Episode Four: Rosa & La Cera de los Oidos

"Hello? Hellooooooooo?" Stanley and Mia sang in unison. They were trying to get Rosa's attention.
Rosa had her fingers in her ears. She was moving them around with such vigor that Mia briefly wondered if it was possible for a finger to break off inside one's own ear.

"Rooooosssssaaaaaa!" Mia caught up and tapped her on the back. Rosa spun around. She pulled her fingers out with a satisfying pop. She smiled and shoved her hands in her pockets.

Mia and Stanley needed Rosa's advice.

"What?" asked Rosa.

"The science fair! We have a quest-- hey wait a second. What were you doing with your ears?"

"Yeah," said Stanley. "What's in your ears?"

"Nothing," Rosa replied. "What about the science fair. Actually nevermind. Ask your teacher. Or someone else. I have to go anyway. I'm babysitting today." She started to walk off again.

"Rosa. We need to know how to win. We know it has to do with the human body. And, like, you're really smart and your project last year was so cool. And maybe you can help us." Mia tried not to sound desperate. She stared at her own feet as she muttered on. "See, Stanley and I are working together and . . . " She looked up. Rosa had stopped, but she seemed to be digging at her ear again. Without even acknowledging Mia, she began to walk again.

Mia felt her hands get hot. She hated being ignored. She had tried so hard to be polite. She stomped her feet and clenched her fists.

She had had enough. "No! It's not okay. Rosa! What is so interesting about your ears anyway?" She shouted. Usually, she tried not to shout. But now her words came out loud and angry.

Rosa turned, red in the face, hands shoved in her pockets again. She took a deep breath that Mia recognized as something she was taught to do when angry. "Wax. Okay. I have a lot of ear wax. And right now, it really tickles. And it's really annoying. And I can't listen to you and be tickled in my ear at the same time. I don't even have to babysit. I just want to go home and get the wax out. Okay? That's all."

Stanley had been standing quietly. He piped up now. "Ear wax will come out on its own if you leave it alone!

Never use a cotton swab. 
Never use your doll named Bob. 
Every time we move our mouth,
The wax will start to work its way out!"

He grinned. "My mom taught me that."

Mia and Rosa stared at him. Rosa opened and closed her mouth. A tiny little golden flake fell onto her shoulder. She dusted it off, turned on her heel, and walked away without a word.

Mia looked at Stanley. Where did he come up with these things? "Doll named Bob, huh?"

Stanley shrugged. "Yeah."

"Let's go home, Stanley. We'll talk to Rosa another day."

Episode Three: Mia, Stanley, and El Cuerpo Humano

Mrs. Smith finally made The Big Announcement. Weeks of anticipation led to this moment. Weeks of anticipation for Mia and Stanley, at least. Not everyone was as excited as they were about this year's science fair theme. But that was okay. Their enthusiasm was enough for an entire classroom.

Every year, the school hosted a science fair. Students from every grade could participate as long as they stayed within that year's theme. Last year, the theme had been Geological Wonders. Mia and Stanley had wandered in awe around the rows of poster board. Sure, Mia had displayed a very respectable rock collection, but seeing what the Big Kids put together was enough to get her started thinking about the next school year. Second grade.

"I'm going to make a Big Announcement," said Mrs. Smith. She looked directly at Mia. Mia felt as if Mrs. Smith knew for sure how amazing Mia's project would be. Mrs. Smith then looked at Stanley and gave him a little wink. Then she looked over at the Ruiz twins and smiled broadly. Still, Mia was sure that Mrs. Smith had looked at her a little longer, a little more meaningfully.

Stanley squirmed in his seat. He and Mia had been talking about working together on their science fair project for months. He looked like he might cry with anticipation. Mia had a great idea if the theme had something to do with botany. She had already started small experiments at home with an aloe vera plant. And, Mia knew Stanley had a decent idea if the theme involved the solar system.

Mia leaned forward in her seat as Mrs. Smith yammered on about how important it was to study science. Or something. It was taking a long time to get to the point.

Please let the theme be plants, Mia whispered to herself. She looked over at Stanley who was muttering to himself as well. Okay, plants or planets. Either is okay. Please please please please.

"So I hope you will all enter. Now, onto today's Social Studies lesson."

She missed it. Mia had missed it. She was so busy praying for plants or planets, that she had missed the Big Announcement. She swung her head towards Stanley, who was wiping away a few tears.

"I missed it! What's the theme?"

Stanley looked at her, eyes red. "Not the solar system. That's all that matters."

"Plants?!" Mia still had hope. She had visions of goopy aloe vera juice paving the way to first place.

"We can still work together if ya want," said Stanley.

"PLANTS!"

"No. Not plants. Not the solar system. The theme is The Human Body."

Mia felt like she couldn't breathe. Her chest got tight and her heart beat faster. Her stomach suddenly felt heavy, as if her lungs had sunk right into the depths of her belly. She didn't think she had ever felt such disappointment. By the looks of Stanley, he hadn't either.

Wordlessly, she pulled out her social studies book and stared at the cover. The cover was composed of several small squares, each with a drawing of a historical event. One had a man hammering a large spike into a railroad. Another had a woman with flexed muscles, wearing a red kerchief. Another had an older man saluting an American flag. Mia stared at the pictures.  She tried to calm herself down, taking deep breaths, peering into each face on the cover. As she stared, a thought started to form.

"Psssst. Stanley. It's okay. We'll come up with something."

Stanley looked over, trying to avoid getting caught by Mrs. Smith. It was Independent Work time, after all. "Yeah? What?"

"I dunno yet. Something." Mia pointed to the book. "Human bodies are cool. They make history!"

