ELA Testlet 002 - Reading Fiction

On Blue Ground

At first, Moxeko was quite excited when his school announced a field trip to Earth. He’d always wanted to visit the little blue planet that was over 70 percent wet ground because water molecules there behaved in an extremely strange manner. The moisture in that world was made of a slippery substance instead of a squishy compound. Rather than falling in orderly jelly cubes, like in his home world, water instead rained down from the sky in a free and fluid form. These raindrops funneled together into gigantic messes called rivers, lakes, and oceans. Moxeko found it difficult to imagine such liquid chaos splattering all over the ground. Water was supposed to wobble and pile

up in proper mounds, not slosh all over the place in unpredictable waves. This voyage was going to be a fantastical expedition!

But then Moxeko started wondering how much equipment he should pack for the trip. He gathered a diving suit, three flotation devices, and an umbrella hat. He had to be prepared for the unexpected on Earth since one wrong step could lead him straight into a patch of sneaky H2O! He wasn’t certain how humans managed to navigate on so little land without constantly stumbling into random water holes. He would definitely need to ask his human pen pal, Timoteo, how to walk on blue ground like an expert Earthling. After all, over half a human’s body was made up of hydrogen and oxygen atoms.

Moxeko had almost finished sorting through supplies when his best friend, Axella, tapped him on the shoulder.

“Why are you packing an inflatable raft?” she asked.

“We might need it if we run into any puddles on Earth,” Moxeko said. “I don’t trust puddles because they seep into low-lying areas in the ground, just waiting for you to break through their surface tension. What if you accidentally stumbled over a puddle of H2O straight into a larger body of water? Then you’d be happy that I brought along a raft because we could steer over waterfalls just like human students do every day on their way to school!”

“I believe that you are overestimating the frequency and malevolence of puddles,” Axella said. “Don’t you know that plenty of humans swim in water for their own enjoyment? They coexist with that mysterious blue stuff on a daily basis. Just try to remember—”

Moxeko whipped out his note block, ready to record her warning. “What?”

“The unknown can be both frightening and fun at the same time,” Axella said gently. “Sometimes, you just have to put your best flipper-wearing foot forward! How else will you experience adventures in life?”

“The answer is obvious: from inside a nice dry space pod, of course,” Moxeko replied. However, secretly he couldn’t wait to encounter an Earth puddle and analyze its bizarre properties.

Yet when their jet bus landed in the parking lot of Greenfield Middle School, Moxeko was

disappointed by the surprising lack of water anywhere. But he refused to give up on his mission as he met Timoteo, his pen pal, in person for the first time.

“Can we go puddle hunting?” Moxeko asked. “I want to understand your planet’s hydrologic cycle. How does water constantly circulate in your atmosphere and fluctuate forms so easily?”

“Temperature is the key to your question,” Timoteo said.

In the science lab, the pair conducted experiments on bubbles of water suspended in an antigravity field. As heated bubbles popped into steam, Timoteo explained, “When our sun warms the air, water evaporates from the ground as a gas and transforms into clouds. But when the air grows colder, water liquefies into rain and can even freeze into ice.”

Moxeko was amazed as frozen bubbles shattered into miniature crystals that drifted in the air. “What do you call these fragile falling stars?” he asked.

“Snowflakes,” Timoteo said. “The path they take through humidity and vapor makes each one completely different.”

When it was time to return home, Timoteo handed Moxeko a small box. “Every communication from you was filled with questions about H2O, so I got you something to remember our planet in all its watery glory.”

Moxeko opened the box and was delighted to find a glass globe filled with water. White flecks floating inside the liquid danced when he shook the globe next to his face. “Thanks for this incredible puddle catcher!” he said.

Timoteo laughed. “It’s called a snow globe, but I actually like your name for it even better.”

“I promise I will never forget Earth, or its weird and wonderful water cycle,” Moxeko said.

When Axella sat down beside him on the jet bus, Moxeko announced, “You were absolutely right! There was no reason to be suspicious about the enigma of the blue ground on Earth. In fact, I’ve discovered my favorite kind of water on this planet: snowflakes.”

“What is so special about a flake?” Axella asked curiously.

“Nothing extraordinary,” Moxeko said. “Only that each one follows its own journey to become a unique crystal. Kind of like us: we all have our own adventures to discover in life too.”