Vypočujte si slovenskú audio verziu príbehu
smradľavý pokus je nová časť seriálu Klub veľkých omylov, pripravená ako dvojjazyčný detský príbeh v slovenčine aj angličtine.
smradľavý pokus: začína sa príbeh
Na zadnom stole v triede stál pohár s nalepeným štítkom: OVOCIE – POZOROVANIE.
Vedľa neho ležal Adamov zošit, Elina ceruzka a Samov obrázok jablka, ktorý mal ukázať, ako vyzeralo ovocie na začiatku pokusu. V pohári boli kúsky jablka, banánu a hrušky. Už nevyzerali tak sviežo ako v pondelok.
„Máme to skoro hotové,“ povedal Adam spokojne. „Dnes dopíšeme posledné pozorovanie, zajtra to ukážeme a potom bude náš projekt najzaujímavejší v triede.“
Ela si upravila okrúhle fialové okuliare. „Ak bude najzaujímavejší, nemusí to byť vždy dobrá správa.“
Samo sa naklonil k poháru. Opatrne nad ním mávol rukou, ako to videl robiť pani učiteľku pri vôni z kuchyne. Potom si k ruke privoňal.
Tvár sa mu zvláštne skrútila.
„Niečo tu zaváňa ako veľmi unavené jablko,“ oznámil.
Adam sa zasmial. „Jablká sa neunavia.“
„Tak potom je veľmi unavené niečo iné.“
Všetci traja sa sklonili nad pohár. Ela privrela oči. Adam sa zamračil. Samo cúvol o malý krok.
„Dobre,“ povedal Adam rýchlo. „Máme problém. Ale ja už mám plán. Len trošku pohneme vzduchom a bude po zápachu.“
„Najprv zistíme, či je to naozaj z pohára,“ navrhla Ela. „Možno niekto zabudol desiatu v skrinke.“
„Alebo desiata zabudla niekoho v sebe,“ dodal Samo vážne.
Adam už však vyťahoval spod lavice malý stolový ventilátor. Používali ho minulý týždeň pri výrobe papierových veterníkov. Chlapec ho položil vedľa pohára a natiahol kábel k zásuvke.
„Len trochu vzduchu,“ sľúbil. „Úplne jemne. Ako keď motýľ kývne krídlom.“
Ventilátor zavrčal.
Najprv sa nepohlo nič. Potom sa pohol Elin papier. Následne sa pohol Samov obrázok jablka. A napokon sa po triede pohol aj zvláštny pach z pohára.
Zrazu ho bolo cítiť pri okne, pri tabuli aj pri kvetináči, ktorý za to vôbec nemohol.
„Motýľ má asi traktor,“ povedala Ela.
Adam ventilátor okamžite stíšil. „Dobre, tak pohol vzduchom viac. To sa dá opraviť.“
„Otvoríme okno,“ navrhla Ela. „Pohár dáme bližšie k nemu a zakryjeme ho čistou utierkou.“
Samo prikývol tak horlivo, až sa mu kučery zatriasli. „Zakryť. Rozumiem.“
Kým Ela otvárala okno a Adam odpojil ventilátor, Samo sa rozbehol ku skrinke s pomôckami. O chvíľu sa vrátil s veľkou mapou Slovenska, pruhovaným zošitom, plastovým tanierom a papierovou krabicou od pasteliek.
„Našiel som kryty,“ povedal hrdinsky.
Ela sa pozrela na kopu vecí. „To je mapa, zošit, tanier a krabica.“
„Všetko niečo zakrýva,“ vysvetlil Samo. „Mapa zakrýva krajinu. Zošit zakrýva lavicu. Tanier zakrýva stôl, keď na ňom leží. Krabica zakrýva pastelky.“
Adam sa na chvíľu zamyslel. „To je vlastne prekvapivo presné. Ale potrebujeme len utierku.“
Medzitým ventilátor ešte chvíľu dobiehal. Nasal roh mapy, rozfúkal pár pracovných listov a vtiahol ľahkú utierku, ktorú Ela práve vybrala zo skrinky. Utierka sa zachytila o mriežku. Mapa sa jej prilepila na bok. Plastový tanier sa roztočil po stole ako pomalý kolotoč.
