Finding Queen Calafia

6. A Visit to Professor Osborne

Talia sat at her desk in social studies watching plump raindrops roll lazily down the window. She fought, unsuccessfully, to stay awake. Twice now Mrs. Morton had caught her nodding off. Without realizing it, Talia had again drifted off, twitched, and sent the textbook flying onto the floor. "Talia Mayfield," Mrs. Morton scolded. "Have you heard a word?"

By accident Talia had touched the bottom side of the desk to move it into line with the others in the row and discovered a mosaic of old gum on the underside, causing her to grimace at just the wrong moment.

"Did I say something to offend you, Talia?'

"No," she bit her lip. Under her breath she whispered, "It's the fluorescent lights. I have an ocular sensitivity that gives me headaches and makes me sleepy."

"Is that so?" asked Mrs. Morton. "Perhaps we should turn the lights out and all put our heads down."

The class erupted in cheering.

Mrs. Morton did turn the lights out, and then turned on a slideshow which made everyone fall asleep.

Ever since her friend Stevie Ann had moved away, Talia hadn't really found anyone to hang out with. The girls her age seemed either obsessed with boys or their phones, or buried in a book. One new student had arrived the previous spring - an expert birder, no less - but her parents had pulled her from Red Oaks Middle School as soon as they realized exactly what kind of education she'd be getting.

For the next half-hour, Mrs. Morton droned on about the Gold Rush and how Red Oaks Valley had been the home to some important historical figures in the early years of California's statehood, historical figures with statues and monuments, all of them men with military titles like General and Captain and bleh bleh bleh, and he and he and he and him and him and him and his wife had sixteen children, and he was a great statesman, a speculator, not afraid to take risks, chain migrations, stonemasons, bleh, bleh, Indians dying of white man's diseases and poverty and violence, and the missions bleh bleh bleh...bleh, bleh.

Talia's head felt thick. So much sadness in the past.

The rain made soft pattering music on the window. Why was she so sleepy? Mrs. Morton projected an old map of the valley up on the screen. Albion Ranch – Professor Osborne's ranch – was clearly marked. Talia had never realized that the headwaters of Peregrine Creek began on her land. Her mother had never mentioned it before. But Talia's eyes were heavy, and even her curiosity succumbed to a drowsiness she could not fight.

Somewhere in the background Mrs. Morton said, "Let's see. Who haven't I called on yet? Brayden? Brayden, do you know which of the California Missions is furthest to the north?"

"Mission Impossible?" A few of Brayden's friends snorted, but nobody else thought his joke was funny. Ms. Morton, however, was less amused and she rewarded Brayden with an extra assignment - a paragraph, properly researched, about the origin of the word "California."

By the afternoon the sky had cleared. Talia went home and found her mother pacing in the kitchen. She'd made Talia a grilled cheese sandwich on her favorite bread. Talia's mood was low and for no reason at all, she suddenly burst into tears.

"What is it, Tals?" Her mother embraced her in a warm hug.

"I don't have any friends," said Talia. "She's right. I'm weird."

Her mother put her hands on Talia's shoulders. She held her for a while before speaking. "You're not weird, you're just interested in things."

"Weird things."

"The natural world is not weird. It's where we come from and we are all part of it although most people have forgotten that. You know what? I am bringing you to Albion Ranch with me. The professor wants to meet you. And there is a girl just about your age who moved into the guest house with her aunt and cousin. Maybe the two of you could be friends."