Free Project Mulberry by Linda Sue Park Page A

dishes, but we didn't have any. My mom gave us a shallow glass bowl that she didn't use much anymore.
    I sprayed water on a coffee filter with my mom's plant mister. I put the damp paper in the bowl, then put the three leaves on top of the paper. That was what the instructions in the brochure said to do, even though the leaves wouldn't get eaten until the eggs hatched. Maybe putting the eggs on the leaves made them feel more like they were out in nature.
    Patrick took out the tube that held the eggs. He uncapped the tube and poured the eggs onto the leaves. They were too tiny to count, but there were definitely more than twenty-five.
    "I guess they give you extra," Patrick said.
    We put the bowl into the aquarium, and I lowered its screen lid. "They won't be able to crawl for a while after they hatch," Patrick said. "They'll be too weak at first. But we might as well get into the habit of using the screen, because sooner or later they
might
be able to crawl out."
    I jiggled the lid a little to make sure it was secure. Then we both bent down so we could see through the glass.
    The aquarium looked pretty empty. Just the bowl at the bottom of it, with the leaves and the piece of paper in it. You could barely see the eggs.
    It didn't look like much.
    It certainly didn't look like an impressive project.
    Patrick must have been thinking the same thing, but he was excited anyway. "This is great," he said. "This will be great on tape. It doesn't look like anything now, so there'll be a
big
difference later on."
    He jumped to his feet. "I'm going to set up the camcorder," he said. "No, wait. There's something we have to do first. Jules, get Kenny."
    "What?" I exclaimed. "Patrick, are you crazy? We have to keep him as far away from here as we can!"
    Mars would be good, I thought. If only we could send Kenny to Mars until our project was finished. Then I realized that if Agent Song were still on the job, she'd love the idea of letting Kenny wreck the project.
    But Agent Song wasn't in the picture anymore. And even if I still wasn't crazy about the worm project, I needed it to work so I could do the embroidery.
    I was starting to think that it would actually be pretty cool to make our own thread and sew something with it. Mr. Maxwell had told us about one project where a girl made a sweater from the wool of a sheep she'd raised. But somebody else had spun the wool into yarn. Maybe making the thread ourselves would impress the judges.
    So we had to keep the worms safe. Especially, safe from Kenny.
    Patrick grinned. "Trust me," he said.
    Â 
    Kenny came out onto the porch.
    "Kenny, we need your help," Patrick said.
    I was about to say something when he glared at me. Patrick didn't glare at me very often, so I decided to keep quiet and hear what he had to say. At least for now.
    "You know those eggs," he said to Kenny. "They're going to hatch."
    Kenny bobbed his head up and down. "I know, I know."
    "Well, cold weather is very dangerous for them. It's spring now, but sometimes it still gets cold. If it ever gets
too
cold, they'll die."
    Patrick pointed to the thermometer that my dad had hung outside the door. "You almost always get home from school earlier than me and Julia, right? Would you do us a favor? Would you check the thermometer every day when you get home? If the red line ever gets here"—he put his finger on the mark that pointed to 50°—"you gotta tell your mom. Right away. So she can move the aquarium into the house."
    He looked at Kenny solemnly. "Kenny, it could be a matter of life and death. Even, like, fifteen minutes in the cold could kill them."
    Kenny nodded. His face was very serious. "I won't forget. I'll check every day, I promise."
    I said, "Don't you ever try to move the aquarium yourself, Snotbrain. It's way too heavy for you."
    Patrick flapped his hand impatiently. "Jules, don't worry about that. Kenny wouldn't do anything to hurt them."
    Had Patrick lost his mind? Had he forgotten the millions of times