Episode Two: Stanley and the Lágrimas

"Why are you crying?" Mia asked Stanley. Big salty drops fell from his eyes, slid down his cheeks, and landed in wet splotches on his grey t-shirt. Usually she could tell why he cried. It was often when she also felt like crying or laughing, but didn't quite get to that same point. This time was different. This time, she was just confused.

He grinned, and used his t-shirt sleeve to wipe his cheeks. "Ill tell you in just a sec," he sniffed.

Mia knew it didn't take much for Stanley to cry. In class earlier today, they had been learning about endangered species. When their teacher started talking about the Atlantic bluefin tuna, Mia looked over at Stanley. Sure enough, he was sitting, unblinking, absorbing the sadness of a species dying out. His cheeks were wet. "It's gonna be okay, Stanley," she had whispered. He looked over at her and nodded.

This afternoon though, he was nearly quivering with excitement. He clenched his fists. He jumped up and down, as if his eight-year-old body could not contain so much exuberance. Naturally, for Stanley, a few more tears squirted out. He took a few deep breaths, then turned to Mia, smiling brightly through his tears.

"Well?" Mia asked. She wondered if he would be able to speak, to explain himself.

"My eyes. I learned something about my eyes.  I know I cry a lot. My mom says I'm just sensitive."

"That's good. It's good to be sensitive. That's what Mrs. Smith said today," Mia replied.

"Yeah. Okay. Well." Stanley paused. Then in a single breath of rushed words, "Didyouknowsometearskeepoureyeballswetsotheydon'tgetscratched?"

"Our eyeballs?!"

"Yeah. Some types of tears help protect our eyeballs."

"Cool. What about the other types of tears?" Mia asked.

"I dunno."

"And . . . why were you crying? Why you so happy now?"

"Snacks, Mia. Snacks!"

"Snacks?"

"My mom got us new snacks today. Kiwis today. We get kiwis after school today."

Mia wished she had the same enthusiasm for furry brown fruit. At this very second, she could not think of a single piece of less exciting news. Yet, she did not want to disappoint Stanley.

She responded, "Cool."

Stanley looked at her, grinned, and let another tear drop from his eye.

Episode One: Mia and the Moquitos

Mia sneezed. A huge glob of glistening snot shot out her nose and landed on the sidewalk in front of her. It sat there, like a shaking alien, she thought. While she was reveling in how fantastic the sneeze had felt, Stanley looked at her, horrified.

 "EWWWW! MOCOS!" He shouted, his hand covering his mouth, his eyes nearly popping out of his head.

They were walking home from school. It had been a busy day in second grade. Several students in their class had been absent because of "some dang bug," the school nurse said. The walk home had started out pleasantly enough. Stanley prattled on about Minecraft and Mia sort of listened, but mostly looked up at the sky and waited to sneeze. She had felt the need to sneeze for at least the past eight minutes, and it was particularly hard to focus on someone talking about a video game (Was Minecraft a video game? She wasn't sure, but it was too late to ask now).

Now, of course, they focused more on her sneeze, specifically the snot. It stopped trembling on the sidewalk and settled into a tiny slimy puddle. "Mocos?" Mia asked.

"You know. Snot. Boogers. Gross. Don't you know you're supposed to cough and sneeze into your sleeve? Your elbow? Like a vampire?"

"It surprised me," Mia said. "I didn't know that was gonna come out like that. And it's so shiny." She giggled and wondered about the shininess.

Stanley recovered from his disgust and giggled a little too. They squatted down to look at it more closely. They were quietly debating whether or not to poke it with a stick to see if it jiggled again when a dark shadow fell over them. Mia stopped mid-sentence. Her heart began to beat faster. The shadow probably meant a big kid. Big kids came in a few forms, some of them very mean.

A pristine white sneaker came into view, a few inches from the snot. It tapped a few times to get their attention. Stanley and Mia both looked up. Up the long denim-coated legs, up the pink hoodie, up to a shadowed face. It was Rosa. They were relieved it was Rosa. You could never tell about some sixth graders. Without a hello, Mia asked, "What's the point of snot anyway?"

"Everyone has moquitos," said Rosa. Mia could tell Rosa knew what she was talking about. Rosa didn't even need a backpack. She had a purse. And, she won the school spelling bee last year, so she pretty much was an authority on anything. Rosa didn't tell them she had just learned about "mucous" in her health class that day. "It's a slime to coat the inside of our nose. It's other places in our body too, but that glob there is from your nose, isn't it? If we didn't have it, our inside-nose-skin would be so dry it would crack. Also, boogers traps germs. They stop the germs from entering our body and making us sick. Sometimes. Also. My teacher said it does something else. Some stuff in it actually helps fight germs. Anti--, anti--. UGH I can't remember what they're called. Anti--"

"Bodies!" Stanley shouted. He had wandered off while Rosa answered Mia's question. He was now a few feet away and squeamishly poking his toe at an anthill. Hundreds of ants were swarming. "Bodies. So many ant-y bodies," he said, as if to himself.

Rosa frowned. Ever since she had screamed at a spider in the school cafeteria, the whole school knew she wasn't a fan of creepy crawly things. She strode off, her sneakers slapping the sidewalk. Mia admired her posture and thought about the amazingness of boogers for about three seconds.

Then, she caught up to Stanley and yanked his arm. "We got to go," she said. Your mom said she'd let us have Takis if we got home on time today. Takis. Let's go."

Stanley looked up, eyes wide. "Okay."

They continued walking. A few steps later, Mia slipped slightly. She caught herself without falling, not realizing something green and slippery was now on the bottom of her shoe.