Remarkable Read Online Free Page B

it occurred to Jane that he was looking at Lucinda Wilhelmina Hinojosa the same way that most of the girlsfrom Remarkable’s School for the Remarkably Gifted looked at him.
    “Oh,” said Jane. “Oh. You like her, don’t you?”
    Anderson Brigby Bright tore his eyes away from the strange, humming girl long enough to give Jane a mournful look.
    “I think I’m in love,” he said. “But she doesn’t know I exist. Can you imagine anything more awful?”
    Jane’s imagination didn’t have to run away with her at all for her to understand how he felt. It was a feeling she knew all too well.

The Dentist’s Lament
    J ane was late to her dentist appointment on Tuesday, but this was not her fault.
    Her father was supposed to pick her up from school and drive her to Dr. Pike’s office. For once, he’d remembered to show up on time (reminding him about important appointments was Action Item #34 on Jane’s mother’s list), but then he had accidentally locked his keys in the car. So Jane wound up having to walk up the hill to Dr. Pike’s office while her father waited in the school’s parking lot for one of Remarkable’s highly competent automotive locksmiths to open his car door for him.
    Jane wanted to explain to Dr. Pike about the lockedcar and the long uphill walk, but Dr. Pike—who’d been torturing herself with the thought that Jane wasn’t coming after all—was eager to get to work. She hurried Jane into the exam room and began X-raying her mouth.
    “So tell me,” she asked Jane. “Have you been brushing twice a day?” She was hoping Jane would say no, so she could deliver a nice stern lecture on the importance of oral hygiene. But all Jane said was “Urgurguhuhruf.” She had the bitewing tray in her mouth, and she couldn’t really talk.
    Dr. Pike finished with the X-rays and began examining Jane’s teeth. “Hmmm,” she murmured. “Open wider.” She poked and prodded at Jane’s mouth with a periodontal probe and dental mirror. “It looks like you have a teensy bit of plaque and just a hint of tartar…but I guess it’s not too bad. Have you been flossing regularly?”
    “Uhguhguhgugh,” Jane said.
    “I see,” Dr. Pike said. She poked around Jane’s mouth some more. She switched her periodontal probe for a dental explorer, and her mirror for a tongue retractor.
    Finally, she was done. “Well,” she said. “I don’tsee any cavities right now. Not even a tiny one.…” She sighed despondently, set her dental instruments down on a tray, and handed Jane a cup of water so she could rinse and spit.
    “But that’s good, right?” Jane asked. She wasn’t sure why Dr. Pike seemed so disappointed.
    “Well, yes, I suppose so. I mean, of course it is. I was just hoping…” Dr. Pike let her thoughts drift. “Well, thank you for coming in. I guess I’ll see you in six months? Does that sound okay?”
    “Sure,” Jane said. “I’ll see you then.”
    As soon as Jane was gone, Dr. Pike grabbed a lollipop from inside her desk and stuck it in her mouth. She knew better than to eat something that was so likely to promote tooth decay, but she couldn’t help herself. She was depressed, and she always craved sugary snacks when she was depressed.
    Dr. Josephine Christobel Pike was a very good dentist. She could put a filling in a tooth so gently that she didn’t even need to use novocaine. She could take dull, yellow teeth and polish them until they were bright and white again. She had a wonderful flair for curing gum disease and gingivitis, and her patented techniques forperforming dental extractions and root canals were taught in every dental school in the country.
    Dr. Pike had replaced Dr. Bayonet, who’d been the dentist in Remarkable before she arrived. Dr. Bayonet was gruff and grouchy—which was possibly due to the fact that he was much more interested in being an amateur lepidopterologist (who is a person who collects butterflies) than he was in fixing teeth. One day he decided to build