„Nič sa nehýbte!“ zvolal Adam.
„To býva zvyčajne veta tesne predtým, než sa niečo pohne ešte viac,“ povedala Ela.
Samo chytil tanier, Adam vypol ventilátor a Ela opatrne vyslobodila utierku. Po chvíli zostal stôl síce pokrytý papiermi, ale aspoň už nič nekrúžilo vo vzduchu.
„Teraz citrón,“ vyhlásil Adam.
Ela sa naňho pozrela. „Teraz čo?“
Z vrecka červenej mikiny vytiahol malú fľaštičku s citrónovou vôňou. „Keď niečo vonia po citróne, ľudia si myslia, že je všade čisto. To je známy fakt.“
„To je známy omyl,“ odpovedala Ela.
Lenže Adam už stlačil rozprašovač.
Psííít.
Do vzduchu vyletel jemný citrónový obláčik. Adam stlačil fľaštičku ešte raz. A potom ešte raz, lebo prvé dva obláčiky mu pripadali malé.
Trieda zavoňala po citróne.
A zároveň stále trochu po pokuse.
Samo sa nadýchol, zamyslel sa a spýtal sa: „Keď niečo vonia po citróne, je to aj naozaj čisté?“
„Nie,“ povedala Ela. „Keby áno, mohli by sme umývať ponožky limonádou.“
Keď sa veci začnú meniť
Chlapec sa nad tým úprimne zamyslel. „To by asi nebolo praktické. Boli by lepkavé.“
Pri otvorenom okne sa miešal studený vzduch, citrónová vôňa a nešťastný pach z pohára. Adam si zakryl nos rukávom.
„Teraz to vonia ako koláčik, ktorý sa pokazil v telocvični,“ uznal.
„Problém nezmizol,“ povedala Ela. „Len si dal citrónový klobúk.“
Práve vtedy sa vo dverách objavila pani učiteľka Benková. Mala v ruke zošit s prípravami a na tvári pokojný výraz. Zastala, nadýchla sa a zdvihla jedno obočie.
„Cítim, že prírodoveda dnes pracuje veľmi usilovne,“ povedala.
Všetci traja stuhli.
„Prepáčte,“ vyhŕkol Adam. „My sme to chceli opraviť, ale ventilátor to rozfúkal a potom Samo priniesol mapu, čo nebola chyba, len nebola správna mapa, teda bola správna, ale nie na toto, a potom bol citrón…“
„Zastav,“ povedala pani učiteľka mierne. „Nadýchni sa. Ak sa dá.“
Adam stíchol.
Učiteľka pristúpila bližšie k stolu. „Pokus o rozklade ovocia môže mať aj vôňu. To nie je katastrofa. Je to časť pozorovania.“
„Aj tak sme ho rozvoniavali po celej triede,“ priznala Ela.
„To už je skôr časť vašej vlastnej metódy,“ povedala pani učiteľka a usmiala sa.
Samo držal plastový tanier. „Mám ešte kryt. Ale asi nie ten najlepší.“
„Správny kryt je čistá utierka,“ pripomenula Ela.
Chlapec položil tanier bokom a zobral veľkú plastovú misku. Opatrne ňou prikryl pohár. Lenže pod miskou si nevšimol kábel od ventilátora. Keď sa chcel Adam rýchlo natiahnuť a misku zdvihnúť, kábel sa napol.
Stôl sa nebezpečne zachvel.
„Nerob to rýchlo,“ povedala Ela.
Adam zastal s rukou vo vzduchu. „Ja viem robiť aj pomaly.“
„Ukáž.“
Pomaly odsunuli ventilátor, uvoľnili kábel a až potom misku zdvihli. Nič nespadlo. To bolo také malé víťazstvo, že sa na seba všetci traja na chvíľu usmiali.
Pani učiteľka sa pozrela na hodiny. „O pár minút príde pani riaditeľka. Chcela sa pozrieť na rozpracované projekty.“
Úsmevy zmizli.
„Môžeme pohár schovať do skrinky!“ navrhol Adam.
