Bones - Telsca

A Telsca is a long thin animal from the planet Mintaka 7. They have two feet at their front, and two at the back, and their body is high in the air, with a bend in the middle. Their eyes are at the top of their body where it bends, and their mouth is at the front, near their big front legs. They move by hoping their front feetin into the air and pushing them forward, then reversing the move, they contract and bring up their rear feet. If they are in a hurry, they can hop on just their front feet.
Matt has a pet Telsca named Bandit. Today Matt took bandit to the playground with him. Bandit tried to climb up the jungle-gym to be with Matt, but when he got near the top, one of his feet slipped, and he fell down.
Bandit wouldn't move anywhere, and hooted like he was scared, so Matt called his mother, and his Mother called Doctor Glycine.
Doctor Glycine said that Bandit broke one of his bones. Bones are hard parts inside animals and humans. They let the animal hold its shape. A Telsca has two long bones, where they meet at the top is a joint, which lets the animal bend. Bones are very strong, but if they are hit hard enough, they can break.
Matt asked if Bandit was going to be OK. Doctor Glycine said that Bandit would just have to wear a cast, and rest for a month or two, but first Doctor Glycine would have to set the bone.
When a bone breaks, sometime the two broken ends don't line up the way that they should, and sometims the body part will bend in funny ways. In order to heal, the bone has to be in it's normal position. A medical robot or a Doctor will carefully put the peices of bone back where they should be, this is called setting the bone. It can hurt, but that hurt doesn't last very long, and it's the only way to make the bone heal in the right shape.
Bandit hooted loudly when Doctor Glycine set the bone, he was so angry! Right after he was done, he wraped a big plastic tube around the front half of Bandit's body, all the way from his feet to his eyes. He pressed a button, and the tube shrank a little and got hard like a rock.
"This is a cast, it will keep the bone in place. The peices of the bone have to be kept together while it heals."
Humans are born with about 270 bones, as you grow, some of them fuse (grow into each other) so a grownup only has 206 bones. All your bones together are your skeleton. Telsca's only have 2 bones.
Some bones contain marrow. In humans marrow makes white blood cells, which fight infection to keep you from getting sick. Bandit's bones filter toxins from his blood.
There are many different kinds of bone. Long bones like in your legs and arms let you move. Your ribs protect your heart and lungs. Your skull is a big round group of bones that protects your big round brain. Your backbone is made up of many bones called vertebrae, it protects your spinal column, which lets your brain control your body. Bandit has a small brain, and no spine, which is why he followed Matt up the jungle-gym and got hurt. Using your brain (and spine) will help you prevent breaking a bone.
A joint is a place where two bones meet and can move. Bandit has one joint, at his top. You have joints at your elbows, knees, wrists shoulders and hips. Where else do you have joints? Were else can you move?
Do you know where your smallest bones are? They are in your ear! Three tiny bones move vibrations from your eardrum to a bundle of nerves that is sensitive to sound vibrations. Telsca's do not have ears in the conventional sense, but that's another story.

Bandit healed more slowly than expected, but about three months later, Matt brought him back to see Dr. Glycine. Bandit could move again but while he was wearing the cast, he was even more clumsy and made loud noises with every step when the cast touched the floor. Whump, sput, Whump, sput, Whump, sput.
Dr. Glycine Pushed some more buttons, and the cast puffed up back into a big plastic tube. Bandit squeezed out and hooted like a happy telsca.