my experiment,” he said. “Do you and Mia want to come watch?”
Kyle had spent the whole day working on his own experiment. He was ready for a break.
“Definitely. I’ll be right there,” Kyle said. Then he called Mia. She wanted to go, too.
“How’s your experiment going?” Kyle asked as they walked down the street toward Ryan’s house.
Mia sighed. “Plants are pretty,” she said. “But they don’t do anything.”
“They haven’t sprouted yet, huh?” Kyle asked.
“Only one,” Mia said with a discouraged sigh.
The maze was set up on a folding table in Ryan’s room when Mia and Kyle walked in. Ryan was already set up to give Kyle and Mia a demonstration. He put a piece of bread with peanut butter in the treat cup. Then he placed Classical at the starting point.
“The first time I tried to get them to run through the maze, none of them did anything,” Ryan said. “They all just sat there looking confused.”
Ryan picked up the treat and let Classical sniff it. Then he moved the bread through the maze, keeping it just out of reach as the mouse followed. “But once they realize there’s a good reason to go into the maze in the first place, they all catch on pretty quick,” he said.
At the end of the maze, Ryan let the mouse have a little piece of the bread. “This time, I’ll use my stopwatch and see how long it takes him,” he said. “I want to time them without the music first so I can see if it makes a difference.”
When Ryan put Classical down to run the maze again, the mouse took off running. He hit a couple of dead ends and bumped into a wall, but he made it through.
“Thanks for letting us watch,” Mia said when they were done. “Mice are way more fun to work with than plants.”
“Thank you for the crash course in mouse management,” Ryan said. “Now I just have to teach the other two how to run the course. And then I can do my experiment.”
On Monday morning, Ryan caught up with Kyle and Mia on their way to school.
“How’s the mouse project going?” Kyle asked.
“Great!” Ryan said. “I’m going to start playing music for Classical and Heavy Metal tomorrow. Then I’ll see if it changes how fast they go through the maze.”
“I’m glad somebody’s experiment is working,” Mia said, looking frustrated. “Mine sure isn’t.”
“No kidding,” Kyle said with a sigh.
“What’s wrong?” Ryan asked.
“I’ve only had one plant sprout,” Mia explained. “And it’s puny.”
“I can’t even do my experiment,” Kyle complained. “I’m one batter short.”
“Getting a baseball player should be easy,” Ryan pointed out.
“It is,” Kyle said. “Unless you’re looking for a bad hitter. No one wants to admit that they’re not very good. So I don’t have a bad batter for my experiment.”
“I’ll do it,” Ryan said. “I’m the worst batter ever. Besides, I owe you one.”
Batters Up and See How They Run
After school, Kyle and Mia walked to the football field. Mia was going to take a video of Kyle’s experiment.
They decided to bring Rex, Kyle’s dog, along, too, since he was the best outfielder in the county. The only thing the yellow Lab liked more than chasing balls and squirrels was playing with Kyle.
Ryan was already waiting for them at the field when they arrived. Connor Moss and Billy Evans were standing with him. They were both on the school baseball team, and Connor was the best batter in the whole fourth grade.
“Thanks for helping me out, guys,” Kyle told them.
“No problem,” Billy said. “Maybe your experiment will help me hit a home run.”
“Maybe it’ll help me hit at all. I usually strike out,” Ryan said. “Your pitching arm might give out before I hit one, Kyle.”
“You’ll be okay,” Kyle said. “Besides, it’s just an experiment, not a game.”
Rex sat down and barked.
“I think Rex is ready,” Kyle said. “Let’s get started!”
Connor clobbered the first pitch with a wooden bat. The ball sailed down the length of the field. Rex chased it down and brought the ball back to Kyle.
The results were similar for Connor’s next few hits with the wooden bat, too. But when he switched to the aluminum bat, the ball went so far that it sailed over the fence at the far end of the field.
Rex went nuts. He leaped in the air, but he couldn’t get over the fence. He pawed at the ground, but he couldn’t dig
under it. He barked like crazy until Kyle threw another ball into the outfield.
Kyle had made sure to bring extra balls with him, just in case all Connor’s hits ended up going out of the park. When Rex chased a ball, he didn’t give up until he caught it — or thought he did.