„Ale potom bude skrinka smrdieť,“ namietol Samo.
„Môžeme ho dať na chodbu!“
„A potom bude smrdieť chodba,“ povedala Ela.
„Môžeme povedať, že je to projekt o citrónoch!“
Ela sa nadýchla. „Adam.“
„Čo?“
„Skúsme prvýkrát neurobiť ďalší problém.“
To ho zarazilo. Potom prikývol. „Dobre. Čo teda?“
Dievča ukázalo na stôl. „Odložíme všetko, čo sem nepatrí. Vyvetráme. Pohár zakryjeme utierkou. A povieme pravdu.“
Samo sa pozrel na pohár. „Že sa ovocie zmenilo, lebo pokus funguje?“
„Presne,“ povedala Ela. „Len naše vylepšenia nefungovali.“
Spoločne upratali mapu, zošit, tanier aj krabicu od pasteliek. Adam odniesol ventilátor na policu. Samo otvoril okno dokorán a potom skontroloval, či vonkajší vietor nie je silnejší než ventilátor. Ela položila cez pohár čistú utierku tak, aby ho bolo stále bezpečne vidieť.
Napokon si nacvičili vysvetlenie.
„Ja poviem, čo sme pozorovali,“ navrhla Ela.
„Ja poviem, že ovocie sa časom mení,“ pridal sa Samo.
Adam prehltol. „A ja poviem, že ventilátor a citrón boli môj nápad. Teda náš nápad na opravu. Ale nebol dobrý.“
„Bol aj môj nápad držať ventilátor pri stole,“ povedal Samo. „Takže to povieme spolu.“
O chvíľu sa pri dverách objavila pani riaditeľka. Trieda už vyzerala upratane. Vo vzduchu však zostal slabý, tajomný citrónový obláčik.
Adam sa napol ako pravítko. Ela si pevnejšie chytila zošit. Samo sa usmial na pohár, akoby mu potichu želal veľa šťastia.
Pani učiteľka Benková predstavila projekt pokojne. „Toto je pokus o tom, čo sa stane s ovocím, keď ho necháme dlhšie v pohári. Dnes nám pripravil aj malé aromatické prekvapenie.“
Pani riaditeľka sa usmiala. „To teda cítim.“
Potom začala Ela. Jasne povedala, čo si zapisovali každý deň. Samo vysvetlil, že kúsky ovocia už nevyzerajú rovnako ako na začiatku. Adam sa nadýchol.
„A my sme sa zľakli zápachu,“ povedal. „Skúsili sme ventilátor a citrónovú vôňu. Lenže ventilátor zápach rozfúkal a citrón ho nezrušil.“
Dôležitý okamih
„Citrón mu dal klobúk,“ doplnila Ela.
Pani riaditeľka sa zasmiala, ale nie posmešne. „To je veľmi presné vedecké pozorovanie.“
„Nabudúce budeme najprv vetrať,“ povedal Samo.
„A potom premýšľať,“ dodal Adam.
„To znie ako výborný plán,“ povedala pani riaditeľka. „Páči sa mi, že ste pokus neschovali. A že ste po sebe upratali.“
Keď návšteva odišla, všetci traja si vydýchli. Vonku za oknom šušťali listy a v triede už bolo cítiť hlavne čerstvý vzduch.
Adam vytiahol klubový zošit. Na novej stránke Ela napísala veľkými písmenami: „Keď niečo smrdí, najprv vetraj, potom vysvetľuj a až potom striekaj citrón.“
Samo si vetu prečítal dvakrát. „A čo ak nemáme citrón?“
Adam zavrel zošit. „Tak sme zachránení.“
Tentoraz sa smiali všetci traja, dokonca aj pani učiteľka Benková pri svojom stole.
Pokračovanie nabudúce…
The Big Mistake Club, part 5: When the Project Started to Smell
The Story Begins
On the back table in the classroom stood a jar with a sticker on it: FRUIT – OBSERVATION.
Next to it lay Adam’s notebook, Ela’s pencil, and Samo’s drawing of an apple, which was meant to show what the fruit looked like at the start of the experiment. In the jar were pieces of apple, banana, and pear. They did not look as fresh as they had on Monday.
