Take Me with You

by Catherine Ryan Hyde

“If it’s so great, why is Henry crying?” “He does that sometimes when he’s happy. Well, not happy exactly. When he thought he was in trouble and then it turns out he’s safe. When he feels . . . what’s the word?” “Relieved?” “Yeah,” Seth said. “That.”

Maybe the school was the problem, August thought. Maybe everybody wants a science lesson if they’re sitting in the middle of one of the greatest geothermal wonders of the world. Maybe we’ve removed all the relevance from the information we teach kids so they have no idea why they should care. Maybe it’s not the kids’ fault. Maybe we made the first mistake.