The Fourteenth Goldfish

They change buses four times on their way to Melvin’s lab. He remembers how Ellie’s grandmother used to love riding on the bus and dreamed of a cross-country bus trip, but they never took one because Melvin was always too busy. She loved wearing slippers. He misses her.

They exit near a group of old, numbered brick buildings. Number 24 is Melvin’s lab. He tells Ellie how to find and retrieve his jellyfish. She uses his key card, enters a side door, and walks down a hall but is stopped by a guard. She says her father works there; he asks for more information, but she panics and runs back out. She and Melvin hurry away.

They hide at a taco store until the coast is clear. Melvin is proud of Ellie’s effort but disagrees that she failed. He says, “Scientists fail all the time. You tried. That’s what counts” (69-70). The secret is to keep trying, like Marie Curie, who won a Nobel Prize for her research on radiation. Ellie asks if she will ever win such a prize; Melvin says, “Of course.”