The Genius

by Jesse Kellerman

  But most of the time she is kind. She takes him to church. Victor likes the windows. They show the Annunciation and the Sermon and the Resurrection. They shine with blue and purple fire. Victor likes to imagine them when he lies in bed at night. He likes their colors but more so their shapes. Mrs. Greene teaches him to pray and he often lies awake at night and whispers the rosary.

  Another man comes to visit. He comes in a long black car. He wears a big felt hat like Victor has never seen. Hello, Victor. The man knows his name. He has a moustache. Victor wants a moustache. He thinks of what it would be like to have a friendly pet on his face all the time. He would never be alone the way he is. He is often alone but does not often feel lonely. Sometimes he feels very lonely, though. Why is that?

  The man with the moustache comes often. Sometimes they are walking the property and when they come home the man is waiting for them, reading the newspaper. When Victor is lucky the man forgets to take the newspaper when he leaves. Victor tears it into strips and saves them for future use.

  He likes the man’s visits. They are brief and they always end with a gift. The man brings Victor a model ship and a big glove and a ball and a spinning top. Victor puts on the glove and it is like his hand has gotten bigger. He doesn’t know what to do with it until Mrs. Greene tells him that you use it to catch the ball. But who will throw the ball to him? Mrs. Greene says she will but she never does. The glove goes unused. The ship he likes to draw. The top he can make spin for a long time.

  When the man with the moustache comes he spends a great deal of time looking at different parts of the house, poking his head into rooms. He opens and closes doors. When they squeak he makes a sour face. He wipes his finger along the tops of the tables and rubs his fingertips together. Then he asks Victor questions. What is three multiplied by five? Write your name for me, Victor. If Victor gets an answer right the man gives him a nickel. If he gets it wrong, or if he does not know, the man frowns, the fuzzy creature on his upper lip standing up in disgust. Victor aims to get as many right as possible, but as he gets older the questions become more complicated. He begins to dread the man’s visits. He feels ashamed. He turns seven and the man says We must get him some lessons.

  A few days later another man comes to the house. His name is Mr. Thornton and he is the tutor. He carries a stack of books, which to Victor’s amazement and joy he leaves behind. Victor has never seen so much paper in his life, and that night he sets to it like a fiend, scribbling in the margins, making patterns, stars, faces. When the tutor comes back the next morning and discovers that not only has Victor failed to do the assignment but that he has ruined three brand-new textbooks, he paddles Victor much harder than Mrs. Greene ever would. Victor cries out but Mrs. Greene is in town buying groceries. The man beats Victor’s bottom hard enough to make him bleed.

  Lessons are not all bad. The man teaches him how to weigh things on a scale; how to look at plants under a microscope. The shapes are beautiful snowflakes. They are called cells. Victor hopes the man will leave the microscope for him to use, but alas he packs it back into its leather case and takes it away when he leaves. Victor draws the cells from memory. He does not dare show the results to the tutor, who has already shown his distaste for Victor’s drawings.

  One time while Mrs. Greene is in town the tutor tells Victor to stand up and take off his trousers. Victor screams because he does not want to be paddled again. He has done nothing wrong! He screams and the tutor grabs him and puts his hand across Victor’s mouth until Victor cannot breathe. Victor tries to bite the tutor’s fingers but the tutor slaps him flat. The tutor unbuckles Victor’s belt and pulls his trousers down. Victor prepares himself for pain but the tutor touches his legs and Victor’s bottom and then he puts his hand on Victor’s privates. Then the tutor tells him to get dressed and they study some grammar. Sometimes this happens.

  The next time the doctor comes he tells Victor to take off his trousers and Victor screams. He bites the doctor on the elbow and runs around the room until Mrs. Greene grabs his arms and the doctor grabs his legs and they tie him to the chair with a garden hose.

  What in the world has gotten into him.

  I don’t know.

  Dear Lord look at him.

  The doctor points a light in Victor’s eyes. Does he do this a great deal?

