Fundraising Flop No 1 To future historians who find this journal here’s some advice 1 Long streams of paper towel taped together and tied to your friend’s back with string make decent moth wings Until it rains Then they just turn into drippy white glop 2 Always get permission from the librarian before you act out a dramatic skit inside the library Apparently But it’s raining outside is not a good enough excuse Neither is But it’s to raise money for Science Squad I blame Laura The skit was her idea She’d read something online about this library in a palace in Portugal that lets bats live in its walls At night they fly around the stacks eating the moths so the moths don’t eat the library books Laura sounded so reasonable when she described her theatrical vision TK can be a moth You’ll be a bat I’ll be 5
the narrator And the director Plus I’ll pass around a bucket for donations Shouldn’t we do a skit about Wisconsin bats TK dared to ask After all we’re trying to raise money to detect the sound of bats in Wisconsin Not some palace in Portugal That question got the expected response Laura’s eyebrows formed an upside-down V and her mouth made a sound like a whinnying horse TaKwon Davis can you find a better bat-in-the-library story TK shook his head and shot me a terrified glance That’s what I thought You can tape paper towels together to make moth wings And Bru you can use a black or brown blanket for bat wings So it was settled at least Laura seemed to think so And of course it was a disaster I couldn’t find any black or brown blanket or any kind of dark-colored cloth so my bat wings were made of blue-and-white-striped sheets Mom let me cut them up because they were worn out In our basement I found a headband with little brown plastic ears so I wore those but they made me look more like a chihuahua than a bat 6 SCIENCE SQUAD
We started the play with me chasing the moth aka TK around the bushes in front of the Ingotville Public Library Laura gave a speech to the few snickering people who bothered to stop Honestly with all the running and flapping I didn’t hear everything she said It involved key phrases like bats are insectivores and beneficial to our ecology and most importantly Please give money to Science Squad She held out the little blue plastic beach bucket that she’d borrowed from her little sister One guy put in a quarter The rest just walked away Then a huge sudden rain almost drowned us When TK ran inside the library wet paper-towel wings stuck to his back Laura yelled Keep chasing him bat She was the director so in I went Also it was pouring rain so I didn’t need much convincing Mrs Kent can be a helpful librarian but she can also get a little grouchy She crossed her arms and scowled stopping TK in his tracks And then I crashed into TK Brubeck Ferrell what is going on Mrs Kent asked I wanted to point out that there were three of us dripping on her floor so it was unfair to pick on just me But I kept my mouth shut Mrs Kent and I have what Mom’s girlfriend Ginger calls a difficult relationship And 7 Nocturnal Symphony
