This Place is a Zoo

This Place is a Zoo — page 5 — with his own parents after they finished with work Newton stuck his head in the knapsack There’s no mealworms in there for you Paisley said I’ll see you when I get home She pressed a new Band-Aid over the cut on her forearm Yesterday she and Ben invented a self-driving mower They even amped up the horsepower so it could get the job done faster When they tested it on Paisley’s overgrown front yard it worked great at first Until the mower’s sensors got overloaded and it took off into the Pendlebury’s grass zooming through Mrs Pendlebury’s perfectly manicured bushes and shredding her petunia garden When they’d finally caught the mower the Pendlebury’s yard looked like a giant crop circle And not the cool kind Paisley’s ears were still ringing from Mrs Pendlebury’s shrieks of outrage A person who never made a mistake never tried anything new Paisley said to Newton quoting her favorite physicist Albert Einstein Newton wrinkled his black nose and chirped at her 8

This Place is a Zoo — page 6 — His chirp sounded like a baby bird Paisley’s mom rescued Newton on one of her research trips to India Mom was a botanist She was currently in Mexico researching chocolate cosmos a beautiful burgundy flower that smelled like chocolate thought to be extinct in the wild Thinking of chocolate made Paisley’s stomach growl She grabbed her knapsack and slung it over her shoulders She held out her arm for Newton to shimmy up to his favorite perch on her shoulder and followed the scent of Dad’s cooking straight into the kitchen Dad was a biologist and part-time professor at the state university thirty minutes outside of Roarington aka Boring Town USA He was also a fantastic chef though a very very messy one Good morning Dad said He flipped a fried egg on the skillet I made breakfast chilaquiles When Mom was gone they both missed her so much that Dad cooked authentic Mexican food almost every meal Thanks Dad Paisley gobbled up breakfast nearly as fast as Newton had inhaled his worms Delicious 9

This Place is a Zoo — page 7 — Have a great day I can’t wait to hear all about it Ben knocked on the front door Paisley waved goodbye as she ran out of the house She didn’t notice Newton slip inside her still-open knapsack Ready Ben asked as he adjusted his glasses Ready Newton popped his head out then he quickly tucked himself back inside the knapsack No one saw him No one noticed Ready set go Paisley yelled and they raced the two blocks to Roarington Elementary Mrs Beaker was already herding groups of students onto the bus calling out last names and checking them off her list Sumi Here said Suki with a grin Suki Here said Sumi She winked at Paisley Sumi and Suki were identical twins They had matching chin length black hair dark mischievous eyes and always wore the same clothes down to their matching beaded bracelets They exchanged places whenever they could 10

This Place is a Zoo — page 8 — Only Paisley somehow knew who was who When everyone was on the bus Mrs Beaker conducted roll call again Always better to be safe than sorry she said I’d rather be sorry Rosalind yelled from the back as her wheelchair was raised by the lift platform She 11

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