“We are almost done,” Adam said happily. “Today we write the last observation, tomorrow we show it, and then our project will be the most interesting one in the class.”
Ela pushed her round purple glasses up her nose. “If it is the most interesting, that is not always good news.”
Samo leaned closer to the jar. Carefully, he waved a hand over it, just as he had seen Mrs. Benková do when she checked the smell from the kitchen. Then he smelled his own hand.
His face twisted in a strange way.
“Something here smells like a very tired apple,” he announced.
Adam laughed. “Apples do not get tired.”
“Then something else is very tired.”
All three children bent over the jar. Ela narrowed her eyes. Adam frowned. Samo took a small step back.
“Fine,” Adam said quickly. “We have a problem. But I already have a plan. We just need to move the air a little, and the smell will be gone.”
“First we should find out if it really comes from the jar,” Ela said. “Maybe someone forgot lunch in a locker.”
“Or maybe lunch forgot someone inside itself,” Samo added seriously.
But Adam was already pulling a small table fan from under the desk. They had used it last week for paper windmills. He placed it beside the jar and stretched the cable to the socket.
“Just a little air,” he promised. “Very gently. Like when a butterfly flaps one wing.”
The fan began to hum.
At first nothing moved. Then Ela’s paper shifted. After that Samo’s apple drawing fluttered. And finally the strange smell from the jar moved through the classroom too.
Suddenly it could be smelled near the window, by the blackboard, and even by the flowerpot, which had done nothing wrong.
“That butterfly must have a tractor,” Ela said.
Adam turned the fan down at once. “All right, so it moved the air more than I wanted. We can fix that.”
“We’ll open the window,” Ela suggested. “We’ll put the jar near it and cover it with a clean cloth.”
Samo nodded so hard that his curls shook. “Cover it. I understand.”
While Ela opened the window and Adam unplugged the fan, Samo ran to the supply cupboard. Soon he came back with a big map of Slovakia, a striped notebook, a plastic plate, and a cardboard box from crayons.
“I found covers,” he said proudly.
Ela looked at the pile. “That is a map, a notebook, a plate, and a box.”
“Each one covers something,” Samo explained. “The map covers the country. The notebook covers the desk. The plate covers the table when it lies on it. The box covers crayons.”
Adam thought for a moment. “That is actually surprisingly exact. But we only need a cloth.”
Meanwhile the fan was still slowing down. It caught the corner of the map, blew a few worksheets across the desk, and pulled in the light cloth Ela had just taken from the cupboard. The cloth got stuck on the grill. The map stuck to its side. The plastic plate spun across the table like a slow carousel.
“Do not move!” Adam shouted.
When Things Start to Change
“That is usually said just before something moves even more,” Ela said.
Samo caught the plate, Adam switched off the fan, and Ela carefully freed the cloth. After a while the table was covered with papers, but at least nothing was spinning in the air anymore.
“Now lemon,” Adam announced.
Ela looked at him. “Now what?”
From the pocket of his red hoodie he took out a small bottle with lemon scent. “When something smells like lemon, people think everything is clean. That is a known fact.”
“That is a known mistake,” Ela replied.
But Adam had already pressed the spray.
Pssst.
A soft lemon cloud rose into the air. Adam pressed it again. Then once more, because the first two clouds seemed too small to him.
The classroom smelled like lemon.
And at the same time, it still smelled a little like the experiment.
Samo breathed in, thought for a moment, and asked, “If something smells like lemon, is it really clean too?”
“No,” Ela said. “If it were, we could wash socks with lemonade.”
The boy thought about that honestly. “That would probably not be practical. They would be sticky.”
By the open window, cold air, lemon smell, and the unhappy smell from the jar mixed together. Adam covered his nose with his sleeve.
“Now it smells like a cookie that went bad in the gym,” he admitted.
“The problem did not disappear,” Ela said. “You just put a lemon hat on it.”
Just then Mrs. Benková appeared in the doorway. She had a notebook of lesson plans in her hand and a calm look on her face. She stopped, sniffed, and raised one eyebrow.
“I can smell that science is working very hard today,” she said.
All three children froze.
