Ivy and Bean: What's the Big Idea? (8 page)

Bean thought her mom might not be happy if they hammered rice on the dining room table, so she and Ivy went outside. They found a board in the garage and laid it down on the grass. Bean and Ivy each took a grain of rice and set it on the wood. Then they slammed it with their hammers as hard as they could.

Cool. Rice dust.

They set out two more grains of rice. Slam! More rice dust.

Slam! Slam!
Slam!

The board leaped up and flipped over, spilling rice dust into the lawn. “Hey! Did you see that board jump?” said Bean. “That's energy for sure!”

“And no pollution,” said Ivy. “Let's do it again!”

“It's a science experiment! We
have
to do it again,” yelled Bean, lifting her hammer over her head.

“Don't tell me this is another dorky solution for global warming,” said Nancy. She and Mischa stood over them in the grass.

“None of your beeswax,” said Bean.

“We're making clean energy,” Ivy said at the same time. Bean shook her head. Now they were in for it.

“No offense, but you guys are totally lame,” giggled Mischa.

Bean could have banged Mischa's toe with the hammer, but she didn't. Ivy was talking. “Don't you care about global warming?” she asked Mischa.

“Bor-ing!” said Mischa. “I'm, like, if I hear about global warming one more time, I'm gonna scream.”

“Don't you care about the polar bears?” asked Bean.

Mischa shrugged. “Not really.”

“Don't you care about nature?” asked Ivy.

Mischa rolled her eyes. “Bor-
ing
,” she said.

“What?” asked Ivy.

“Camping and all that,” said Mischa, shaking her head. “Totally boring.”

“What
do
you like?” asked Ivy.

“Shopping!” said Mischa.

“And Harky,” added Nancy, giggling. Mischa screamed and hit Nancy with her backpack, and they went inside.

Ivy stared after them. “What a couple of weirdos.”

Bean dropped her hammer into the grass and went to look at her ant friends in the dirt patch. They were still very busy, zipping to and fro on ant business. They still didn't notice her at all.

“Look,” she said to Ivy. Ivy came over and knelt next to her. “Watch these guys. They have no idea that we're here.”

Ivy put her finger down in front of an ant. For a moment he stopped, and then, looking annoyed, he climbed over her finger and bustled away.

Ivy and Bean lay on their stomachs, watching the ants. After a while, Ivy said, “I think they know we're here, but they don't like to think about it. We make them nervous.”

“Yeah. We're so big.”

Ivy was quiet for a moment. “Do you think that Mushie girl is just pretending to hate nature? I mean, how can anyone hate nature?”

“Well,” Bean thought. “Maybe she's scared of it. Have you ever been camping and you wake up in the middle of the night and it's more dark than anything in the world and you hear sticks cracking?”

“No,” said Ivy. “I've never been camping, but sometimes the same thing happens to me in my own room.”

Bean nodded. She knew what that was like. “One time, when we were camping, we thought we saw a bear, and my mom freaked out. She ran to the car and made my dad drive us home, even though we were supposed to stay another night. She couldn't take it. Nature freaks her out.”

“My mom is always thinking I'm going to get poison oak and ticks when I go outside,” said Ivy.

Bean sighed. “Grown-ups are scaredy-cats.”

“They can't help it,” said Ivy. “They hate surprises.”

A long line of ants made its way past Ivy and Bean. They looked so sure of themselves, but Bean knew that if she dripped water on them, they'd go nuts.

“You know, what really freaks grown-ups out is not being in charge,” said Ivy. “Kids are used to not being in charge. That's why we're not scared of nature.”

“Grown-ups and ants are a lot alike,” Bean said. “If they relaxed a little, they'd have a better time,” said Bean.

Ivy rolled over onto her back and looked at the sky. “If grown-ups weren't scared of nature, they'd probably try harder to save it from global warming.”

“You're probably right,” said Bean. She sat up. “What if we did our science project on teaching grown-ups to be happy in nature? Is that a global warming solution?”

Ivy sat up, too. “Sure it is,” she said. “It's definitely fighting global warming because if they loved nature, they wouldn't drive stinky cars.”

Bean pictured grown-ups dancing around in a forest, looking happy. “They'd be inspired to save the trees and stuff,” said Bean. “None of the other kids have thought of changing grown-ups.”

“I bet we get that certificate thing,” said Ivy.

“Too bad it's not money,” said Bean. “But I don't care, really.”

“Maybe we'll get money later,” said Ivy.

“Okay, we have to teach grown-ups to like nature,” said Bean. “What should we do?”

They thought.

“I guess we shouldn't take them out into the forest and leave them, right?” Bean asked.

“Remember? They don't like surprises. And we don't want to scare them. We want them to be happy,” said Ivy.

“Okay, what makes grown-ups happy?” Bean said.

They thought some more.

“They like calm things,” said Ivy.

“And quiet things,” said Bean. Grown-ups were forever telling her to be quiet.

“And pretty things,” said Ivy.

“And they like to rest, too,” said Bean. “Grown-ups are always tired.”

“Welcome to the Emerson School Science Fair!” said a big sign over the cafeteria door. There was the Principal, standing by the door, saying hello to parents. She was smiling, but Bean thought you could never be too careful about principals. “I know a shortcut,” she said to her mom and dad. “Let's go through the kitchen.”

Once they were inside, Bean and her parents met up with Ivy and her mom.

“Where's your project, girls?” asked Ivy's mom.

“Our class is over here,” said Bean quickly. “Let's go.”

Sure enough, there was Ms. Aruba-Tate, next to a table marked “Room Twelve: Global Warming.”

Before her parents could start yakking with Ms. Aruba-Tate, Bean dragged them over to a bench where five kids were sitting in a row. “Look,” she pointed. “That's Vanessa's project.”

Her mom and dad looked. “Looks like a pack of kids to me,” her dad said. “What's the project?”

“Wait. You'll see,” said Bean.

“Five,” yelled Vanessa, holding a small clock. “Four. Three.”

“I have to go to the bathroom,” said one of the kids.

“No you don't. Two. One. Go!” All together, the five kids took a deep breath and held it.

“These are my brothers and sisters,” Vanessa explained to the watching parents. “We're reducing carbon dioxide by not breathing out. Toby can hold his breath for seventy-six seconds. If everyone stopped breathing out for fifteen minutes a day, the world would be a lot cooler.” She looked at her clock again. “Five. Four. Three. Two. One.”