Turn 202 of 233

Continue the everything campaign — what's next and prep the site for MOndays build. Then go to Kimo's 17 month physical. Same growth rate

Saturday is chemistry and the chemistry is the thing Lena does not know because the chemistry is the thing that is the invisible and the invisible is the thing that is the atoms and the atoms are the thing she cannot point to on a construction site. They go to the library and the library is the thing that has the children's science shelf and the shelf is the thing Lena pulls from because the children's shelf is the thing that starts with the simple and the simple is the thing she needs too. They sit on the balcony with a book about states of matter and the book is the thing that has the pictures — ice, water, steam.

"Solid is locked," Lena says. "The molecules are tight. Like studs in a wall — they don't move. Liquid is loose. The molecules slide. Like wet concrete before it sets. Gas is free. The molecules fly. Like —" She stops because the stopping is the thing that is the not knowing. "I don't know. What's gas like on a site?"

Kimo thinks and the thinking is the thing that is the three seconds.

"Dust," he says. "Dust in air when Mama cut tile. Dust fly everywhere. No hold. Gas is dust. Solid is wall. Liquid is wet concrete. Same pattern, Mama. Everything is matter. Matter is building blocks. Smallest building blocks. Smaller than stud. Smaller than bolt. Atom."

"Atoms," Lena says. "Yeah. Atoms are the smallest studs. Everything is made of them. This floor, your crayons, Mama, the air. All atoms."

"Mama is atoms," Kimo says. He puts his hand on her arm and the hand is the thing that is the 188 pounds on the 790 pounds.

"Mama atoms very big. Kimo atoms smaller. But same atoms. Same building blocks. Mama and Kimo same material."

Sunday is weather and the weather is the thing Lena explains using the balcony sky because the sky is the thing that is the classroom and the classroom is the thing that is the free. She explains convection — warm air rises, cold air sinks. She explains it as stack effect, the same thing that happens in a tall building when the heat stacks in the upper floors. Kimo watches a cumulus cloud build and the building is the thing he connects to the construction.

"Cloud build up," he says. "Warm air carry water up. Up, up, up. Then cold air. Cold make water stick. Water stick together make cloud. Cloud is like wall, Mama. Small pieces stick together make big thing. Water pieces stick make cloud. Stud pieces stick make wall. Atom pieces stick make everything."

Lena spends the afternoon on the phone with Walt and the phone is the thing that is the Monday prep. Monday's build is a single-family residential on the east side — slab-on-grade, wood frame, two stories. Walt wants the first-floor walls up by Wednesday. Lena tells him she will have the slab swept, the plates laid out, and the studs cut by 5 AM Monday. She drives to the site at 4 AM and the 4 AM is the thing that is the dark and the dark is the thing she works in because the working in the dark is the thing that is the prep.

She sweeps the slab. She snaps chalk lines for the plates. She measures the stud lengths from the blueprint and cuts them with the miter saw and the cutting is the thing that is the stacking — each stud stacked against the sill, numbered with a grease pencil. She checks the lumber package against the manifest and finds two missing jack studs and calls the supplier and the supplier is the thing that delivers before 7 AM. By the time the crew arrives, the site is the thing that is the ready and the ready is the thing Walt sees when he steps out of his truck.

"She prepped the whole first floor," Walt says to Marco. He does not say it to Lena because the not saying it to Lena is the thing that is the crew and the crew is the thing that does not compliment directly.

"Two minutes and we're framing."

Kimo is on the site pad with Tuki, driving nails flush into a scrap block. His hammer is the thing that is the miniature and the miniature is the thing Tuki brought from home because Tuki has a grandson and the grandson is the thing that is the three years old and the three years old is the thing that has a toy hammer. Kimo does not use it as a toy. He sets a nail, taps it twice to start it, then drives it with two strokes. Tuki watches and the watching is the thing that is the shaking head.

"Kid's got better form than Daryl," Tuki says.

Wednesday is Dr. Parekh and the Dr. Parekh is the thing that is the seventeen-month visit. The clinic room is the thing that is the same — the industrial chair, the scale, the growth chart on the wall. Kimo stands on the scale and the standing is the thing that is the 206 pounds and the 206 is the thing that is the gain and the gain is the thing that is the 2.5x multiplier and the multiplier is the thing that has not changed.

"206 pounds," Dr. Parekh says. She writes it down and the writing is the thing that is the chart and the chart is the thing that is the line and the line is the thing that is the straight.

"Up eighteen pounds since the last visit. Consistent with his trajectory. And height?"

Kimo stands against the stadiometer and the standing is the thing that is the 55 inches and the 55 is the thing that is the two inches in two months and the two inches is the thing that is the same rate.

"55 inches," Dr. Parekh says. "Two inches since last visit. Still tracking the 2.5x curve. No deviation." She looks at Lena.

"He's seventeen months old and he's the size of an average nine-year-old. His growth rate has been perfectly consistent since birth. I've never seen anything like it."

"Is he healthy?" Lena says.

"Every marker is normal," Dr. Parekh says.

"Heart, lungs, joints, reflexes — all within normal range. His body is just... larger and growing faster. I've run the panels three times. There's no pathology driving this. It's as if his growth clock is set to a different speed."

"2.5 times," Kimo says from the exam table. "2.5 times faster than regular kid. Regular kid is the baseline. Kimo is 2.5 times baseline. That is a ratio. Ratio is comparing two things. Like span-to-depth ratio. Mama say span-to-depth is important in engineering. Kimo's growth ratio is 2.5. Same kind of math, Doctor."

Dr. Parekh looks at Dr. Okafor's notes in the shared file and the looking is the thing that is the reading and the reading is the thing that is the smile.

"He's using ratios," she says. "He's applying mathematical concepts to his own body. That's — I'll defer to Dr. Okafor on the developmental piece, but from a physical standpoint, he's extraordinary and he's healthy. Next visit in one month. Alternate with Dr. Okafor."

Lena carries Kimo out of the clinic and the carrying is the thing that is the 188 pounds on the shoulder and the shoulder is the thing that does not feel it because the pressing is 680. They walk to the truck and Kimo is humming and the humming is the thing that is the C major chord and the chord is the thing he learned Friday and the Friday is the thing that is the music and the music is the thing that is the pattern and the pattern is the thing that is the everything and the everything is the thing he asked for and the everything is the thing he is getting.