Diner Talk

Six: Mendel's Mice

Sang

I was still munching on my turkey sandwich as lunch wound down, so I put the remaining half back in the margarine tub and sealed it up. Uncle ended up collecting a lot of perfectly good polypropylene containers at the diner from food prep, and he let his employees wash them out and take leftovers home. Luke and North alone had taken enough empty cream cheese tubs and thirty-two-ounce yogurt containers to bring breakfast and lunch to school for everyone for a week without repeating a container.

We all stood, and I walked over to Silas, who smiled at me. "Come on Aggele, let's get to class before the hallways clog up. We'd have to take up jousting to get through that crowd." I giggled and grabbed his hand, waving to the rest of the guys as we headed towards our respective classes.

"They'd probably give me a pony instead of a horse to ride." Silas grinned, and that joking glint was in his eyes.

"Which side of the pony has the most hair?"

"Which side?"

"The outside, of course." I laughed and he squeezed my hand. That was bad, but his matter-of-factness made it so much better.

When we got to room 107B and saw a study hall notice on the door, I sighed. I had questions about the lesson I had wanted to ask Mr. Gerald. We walked in and there was a teacher I had never seen before sitting at the desk. She was pretty, with a sleek tawny bob and huge eyes that followed us as we got to our seat. Silas's feet automatically slid under mine, and I rocked my ankle into his gently, smiling to myself as we watched the rest of the class slowly trickle through the door.

Once the second bell rang, the woman clapped her hands. "Alright everyone. Mr. Gerald is taking a personal day, and he would like me to assure everyone that he is alright. Pass up last night's homework and you may talk amongst yourselves."

I rustled through my bag to find the worksheet Nathan had completed for me and handed it to the girl in front of me, then turned in my seat.

Silas beamed at me, scooting his desk closer so it touched the back of mine. "How about those mendelian genetics, then?" I laughed and kneeled on the plastic seat of my desk, sitting on my legs so I could face him completely. My butt ached from it, but it was the easiest way to see his face.

"Did you know he actually started his experiments on mice, but the bishop didn't like him studying animal reproduction so he made him stop?" Silas looked at me with both bewilderment and amusement.

"I didn't. My friend Axel is a geneticist; I have to tell him that. But I do feel like I need to thank that bishop. Mice have so many complex genetic expressions that I doubt Mendel would have come to his conclusions when he did." I nodded.

"I want to read up on his pea plant experiments but I haven't actually gotten my own library card yet, so I can't sign up for that digital lending thing I was telling you about. I've been reading pdfs of classics on the internet, but all of the books Mr. Gerald has been recommending have still been under copyright." Silas frowned and dug his wallet out of his pocket, retrieving a white plastic card that said 'Dorchester County Library'. Most of Summerville wasn't actually in Charleston County, but Silas was from North Charleston, not Summerville. He must have seen my confusion because he turned the card over, showing me his name written in Greek.

"When my family first moved here, we lived by Ashley River park. I got a card then and I never bothered to switch to a Charleston one, so you should text Victor and ask for his as well. The big city system has more books to borrow." I nodded and rounded my shoulders, discreetly pulling my phone out of my bra as Silas watched, laughing to himself.

Sang: Sorry to bother you, but would it be okay if I borrowed books on your library card? Silas says the Charleston County Library has a bigger selection than the Dorchester one. I'll make sure to keep it to one book at a time so you can use the rest of the borrow slots!