6 SURVIVAL OF THE FITTEST

Survival of the Fittest "Mom," said Ivy, "can you tie this knot?" Ivy's mom was working in her office. Click, click, click, her fingers jumped along her keyboard. "Mmm," she said. "Mom?" Ivy said. "What?" "Can you tie this knot?" "Yes," said Ivy's mom. Quickly, she leaned over and pulled on the string wrapped around Ivy's wrists. She tied the ends in a knot.

"Thanks," said Ivy. She and Bean turned to leave. "Bye." "Mmm," said Ivy's mom, her fingers beginning to jump again. They walked down the hall to the front door. Walking with their hands tied in front of them was weird. It made their stomachs stick out. "Wait," called Ivy's mom. She poked her

head out of her office. "Can I ask why you've tied your hands together?" "It's a global warming idea," said Ivy. "Oh," said Ivy's mom. "What do you mean?" "Well, you know how lots of animals are in trouble from global warming?" said Ivy. Her mom nodded. "They'd have a better chance if humans weren't so powerful." "If humans weren't as strong and smart and

stuff," added Bean. "So we tied up our hands, to make it more fair," said Ivy. "We thought about hitting ourselves on the head, so that we'd be dumber," said Bean. "But then we thought that would hurt," Ivy said. "So we picked hands instead." "If we can't move our hands, we'll be weaker," said Bean. "And then the animals can take over." "They could take over the world from the people," said Ivy.

"It's a very interesting idea," said Ivy's mom. She smiled. "Where are you going now?" "We're going to go outside and let the animals see that we're weak," said Ivy. "We may be eaten," said Bean, "but we don't mind." "It's for science," said Ivy. "That's definitely a good cause," said Ivy's mom. She didn't seem very worried, so Ivy said, "If we do get eaten, bring our skeletons to the science fair." "Will do," said Ivy's mom and went back inside her office. They stood in Ivy's front yard, trying to show the animals that they were weak.

"Come and get us!" called Bean. But the animals must have been napping, because it was Katy from down the block who answered. She stepped out of a camellia bush and stared at them. "What are you doing?" she asked. "Global warming," said Bean. "We're fighting it," said Ivy. "We're giving the animals a chance to—" Katy interrupted. "You want to play Bad Orphanage?" Katy had changed a lot. When she was little,