Free The Mechanics of Being Human by S. E. Campbell Page A

biology book. The words crawled into her brain. She flipped to the next page then the next. This reading was easy. She wondered how many books the high school kids went through a day. Four, maybe five? She would have to do double that in order to get ready for the test. She flipped to the next page.
    "Fawn, you should actually read the books and not just look at the pictures," her mom scolded, appearing concerned.
    Fawn glanced up from the book. "I am reading the book."
    The smile slid from her mom's face. "I mean more than the captions."
    "I know. I'm reading it all." Fawn returned to studying the pages.
    Before she could go through the next page, her mom tugged the book away from her. She flipped through the prevision sections and stopped. Fawn could see the image in the top corner and pictured the script on the page word for word.
    "Who was the first biologist?" her mom asked.
    Two words fluttered into her mind. "Kahit Sino."
    Her mom gazed at her with her mouth wide-open. She didn't know why her mom looked so surprised. Fawn had just studied the material, after all. Her mom flipped through more of the pages and came to a pause.
    "What is scientific classification?" Her mom stared at her with intensity, her lips pursed. The woman shook with either anxiety or enthusiasm.
    "It's what scientists use to classify life on earth." Fawn tucked a hair behind her ear. "Otherwise known as Linnaean classification. Right?"
    For a second, her mom didn't say anything. She just wheezed. She then flipped through more of the pages of the book as she shook her head. "I don't understand. I was with you when you opened this book. You've been reading less than ten minutes. There is no way you could digest so much information in such a short amount of time."
    She stilled. It wasn't normal? She could recall each page word for word to the point she could read aloud the sections if she wanted to. She'd seen her mom's e-book reader and thought her own brain was like that. All she had to do was think of the book and page number, then the words she'd read appeared in her mind. She thought that was normal. Human. She bit her bottom lip.
    "I remember the pages, Mom." Fawn glanced down at her hands. "Word for word."
    "Well, that's just impossible." Her mom glanced up at her in shock. "What does the introduction say, then?"
    The page appeared in her mind. She could see the picture of a bright green frog with rusty spots gazing at her with bulging orange eyes. She could even see the words that were bold in the paragraphs. It was easy.
    She began to read. "'Biology is one of the world's most important sciences. The study of biology is the study of living organisms divided into many specialized fields. Biology is so important because humans are a part of biology, as is the environment which surrounds us. Biology is'—"
    "That's exactly right." Her mom gaped at the book in her lap, then shook her head. "You recalled it all. Word for word. You're amazing ."
    "I told you." Fawn became anxious. "It's like reading the book. I have it in my head. I can see it. Even the pictures. It's a frog, right?"
    For a moment her mom didn't say anything and stared at her, open-mouthed. Fawn didn't like the way she looked at her. Just when she thought she knew all her secrets, that she could start to be normal, something else odd occurred. Was she a strange person because she could recall book pages or facts so quickly? She just found another reason why she would have a hard time fitting in besides her lack of memory.
    "Is it strange? Am I strange?" Her eyes widened. "I thought it was normal to remember things like that."
    "You aren't strange," her mom said adamantly. "But you have to be careful who you talk to about this. Very careful. Do you understand me?"
    For the first time her mom's eyes burned. She was shocked fire didn't burst out of the woman's eyeballs and consume her. She realized why her mom looked at her like that. If she told people she could remember the