“Sorry,” Adam blurted out. “We wanted to fix it, but the fan blew it around, and then Samo brought the map, which was not a mistake, just not the right map, I mean it was the right map, but not for this, and then there was the lemon… ”
“Stop,” Mrs. Benková said gently. “Take a breath. If you can.”
Adam fell silent.
The teacher stepped closer to the table. “An experiment about fruit rotting can have a smell too. That is not a disaster. It is part of the observation.”
“We still spread it all around the classroom,” Ela admitted.
“That is more a part of your own method,” Mrs. Benková said with a smile.
Samo held the plastic plate. “I still have a cover. But maybe not the best one.”
“The correct cover is a clean cloth,” Ela reminded him.
The boy put the plate aside and picked up a large plastic bowl. Carefully, he placed it over the jar. But he did not notice the fan cable under the bowl. When Adam reached quickly to lift the bowl, the cable tightened.
The table shook dangerously.
“Do not do it fast,” Ela said.
Adam stopped with his hand in the air. “I can do slow too.”
“Show us.”
Slowly, they moved the fan aside, loosened the cable, and only then lifted the bowl. Nothing fell. It was such a small victory that all three smiled at each other for a moment.
Mrs. Benková looked at the clock. “In a few minutes, the headmistress will come. She wanted to see the projects in progress.”
The smiles disappeared.
“We can hide the jar in the cupboard!” Adam suggested.
“But then the cupboard will smell,” Samo objected.
“We can put it in the hallway!”
“And then the hallway will smell,” Ela said.
“We can say it is a project about lemons!”
An Important Moment
Ela took a breath. “Adam.”
“What?”
“Let us try, for once, not to make another problem.”
That made him stop. Then he nodded. “Okay. What do we do?”
The girl pointed at the table. “We put away everything that does not belong here. We air the room. We cover the jar with the cloth. And we tell the truth.”
Samo looked at the jar. “That the fruit changed because the experiment works?”
“Exactly,” Ela said. “Only our improvements did not work.”
Together they put away the map, the notebook, the plate, and the box of crayons. Adam carried the fan back to the shelf. Samo opened the window wide and then checked whether the wind outside was stronger than the fan. Ela laid the clean cloth over the jar so it could still be seen safely.
Finally they practised what to say.
“I will say what we observed,” Ela suggested.
“I will say that the fruit changes over time,” Samo added.
Adam swallowed. “And I will say that the fan and the lemon smell were my idea. I mean, our idea for fixing it. But it was not a good one.”
“It was my idea too, to keep the fan near the table,” Samo said. “So we will say it together.”
A moment later, the headmistress appeared in the doorway. The classroom already looked tidy. Still, a faint, mysterious lemon cloud stayed in the air.
Adam stood straight as a ruler. Ela held her notebook a little tighter. Samo smiled at the jar, as if he was wishing it good luck in silence.
Mrs. Benková calmly introduced the project. “This is an experiment about what happens to fruit when we leave it in a jar for a longer time. Today it also prepared a little aromatic surprise.”
The headmistress smiled. “I can certainly smell that.”
Then Ela began. Clearly, she said what they had written down each day. Samo explained that the pieces of fruit no longer looked the same as they had at the beginning. Adam took a breath.
“And we got scared of the smell,” he said. “We tried the fan and the lemon scent. But the fan spread the smell, and the lemon did not remove it.”
“The lemon gave it a hat,” Ela added.
The headmistress laughed, but not in a mean way. “That is a very exact scientific observation.”
“Next time we will air the room first,” said Samo.
“And then think,” Adam added.
“That sounds like an excellent plan,” said the headmistress. “I like that you did not hide the experiment. And that you cleaned up after yourselves.”
When the visitors left, all three children breathed out. Outside the window, the leaves rustled, and in the classroom the main smell was now fresh air.
Adam took out the club notebook. On a new page, Ela wrote in big letters: “When something smells bad, air the room first, then explain, and only then spray lemon.”
Samo read the sentence twice. “What if we do not have lemon?”
Adam closed the notebook. “Then we are saved.”
This time all three laughed, even Mrs. Benková at her desk.
To be continued…