“Good boy,” Kyle said when Rex came back with the second ball.
Kyle didn’t need extra balls for Billy. Billy hit pop flies and short drives with the wooden bat. He hit one line drive down the center of the field with the aluminum bat.
“I’m never going to hit a home run,” Billy complained.
“I’m never going to hit a single!” Ryan joked.
When it was his turn at bat, Ryan only hit one out of every four pitches no matter which bat he used. And most of those hits were foul balls. But Rex didn’t mind. He chased after the balls anyway.
“What did you find out?” Mia asked as they walked home.
“Aluminum bats are definitely better,” Kyle said. “But even a metal bat can’t make a bad hitter better.”
Maze Daze and a Desperate Plea
Everyone got to school early Friday morning so they’d have time to set up their experiments and presentations.
After Mrs. Lockwood took attendance, the whole class headed outside. Billy Evans was giving his presentation first, and they’d need plenty of fresh air.
“Stink bombs don’t smell as bad outside,” Billy told the class. He looked a little upset with that fact. “But they wouldn’t let me stink up the school! So if you want a good whiff, you’ll have to get closer.”
Everyone laughed, and a few of the braver students took a couple cautious steps closer to where Billy stood.
Billy held up what looked like a normal egg. “My question was whether or not I could make a stink bomb out of an egg,” he explained to the class.
“What did you come up with for the second step of the experiment?” Mrs. Lockwood asked, raising her voice. She hadn’t stepped closer. “What was already known?”
“Well, I knew that if you leave eggs out on the counter they go bad,” Billy said. “So I thought I’d really take things up a notch. For the experiment step, I poked a hole in this egg, put foil around it, and let it sit in the sun for a few days.”
Billy cracked the egg open, and a horrible smell immediately filled the air. The students nearby gagged, covered their noses, and jumped back.
“I think I’m going to be sick,” Mia whispered to Kyle.
Kyle held his nose and nodded.
“Cool!” Billy exclaimed. “It stinks because these little germ things —”
“Bacteria,” the teacher said.
“Right,” Billy said. “Bacteria got into the egg and turned the insides into super-gross, stinky stuff.”
“Hydrogen sulfide,” Mrs. Lockwood told him.
“And that,” Billy concluded, “is why rotten eggs smell so bad! So my theory was right. I can turn an egg into a stink bomb!”
Mrs. Lockwood grinned. “That’s very scientific, Billy.”
“You can make stuff that smells even worse,” Billy said. “But my dad wouldn’t let me.”
“Good!” Mia muttered.
The class headed back inside, and several more students gave their presentations after Billy. Then it was Kyle’s turn. As he made his way to the front of the room, Kyle saw Ryan grin and flash him a thumbs up. He’d given Kyle permission to show the class his less-than-impressive batting skills.
“I did my experiment on baseball,” Kyle explained. He pulled up the video Mia had taken on the classroom computer and pressed play. “I wanted to see if batters could hit better with a wooden bat or a metal bat.”
Everyone was impressed with Connor’s batting abilities, and they thought Rex was amazing. They cheered when Billy hit a line drive, and laughed at Mia’s footage of Ryan trying to hit the ball.
Ryan missed again and again. One time, he swung so hard that the bat flew out of his hands. Another time, he ducked so the ball wouldn’t hit him.
When Ryan finally did manage to hit one, the ball sailed backward into the bleachers. Rex almost knocked him down chasing after it!
“So I learned that an aluminum bat can make most batters hit farther,” Kyle said with a laugh, “but it can’t help a bad batter hit the ball!”
“But Ryan gets an A for trying,” Mrs. Lockwood said.
Everyone cheered. Ryan stood up and took a bow.
A few other students did their presentations. When Mia’s name was called, she turned to Kyle. “My project is a disaster,” she whispered. “What am I going to do?”
“Just do your best,” Kyle said.
Mia took a deep breath and walked over to the table that held her experiment. There were five small plastic cups filled with soil sitting on top, but only one of them had anything growing in it.
“I’m sorry to report that most of my bean seeds flunked their growing experiment,” Mia said.
The rest of the class laughed, and Kyle smiled at Mia.
