Hi! It’s me! Lily!
OMG did we get ice! Icy ice! Ice on ice! Sooooo much ice! It fell and fell!!! The ground was white and we couldn’t even throw snowballs because it wasn’t snow, it was ice! When I went to school it would have been a snow day but today it wasn’t! It was just a regular day!
Not for Dave, though! Dave has to go to job sites every now and then, and most of his engineers go to job sites all the time! So he basically closed his company for the day, and let his people take care of the stuff they needed to take care of! That was nice of him! I think everyone remembers snowpocalypse last year.
So while I was sitting at my desk putting that enginey thing together (it’s hard! All sorts of little fiddly screws and metal bits! I’m learning a lot about how to do project like that) Dave was busy in the garage. Finally around lunch time he told us all to come into the garage.
He’d built us a lab!!!
OMG!!!
I’ve never seen David so happy! But I didn’t know what any of the stuff was! There were bins full of little fiddly parts, there was a small computer that I think Dave had lying around somewhere, there were some gadgets with wires and screens that I’d never seen before! But David seemed to know!
“Okay, kids,” he said, “I built you a computer and electronics lab. I know David is the most interested in this, but he’s nine, and I can’t let him use this lab unsupervised. So here’s the deal. Beth and Lily, I’m going to teach you two and David how to use all the equipment here – and I expect you to pay attention, you’ll be graded on it!! The two of you are going to work with David to build projects, which I’ll give you. You can split up the work how you want, but girls, you have to let David work with you, and David, you must listen to the girls and do as they say.”
David frowned. “Why do Beth and Lily have to be in charge?”, he whined. “i know what I’m doing.”
He sighed. “You’re nine. You don’t. When I was your age, I took the back off a television and almost killed myself. The girls may not know as much as you right now, but they’re older and I’m going to teach them safety.”
“I don’t know anything about all that,” I said. “I don’t know what that is, or that, or that,” I said, pointing at random stuff. “How are we supposed to supervise David when we don’t know anything about it?”
“Because you will at least know not to touch stuff when you don’t know what it is. David here will just plow in and get himself shocked. Eat some lunch, and then we’ll spend the afternoon learning what all this stuff does.”
“But… I have that assignment…”
“I’m the teacher,” he said. “You can do the assignment later. This is your lesson for this afternoon, while I have some time.”
So he spent the afternoon teaching us the basics. I still don’t understand nearly any of it, but he was very clear on safety. That part I think I got. But I guess it’ll come with practice.
I guess.
After dinner, I just kind of sat on the couch quietly. Sabby sat down next to me and asked me what was wrong.
“I’m pretty smart, Sabby,” I said. “Or at least you keep telling me that. But I understood none of what Dave taught us today. There were bits and pieces and things with wires and screens and all sorts of stuff that Dave told me and I’ve already forgotten! It’s like Dave just threw an entirely different language at me!”
She sighed. “Look, Lily. You have to understand. When it comes to school, there’s just the three of you, and you have different interests and you’re rather far apart in age. You’re sixteen, probably better at languages and art than science and technology. Beth’s really smart, but her strengths are math and science. And David has always been really into computers and technology, but he’s too young to play with that stuff without someone older present. The three of you made clear to us that you needed to be challenged more and, well, this is one way we listened to you. You think you’re the only one who’s going to get something out of your comfort zone? David’s gonna learn another language if it kills him.”
“Really? Which language?”
“I don’t know, but if he doesn’t choose, it’s going to be Spanish and Japanese. Japanese because you’re already studying it and can teach him. Just like he can teach you computers and electronics. And Beth’s learning piano.”
I sighed. “I don’t like it.”
“It’s not that bad,” she said. “Who knows, you might decide you like it. And if not, at least you learned something.”
“I guess.” I stood up and walked up here.
Maybe I will. But I’m not good at science! I’m good at Japanese! And piano! And… and what else?
Sigh. I so hate it when Sabby’s right.