‘Are you…?’ Briar trailed off, the corner of her mouth quirking up.
‘Thinking about the scene fromPirates of the Caribbeanwhere Elizabeth bandages Will’s hand?’ Alice huffed out a laugh, giddy on the feeling of sharing every point of reference with someone again. She knew this was Briar’s way of distracting her, and she was grateful. ‘Of course I am.’
Briar looked up at her from beneath slightly wet lashes. ‘“My heart’s always belonged to you”,’ she recited solemnly.
Alice knew Briar was just quoting the movie, but her racing pulse hadn’t seemed to have figured that out. She bit her lip, staring at Briar, caught in some sort of spell.
‘It’s still bleeding,’ Briar said, her voice a whisper now.
‘Oh,’ Alice said, looking down. She applied more pressure and Briar grimaced in pain. ‘Sorry.’
‘It doesn’t feel that bad, honestly,’ Briar said. ‘You’re doing a good job.’
Alice didn’t want to examine how Briar’s praise made her feel, so she cleared her throat, wrapping the tape tightly to secure the bandage. ‘How’s that?’
‘Good.’ Briar’s voice was barely audible, her gaze locked on Alice.
‘How’s it looking in here, ladies?’ Freddie came through the swinging doors and Alice dropped Briar’s hand like she’d been burned. They both washed their hands before returning to their prep stations. Freddie squinted at them. ‘The hungry swarm descends in an hour.’
Chapter 19
Alice
‘Everyone,’ Alice called, gesturing for the campers to come closer, ‘welcome to the decomposition lab.’
Running the decomposition lab had been Alice’s favorite part of her summers as a counselor. She would bring the campers to the compost bin weekly to take a look at where their food scraps went and how they broke down. Now that she had some free blocks of time, she was determined to bring it back.
The group of eight-year-olds observed the giant compost bin with trepidation, none of them taking a step forward.
‘Don’t be shy,’ Alice said, grabbing a shovel to use as a pointer. ‘Come one, come all, and deposit your scraps into the bin.’
She raised the lid and the campers dumped their trays of lunch scraps, matching looks of disgusts on their small faces.
‘It stinks,’ one of them said, and the others laughed.
‘That’s right, it does stink.’ She closed the bin. ‘Can anyone tell me why?’
‘Because it’s rotten food?’
Alice smiled encouragingly at the girl who had answered. She’d forgotten in her years of dealing with undergraduates what it was like to teach children so young. She loved that they were still discovering themselves and their interests, that they still viewed the world with wonder. She missed feeling that way herself.
‘Yes, but can anyone tell me why rotting food smells so bad?’
Nobody said anything. Alice gave the bin a whack with her shovel, enjoying the looks of delight on the kids’ faces. This wasn’t the kind of curriculum they had in the classroom and she had their rapt attention.
‘This bin is filled with tiny little organisms called bacteria. The bacteria break down the food, and that breakdown releases gaseous waste.’
‘Like a fart?’ a kid asked, while another blew a loud raspberry into his elbow.
‘Exactly,’ Alice said, unfazed. ‘Can anyone tell me the name of this breakdown?’
Robin, who’d been standing off to the side of the group, raised his hand. ‘Decompotision?’ Robin had mixed up the syllables, but she nodded anyway.
‘Right, decomposition. The bacteria in this bin are called decomposers. Can anyone name any other decomposers? I’ll give you a hint: think of things that live in the dirt!’
‘Bugs!’
‘Exactly! Some bugs are decomposers, like centipedes, millipedes and sow bugs. What else?’
