22 Go with the Flow

CHAPTER TWENTY-TWO Go with the Flow Molecular Flexibility (noun). This is the ability for molecules to be flexible. For example, in a rubber ball the molecules are in long chains and are weakly linked together. That's why rubber is elastic and bounces—because the molecules can wiggle around to adapt to the motion of slamming into the ground. AT THE GIFT STORE, there were so many things to look at. Books, posters, shirts, and lots of stuffed animals. Elijah's mom was in the book section, buying a stack of books to donate to the library collection at our school. Very quickly, I was able to find this adorable stuffed octopus for Liam. It had these cute arms that he would love to snuggle with at night. Tala found an awesome poster featuring sea stars. "It will look so perfect in my room," she said. "Right next to my posters of the constellations of regular stars." And Birdie was over by a section where they had some art supplies with aquatic themes. "Aren't these

第二十二章随波逐流分子灵活性（名词）。 这是分子柔韧的能力。 例如，在橡胶球中，分子呈长链，并且弱连接在一起。 这就是为什么橡胶具有弹性和弹跳性——因为橡胶分子可以四处摆动，以适应撞击地面的运动。 在礼品店，有那么多的东西要看。 书，海报，衬衫，还有很多毛绒玩具。 以利亚的妈妈在图书区买了一摞书，准备捐给我们学校的图书馆。 很快，我就为利亚姆找到了这个可爱的章鱼毛绒玩具。 它有可爱的手臂，他喜欢在晚上依偎着它。 塔拉发现了一张很棒的海星海报。 “它放在我的房间里会非常完美，”她说。 “就在我的普通恒星星座海报旁边。” 小鸟在那边的一个区域那里有一些水上主题的艺术用品。 “不是这些

colored pencils nice?" she said. The lid had a scene of a coral reef. "Definitely." I glanced at my watch. We only had seven minutes before we needed to leave. I raced over to the T-shirt section. For the next few minutes, I searched for penguin shirts in my size, which was the same as Julia's. Penguins must be popular, because they didn't have a huge selection. "Oh no," I said, flipping through the stack of shirts. "There's a big problem." "What is it?" said Birdie. "There's only one kids' large left." I bit my bottom lip. "And Julia wanted me to get her one too." I could tell her the truth that there was only one left and because she had stayed with the penguins, I had taken the shirt. No. I couldn't do that. It didn't feel right. I would never do that to Birdie or Tala. And I couldn't do that to Julia either. Next to the penguins were the sea lion T-shirts. The image on one looked just like Finn, the sea lion who knew how to adapt and how to have fun. I thought about how much I'd loved meeting him that morning and how much I'd learned about sea lions. I

彩色铅笔好看吗？”她说。 盖子上有一个珊瑚礁的场景。 “肯定”。我瞥了一眼手表。 我们离出发只有七分钟了。 我跑到t恤区。 接下来的几分钟里，我找了几件适合自己尺码的企鹅衬衫，这和茱莉亚穿的一样。 企鹅一定很受欢迎，因为它们没有太多的选择。 “哦，不，”我说，一边翻着那堆衬衫。 “这是个大问题。”“这是什么？”小鸟说。 “只剩下一个儿童大号了。” 我咬着自己的下嘴唇。“茱莉亚也想让我给她买一个。” 我可以告诉她真相，只剩下一件了，因为她和企鹅呆在一起，所以我拿走了那件衬衫。 否。我不能那样做。这感觉不对。 我绝不会那样对伯迪和塔拉。 我也不能那样对茱莉亚。 企鹅旁边是海狮t恤。 其中一个的图像看起来就像芬恩，一只知道如何适应和如何享受乐趣的海狮。 我想起了那天早上我是多么喜欢见到他，以及我对海狮有了多少了解。 我

