[This scene occurs in Mr. Bingo’s sixth grade class at the Princess Blue Leaf School for Girls in Dream City.]

As the girls took their seats, Monique asked, “Did you show Mr. Bingo the scrimshaw?”
Erin had written Monique in Paris about the ivory carving that had stuck to Dr. Griffin when he fell in the meteorite hole.

“Not yet,” Erin said.

“I thought you were going to -”
“Sh-h, Let’s talk about it later,” Erin said looking intently at Mr. Bingo as he stood before his class.

Erin hadn’t hushed Monique out of respect for her teacher.  She didn’t want to talk to him – or anybody else about the carving.  The scrimshaw might be valuable or historical, and they would take it away.

She liked the cool smoothness of the ivory and the picture of the girl who looked a little like her. Dr. Griffin had discovered the object and given it to her. When she took it, she knew it wasn’t really hers, or even his. But the ivory had spoken to her somehow, and it felt like hers now. She kept it in the darkness of her pocket and took it with her wherever she went.