Page 3 of Escape

It had been just over two weeks since Mr. Lewis had paired us together. We spent that first day a week ago and yesterday in class simply brainstorming ideas for our science project. Before class was over yesterday, I had suggested to Josie that we get together outside of school to continue working on it. She agreed, and now we were at the Steel Ridge Public Library, something she felt keen on praising me for suggesting.

“Thanks, Josie. I just figured it would be easier to not have the limited time or the distraction of everyone else in the class,” I explained.

“Alright, so what do you think of what we’ve got so far? Do we have enough options to choose from, or should we allow ourselves to brainstorm for just a bit longer before we decide?” she questioned me.

I glanced down at the list of ideas we’d come up with and believed we’d done a great job of coming up with some concepts. “We’ve got a good list already, I think. Is there one you like best?”

Her eyes roamed over the sheet of paper, scanning the list, before she declared, “Well, I certainly think we can make one of these work. I really like the water behind the dam. It could be the perfect project. Obviously, some of these other ones are great, but they might be difficult to turn into an actual project—like the ripe fruit on the tree before it falls.”

“So, you want to do the water behind the dam, then?” I asked.

Josie chewed on the inside of her cheek, almost as though she was worried that she’d give me the wrong answer. “I don’t know. What do you think?”

I shrugged. “Honestly, except for the fruit one, which I agree might be difficult to demonstrate with a hands-on project, I don’t think we can go wrong with any of them. I’m good with whatever one you want to do.”

“Hmm.” Her eyes narrowed slightly with concentration. “I like the idea of the dam, but I wonder if it could get messy during the testing and final presentation.”

She had a point. I liked the way Josie didn’t just settle for anything and wanted to be sure we selected the best possible option.

“Okay, so if we didn’t do that, is there another one that might work better? What about the slide? Maybe we could build a model size slide and use a figurine to demonstrate it?”

As soon as I presented that option, Josie leaned forward with a sparkle in her eye and asked, “Or, what if we take it a step further and do something similar but in the scope of an amusement park?”

My brows furrowed. “Like, a roller coaster?”

Smiling brightly and sitting up taller, she confirmed, “Exactly like a roller coaster.”

The idea was excellent, but I needed to a take a minute before I could respond. I’d never seen Josie smile like she’d just smiled at me. I didn’t even think I’d seen her smile like that in our yearbook pictures. Even though I couldn’t recall what her picture looked like, I had to believe I would have remembered it if she’d been smiling like that.

Eventually, I nodded and returned the smile. “I think we just figured out our project.”

“Me, too. This is perfect. Okay, so now we just need to come up with ideas on how we want to build the coaster.”

I started laughing.

“What’s so funny?”

Shaking my head, I said, “Nothing. I just… I hadn’t anticipated you’d want to dive right into the next step immediately.”

Josie shrank back in her seat, the bubbly demeanor gone. “Oh. Oh, well, I, it’s just that, I mean, well, I thought since you said you didn’t have anywhere else to be today that it would make sense to continue working on it for a bit.”

Instantly, I felt awful.

I hadn’t intended to make things awkward and quickly realized it was on me to fix it. “I’m sorry. That didn’t come out right. I only meant to say that I’m impressed by you. I think it’s great that you’re motivated for the project. It’s clear you want us to do well.”

She tipped her head to the side, studying me. “I believe it’s important to do well and learn everything I can. Don’t you?”

Even if I’d spent the better part of the beginning of this school year wishing I could have just quit, I was realizing now just how bad of an idea that would have been. I was so embarrassed; I couldn’t bring myself to admit that truth to Josie. Instead, I offered a slight nod in return. “Yeah. Yeah, I do.”

Following a beat of silence, she asked, “So, you’re okay with continuing to work on this today?”

“I am.”

With that, Josie and I got to work, and I hoped she felt I was putting in just as much effort as she was.

“Jeez, Huck, you scared me.”

“Sorry, Mom.”