Chapter 3: IT (1986)
"Mr. Furlong!"
"Present."
"Found something on the football field. Thought you might want to take a look."
"What is it?"
"I was hoping you could tell me."
Several microscopes were always set up in his room, and he was always using all of them. I guess he was hoping to make a name for himself besides just being the biology teacher of Harrington High School. He may not be the most well known person in his field, but he's the coolest teacher I have ever had.
I held the thing out to him in my open palm and he eyed it curiously before carefully picking it up.
"How long ago did you find this?"
"Just a few minutes ago. I'm not sure how long it's been sitting out there on the field." I shrugged. "Could be days."
He moved a bacteria culture from one of the microscopes and set the specimen on an unused petri dish. "Was there anything else near where you found it? Any other ones?"
I thought for a moment. "No... Well, I don't think so, at least. I didn't really have time to look around..." I looked away. "I was kind of... kicked off the field by Coach Willis."
Mr. Furlong looked up from adjusting the optic lenses. "He's been acting pretty weird today."
I nodded. "Yeah. No kidding."
He shrugged and went back to making adjustments. "I wouldn't take it personally."
Someone came up to ask Mr. Furlong something, but they discarded that train of thought when they saw what he was doing. A couple more kids wanted to see, and in moments nearly the entire class was crowding around.
A girl named Venus had edged her way to the front and asked what the majority of the class was thinking. "What is that? Some sort of bug or something?"
Mr. Furlong smiled furtively. "Not quite, Miss Summers. Good guess."
Not being satisfied with that answer, she continued, "So, then are you going to tell us, or do we have to keep on guessing?"
"Guess if you like, but I'm not sure myself what it is just yet." He changed to a greater magnification. "I can tell you that it's not an insect. Hmm... Yeah... Not Arthropoda or Mollusca. I almost want to say Rhombozoa or Orthonectida, but... It's not them."
He looked up to see 27 blank faces staring back at him. "Well, it's kind of complex, but if you can follow what I'm saying..." He refocused again, shaking his head, still speaking more to himself than to the students. "Certain mesozoan only exist in the kidney of certain squid and octopi... Which doesn't make any sense because..." He trailed off.
"This is Ohio." I finished his thought.
"Right." He continued the examination. "It's a pelagic organism."
"What's pelagic?" Gabe asked.
Zeke answered him from the opposite end of the room. "A sea-dwelling organism."
"Exactly." Mr. Furlong cast a glance at Zeke who was sprawled lazily in his chair. "But I don't recognize this surface tissue at all."
Mr. Furlong looked at me this time. "Casey, I don't want to blow smoke up your butt, but I think you found a new species."
Excuse me?
The jock laughed. "Yeah, right."
Shut up, Gabe.
Mr. Furlong wasn't especially fond of the football players either, so he eyed Gabe, slightly displeased - a very rare sight. "Hey, it could happen. New species are discovered every day. Don't be so cynical."
Zeke sauntered up to the table. "Could it be gnathostomulida?"
Furlong shook his head. "Nah."
Zeke shrugged. "They escaped detection til the mid 20th century."
A blonde girl that I didn't recognize was blushing in Zeke's direction. "You just know everything, don't you?"
He smiled at her. "I'm a contradiction."
Mr. Furlong brought Zeke back to the task at hand. "Check the mesodermic follicles on its underbelly."
"What does that mean?" It was my turn to be completely lost in the scientific references. Though, in my defense, I'm not a dumb jock.
Mr. Furlong smiled slightly. "It means we gotta call the university, let them take a look... Maybe get in on some of that federal grant money."
He fell into scheming in silence before realizing that we were all still there.
Mr. Furlong looked around at all of us. "Our secret, all right?"
He placed the creature on a tray and Gabe and Stokely started insulting each other like they normally do.
Shit! It moved!
I looked at Mr. Furlong. "Did you see that?"
Wasn't it dead?
Gabe watched the thing pulsate with disgust. "What is it doing?"
Mr. Furlong picked up the tray and headed to the large, currently vacant fish tank in the room.
Zeke was close at his heels. "You think it's amphibian?"
"Well, water resuscitated it."
I watched Mr. Furlong's actions with uncertainty. "But couldn't this kill it?"
"Yeah," Gabe agreed, "You don't want to drown it."
Mr. Furlong shrugged. "Only one way to find out."
He dropped the creature in. It started to sink to the bottom.
So much for that.
It moved.
It moved!
"It's all right." Mr. Furlong assured the more squeamish students, "...It's okay."
He pulled on a latex glove and plunged his hand into the tank.
"Mr. Furlong," Gabe interposed, "What are you doing?"
"I just want to check it's prostate. Actually the surface texture changed... so I want to feel it."
The creature effortlessly dodged Mr. Furlong's attempts to handle it. Suddenly it flicked around in the opposite direction. And suddenly there were two.
Mr. Furlong stared into the water in wonder. "It can replicate... Jesus!"
He was quickly pulled out of his awe when it mangled his finger. "Fuck! God damnit!"
He held up his hand, surveying the damage. "...I'm okay."
Blood started to trickle down his gloved hand.
"It has teeth." I glanced at the pair of creatures and then back to Mr. Furlong. "Where did it get teeth?"
He was still staring at his hand. "I'm gonna call the university."
