The Next Great Paulie Fink

Caitlyn reflects on the “tricks” television uses to pass time quickly, comparing the fast pace of TV to the slower pace of reality. Caitlyn wishes it were Mira’s sleepover already and that she could edit the time down into a short montage. 

At school, Mags makes connections between ancient Greece and the modern world. The Devlinshire rivalry sparks discussion of the Olympics; strong women inspire lessons on Athena, Artemis, and the Amazons; and role-playing games lead to conversations about gorgons, three-headed dogs, and other creatures. Mags uses Paulie to teach about Herodotus, an ancient historian who collected stories from across the Hellenic world. Mags’s stories inspire Caitlyn to tell a story to Fuzzy each day at lunch. One day at lunch, Glebus enters the cafeteria to announce Zucchini Day, and the whole school cheers.

Mr. Farabi instructs all the students to sort zucchini into launchers, “zukeballs,” and ones that students can take for eating. Students in lower grades bake, while the seventh graders launch zucchinis with catapults. Diego invokes Paulie’s name before launching one zucchini in a perfect arc. Students then play zukeball, which is “like baseball.” Afterward, the seventh graders clean the field and feed the zucchinis to the