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Dellarobia felt an unaccusto and pink-note threats, which were handled by the proficient Miss Rose and two helpers she’d wrangled for the day Some of the kids knew she was Preston’s mother, but for this field trip she had acquired an aura of special esteee evidently on par with the principal or Dora the Explorer Obviously the class had been prepped Dellarobia had no prior experience in this realard and physical deference They did not tug unrely on her liar in charge

They began their field trip in the lab, where Ovid understandably had safety concerns His coht kids at a time just inside the door for a quick lecture while they waited to be shuttled in groups to the top of the High Road One of the teacher-helpers drove a van The livestock that shared real estate here with science becae Sheep, especially while undertaking their bodily functions, proved vastly ood sport "That is biology too," he said serenely, during a particularly worthy expulsion ofhad been all Dellarobia’s idea She and Ovid had had several well-te scientists, and this see place, he had to consent He wasn’t crazy about the interruption, but warentle teacher who’d pointed at Preston their first night at supper and declared hied Preston’s life You never knehich split secondall that went before fro that comes next Ovid was patient with their questions about scientists (Do they like to blow up stuff? Could you eneral butterfly topic They responded well to any e butterfly or a wildly striped caterpillar, the bold fellohose hugely nified photo was tacked to the wall of the lab These colors are a stop sign, Ovid explained, warning other creatures not to eat hiht very well throw up Or even die! Dellarobia was touched to see him dressed as she’d never seen hiartners Like a slightly ers

Fro swarements from one hive to another Dr Byron promised to join them up there to answer more questions at lunchtime, by which Dellarobia hoped he meant in thirty minutes or less Meanwhile she was to take the reins The walk from the van to the study site was eventful In addition to the pine cone hich devolved to a beetle-throwing contest, there were soood deal one irls felt they saw a bear or a deer, which occasioned so None of it threw Miss Rose, their young teacher whose perfectly streaked, flipped hairdo, cool furry boots, and earnest co respect for the endeavor of kindergarten Like Ovid’s tie Dellarobia felt underdressed, prepared for a regular science day A small boy in a puffy white jacket like the Michelin Man walked very close to her, constantly picking up the caps of acorns fro He was a them She probably pocketed thirty in the distance of a hundred yards He called theirls walked in a little assee just behind Dellarobia with an air of the chosen Their know-it-all leader announced the na: cabbage, water sprout, hash plant Where did she get that?

A few children noticed the butterflies as they approached the roost, craning their necks to declaiasping goshes and s Dellarobia heard a few soft curses, probably channeled directly from parents or TV Butterfly trees, encapsulated branches, prickling trunks: she tried to see it as new, through their eyes Trees covered with corn flakes She wished it were one of the ical days when the butterflies swirled like autu for these kids, who seemed unacquainted on principle with the outdoors Only four had been up here before, two besides Preston and Josefina, though all claimed to have seen it on TV Today was cold; there was no movement in the trees, and winter had taken its toll This roost had held upward of fifteen million monarchs, by Ovid’s early estimates, but had suffered about a 60 percent loss, much of that in the last feeeks Even now they dropped, the pattering sound of little deaths almost continuous So close to the end, they were literally failing to hang on

In the little clearing of the study site, the kids settled in a half circle on their sit-upons, which were doubled squares of waterproof fabric stitched together with yarn in anticipation of this very occasion They had tie-strings and were meant to be worn around the waist like a backward apron, but that didn’t work out, so Miss Rose carried them fro last sat upon When asked to give Mrs Turnbow their full attention, the children’s settling down looked like popcorn in a hot-air popper, but in ti bolt Dellarobia was nervous, as new to this as any of them, but did her best to tell the story That the striped caterpillar is also the orange butterfly, not different but the sarown-up is still one person, though they look very different That the forest of butterflies is really all one thing too, the monarch She explained how the caterpillar eats only one plant, theAnd she told how they fly Carrying a secret est ti out with their friends, until one day the soo A thousand ht years to a butterfly, to a place they’ve never been Probably they never even knew they could do that

At soe in the children’s attention and blushed scarlet to realize he’d been behind her, listening She was finished anyway Ovid, tall and stunning in his tie and genuine overcoat, not his ordinary field gear, clapped his hands slowly and sincerely for Dellarobia, inciting Miss Rose and the children to do the same He said he didn’t have ood about seeing these butterflies here Their ordinary ho cut down and cli He asked the kids if they ever had a big change at home they didn’t like Every hand went up Dellarobia envisioned tales of broken transfore could hardly differentiate levels of grief--but Ovid kept to the subject of the wider world and its da a bit careless