took a deep breath. "I'm going to get this one instead," I said, pulling out one in my size. "Are you sure?" asked Birdie. I paused for a second. But I was sure. I just had to be flexible, like molecules in matter. They have to bend and twist to adapt to their environment, and I was just going to have to do that too. "Completely," I said. "When we come back this summer, I can get a penguin shirt." "Or maybe I can make one for you," said Birdie. "Based on my photos." "Wow," I said. "That would be so cool." We went up to the cashier. First, I got Julia her shirt. The cashier gave me back the change, which I put in my pocket for Julia. Then I gave the cashier my shirt and Liam's octopus. "That will be forty-two dollars," said the cashier. Forty-two dollars? I can't believe I forgot to look at the price tags. I pulled out my ten ones and six five- dollar bills. I was two dollars short. I looked at the money in my hand, and then I looked at the cashier. If only my mom had come, I could have asked her for the two dollars.

深吸一口气。“我还是买这个吧，”我说着，拿出一个我的尺码。 “你确定吗？”小鸟问。 我停顿了一下。但我很确定。 我只需要像物质中的分子一样灵活。 它们必须弯曲和扭曲以适应它们的环境，我也必须这样做。 “完全正确，”我说。“今年夏天我们回来的时候，我可以买一件企鹅衬衫。” “或者我可以给你做一个，”小鸟说。 “根据我的照片。”“哇，”我说。 “那太酷了。”我们走向收银台。 首先，我把茱莉亚的衬衫拿来了。 收银员把找给我的钱还给了我，我把找给茱莉亚的钱放进口袋里。 然后我把我的衬衫和利亚姆的章鱼给了收银员。 “一共42美元，”收银员说。 42美元吗?我真不敢相信我忘了看价格标签。 我掏出十张一元和六张五元的钞票。 我少了两美元。我看了看手里的钱，又看了看收银员。 要是我妈妈来了就好了，我就可以向她要那两美元了。

"I... um... I don't have enough." I thought about Liam and how excited he would be to get the octopus. There was no way I could go home without it. "I guess I have to put away the shirt," I said as I started to turn away from the cashier. "No, you don't," said Birdie, walking up next to me, and she plunked down two dollars. "I got you." "You really don't have to do that," I told her. "I know," she said. "But I'm doing it anyway." "Thanks," I said. "That's what best friends are for," she added, and then she paid for her coral reef–themed colored pencils too. I thought about which chores I could do that weekend so I could pay her back. Maybe not with two dollars, but with a gift that she would really love. Maybe some special art paper for her colored pencils. Or some homemade brownies. I wanted her to know that I appreciated how great a friend she was. Always. Birdie took her bag from the cashier, and then we joined hands and skipped back to the bus. "I'm super glad I saved my pretzels," I said. "We can share them quickly before boarding." "Yum," said Birdie, biting into the salty-sweet snack. "It's so good." "Just like our day at the aquarium," I said. We met some animals, we learned some science, but most of all, we got to spend some time with our

“我……嗯…我的钱不够。” 我想到了利亚姆，想到了他得到章鱼会有多兴奋。 没有它我是不可能回家的。 “我想我得把衬衫收起来了，”我一边说一边转身离开收银员。 “不，你不需要，”伯迪说着走到我身边，扔下两美元。 “我抓住你了。”“你真的不必这么做，”我告诉她。 “我知道，”她说。“但我还是要这么做。” “谢谢，”我说。“这就是最好的朋友，”她补充说，然后她也买了以珊瑚礁为主题的彩色铅笔。 我在想那个周末我可以做些什么家务，这样我就可以还她钱了。 也许不是用两美元，而是用她真正喜欢的礼物。 也许是她的彩色铅笔用的特殊画纸。 或者一些自制的布朗尼。 我想让她知道，我很感激她是一个多么好的朋友。 总是这样。伯迪从收银台拿了她的包，然后我们手拉手跳回公共汽车。 “我超级高兴我保住了我的椒盐脆饼，”我说。 “我们可以在登机前快速分享。” “好吃，”小鸟说着，咬了一口咸甜的零食。 “太棒了。”“就像我们在水族馆的那一天一样，”我说。 我们认识了一些动物，学了一些科学知识，但最重要的是，我们花了一些时间和我们的

friends.

朋友。