Damselfly by Chandra Prasad

Author:Chandra Prasad
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Scholastic Inc.
Published: 2018-05-05T04:00:00+00:00

There came a moment when waiting didn’t make sense anymore. I think we all felt it at the same time. Mel called a meeting. She had our attention. We were jumpy, uncertain, restless.

“Listen,” she said, “until we contain the enemy, we have two options. Live with him, always on guard, always paranoid. Or get off the island.”

We responded to this pronouncement with silence. I think most of us still believed rescuers would come. I think most of us couldn’t believe they hadn’t come already.

“It’s up to us to rescue ourselves. We can’t afford to wait any longer.”

“You’re being hasty,” Rish replied. “There are people looking for us right this second. My father has access to an entire fleet of ships. I know he’ll find us. He just needs more time.”

“I’m sure all our parents are looking,” Mel replied. “But that doesn’t mean they’ll find us. There are thousands of uninhabited islands in this world, and we seem to be on one of them.”

“Mel’s right,” I said. “We need to be self-sufficient.”

She nodded at me appreciatively. “Right. There’s a big difference between waiting and doing.”

Rittika frowned, but the rest of our classmates were willing to listen.

“We need to start by tapping into our creativity,” Mel continued. “I want to show you guys an exercise my father once showed me. He wanted me to understand that sometimes all the tools you need are right in front of you.”

Mel told us to spread out and find a little plot of ground. Each of us was to study a space the size of one cubic foot.

“What are we looking for?” Betty asked.

“We don’t know. That’s the point. Just find a little piece of ground that speaks to you.”

We did as instructed, dispersing and claiming little plots within camp.

“Now look down,” Mel said. “What do you see? Not much, right? But there’s more here than you realize.”

Mel had us cordon off our plots with sticks and vines. She told us to kneel down and study the area carefully. “Memorize every single thing you see. Every bug, plant, animal, blade of grass. Everything. Your plot might look small, but you’ll be astounded by its biodiversity.”

We obliged, compliant if bewildered. That lasted about five minutes before Avery rubbed her neck and complained, “Why are we doing this again? It’s boring.”

“Don’t let that fool you!” Mel said. “Boredom can be useful. Galileo made one of his most important discoveries while bored out of his mind. He was in church, watching a chandelier swaying above him. He started measuring the sways with his pulse. He realized that time can be measured that way—by the swinging of a pendulum. We still use this principle today.”

Avery looked unimpressed. “How old was he? Galileo? Thirty, at least. A lot older than us.”

“He was twenty. Listen, we’re not too young to do important things. In fact, being young is a bonus. Young minds aren’t constrained like old ones. Mozart composed some of his best work in his teens. Chopin, too.”

Avery didn’t appear moved by what Mel was saying, but I was.

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