The extracurricular activities of the middle school students in the “Backpack Club” are anything but ordinary! Fueled by their curiosity, love of science, and an extraordinary backpack, they travel through time searching for answers their science class can’t provide.
Members of the Backpack Club, K.T., Jace, and Summer get their minds off the crazy world of COVID when K.T. finds a calico kitten. It’s unusual color pattern piques the group’s curiousity and leads to a tutoring session with a genetics great!
The story has been divided into 14 pages. Click on the Tabs below to view the pages.
daughter that looked almost identical.
“He likes my diamonds and my pearls. I said thank you, I designed it,” went the viral TikTok song, as a mom and daughter stood next to each other, looking like twins.
KT, on the other hand, looked more like her dad than her mom. She inherited more of his traits, such as his personality quirks and facial features.
She didn’t even understand what genes were until recently, when Mrs. McCarthy started talking about genetics in biology class.
Speaking of class, I should put down my phone and focus, thought KT. It was just so hard for her lately… Attending class strictly online because of the COVID-19 lockdown wasn’t easy or fun.
She had trouble concentrating. She had issues sitting still and staring at a screen (unless that screen was her phone). She actually missed going to school. She missed her friends.
The teacher interrupted her spiraling thoughts. “That wraps up our chapter on Mendel and Meiosis. For homework, please start reading Chapter 12: Patterns of Heredity. Bye, everybody!”
Relieved to be done with class, KT got up and went to the kitchen. It was lunchtime.
“How is school going, sweetie?” KT’s mom asked.
“Fine.”
KT’s answer didn’t seem to satisfy her worried mom, but she took her lunch and went outside to the patio.
She began to eat and tried to forget about how stressed she felt. COVID-19 had wrecked everything this year! She couldn’t pay attention in class and she felt lonely all the time. She felt like she sat in a chair all day, everyday.
She liked to get out of the house when she could, because she often felt like she was stuck in a box. That’s why she liked to eat outside, with the trees and the breeze.
She took a bite of her sandwich and started scrolling her apps. First Facebook, then Instagram, then…
“Meow!”
KT looked up from her phone and saw a fluffy little kitten staring at her from the grass near the patio table. It was orange, black, and white. It was small and fluffy and looking right at her. It walked closer and rubbed its back along the side of the house, begging to be pet (or maybe begging for her sandwich…). He was so cute!
“Here, kitty, kitty,” said KT.
The kitten meowed again as it took cautious steps towards her. It seemed to walk kind of funny, taking short steps around its big kitten belly. He waddled!
She broke off a piece of her turkey sandwich and offered it to the kitten. It sniffed at it and then took it, eating ravenously.
KT slowly reached out to pet him. His fur was soft. His belly was mostly white and he had perky orange ears. She hadn’t seen many cats colored like him before.
She took a picture and sent it to her best friends, Jace and Summer.
create a punnett square.
KT gently picked up the kitten and cuddled it in her lap as she texted her friends. She wondered where his family was. She imagined a group of colorful cats wandering around looking for their lost son or brother.
She had always loved cats. Even last week, she turned in a biology assignment about punnett squares. KT had drawn cat faces to represent dominant and recessive alleles. It helped her understand how different combinations worked and helped her determine which color a kitten could be. She got an A on that assignment, which says a lot since her grades haven’t been the best this semester.
She brought the kitten inside to show her mom.
“Mom, look what I found!”
Her mom shook her head. “Uh-uh. No way!”
“Mom, please!?”
“No, KT, I’m sorry. You are already having trouble in school as it is. You are already glued to your phone and don’t need any more distractions.”
KT knew there was no point in arguing with her mom. She put the kitten back on the patio and left it the rest of her sandwich. Eyes tearing up, she went to her room and finished the rest of the school day in silence.
Shortly after school ended, her dad arrived home from work. The family gathered around the table for dinner. Halfway through her meal, KT heard it again.
“Meow, meow.”
She looked through the patio window, and there he was!
She looked at her mom and dad again, asking, “Pretty please!? ”
Her parents looked at each other.
“Your mom told me about your new friend, KT. He is very cute, but I’m not sure if a pet is the best idea right now,” her dad said.
“Oh but dad, he is out there all alone and hungry. He won’t distract me from school, I promise! I bet he would actually help me with school.”
“Let’s compromise – we can keep him for one week while we try to find his owners, but he has to sleep outside.”
Excited, KT thanked her parents and went outside to visit the kitten again. She couldn’t stop petting him and taking pictures. But when bedtime came around, she said goodnight and left out some milk for him.
This is going to be the best week ever, thought KT.
KT, Summer, and Jace met up after school the next day. They hardly got to see each other anymore because of social-distancing and virtual schooling. How had they been doing? KT wondered. Were they struggling in school like she was? How was Summer’s puppy doing? Did Jace get taller!?
They had fun catching up. The pandemic had affected almost every aspect of their lives, but within a few minutes, it was clear their friendship hadn’t changed one bit. Nothing brings the Backpack Group down!