  No.

  Hmm. Hmm. Off goes the light. Well, it’s very strange.

  They go into the next room. Victor can still hear them.

  Does he have fits?

  No.

  Anything else?

  He speaks to himself. He has imaginary friends.

  That’s perfectly natural for children.

  A boy his age? He speaks more to them than to me. Something is out of joint.

  Hardly surprising.

  He isn’t like his mother.

  No. But feeblemindedness takes many forms.

  It’s not natural to keep him here.

  It isn’t our decision.

  It can’t go on like this. How long?

  I don’t know.

  I won’t stay here forever.

  Victor wriggles his hands against the hose.

  Mercy says Mrs. Greene. Mercy.

  I’ll talk to Mr. Muller.

  Please do.

  I’ll tell him that something needs to be done.

  Where has he been? I’ve heard nothing in months.

  He’s abroad. He went to London. They’re building a wharf.

  Dear Lord. Is there nobody in the world besides you and I?

  At the moment, no.

  It isn’t right.

  No.

  Oh.

  Mrs. Greene.

  Oh. Oh.

  I am at your disposal.

  Oh.

  The hose starts to loosen. Victor pulls his arms free. Then he unties his feet. He creeps to the door and sees Mrs. Greene and the doctor standing close together. The doctor’s hands are inside her blouse. She stands away and together they go into another room. They are gone a long time. When Mrs. Greene comes back for Victor she does not seem surprised to find him at his desk, drawing. She gives him a mug of hot chocolate and kisses him on the head. She smells like bathwater.

  Soon after that he sees Mrs. Greene’s body. He crouches at the keyhole while she takes a bath. The steam makes it hard to see but when she steps from the bathtub her bosoms shake, they are large and white. He makes a noise and she hears him and she puts on her towel. She opens the door as he is running away. You’re a dirty boy. He runs to his room and hides under the bed. She comes in wearing a dress that she put on inside out. Her hair drips, it sprays as she pulls him from under the bed. He scrapes at the floor but she is stronger. Dirty dirty boy. She does not paddle him, though. She sets him on the edge of the bed and scolds him in a loud voice. You must never. That is not what a good boy does. You must be a good boy not a bad boy.

  He wants to be a good boy.

  Time passes. The man with the moustache comes to visit. He looks unhappy.

  It’s simply intolerable sir says Mrs. Greene.

  The man paces the room, pulling on his ears. I understand.

  Victor is amazed. He likes to pull on his ears, too. Mrs. Greene does not like him to do that, she slaps his hands and tells him to stop being such an odd duck. Yet here is the man with the moustache, so tall and majestic in his big hat, pulling on his ears just like Victor does. It makes Victor feel proud.

  He needs to be in school sir.

  I’m aware of that. I’ve asked Dr. Fetchett to find a more suitable place for him. It’s not as simple as sending him to Priestly. The man with the moustache stops to look at one of Victor’s drawings, which Mrs. Greene has stuck on the wall. This is quite good.

  I can’t take credit for that sir.

  You mean—really.

  Yes sir.

  All of them? My goodness. I had no idea. I always assumed they were yours.

  No sir.

  He’s quite talented. He should have paints.


  Yes sir.

  Let’s get him some, then.

  Yes sir.

  I’ll be back soon. I’ll talk to Fetchett, we’ll figure out a way.

  Yes sir.

  And the lessons? Any progress?

  No sir. He still will not do his work. He tears it up.

  The man sighs. You must discipline him.

  Don’t you think I’ve tried.

  Mind your tone.

  I am sorry sir. I’m at the end of my tether.

  I understand. Here is something for you.

  Thank you sir.

  And buy the boy some paints, please.

  Yes sir.

  Be a good boy, Victor.

  He never sees the man again.

  Time passes. He is eleven. Mrs. Greene makes a birthday cake for him and when she brings it to the table she starts to cry. I cannot. I simply cannot.

  Victor wants to help her. He offers her some of his cake.

