Ms. Tanimoto’s happiness was infectious. “…Yeah. It’s a cool shape.”
“I think so, too. That’s why I chose this lab. I thought you’d all enjoy it.”
“It was nice.”
“I’m glad to hear that. I hope we see you again at another one of these labs.”
“We’ll help plan the next one!” Hiroto chimed in. “Just sit back and relax, Ms. Tanimoto. We’ll take it from here.”
“Thank you, Hiroto. You’re such a big help. I’m glad to have so many good kids like you in this club.”
Hiroto’s pleasure—verging on arrogance, even—was so obvious to see that Akira rolled his eyes. Yue almost grinned. She didn’t understand why she felt so at home here, but it was magical.
She looked down at the bismuth in the palm of her hand and said to herself, “It’s like an Indian stepwell.”
“A what?”
“Oh, uh…”
Yue stuttered her way through the explanation. Her sister followed an account online that posted pictures of beautiful sights all around the globe. She showed the especially pretty ones to Yue, and one of them, a photo of a dry well in India, had stuck with her. A staircase had been carved out into the rock, forming an inverted pyramid leading into the depths of the earth. It was unbelievably beautiful.
“So, um, these crystals look kind of like that. Sorry, I know I’m being thick.”
“You mean stupid?” Ms. Tanimoto asked, using the Tokyo-standard term. “You’re not being stupid at all. That sounds lovely. If I remember correctly, a friend once showed me a photo of a well like that, and they do look similar.”
Ms. Tanimoto had the same look of approval as when one of the boys made a good analogy. Yue’s heart swelled.
“Who was your friend who showed you the picture?” she asked.
“Hm? Oh, he…he’s a friend of mine with an interesting job. He lives in Sri Lanka.”
“Where’s that?”
“It’s an island off the coast of India. It’s very famous for producing tea.”
“Huh, India… What does he do there?”
“He’s, uh…a jeweler.”
A joo-lurr? What was that? That word was a head-scratcher and no mistake. At the very least, Yue sure didn’t know any joo-lurrs. She repeated the word to herself over and over in the hopes that she wouldn’t forget it before she could get a chance to look it up.
“The world is full of pretty things, isn’t it? Some are big, like stepwells, and some are as tiny as bismuth crystals. All of them require us to slow down and admire them, don’t you think?”
“I guess so.”
If Yue thought about it like social media, then what Ms. Tanimoto said made sense. She would never have learned about stepwells if her sister hadn’t shown her the photo. The internet was awash with images, and if any didn’t catch the viewer’s immediate interest, it was all too easy to swipe past them to the next image with a flick of the finger.
Ms. Tanimoto smiled. “The words cool and pretty are like magic spells to me. Without them, wells are just wells. Rocks are just rocks. It’s when you think they’re cool or pretty that they gain special significance. It’s like a kind of magic that broadens our horizons and builds bridges to the enormous world around us.”
Yue goggled at Ms. Tanimoto, with her lab coat and smiling face. She wasn’t quite sure she understood all this business about magic, but at the same time, part of it made sense.
“Kawahara, do you remember the question you asked me the other day?” Ms. Tanimoto went on.
“Hm?”
“If I liked rocks.”
“Oh. Um, yes.”
She was surprised Ms. Tanimoto remembered. It was even more remarkable that it could make Ms. Tanimoto smile. Her smile was so big and bright, it chased away the concern that maybe, just maybe, Ms. Tanimoto was another teacher who had never wanted the job.
“I do. I love rocks. You know, back when I was in junior high, I became president of the rocks and mineral club.”
“The what?”
“A sort of club for rockhounds.”
“Really?”
“Mm-hmm. I love rocks so much, I ended up becoming a science teacher.”
Yue was stunned.
“Oh—I can teach lots of other topics, too, of course. Even ones that have nothing to do with rocks. Although, come to think of it, isn’t everything in the universe connected to rocks in some way? That’s how I see it—but oh goodness, there I go on again about rocks. I’m sorry.”
“Don’t be!” Yue interrupted.
Ms. Tanimoto gave her an odd look, and the boys turned to stare at her, too.
Yue screwed up her courage. It was now or never. “Um, Ms. Tanimoto…I want to have a rockhound club, too. Can I be a part of the science club?”
Bafflingly, Hiroto and Akira burst into applause behind Ms. Tanimoto.
Yue was alarmed, but Ms. Tanimoto lit up like a light bulb. “Do you really? That’s wonderful! Look, Hiroto and Akira. We have a girl in the club now.”
“Aww, yeah! High five, Akira,” Hiroto crowed.
“Let’s not,” said his more reserved companion. “Safety first, remember? Still, this is good news. I feel bad that we’re the one non-sports club without any girls.”
“…Really?” Yue asked.
“Yeah! The girls on student council keep calling us the boys’ club. That’s discrimination! You don’t see them calling the softball club the boys’ club.”
“That’s because there’s a girls’ softball club, too, you dolt. No wonder the boys’ softball club is all boys.”
“Wait, is that how it works? No, no, don’t get the wrong idea, Kawahara. They may call us the boys’ club, but there’s nothing gross about us. We may all be weirdos in our own way, but we’re fun weirdos! We’re like a family at this office. Plus, you get two days off a week and paid vacation.”
“Since when was this a job? Sorry about him, Kawahara. His brother’s a comedian, so he’s always like this.”
Yue nodded, a bit dazed.
Ms. Tanimoto took a seat in front of her on one of the round stools. Yue was a little startled—they were at eye level now. She couldn’t stop thinking about her friends gushing over how cute Ms. Tanimoto was.