Christina pressed her finger into the roll again, and a third time. The three holes looked like two eyes and a nose. She was considering the mouth—should the face be happy, or sad?—when heavy footsteps crossed the floor.

“I’m sorry I was called away,” said the deep voice of Christina’s father, and the chair at the head of the table was pulled out. “There was a problem at the lab—you know how it is.”

Adult voices murmured agreement as Christina broke little pieces off the roll. Her father, Dr. Adnoid, was the top scientist at Loompski Laboratories. His friends were all scientists. And all her life, people had told Christina that she would grow up to be a scientist, too. But now, after hearing what had happened to her mother, she wasn’t sure she liked the idea.