  Thank you dear. That’s very kind of you.

  A new car comes. Victor stands at the window and watches as it rolls up. It is gray. A man in a blue jacket jumps out and runs to the back door and opens it for a woman with a big swirl of hair and a hat high and brown like a toadstool. Mrs. Greene runs to answer the door and the woman in the hat walks past her. She stands in the middle of the room and looks down her nose at everything. Then she looks at Victor.

  He is filthy.

  He has been playing in the yard mam.

  Don’t answer me back. The boy’s filthy and that is all there is to say. Well do you have anything to say for yourself ?

  The woman is talking to him. He says nothing.

  He isn’t the talkative sort mam.

  You shut up. The woman in the hat moves around the room, picking up plates and tossing them down roughly. And this place is a pigsty, too.

  I’m sorry mam. Usually I do the washing in the afternoon, after—

  I don’t care. Clean him up. He’s leaving.

  Mam?

  You are not to be faulted for my husband’s poor decisions, but you must recognize that he is gone and the decisions are now mine and mine alone. Do you understand me?

  Yes mam.

  Now clean him up, I can’t bear to look at him.

  Mrs. Greene draws him a bath. He does not want to take a bath; he already took a bath the day before. He struggles and she begs him. Please Victor. She sounds like she might cry and he allows her to take off his clothes and put him in the tub.

  The woman in the hat says The car will be here in an hour.

  Where are you sending him mam.

  That’s no concern of yours.

  With all due respect… I’m sorry mam.

  You may stay here as long as you’d like.

  I wouldn’t like to at all mam.

  I don’t blame you. My husband was a damned fool. Well don’t you think that this is an idiotic plan?

  I couldn’t say mam.

  Yes you can, you have an opinion, don’t you.

  No mam.

  You’re very well trained. How much did he pay you.

  Mam.

  I’ll see to it you’re taken care of. You call this number. Do we have an understanding?

  Yes mam.

  Idiot. How long did he intend to keep this up?

  I couldn’t say mam. He talked about finding the boy a school.

  The woman in the hat looks at Victor and shudders. Well it’s done now.

  They put him in a car and drive him through the snow. He has never been so far from home. Mrs. Greene sits with him, holding his hand. He does not know where he is going and many times he feels frightened. He screams and Mrs. Greene says to him Please Victor. Look at the trees. What do they look like? Here, take the paper. The bumping car makes drawing difficult. He tries to steady his hand but then when he starts to get something on paper he feels sick and has to close his eyes. He wants to go home. When will they turn back? He wants his bed and his cocoa, he wants his spinning top. He cries and Mrs. Greene says Look at the trees, Victor.

  The trees are pointy and tall and white. They look like sugar rock.

  At dusk they come to a house. It is bigger than any house he has ever seen, much bigger than his house. The house has a sooty face with yellow eyes. The car stops and Mrs. Greene gets out. Victor sits in the car.

  Come on dear.

  Victor gets out of the car. Mrs. Greene holds a small suitcase in her hand. She is standing very stiffly. Then she kneels down in the snow in her stockinged knees. Her eyes are small and red. You must be a good boy. Do you understand me?

  He nods.

  Good. Promise me you’ll be a good boy.

  Ah here he is, our young gentleman. A man with stuck-down hair stands at the top of the stairs. He smiles. Hello there, young sir. My name is Dr. Worthe. You must be Victor. He holds out his hand. Victor puts his hands behind his back.

  He’s very tired sir.

  I can see that. The rest of the boys have just sat down to dinner. Would you like something to eat, Victor?

  He’s quiet sir.

  Dr. Worthe, who does not resemble the other doctor at all, crouches so that his face is near Victor’s. Are you hungry, young man? He smiles. Well, cat’s got his tongue. Victor doesn’t know anything about a cat.

  They go inside. There is a big wooden staircase and a sparkly light. Mrs. Greene puts the suitcase down. We didn’t have time to pack all his things. I’ll send them along.

