4 Rosie’s Got It

CHAPTER FOUR ROSIE'S GOT IT 16 degreesfahrenheit WE DIDN'T WANT to go outside at the end of the school day, but we had to walk home. It already felt colder. As we trudged through the slush, we talked about the different heat-generating ideas that Mr. Willow told us about. Would any of them help us on the super cold walk to school Monday morning? "We need to go nuclear!" Simon exclaimed. "We can dig up some uranium. Mr. Willow said uranium gets hot if you break it up or something."

Rosie said, "It's called nuclear fission." "Yeah, we'll do some fission-y stuff," Simon said. "We can get some chunks of uranium and just stick them in our pockets or whatever." "Umm, I don't think we should expose ourselves to nuclear energy," I said. "Why not?" "It's totally dangerous," Rosie answered. "We'd be radioactive! We'd be sick! We'd glow in the dark!" "Sounds kind of fun, doesn't it?" "No!" Rosie and I yelled and laughed. "All right, all right," Simon said. "What else did Mr. Willow say?" "Electromagnetic radiation," Rosie said. "Like from a microwave oven." "Why don't we just get a huge microwave oven?" Simon suggested. "Get inside, turn it on, and travel to

school in it somehow. We can use the wagon in my garage." Even though it was really cold and we wanted to get home, Rosie stopped on the sidewalk. Simon and I stopped too. "You want us to cook ourselves?" Rosie asked. Simon nodded. "We'd be warm." "We'd be dinner!" she screamed. "I bet I'd taste the best," Simon replied. We started walking again. I could see my house. Mom was all bundled up and in the front yard. She was covering her rosebushes like she does every winter.

"Mr. Willow also said friction makes heat," Rosie reminded us. "Like rubbing two sticks together to make fire." "You know what makes great fire?" Simon asked, getting excited. "The Raging Inferno monster truck! It shoots fire out of its exhaust pipe! It's awesome!"

"I don't mean actually making fire," Rosie responded quickly. She wanted to stay on the subject. We both knew Simon could talk a loooong time about monster trucks. "I mean just rubbing something together to create heat." Rosie stopped again when we got to my driveway. Simon and I did too. She raised her hands and rubbed them together as she said, "Friction."

Simon and I watched her. I could tell she was working something out. She stretched the mitten on her left hand. Rosie then took the mitten off and brought it up close to her eyes. She examined it. "Umm, nice mitten," Simon said. "But I'm freezing my butt off. Can we go now?"