Chem C500 by Noreen

When I was 10 or 11 I fancied myself a junior scientist, and for Christmas that year I requested a real microscope and awesome chemistry set. I’m not sure what prompted this tangent, but maybe I had arrived at an age too old for Care Bears and Cabbage Patch Dolls, yet too young to care much for clothes. Thrilled with my acquisition, I set up shop in our large, windowless, cold storage room. I can’t remember if my mom requested this set up, incase any experiments went awry, or if I decided it was the only appropriate place to set up a secret lab. Regardless, I spent hours experimenting at card table, under a bare light bulb, surrounded by food storage, Christmas ornaments and outgrown clothes. No cure for cancer was discovered in my chilly secret lab, but my love of learning and curiosity grew along with my rock crystals.

Last week Daniel begged me to order him a Chemistry set (the Chem C500 to be exact) from one of the many homeschool catalogs that circulate our home. It didn’t take many puppy dog looks before I placed the order. The anticipation and arrival of said Chem C500 was worthy of Christmas itself. After finishing his chores on Monday, in record time, he ripped into the box and extracted his prize. Daniel donned the cheep plastic goggles we spent the whole morning experimenting. The next morning brought the same, except this time he used swimming goggles after the cheep ones snapped.

He is very serious when experimenting, sure that the wrong move will blow up the house, which I think is the part he likes best - the possibility of danger. He can be heard saying,

“Janey, put your goggles on!” or

“Watch out Janey, this might be a real acid I’ve created.”

After turning a blue liquid red he said sincerely, “That’s interesting, I may have created a new chemical.”

To which Janey, his faith lab assistant said, “He’s actually a REAL scientist!”