The group designed “Found Cat” posters to post around KT’s neighborhood. It took a bit longer than it should’ve, though – the kitten kept jumping on their papers and playing with their pens. At one point, he even fell asleep on a laptop.
After printing some posters, they walked around the neighborhood posting them on lampposts and trees. The kitten tagged along in Summer’s lap as she wheeled around.
to help find Greg’s previous owners.
KT wanted to help the kitten find its family, but selfishly, she also wanted to keep him for herself. She could be his family! But what if owners came to claim him?
To distract herself from these thoughts, she asked the others to help her think of a name for the kitten.
“How about Kardashian” suggested Summer, “Then his name will go with Jenner’s name!” Jenner was Summer’s sweet pit bull puppy.
“Umm, I don’t know…” said KT.
“How about Greg?” offered Jace. “You know, after that Gregor Mendel guy we learned about in class? That cool mathematician-ninja who figured out punnett squares.”
“Jace he wasn’t a ninja, he was a monk,” laughed Summer, the science-whiz.
Greg? That was a pretty cute name for a cat! Besides, genetics has been pretty fun to learn about so far.
“I like it,” exclaimed KT, as she stapled the last poster of Greg on a tree.
After one week, they hadn’t received any phone calls about Greg. That means KT was probably going to get to keep him!
KT was very excited but was trying to keep cool in front of her parents. She ate dinner with no complaints, made small talk, and even offered to wash the dishes.
“KT, let’s talk.”
This is it, thought KT. This is the moment.
“We have had the kitten for exactly one week now,” said her dad.
“We’ve been impressed with the work you put into those posters and the way you’ve been taking care of him. You’ve perked up with his company and seem to be doing better during classes,” said her mom.
“We know things have been different lately, that things have been difficult. So we’ve decided that we’re going to let you keep the kitten! First thing tomorrow morning, we will take him to the veterinarian.” said her dad.
KT’s heart leapt with joy. She thanked her parents and told them she would not let them down.
She helped clean up after dinner and finished her homework. Then, for the first time but not the last, KT and Greg shared a pillow.
The next morning, KT and her mom went to vet clinic. They handed the kitten over to the receptionist in the parking lot since people weren’t allowed to go into the building. Thanks again, COVID thought KT. She couldn’t even go into to comfort Greg while he got all of his shots. But she heard good things about Dr. Variola from Summer, so she trusted them to take good care of little Greg.
Waiting for the vet to call them with an update, KT opened TikTok. She scrolled and scrolled, but wasn’t absorbing much. She was too excited about her new family member, her new friend.
Her mom’s phone rang. It was the doctor! She put in on speakerphone.
“Hello, this is Dr. Variola! How are you doing today?”
“Great, thank you! How is little Greg doing?” asked KT’s mom.
“Excellent! The little kitten did very well. All tests came back negative, which is a good thing. It is going to grow to be a wonderful, healthy pet. However, I do have some news for you…”
“What? Is something wrong? Is he okay?” asked KT, worried. She was thinking of everything that could possibly be wrong. Could she feel an anxiety attack coming?
for this color pattern.
KT felt relieved, but really embarrassed. She had assumed the kitten was a boy. She didn’t have a preference and still loved the kitten very much.
She was just glad he was okay.
“Actually,” the vet continued, cats this color are almost always female,” continued Dr. Variola. “This cat is a calico, a very special color. KT, do you know what a chromosome is?”
“Yes ma’am, we have been talking about them in class. A chromosome is an organized string of DNA inside a cell’s nucleus. It codes for different traits.” KT was happy to change the subject from her silly gender mix-up.
“Exactly! And what about sex chromosomes?”
“Well, there are two sex chromosomes that decide whether a baby is a boy or girl: X and Y. Babies get one of these chromosomes from their mom and one from their dad.”
“Excellent!” exclaimed Dr. Variola. “Female animals have two X-chromosomes while males only have one. The code for the calico color is only possible with two X-chromosomes. So, except for some rare cases, all calico cats are female!”
Huh, thought KT. That was interesting, but she didn’t fully understand. She already felt silly for mistaking the little kitten’s gender, so she decided to investigate more on her own.
understand genetics
Intrigued, KT went home and fell into a YouTube black hole learning about cat genetics.
“DNA is what stores our genetic instructions. It’s a 6-billion letter code that provides the assembly instructions for everything that you are,” said Hank Green in a Crash Course Science video.
“We’ve all got chromosomes, which are the form our DNA takes to in order to get passed on from parent to child. A gene is a section of DNA at a specific location on a chromosome that contains information that determines a trait.” KT already knew that stuff, she learned about it in class. But why are most calico cats girls? She skipped forward.
“Certain genetics traits are linked to a person’s sex and are passed on through the sex chromosomes. Take for instance, balding. Women rarely go bald like some men do because it is caused by a recessive allele located in a gene on the X-chromosome. It is rare that women get two recessive alleles, but men need just one recessive allele and then –DOH!– they are baldy-bald. That allele is on their X-chromosome, which they got from mom. But was mom bald? Probably not.”
time-traveling microprocessor.
