The Light in the Lake by Sarah R. Baughman

Author:Sarah R. Baughman
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Little, Brown Books for Young Readers
Published: 2019-09-02T16:00:00+00:00

Chapter 15

When I get to the biological station, Tai’s waiting at the door, rolling a soccer ball around under his foot. “Mom wants to talk to us,” he says. “She wants to explain about that chemical that’s polluting the lake. Starts with an f?”

“Ph,” I say. “Phosphorus. But where’s Mr. Dale?” Usually he’s the one who walks us through the science of what we’re doing on Maple Lake.

“He’s around,” Tai says. “Mom just said she wanted to tell us some stuff too. Be ‘involved’ in our ‘education’ or something.”

Tai stays behind me as we walk inside. I can hear the soccer ball spinning on his finger and feel him lunge to catch it when it falls. Just before we get to Dr. Li’s office, he stashes it behind a chair in the hallway.

I can feel nervousness, like a current, coursing through Tai as we open the office door. But whenever I see Dr. Li, I feel calm inside. Her voice is so steady, even when she’s explaining complicated things. She moves quickly, but smoothly and quietly too, like there’s a clear purpose for everything she does. I’m pretty sure there is. For someone who just got here, like Darren pointed out, she sure is working hard to help Maple Lake.

“Your next research assignment will build directly off our recent water sample results,” Dr. Li says. “Repeated analyses distinctly show high levels of phosphorus, particularly after rainstorms when a lot of sediment has washed into the lake.”

“That makes sense,” I say.

“We’ll be working hard to determine some root causes,” Dr. Li continues. “There are many possibilities.”

“I’ve read about some of them,” I say. “How are we going to figure out what’s causing the problem?”

“Well, one of the tricky things about science,” Dr. Li says, “is that even though we can try our best to figure out the exact answer, sometimes we have to make some guesses too. It’s a little bit of a mystery.”

I’m definitely with her on that, even though I never realized it before.

“I’d like you to do some research specifically about possible causes of phosphorus pollution based on what you know about industry and activity in this area,” she says, “and present hypotheses to me. Mr. Dale can help as needed. Of course, Jake, Tasha, and I will be doing our own work with this, but it’s good practice for you to give it a try also.”

“Sounds good,” I say. Tai looks at the floor.

“Tai?” Dr. Li says. She looks at him sharply. “You need to be involved as well. You’re more than capable.”

Tai nods, but he doesn’t look at his mom. I watch his cheeks redden, and I think of the soccer ball hidden out in the hall.

I clear my throat. “Um. Dr. Li?” I ask. “Tai’s been super involved. I’m—glad he’s helping.”

Tai looks up at me, surprise flashing in his eyes.

Dr. Li looks a little surprised too. “I’m glad to hear that,” she says.

“He’s really smart,” I continue. “He was researching Maple Lake on his own the other day.

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