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grinned. “In that case, let’s discuss how we’re going to go about this. We’ll need to start by hammering out our hypothesis…” He laughed. “I’m so excited I’ve already forgotten to be sensible. Your homework for this evening, you’ll need to take care of that first.”
    “It’s finished,” I said in a rush.
    He stopped and looked at me, frowning. I felt myself flushing with shame for the lie. “Mr. Dawes,” he said, “if we’re to work together, I need to be able to trust you. Can I expect to be able to do that?”
    “Yes, sir. I’m sorry.”
    “All right, then,” he said, patting my shoulder. “Go finish your work for the evening. Tomorrow, after your homework is done, if it isn’t curfew yet, come find me and we’ll see what we can accomplish.”
    I perked up. “Yes, sir! I’ll get it all done before dinner.”
    He squeezed my shoulder and smiled. “Take as long as you need. If we don’t have time tomorrow or even the rest of this week, there’s always the weekend. Now, run along and get your work done. I’ll see you tomorrow if all goes well.”
    “Yes, sir. Thank you, sir!” I hurried out the door and back to my room in full defiance of gravity—I’m sure my feet never touched the ground.
    -
    With the promise of uninterrupted time in the lab with Dr. Okoro as the reward for my focus and productivity, homework was no obstacle. Most days, I finished it before the dinner bell. When I hadn’t, I would take my homework with me to the lab. It always got done at some point.
    The very first evening we worked together, Dr. Okoro asked me about my previous experience with lab work. When I told him, he stared at me.
    “Never? You’ve never worked in a lab before? Never done any practical or applied work in any scientific subject?”
    It didn’t seem so astonishing to me. I was only eight, and until a few weeks before, I had lived in a place where I couldn’t even count on having electricity.
    “No, sir. Never.”
    “Didn’t your parents and teachers know about your interests, and your potential? Didn’t they encourage your talents and help you pursue your education?”
    I chuckled. I couldn’t help it. The thought of either of my parents—or in fact, anyone from my old neighborhood—even setting foot in a lab was too absurd. “No, sir. I’m from Abenez.”
    He gasped. “Abenez?”
    “Yes, sir.”
    He looked at me with pity on his face, and I turned away to hide my anger. He’d been kind to me as no other adult here had, but his reaction birthed a fear that he too would prejudge me, reject me, for something so meaningless as the place of my birth.
    “Then I’m even more grateful that you’re here now, Mr. Dawes.”
    My chest filled with happiness and I returned to my work, smiling.

fg 6
    At first, Dr. Okoro was scrupulous about the rules. He would set an alarm to remind me to go back to my room in time for curfew. But as our project progressed, he grew lax, sometimes ignoring the alarm or forgetting to set it altogether. When this would happen, he would record an authorization for me so that I wouldn’t be penalized for missing curfew. Sometimes the Head of Dormitories wasn’t in the mood to honor the authorization, but on those occasions I took my punishment without complaint and kept Dr. Okoro in the dark.
    Dr. Okoro turned out to be single-minded in the pursuit of his science. I soon learned the reason for the blanket on the couch. We often worked late into the night, taking turns napping on the couch when our enthusiasm made it seem reasonable to push past the body’s need for actual sleep.
    One night I was already fighting my drooping eyelids when he said, “I’m not sure this is going to work. Hansen would roll over in his grave if he saw this.”
    “Hansen?”
    Dr. Okoro looked at me as if he’d forgotten I was there. He grinned and ruffled my hair. “Hansen, Hansen’s Law of Thermodynamics. If he’s correct—and he’s been correct for centuries—this