Dear Diary,
    I had a conversation with Shoshana about the amazing toucan I saw. The story went like this...
    I was in my cabin when I heard a knock on the door. I opened it to find Random (Heather Taylor) outside my door. Most unusual for her to be out of Darwin's cabin. She seemed to read my mind. "Darwin wants me to look for a tropical bird he wants to study, but I can't do it alone, and Darwin has a project that he has to do. Everyone else is doing something, so I came to you," she finished.
    "I...I...I guess," I said. "Only if Fuegia can come though," I added quickly. She said yes and Fuegia said that she needed Lucky.
    We finally got on deck. Random pulled a book out. She flipped through it, her tongue between her teeth. Then she found what she was looking for. "This is the bird," she said, pulling the book up to where we could see it. I recognized it at once: a regular toucan. Careful not too look like I am not studying it with care (so it doesn't look like I already know like I do), I looked to see Random's eyes meet mine.
    She spoke with her eyes telling me that she knew I knew it, but Fuegia didn't. I looked into the sky. Tons of tropical birds filled the sky. "How are we going to find this bird?" I said.
    Random pulled some bananas out of her pocket and immediately, two birds snatched it out of her hand. Only problem, they had long sharp beaks that scratched her hand. Now, I knew why she needed help. We had to work carefully and quickly or else we would lose a hand. Finally a toucan came down, it aimed at me with the banana that I held in my hand and I caught it.
    Gently, I carried it to Darwin. To keep it calm, I fed it more banana. Darwin thanked me. He said all he needed was a few feathers. I asked him why. He said he was testing how the feathers on different birds' shape to match their body type to help them fly.
    When he was done, I let the bird go. It didn't fly away, so I guess now I have another pet. Toucy-Toucy is now playing with Poena, the seven rats, and Flower. Our place is a tropical island due to having ten pets in it.
    After that, I went to Dr. MacCormick to get my hands bandaged. Aliaranel was there, and when she saw my cuts she shook her head saying that the birds really cut us up. She also rubbed in bit of medicine on the cuts—it was to take away anything that can cause infections and to help it heal. She bandaged them up. She told me too come back in a week. I winked at her, remembering my smilie abilty. I can change into a lime green smilie since yesterday. So can Aliaranel and Melamina.
    I finshed the story to Shoshana, without mention of the smilies. Aliaranel, Melamina, and I are determined to keep it a secret. I decided to take a nice walk on deck after telling Shoshana the long story. It felt good to stretch my legs. I noticed Janis looking grumpy. I asked her what was up. She said that Mr. X had stolen all of her catnip, in case Sammy came along and dumped it overboard. I told her that she should report to Uncle. She agreed.
    By that time, it was time to eat dinner. We had a late dinner due to the fact that a bird finding his way into the kitchen at night and eating a lot of the food that we were to have for dinner today, so the cook had to look for recipes that he could make with the ingredients that we had.
    After dinner, I went up on deck to get some air. I saw stars and stars. I also saw somthing moving. At first I thought it was just a airplane. Then I realised I am in 1832, not 2005. I ran to Darwin's cabin and he ran out. He quickly recorded the place in the stars and thanked me. It was ten o'clock and I was to be in bed by half an hour later. I quickly hurried to get ready. It is 10:26. I have to blow out my candle. Good night.

      
Mary