Copyright statement: This is an original work by the author. Any resemblance to any person, living or dead, is unintentional and coincidental. The writer retains all rights to this work, and the copyright may not be infringed.
This is a sequel to
Camping Adventure . Pin Pin is a Siamese kitten, Maleek is a Sun bear cub, and Einstein is a blue hare.
To be like Einstein - A kids' story
“Einstein, look. That’s your name, isn’t it?” Pin Pin asks, pointing to a name underneath a picture of an old man with funny hair and a big moustache.
“Aye, it is.” Einstein and Maleek look at the picture in amazement. “He doesn’t ken how to comb his hair,” says Einstein, making his friends laugh.
“Ken? What’s that?” Pin Pin asks.
“Ken? Oh, it means know in Scotland,” answers Einstein.
“It says here that Albert Eistein was a famous scientist. Do you think that your parents named you after him?” Maleek asks.
“Maybe.” Einstein shrugs. “What is a scientist?”
“A scientist is someone who do cool stuff to find out how things work. They call it experiment,” says Pin Pin, thumping her long tail to make her point.
“What kind of cool stuff?” asks Einstein.
“Well…” Pin Pin glances around and finds the book she is looking for. “Look here; see the man in the white coat?”
“Yes.” “Aye.”
“Can you see the two liquids he is trying to mix? The liquids are called chemicals and he wants to find out what will happen if he mixes them together.”
“Cool! Will it explode?” Einstein asks excitedly.
“Maybe,” says Pin Pin.
“It sounds dangerous,” Maleek says carefully.
“I’m sure it isn’t. Hey! I have an idea. Why don’t we do our own experiments?” Pin Pin suggests.
Einstein’s bright brown eyes sparkles. “Good idea. But what can we experiment with?”
“We promised Mr. and Mrs. Mickles that we will be good if they let us stay home with the maid,” Maleek reminds his friends.
“We are just doing experiments. People do them all the time,” says Pin Pin, waving away Maleek’s concern.
Einstein’s nose and whiskers twitch nervously. “As long as we are quiet and don’t disturb the maid, I don’t think my parents will be angrrry,” he says, rolling his ‘r’ like any good Scottish boy.
Maleek shakes his shaggy head. “I still think this isn’t a good idea.”
“Don’t be a spoil sport,” says Pin Pin as she rises gracefully to her paws. “Come on.”
The three friends pad quietly their way to the kitchen, Einstein hopping ahead of the other two.
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The excitement makes Pin Pin giggle.
“Shh…don’t make so much noise,” Einstein whispers. “We will wake the maid up. Okay, Pin Pin, what are we going to do?”
Pin Pin looks around, thumping her tail in rhythm. “First rule of doing experiments; we need to get all the things for the experiment.”
“What experiment are we doing?” Maleek asks. Both he and Einstein look at Pin Pin.
Her blue eyes twinkle mischievously. “Let’s see what we have,” she says.
The other two nod. Maleek, being the tallest, stands on his hind legs and open the top cabinet. “I see oil, flour, and some coloured bottles. I think they are food colouring,” he reports back to his friends.
Pin Pin grins as an idea strikes her. Her tail swishes faster as she become more excited. “Great, Maleek! Einstein, what do you have?”
Einstein pokes his head inside one of the lower cabinets until only his ears can be seen. His voice sounded funny when he speaks inside the cabinet. “Nothing much. Just some bowls and cups.”
“That’s good. Bring them out. Maleek, why don’t you take the oil and the food colouring?”
“Are you sure? They’re glassware.”
“Don’t worry, Einstein. We’ll be careful.”
“What are we doing?” Maleek asks again.
Pin Pin put one brown paw on his huge shoulder and grins widely. “Imagine that both of you are my helpers while I’m the great Einstein.”
“Hey! I should be Einstein. It’s my name,” Einstein points out.
“You can be Einstein, next time. After all, this is my idea,” Pin Pin tells him.
Einstein tilts his head and considers what Pin Pin said. “Okay, next time it will be my turn.”
“Sure. Now, Maleek, can you fill up two bowls of water?”
Maleek goes to the tap and fills up the glass bowls with water. He holds each bowl carefully between his paws as he walks back to the table.
Einstein tries to open the bottles of food colouring while Pin Pin pours the oil into a cup. “This bottle is difficult to open,” Einstein says, his face turning red.
“Let me help you.” Maleek takes the bottle out of Einstein’s paws and easily turns the bottle cap open.
“Wow, you are strong,” says Einstein admiringly.
Pin Pin rolls her eyes. “He is a bear. Of course he is strong. Now, can we get back to our experiment?”
“You still haven’t told us what we are going to do.”
“Maleek, see these two bowls? See the bottle of food colouring and the glass of oil?”
“Yes? What about them?”
“They are all liquids, aren’t they?” Einstein asks excitedly, remembering the earlier picture of the man mixing liquids. “Are we going to mix them?”
“Right, Einstein. You make a good helper.”
Einstein smiles widely at Pin Pin’s praise.
“These aren’t chemicals, are they?” Maleek asks nervously. “I don’t want to get into trouble.”
“Of course not, silly,” scolds Pin Pin. “Maleek, where is your sense of adventure?”
“We promised Einstein’s parents and I don’t want to break it.”
“They won’t know if we finish with this before they return.”
Maleek frowns. “It seems wrong.”
“Okay, Maleek,” says Pin Pin impatiently. “If you are so afraid, why don’t you sit in one corner and we will continue without you?”
