Free Moonpenny Island by Tricia Springstubb Page A

ignorance or Jasper’s rudeness or maybe both. “I bet she knows who Charles Darwin was.”
    â€œShe does,” says Flor. “I mean, I do.” Charles Darwin? She’s heard that name somewhere.
    â€œThe earliest eyes were simple optic nerves coated with pigment. Very primitive, but they gave those creatures a definite advantage.” Dr. Fife tugs his beard. “They could find food more easily andavoid their predators. Over time, those eyes changed and developed, and the most useful variations were passed on to the offspring. Again and again and yes, again. And so the eye evolved into one of the most complex organs imaginable.” His own deep-set eyes shine. “Darwin’s theory, as you know!”
    Flor nods. Sure! Got it! Meanwhile, a voice inside her squawks, What! What if eyes didn’t develop? What if people had to fumble their way around using their noses or ears or—gross—tongues instead?
    â€œTrilobites were sturdy little fellows. They very thoughtfully left behind an abundant fossil record. By studying it, we can trace how they evolved to have sight as crystal clear as any animal living today.” He picks up his drill. “We’ve already found some prime specimens here, Flor. Your island is a tectonic treasure trove!” Switching on the drill, he gets back to work.
    â€œWell, if trilobites were that amazing, how come they went extinct?” Flor asks. Bent over his work, Dr. Fife doesn’t hear, so she turns to Jasper, who’s now playing a game on her phone. “How come . . .”
    â€œAsteroids. Changes in climate,” says Jasper, not looking up. “And they were invertebrates. They woretheir protection on the outside and kept the soft parts inside, the opposite of us.”
    â€œBut wouldn’t that keep them safer?”
    â€œOnly one problem. They grew. Their shells became prisons they had to cast off. Till they grew a new one, they had to go around naked. They were easy targets for predators. Eventually the predators wiped them all out.”
    â€œThat’s so sad. That’s pitiful.”
    â€œMany of their predators went extinct too. Due to other, larger predators.”
    â€œI hate predators.”
    Jasper looks up. Her eyes are so green. “Me too.”
    Dr. Fife keeps working. Flor wonders if this is how things go here every night, Jasper and her father, the two of them together but alone.
    â€œYou don’t go to school?”
    â€œI did for a while. Speaking of predators.” A shadow crosses Jasper’s face, and she looks back down. “It was not a successful experiment. So now I’m homeschooled.”
    â€œIsn’t that kind of, you know. Lonely?”
    â€œI’ve observed you in the school yard. You looklike the last remaining member of a species on the verge of extinction.”
    Flor stiffens. “My best friend moved away.”
    Jasper’s thumb pauses midair. “You’ll make a new friend.”
    â€œImpossible.”
    Jasper’s thumb hovers. “Then you’re doomed to friendlessness.”
    â€œI didn’t say that.” But did she?
    Jasper’s thumb descends, too late. Boom. Game over. She makes a disgusted sound.
    â€œHow come you only play with one hand?”
    Jasper’s green eyes get darker, like when you walk deeper into a forest. She’s struggling to decide something, Flor can tell.
    â€œI only have one,” she finally says.
    â€œOnly one game?” Flor’s confused.
    â€œHand.”
    Jasper hesitates another moment, then makes up her mind. With a last look at Flor, she’s rolling up one of her mile-long sleeves. Rolling and rolling, but nothing appears.
    Until it does. A dented pink nub. A few inchesup, there’s a normal elbow and the rest of an arm. But that nub. Flor stares. She can’t help it. It’s like a sightless creature.
    â€œIt’s a birth defect.” Jasper could be