Narrative Essay

The Magic School Bus Biology Field Trip

While the teacher lectured, I stared out the window and let my mind drift away from the monotone voice dragging on. A woman with bright orange untamed hair caught my attention walking by the lecture hall. She was wearing a vivid cobalt dress with elements from the periodic table screen scattered all over. Her appearance and frazzled nature reminded me of one very loved person from my youth: Ms. Frizzle. Learning about cells and their structure with Ms. Frizzle would definitely keep my mind from wandering….
“Alllllllll aboard!” jolted me awake.
Opening my eyes, I slowly took in my unfamiliar surroundings. To the left of me were eight eager elementary students talking a mile-a-minute about things I couldn’t understand. I detected an anthropomorphic lizard in the drivers seat, and in front was the woman I saw outside of my biology lecture window. And I was definitely on a yellow school bus. Becoming more conscious, I took notice of the familiar faces. The eight children were Carlos, Keesha, Phoebe, Dorothy Ann, Wanda Li, Ralphie, Arnold, and Tim! The orange-haired lady was definitely Ms. Frizzle, and the lizard navigating the bus was Liz. Oh yes, I was on the magic school bus.
“Classssss!” sang Ms.Frizzle, “Today we are going to learn about cells, their structure, and their function. So hold on tight, we’re going to get this bus a-rockin!”
“Oh boy,” whimpered Arnold, “I have a bad feeling about this. I think I’m going to be sick!”
Ms. Frizzle grinned and winked secretly at the other classmates. “Well then Arnold, I think the class will take full advantage of your illness and explore your ‘sick’ cells.”
“Oh boyyyyy.”
As the “magic” school bus lifted off of the ground, life outside of the windows seemed to multiply in size.
“We’re going in through Arnold’s mouth and into his bloodstream!” Wanda yelled out.
Once floating down the bloodstream, we navigated our way in to a white blood cell. There Ms. Frizzle explained the difference between a phagocyte, which engulfs and destroys invading microorganisms, and a lymphocyte, which produces antibodies against the invaders. The nucleus of the phagocyte looked like a lobed boomerang while the nucleus of the latter appeared as a giant blob.
Maneuvering through the contents inside the blood vessel, red blood cells engulfed our bus. The red blood cell resembled an apple-colored donut and transported oxygen to the body. Dorothy Ann consulted her book of knowledge and informed us that Hemoglobin is a unique feature and they are missing a nucleus.
“Don’t forget the platelets!” Smarty-pants Wanda shouted out.
So our last stop was to examine a platelet, which is a imperative part of a cell.
“They are important for blood clotting when a blood vessel becomes damaged,” Ms. Frizzle announced. “You never want to be without these!”
Suddenly, I was jerked awake by students trying to leave the class, with my daydreaming self in the way. I must have been asleep for the entire hour and a half lecture, yet I still managed to learn everything I needed to know about cells. Oh how I wished that Ms. Frizzle was the one up in front of the class instead. For if Ms. Frizzle was my professor, I would never fall asleep.