The Red Line of the New Stirling subway, which ran from Meridian International Airport to downtown, was jammed and rocking with rush hour commuters. Beatrix Flannery, age thirteen, clamped her arm around a pole to keep her footing in the jostling crowd, while her sister Hortensia, older by eight years, teetered on half a seat […]
Category > Bea and the Smart Kids
Chapter 2
Beatrix Flannery would be the first to tell you—it’s not easy being the dumbest person you know. But what she did do, and do well, was notice things. She noticed, for example, that the Red Line had just squealed to a halt at their subway stop, and she gave Hortensia a quick shake. Luckily it […]
Chapter 3
It was a crisp Fall morning, and a smattering of leaves blew into the foyer as Kitty, Michael-Dan, and Gordy hauled their backpacks out the door for eight o’clock classes. “Perfect weather!” exclaimed Gordy. “Two degrees cooler than the mean temperature for October 5! Thanks Mervin Frostly!” Bea was sitting on the front steps, inscribing […]
Chapter 4
Bea propped both elbows on the turquoise countertop at Tylo’s Corner Tea Shop. “One strawberry bubble tea, please,” she said to Tylo, whose dreadlocks were caught up in a red hairnet that matched his cherry red shirt. “Same thing for me,” said Nola. “But peach.” “Ladies…” said Tyrone as he set his blenders to whirring, […]
Chapter 5
Petra the housekeeper swept through the cluttered kitchen of 107 Crotchett Street with a half-empty pot of oatmeal. “You vex me,” she huffed. “You children and your fake food.” “Koo-Bars aren’t fake food,” argued Gordy who, as far as Petra was concerned, had eaten an intolerably small helping of oatmeal. “Here, try it!” He broke […]
Chapter 6
Bea reflexively snapped her two cupped hands around the flying white mouse, and deposited it back in the terrarium. Hortensia quickly secured the lid. “No,” said Bea. “Not good. The same thing is happening to Bob.” “Bob who?” asked Hortensia as she riffled through her notes on the counter. “Bob the fruit cart pony,” replied […]
Chapter 7
Hortensia scowled suspiciously at the now-open circular glass compartment. “This can’t be the only way in,” she said. “It’s the only way they’re offering us,” replied Bea. She took Hortensia by the hand and pulled her into the module. “Feels sort of like being in a French press coffeepot, doesn’t it?” “I like tea,” said […]
Chapter 8
Bea left Hortensia to help Miles collect his official government information. She was sure they could manage without her help, and besides, she really needed to investigate this latest wrinkle—Bean-Tek as “Official Sponsor” of NSU alumni weekend. What could this possibly mean? Something bad, Bea was certain. She dodged around the students clustered in the […]
Chapter 9
What was Prince Nerl of the North Waddo Islands doing in New Stirling, and why was he meeting with Hiram Scalmo? Bea gave a fleeting thought to running after him, but by the time she’d decided to do it, he’d climbed into a taxicab and sped off. Bea turned around to see Odin and Nola […]
Chapter 10
No one had much of an appetite at dinner, and even Petra couldn’t bring herself to push more food onto the glum crew brooding around the table. “I suppose,” said Michael-Dan, poking his peas into a neat line, “that I can get a job cutting hair.” “You’re too young to get a job,” Bea pointed […]
Chapter 11
Bea stifled an urge to reply “Thanks, Mervin Frostly!” as she held out the tea tray to the little man on the floor. He was bald except for a fringe of red and silvery curls that started above one sticking-out ear, and ran around his head to the other. He wore heavy brown plastic-framed glasses, […]
Chapter 12
“Jiminy, but that’s disappointing,” said Mervin Frostly with a sad shake of his head. “She was so efficient.” Bea looked around the room. Frostly was clearly a man of many interests, but keeping organized was not one of them. No wonder he needed an assistant, very much like Hortensia needed her. “You’ll find someone else,” […]
Chapter 13
“You’re going to Bean-Tek?” asked Nola. “What in the world can you do, once you get there?” “I don’t know yet,” replied Bea. “Make sure the kids are safe…jam the koo-bar machines! I’ll think of something!” Bea scanned the streetscape. Students were now emptying out of the Mervin Frostly Science building behind them, and with […]
Chapter 14
Bea picked herself up from the sidewalk, and brushed the snow off her jeans. “So guys, what do you think? I’m going in through the roof,” she said, motioning toward Bob, who was neatly folding his wings into a more settled posture. “It does appear to be anatomically feasible,” said Nola. “He reminds me a […]
Chapter 15
This was the first time Bob had ever tried to land, and he did it with a few extra fumbling steps that pitched Odin off his back and left Bea clinging fiercely to his mane. But once foot-sure, he gave a self-satisfied snort and looked at Bea as if wondering whether she were ready to […]
Chapter 16
Bea surmised that Bean-Tek assigned its more absent-minded scientific types to the greenhouse and plant cultivation level of the building, because she and Odin found they were able to stroll down the corridor outside the greenhouse with nothing more than a slightly purposeful air about them, and no one paid them any attention. But this […]
Chapter 17
“I guess,” said Gordy, “one little shot is a small price to pay for a lifetime supply of Koo-Bars.” “No!” Bea interjected, as quietly as she could to avoid attracting attention. “No shots! It’s Ugh! It’s ‘UN growth hormone!’” “You talk to him Kitty,” suggested Odin. “After all, this is chemistry…or, I guess, biochemistry. That […]
Chapter 18
It was on an unseasonably mild November day that a crew of landscapers took jackhammers to the concrete sidewalks surrounding 2151 Glummer Place, former headquarters of Bean-Tek Industries, and turned them into rubble. Bea looked up at Mola Peggi, who was standing beside her in a cold weather edition of the classic Waddongan shimmering fish-skin […]
BEA AND THE SMART KIDS
BREAKFAST OF SCALLYWAGS
HUNTING THE ROSE
THE LEGEND OF LOGJAM