The Science of Breakable Things

Distracted by thoughts of her mother and the orchids, Natalie struggles to pay attention in her classes and ignores Twig’s notes asking what’s wrong. Later, at Twig’s house, the girls play a board game, and Natalie again ignores her friend’s questions.

Natalie explains that she and Twig used to tell each other everything. Twig moved to town in fourth grade, when Natalie’s friendship with Mikayla was falling apart, so the girls became close quickly. However, when Twig’s parents separated, this topic became taboo. Their silence about Twig’s parents led to more topics’ becoming taboo.

One of Natalie’s mom’s favorite rules of science was that to understand what they don’t know, scientists must first investigate what they do know. Natalie, therefore, makes a list of what she knows regarding her mother and her sickness. She used to be very lovable because she had a certain “way” about her, “something like happiness” (43). Even a few months ago, she was happy and talked a lot about her research with plants and orchids. Then, she started having hushed conversations with her husband about not having enough funding, not having enough findings, and someone thinking she should take a break from work.