Okay, so guys go bald because of a gene they inherit from their mom’s X-chromosome, KT summarized.
What about the kitten? Greg’s X-chromosome has a gene that codes for the calico color. But some males could be calico? KT was still confused. I also need to come up with a new name for the kitten. Greg doesn’t seem like a good fit for a lady cat!
KT sat and thought while the kitten played with a toy right next to her. She looked at some more YouTube videos and even read ahead in her Biology book.
She came across a page about a scientist named Conrad Waddington, who studied something called epigenetics.
An idea popped into KT’s head… Jace had left the backpack here. It contained their microprocessor that allowed her and her friends to time-travel.
Everyone else had been on a solo trip except for her. Maybe it was her turn. Besides, their parents probably wouldn’t let the group meet up again anytime soon, since COVID-19 cases are on the rise again.
She could take a quick trip and be back in a few minutes! She could sit down and talk to Dr. Waddington to learn more about her kitten’s genetics.
Rolling with her idea before she lost her confidence, KT got ready and grabbed the backpack. She said to herself, “Mission accepted… let’s do this!”
She pressed ESCAPE/CAPSLOCK/TAB while thinking about her destination. It had been a while since she felt that tug through time and space. She forgot about the bright light and pang of nausea that comes with having your atoms temporarily unarranged.
She landed in 1950’s Scotland, where Professor Waddington taught Animal Genetics. He is exactly what KT needed! When she arrived, he was at his office desk, going through papers. He looked up at her, confused.
“Hello, young lady. What are you doing here?”
KT introduced herself, and explained why she was there.
“I am happy to oblige. You see, young lady, the calico coat is an example of epigenetic inheritance. Epigenetic basically means “on top of” genetics. Put very simply, this means that a chromosome’s genes can be changed, or even turned on and off. This affects what genes are expressed and what traits are inherited. “
He continued, “This is why identical twins can look the same but have different personalities and talents. Though they have the exact same genetic code, their gene activity can be different.”
KT nodded her head as he spoke. She felt like her backpack was slipping off her shoulders, so she readjusted it.
“Now, the calico trait is epigenetic because one of the X-chromosomes can be randomly turned off,” Dr. Waddington continued. “This results in random patches of fur that are different colors. So even if I were to clone your little calico kitten, the new coat would not be identical!”
Wow! KT understood a little better now.
“You also asked about boy calico cats. As you already know, the calico color comes from having two X-chromosomes (that are switched on and off at random). In some rare cases, animals can have three sex chromosomes on accident. If a male cat accidently ends up with three sex chromosomes, XXY, then it is possible for it to be a calico.”
“Cool!” KT said, looking at the drawing he was making as he explained.
KT’s backpack felt like it was slipping off again…
“MEOW!”
What!? KT thought. Greg had snuck into her backpack without her knowing. She unzipped the backpack and let her out, introducing her to Dr. Waddington.
Sneaky kitten! I hope the time-travel wasn’t too hard on her. She must have been scared – I should get her home, KT thought.
She also needed to change the name. KT had an idea… The kitten did walk with a waddle, and Dr. Waddington had been so helpful. How about Ms. Waddington? Ms. Waddington, the waddling cat! It sounded funny but fancy at the same time.
“Thank you Professor Waddington! I think I understand now. My kitty and me appreciate your help, but we’ve got to head back home meow! ” KT picked up the kitten, finished her goodbye, and then pressed the keys to return home.
The next day, KT was back in virtual Biology class reflecting on what she learned from her time-traveling trip. She couldn’t wait to tell Jace and Summer.
During the past week or two, KT found it easier to pay attention in class. She didn’t feel as lonely or distracted. KT especially liked learning about genetics.
Today, Mrs. McCarthy was going into detail about the structure of DNA. She was talking about how the DNA base pairs of GC and AT link two sugar backbones together, making DNA look like a twisted ladder. KT tried to think of a mnemonic to help her remember which bases pair together.
G pairs with C, and A pairs with T… G&C, A&T. GCAT. Thought KT.
Great Cookies And Tea? Eew, no. Granny Can’t Attack Tigers? Haha, maybe.
GCAT. Hmm, that spells cat. How about Good CAT? That’s it! I can remember the base pairs GC and AT by remembering “Good CAT”.
KT excitedly wrote her idea down and reached to pet Ms. Waddington, who purred, asleep in her lap
Knowledge Check
ALL sections
- Main Menu
- Overview
- Essential Knowledge: Variation in Traits
- Essential Knowledge: Genetics & One Health
- Essential Knowledge: Asexual & Sexual Reproduction
- Essential Knowledge: DNA & Alleles
- Essential Knowledge: Predicting Traits
- Backpack Adventures
- Make a Note of That
- Meet a Scientist
- Practice
- Real Science Review
- Scientist videos
