Science  Write  Now

“We were doing the Periodic Table
of Elements and Mia got Aluminum.
I wanted Aluminum. I’m mad at Mia
for taking Aluminum when she didn’t
even want it. Not the way I did.
I really, really wanted Aluminum.
Because I like its name and its atomic
number, which is 13. Instead I got Boron
which is boring and rhymes with “moron”
and I just know somebody is going to
think of that. And everybody has to fit
their Element on an 8 x 5 index card,
with its name and chemical symbol
and atomic number on the front, and the story
of how it got discovered or isolated
on the back. Aluminum’s chemical symbol
is Al, which looks like A-one, like A-plus
one. But Boron’s chemical symbol is just B
which is blah, and its atomic weight is 11
which is the age of my older brother Josh
who’s mean. And on top of everything Kelsey
got Carbon which is so unfair because
her father drills oil wells for a living
and she’s already like the most popular girl
in the whole school and she lives in a big
house on a hill and I hate science now
because it’s so random and it really makes
absolutely no sense at all.”