Dragonfly Girl by Marti Leimbach

Author:Marti Leimbach [Leimbach, Marti]
Language: eng
Format: epub
ISBN: 9780062995865
Google: lReRzQEACAAJ
Amazon: 0062995863
Publisher: HarperCollins Publishers
Published: 2021-02-23T00:00:00+00:00

16

I WAKE UP feeling rat whiskers against my cheek. I open my eyes and see Cornelius chewing one of the many electrical cords that weave across Dmitry’s work station. I sit up quickly, startling him so that he runs, and then I have to fish him out from behind a ring stand. The clever rat has even managed to chew off his IV.

He’s in fine shape for an animal that was dead hours ago. He still has signs of a heart condition, his sides working hard as he breathes. But he’s alive, bending his head up to sniff me as I hold him against my chest.

I can’t wait to tell Dmitry. Between the two of us we’ve come up with a kind of protocol for bringing back recently dead organisms. Cornelius is proof. The strangest part is that it doesn’t feel strange. Just another of science’s discoveries that will one day be taken for granted.

I don’t know exactly what to do with Cornelius. Do I put him back with the other rats? Do I keep him separate and show him to Munn when he arrives this morning? What will Munn think, anyway?

I take Cornelius off to the coffee bar and let him lick sugar water from my palm as I prepare some tea for Dmitry. I find some cookies and offer one to Cornelius. It gives me a special thrill to see him take it in his paws and chew off a piece.

“You’re going to be a famous rat,” I tell him.

I hear footsteps, then a loud moan of disgust. I don’t need to look around to know that it’s Will.

“Oh Gaaawd!” he says, stomping toward me. “Do we now have two mad women who carry rats around like handbags?”

“Good morning, Will,” I say. “Did you have a nice weekend?”

“Not particularly. Do you realize how many violations of good laboratory practice you are committing? First, we shouldn’t even have a coffee bar right here in the middle of the building like this. Second, that disgusting little creature you treat like a teddy bear ought to have been pronged ages ago—” Despite his protests about the coffee bar being in breach of laboratory practice, he begins setting up his own double espresso. “Why are you here, anyway? It’s the morning. Aren’t you usually in class in the mornings?”

“I—” I’m bursting to reveal everything that happened last night, but Will doesn’t deserve to be the first to hear of the experiment’s success. By all rights, that should be Dmitry.

“Get rid of that,” Will says, pointing at Cornelius.

“He’s very important. Leave him alone.”

He reaches for Cornelius, clasping him by the tail.

“Don’t touch him!” I say. But it’s too late. Will has Cornelius upside down by the base of his tail. Cornelius lets out a screech.

“Stop it! He’ll have another heart attack!”

Will finds this amusing. He starts to laugh while I wrestle Cornelius out of his hands. Then I rush to the staircase.

“Where are you going now?” Will says. “We’ve got work to do.”

We’re

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