  We’ll make sure he has everything he needs. Won’t we, Victor?

  Then Mrs. Greene says I’m going to go now, Victor. You must listen to the man and do as he says. Be a good boy, be on your best behavior. I know you’ll do me proud.

  She walks toward the front door. Victor follows.

  No, you must stay.

  Come, young man, let’s put something in your stomach, hey?

  You must stay Victor.

  Come on young man. Let’s be grown-up about this.

  Victor. No. No Victor no. No.

  They hold him.

  Then he is alone.

  Dr. Worthe puts his hand on Victor’s shoulder and leads him out a different door. They walk along a stone path to a brick building with a puffing chimney. Victor hears a car start and he wants to see if it is Mrs. Greene but Dr. Worthe squeezes his shoulder and says Now, now.

  In the brick building they go first to the dining room. It is bigger than any room Victor has ever seen, running the length of the building and filled with tables and benches, boys and men of all ages wearing white shirts and brown sweaters and ties. Some of them look over when the door opens. They stare at Victor. Everyone is talking, the noise hurts Victor’s ears. He covers his ears but Dr. Worthe pries off his hands.

  Let’s introduce you to some people who can be your friends.

  Dr. Worthe shows him where to get food. There is a window and you go with a metal tray. The man in the apron gives you a plateful of stew. You take the tray and you sit at the third table.

  Boys I’d like you to meet your new classmate. This is Victor. Say hello boys.

  Hello.

  Say hello Victor.

  Victor says nothing.

  Be friendly now. It is not clear who Dr. Worthe is speaking to.

  Victor sits at the end of the bench. It is crowded and uncomfortable. He sees that there is another table with more room and he goes there.

  No they say. You must go back. A man with a long neck takes him by the arm. Victor screams and bites him. The man lets out a shout and then everyone begins to shout. The noise makes Victor’s ears crackle. He has hot liquid on his arms, it burns him. The shouting grows louder and louder until Dr. Worthe stands on a chair. That’s enough. Victor is on the floor. Dr. Worthe comes near him and he screams. Dr. Worthe picks him up, another man also picks him up and they carry him away. He screams. They put him on a bed. You must stop screaming, nobody will hurt you. Dr. Worthe tells them to turn him and they turn Victor over and then he feels a jab and he falls asleep.

>   DURING THE DAY HE HAS LESSONS. Victor takes the pencil and paper they gave him and he draws the other boys. He draws the backs of heads, the sides of heads, the teacher’s face. Sometimes he imagines what it would look like to see the room from another place and he draws that. Outside the classroom window there is a big tree that reaches with its arms, he draws it. He draws pages of snowflakes. He puts the papers inside his desk.

  He does not do his lessons well. Dr. Worthe says You must study.

  The only lessons he likes are geography. He likes the shapes. Some of the maps have countries and some have continents. Africa and South America dragons’ heads nodding. He draws Italy a boot. He draws Spain a man with a big nose coughing out islands. He draws Finland. He draws Ceylon a teardrop. He draws Australia. The teacher says that there are kangaroos in Australia. He does not know what a kangaroo is. The teacher shows them a picture. A kangaroo is a big rat. He draws the teacher with whiskers and a tail. He draws the other boys in the class in the shapes of countries they resemble. George is Chile and Irving is Germany. Victor draws them and puts them in his desk. His desk is bottomless. He will never fill it up.

  The older boys play football. Victor does not understand. Instead of watching the players he watches the patterns their boots make in the snow. At first the snow is smooth, then they begin and the dimples spread like bubbles in a pot. They are beautiful but then the snow gets too mushy. Victor wishes they would stop in the middle so they don’t ruin the beautiful patterns. But the next day it snows again and the surface is clean.

  The other boys do not talk to him. They call him Twitter. Victor thinks about Mrs. Greene. He asks for her often and the teacher does not understand. Dr. Worthe brings him into his office.

  I understand you miss your old friend. Do you know how to write a letter?

  He does not.