“I put seeds in plastic cups and watered them with different liquids. Milk, vinegar, iced tea, soda, and water,” Mia explained. “I found out that bean seeds hate vinegar, club soda, and iced tea!” She made a face. “But I can’t stand those drinks either.”
The other students laughed in agreement.
“One of the seeds drank milk like a good little bean baby, but then it got a fungus and died,” Mia continued.
She moved over to the only plastic cup with a sprout growing in it — her one success. “But the one I grew in water looks great!” she said. “So I learned two things: don’t mess with Mother Nature, and I do not have a green thumb!”
Everyone clapped when she sat down.
“Ryan, you’re up,” the teacher announced.
Ryan walked over to the table that held his mice. He had everyone’s complete attention.
“My experiment was to see if music made mice smarter and faster,” Ryan said. “I used a maze and two different types of music, classical and heavy metal, to do my test. My theory was that the rock music would make the mice faster, and classical would make them slower.”
“First, I trained the mice to run the maze without music,” Ryan continued. “That way I could figure out how well they ran it on their own. Then I played classical music for one mouse, heavy metal for another, and no music for the last mouse.”
Ryan put Mouse into the maze to show everyone how his experiment had turned out. Mouse made his way through the maze at a steady pace, not running into any walls along the way.
Next, Ryan held up a chart he’d made that showed the times for the three different mice. “I timed all the mice with no music to start,” he explained, “and then timed them again with the music. Mouse’s time is three seconds better than the day he started. Practice makes perfect!”
Ryan let Mouse eat the peanut-butter bread as a reward. He set Classical in the maze next and turned on the music. Classical ran through so fast everyone gasped.
“I kind of thought he might fall asleep after listening to classical music for three days,” Ryan said with a laugh. “I know I would! But I was wrong. Classical runs the maze eight seconds faster with the music than Mouse does without it.”
“That’s pretty amazing,” Mrs. Lockwood said.
“So is this!” Ryan said. He put the last mouse, Heavy Metal, into the maze and turned on the music.
The poor little mouse had a horrible time getting through the maze. He made wrong turns and bumped into more walls than he had on the first day. He seemed completely lost!
“Whenever I play the music, Heavy Metal can’t remember where to go.” Ryan said. “I thought it would make him faster, but it just makes him confused! It turns out my theory was backwards — classical music makes mice smarter, not rock music like I’d expected.”
“I can sympathiz
e,” Emma said with a laugh. “All that banging would make it hard for me to think, too!”
“Hey, I’m not a mouse,” Connor said. “Leave rock music alone.”
After lunch, Mrs. Lockwood announced the winners of the science fair. “You all did a great job,” she said. “Our third-place ribbon goes to Billy and his stink-bomb experiment.”
Billy stepped up and claimed his yellow third-place ribbon.
“Second place goes to Kyle for his baseball-bat experiment,” the teacher continued. “And Ryan’s mouse experiment is our first-place winner!”
“Congratulations!” Mia called as Ryan stepped forward to collect his first-place ribbon. “First place and you have three new pets now!”
Ryan shook his head. “Actually, I don’t,” he said to the class. “I can’t keep them as pets. We already have a cat, and my sister freaked out after one got loose in her room, so my mom won’t let me. I thought she’d change her mind, but she didn’t. The mice have to go.”
Home Is Where the Cage Is
On Sunday afternoon, Ryan came over to Kyle’s house. Kyle and Mia were playing with Rex on the front porch.
“What are you doing?” Ryan asked as he walked up.
“Trying to teaching Rex the don’t-eat-the-cookie-on-your-nose trick,” Kyle said.
He broke a dog biscuit in half and held it out in front of Rex’s nose. “Rex, sit,” he said firmly. Then he put one piece of biscuit on the dog’s nose. “Stay!”
But Rex clearly didn’t get the point of the trick. Kyle was supposed to put his hands around the dog’s snout so he couldn’t eat the treat, but Rex was too fast. He tossed the biscuit up in the air and swallowed it whole. Then he wagged his tail and looked up at Kyle.
Kyle threw up his hands. “Rex, you’re supposed to stay!” he said.
Mia picked up the second half of the biscuit and tossed it to the dog. “Catch!” she called.
Rex caught it in his mouth and ate it in one bite. He looked up at Kyle expectantly.
Mice Capades Page 2