Just Wrote Her Name and Class

It was the weekend. Candy was being a little lazy worm, lounging in bed beneath the cool breeze of the air conditioner and gazing at the scorching sun outside.

After her nap, Candy felt too weak to move. She leaned against the headboard and stared blankly at the little birds perched in the treetops outside.

Though there was a pane of glass between them, Candy could almost hear the birds chirping. "It's so hot out there. Don't the birds burn their feet?"

Zero, sitting in a chair with her chin in her hands, rolled her eyes and said,

"Why do you think birds can perch on power lines without getting electrocuted?"

Candy froze for a moment, then suddenly came fully awake. Her face lit up with amazement. "You're right! I just realized—I've never thought about why birds don't get electrocuted on power lines!" As if she'd discovered a whole new world, Candy excitedly urged Zero to explain.

She loved learning new things more than anything.

Zero was a little exasperated.

Was the important thing really why birds didn't get electrocuted? She'd meant that birds perched in treetops, of course, didn't burn their feet.

As expected, the way a two-year-old thought was different from everyone else's.

Did this count as a generation gap? It probably did.

"Why is that~?"

Zero looked toward the treetops outside. In the short time they'd been talking, the little bird had already flown off somewhere.

"That's because their claws are covered by a layer of keratinized scales. Keratin contains almost no water, so it's practically an insulator. When a bird grips a high-voltage wire, it's like placing a piece of dry wood on it—very little current passes through the bird's body."

"Of course, if it's a high-voltage line, the bird will still be blasted to smithereens."