Einstein shakes his head. He doesn’t like his friends fighting. “Don’t fight, please. I don’t think we will get in trrrouble, Maleek. Besides, don’t you want to see what Pin Pin is going to do?”
Maleek uses his claws to scratch his head. He wants to watch what Pin Pin is going to do but he doesn’t want to get into trouble. “Okay, I will watch, but we must clean up before Mr. and Mrs. Mickles get home.”
“We will,” promise Einstein and Pin Pin.
“All right, so Pin Pin, what’s next?”
“Give me the bottle. We slowly pour the food colouring into this bowl and see the change.”
The three friends watch excitedly as the green food colouring mixes with the water and spreads like smoke, twirling and curling, until the water in the bowl turns green.
“Cool! Just a little food colourrring can turn the water green.” Einstein is amazed at the change. “If we put rrred food colourrring, will it turn rrred?”
“Why don’t you try it?” Pin Pin passes the red food colouring bottle to him. “Go ahead.”
Einstein’s nose twitches in excitement. He takes the bottle from Pin Pin and starts pouring the red colouring into the second bowl. The same effect takes place and soon the water becomes red.
Maleek picks up the cup of oil and asks his friends, “Will the oil do the same thing to the water?”
Pin Pin shakes her head. “I don’t think so. Oil is thicker than water.”
“Pour and find out, Maleek,” says Einstein.
Maleek stares at the oil in the cup and finally decides to pour. Drop by drop, the golden liquid falls into the bowl of water, almost like rain.
“It’s like golden rain,” says Einstein as he watches the oil fall. “But it doesn’t mix with the water. See there?” He points to a droplet which goes in the water and then rises to the top.
“My mother tells me that oil and water don’t mix,” Maleek says.
“But food colourrring and water do?” asks Einstein.
“It looks that way from the experiment,” says Pin Pin. “So now we learn that some liquids mix and some don’t.” She grinned widely. “We are so clever!”
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“CRING!CRING!” The door bell rings.
“Oh nae! My parents are hame!” says Einstein. His Sottish accent is thicker when he is upset.
“Quick! We better clean up the bowls and cups,” says Pin Pin, taking one of the glass bowls into her paws.
“CRASH!”
“Ouch!” Pin Pin looks at the cut on her paw.
“Oh no! Pin Pin, are you all right?” asks Maleek. “Einstein, no. Don’t move. You might get cut too.”
“What is going on here?” Mr. Mickles looks sternly at the three children.
“Oh dear, Pin Pin. You are bleeding.” Mrs. Mickles carries Pin Pin to the sink and washes her paws. “Let me put a band aid on the cut. There nou, all better.” She gave Pin Pin a hug.
“Don’t you children ken that you are not supposed to play with glass?” asks Mr. Mickles sternly. “See how Pin Pin has been hurt? Didn’t you promise to be good?”
Maleek steps forward bravely. “I’m sorry, sir.” His voice shakes with fear.
Einstein’s eyes become wide. He steps up next. “Nae, Papa. It is my faut (fault). I told them that you won’t mind.”
Pin Pin bites her lips and steps out of Mrs. Mickles arms. “No, Mr. Mickles. It is all my idea. I wanted to experiment like Einstein.”
“Einstein?” Mrs. Mickles asks.
“Yes, Einstein, the scientist, Mrs. Mickles,” says Pin Pin
“Ay, Mama. Pin Pin says I can be Einstein next,” Einstein says as he turns to face his mother.
“And we learn a lot, Mr. Mickles. We learn that some liquids mix and others don’t,” Maleek tells Einstein’s father.
Mr. and Mrs. Mickles look at each other before Mr. Mickles says, “All right, I see why this seems like a good idea for you. But you cannot do experiments without an adult around, understand?”
“Yes, sir,” all three children say.
“Because you break your promise, you must be punish. So tonight, you will not have supper and you cannot watch television,” says Mr. Mickles sternly.
“Nou children, you cannae come into the kitchen. Go to your room, and clean up there,” orders Mrs. Mickles.
“Ay, Mama.” The three children slowly climb up the stairs and clean Einstein’s room.
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“Einstein, your room is a mess!” complains Pin Pin. They have been cleaning his room for hours.
“Pin Pin, your room is just as messy,” Einstein answers.
“Stop it, both of you. Can we just finish cleaning?” Maleek scolds. “My stomach is growling.”
“Ay, I’m hungrry,” says Einstein.
“I’m hungry too.”
“KNOCK, KNOCK.”
“Mama?”
“I brrought some milk and biscuits fur you,” says Mrs. Mickles.
“YAY!” the three children shout.
“Thank you, Mrs Mickles,” Maleek says.
“It seems you have finished cleaning up in here. Nou, you go an’ brrrush your teeth before you sleep,” Mrs. Mickles tells them.
Soon bedtime arrives. Mr. and Mrs. Mickles take turns to tell the children bedtime stories. Mrs. Mickles tucks the children in and kisses them one by one.
“Guidnicht Mama, Papa.”
“Goodnight Mrs. Mickles.”
“Goodnight Mr. Mickles.”
“Guidnicht children.”
The door closes and someone sighes in the dark.
“What’s wrong Einstein?”
“Do you think my parents will let us do experiments again?”
“Yes, your father says so. We just have to have an adult around,” Maleek reminds him.
“I want to be like Einstein,” says Einstein.
Pin Pin has been trying to sleep. “SHH! Go to sleep, Einstein. You can be Einstein tomorrow. Now, sleep!”
The room grows quiet as all three of them fall asleep.
