The veins of the leaf weren’t in the typical arrangement, with one central vein that had others coming out of it on either side. Instead, the veins rose in shaky lines from the bottom, almost like roots, and then swirled upward. I could swear that they made the shapes of tiny leaves.
“B? Are you ready to head back?”
Startled, I looked up at Maci then back at the leaf. But the wind kicked up and carried it away before I had a chance to examine it further. I rubbed my eyes. All the nature sketching I was doing lately must have been playing tricks on me.
“Yeah,” I murmured and tried to focus on clearing my head as we walked back to campus. There was nothing I needed less on my first week of college than odd tricks of light messing with my brain.
Chapter Three
“Okay, everyone, now that we’ve had a few sessions getting comfortable with the microscopes, we’re going to look at some live plants today.” Professor East indicated the screen where his microscope view was being projected on the whiteboard.
We were in our second week of Biology, and our instructor had grown on me already. He was kind, with a pinch of humor that occasionally went over our heads.
“Your goal is to get your view to look something like this. All the materials are in the back of the room. Work through your lab instructions, and ask your neighbor if you get stuck. I’ll be circulating to check on your progress.”
There were sounds of chairs screeching across the laminated floor as the students in my biology class began to rise to gather their supplies, and I joined them. When I returned to the lab bench, Maci was already looking through her microscope's eyepiece and adjusting the focus.
I studied my plant for a moment before slicing off a piece to put on the wet mount slide. The elodea was a tiny green water plant that looked like a miniature version of sea kelp and was wet to the touch. I made a quick macro-level sketch on my lab sheet then prepped the plant for the slide.
After switching on the microscope’s light, I focused the lens, taking the view from something blurry and abstract to a clear shot of the elodea’s cells. The long, rectangular cells came into focus, and I frowned, glancing up at Professor East’s projection on the whiteboard.
I reset the lens and zoomed in again, my eyebrows pulling together. Professor East’s screen showed a bunch of green circles piled up inside clear shapes like peas in a pod. The green circles were the chloroplasts—that much was clear. But they were moving along tiny strings. I closed my eyes, feeling the fatigue from focusing through the microscope already, and then looked through the viewfinder again. The movement of the green dots along the strings was still there.
I raised my hand. Professor East noticed and made his way around the room toward me. I studied the cells through my eyepiece one more time. “Yes, Ms. Whelan?” He glanced at my lab paper.
“I see some strings in my cells. What are they?”
Professor East nodded, moving toward the microscope as I leaned out of the way. “These elodea were collected fresh from the water, so it’s common for other things, both biotic and abiotic, to show up under the microscope. Let’s take a look.”
He leaned over and looked through the eyepiece. “Hmm. I’m not seeing anything unusual here. Maybe it moved out of the view.”
“The chloroplasts seem to be moving along the strings.” I thought I saw Professor East still at my words. But then he pulled back and motioned for me to look into the microscope again.
“Describe what you’re seeing,” he said.
“They are extremely thin, like little hairs.” I looked more closely. “And they seem to be flowing with some kind of pattern. It’s like the chloroplasts are clinging to them and being moved along.”
I leaned away from the microscope to let Professor East look again, but he was studying me, expression intent. I motioned to the microscope again, wanting him to confirm what I was seeing. I wasn’t sure why, but the movement intrigued me.
But Professor East didn’t look through my eyepiece again. Finally, he spoke. “Ah, yes, those. They are just a bit of debris. No need to include it in your lab report. Just sketch the chloroplasts and cell walls.”
Professor East turned then and went to help another student who was raising their hand. I frowned, but I did as Professor East had suggested.
I fished out my colored pencils and got to work sketching the cells. Afterward, I continued to follow the instructions on the lab sheet and was surprised when I noticed my classmates cleaning up around me.
By the time I’d finished, I was the only one remaining in the classroom. Maci was outside the door, waiting for me. I slipped my lab sheet onto the stack on Professor East’s desk, and he turned to me from his laptop. “Do you have another class right now?”
I nodded.
Professor East flicked through my lab report, eyes scanning the pages. “Nice drawings,” he said, and I felt my chest warm slightly, as it always did when someone complimented my art. “Can you come see me in my office before you leave campus today? Do you know where it is?”
I blinked. I knew where his office was—on the second level of the science building—but I had no idea why he wanted to see me. “Um, yeah, sure. Professor,” I added quickly, worried my language had been too informal.
A trace of a smile quirked at the corner of his mouth. “Nothing to worry about, Ms. Whelan. I just want to discuss this lab a little further with you. I may have a research opportunity you can help with.”
I raised my eyebrows. A research opportunity? Wasn’t that the kind of thing students did in upper-division classes? This was my freshman year, and I was at a community college. But I was intrigued and wanted to know more, so I nodded and smiled politely. “Sure. I’m done at noon.”
“See you then.” Professor East turned back toward his laptop, and I took that as my cue to leave.
