Genius

by Clare Nonhebel

CHAPTER 30

  Mrs Garcia was using Eldred's junior information pack from the power station to give the class a lesson on nuclear energy. The children were half paying attention, more interested in a wasp that had found its way into the classroom. Mrs Garcia passed one of the booklets round for the children to look at in groups of four. It depicted a little uranium atom with a smiley face which turned anxious at the approach of a whizzing neutron. The neutron split the atom's world apart and created a lot of heat in the process, leaving two hot and sweaty little atoms instead of one complacent one.

  Eldred was studying the curves of the wasp's flight path and mentally plotting it in digital form. He would have liked to have his computer to help him do this but he found that sometimes by imagining himself tapping in the information and pressing the relevant keys, he could visualize the results appearing on the screen. Then when he went home he would repeat the process on the computer to see if the answer he had arrived at was accurate. So far, it always had been.

  When he grew tired of this occupation, Eldred mused over what Jilly Martin had told him at breaktime.

  'I'm leaving this school, Eldred,’ she said. 'I'm being sent to a special one where you can go at your own pace.’

  Eldred was interested. 'Do you have to pay to go there?’ he asked.

  'No,’ she said.

  He was even more interested. 'Can anyone go? Anyone who needs to go at a different pace from the one in a normal class?’

  'I suppose so,’ Jilly said, wrinkling her brow. 'But somebody else has to decide for you to ·go there. A teacher, or your mum and dad. You don't choose it yourself.’

  When the last bell rang and the children hurtled towards the cloakrooms, Eldred waited behind for Mrs Garcia.

  'Yes, Eldred?’ she said, seeing him hovering by the doorway.

  ‘Jilly Martin is leaving to go to a special school,’ he said.

  'Yes, I know. It's the kindest thing,’ said Mrs Garcia. 'She can't cope with the work here. We've all been very understanding but there are limits after all.’

  'I was just wondering,’ said Eldred, 'whether I could go there as well?’

  She turned and looked at him incredulously. 'What?’

  'It's a school where children can learn at their own pace,’ Eldred said. 'And there aren't any fees to pay.’

  'It's a school for special needs children,’ said Mrs Garcia. 'Children who cannot learn at average speed.’

  'But I don't learn at average speed,’ said Eldred. 'That's why I want to go. Mightn't it be the kindest thing for me too?’

  Mrs Garcia put her hand to her mouth and started laughing. Eldred was bewildered.

  ‘Jilly Martin,’ said Mrs Garcia, 'is educationally subnormal. Do you know what that means?’

  'Slow to learn the kind of things that are taught in school,’ Eldred said.

  'Slow to learn anything at all,’ said Mrs Garcia. 'You are not slow to learn, Eldred, though you do lack common sense.’ Eldred bit his lip. 'Run along home,’ Mrs Garcia said, 'before I have to be admitted to a school for teachers who need to be confined to a padded cell.’

  Mildred was waiting for Eldred to arrive home. 'I've got some good news for you,’ she said, as soon as he came in through the back door.

  'That's good,’ said Eldred bleakly.

  'Don't you want to know what it is?’

  'Yes, please.’

  'I phoned that Louise Palmer,’ said Mildred proudly, 'and I've asked her to come on Sunday while your father's gone out for his drink before lunch.’

  'Is she staying for lunch with us?’ asked Eldred.

  'I didn't ask her,’ Mildred said. 'I don't think your dad would be too keen. But she can fill in that patents form with you while your dad's not here. It'll be less trouble all round if we do it that way. All right?’

  Eldred looked more cheerful. 'Okay. Will she stay for a while, though?’

  'I don't want her staying all day,’ Mildred said. 'She'll have to understand that lunch will be on the table as soon as your dad gets back.’

  Eldred sighed. 'All right. Can I go down the library, Mum?’

  'Half an hour only,’ she warned.

  'Okay.’

  'What are you studying now?’ she asked.

  'Still nuclear power,’ he said. 'Waste reprocessing.’

  His mother looked concerned. 'You're not going to start designing machines for recycling nuclear waste now, Eldred, are you?’

  'No,’ Eldred said.

  'Are you sure? We don't want that kind of stuff in the house; it isn't safe, Eldred, and don't let anyone tell you otherwise. Children are dying from it.’

  'I couldn't build a machine in the house for reprocessing nuclear waste,’ Eldred said.

  ‘In the garden then?’

  ‘No, Mum.’

  'Well, thank goodness for that,’ said Mildred. 'I suppose that's one weight off my mind.’

  On his way to the library, Eldred amused himself by working out equations at the pace of his footsteps. When he worked out the answer too quickly, he speeded up; when he needed more time he slowed down or took bigger steps, altering the rhythm of his feet to match the rhythm of his brain. His progress down the street looked eccentric. Several children pointed at him and laughed but he didn't notice.

  In the Reference section, Eldred approached the assistant. 'Is Terry Smith here?’ he asked.

  'No, he isn't.’

  Eldred was surprised. 'Has he taken a day off?’

  The assistant, a lady in her sixties, peered at him closely. 'Are you a friend of his?’

  Eldred considered the question. 'Yes,’ he said.

  'But do you only see him here, in the library?’ the woman continued. 'You don't go to his house?’

  'No. Why?’

  The woman let out a sigh. 'No reason,’ she said. 'But he's not here now, I'm afraid.’

  'Will he be here tomorrow?’

  'I don't think so.’ She seemed uncomfortable. 'Can I help you instead?’

  Eldred put his head on one side. 'You might be able to,’ he said, 'but I don't know. I don't know if Terry was really allowed, or if I was really allowed, you see. I don't want to get him into trouble.’

  She looked alarmed. 'What are you talking about? Allowed to do what?’

  'Go into the back office,’ Eldred said.

  Her eyes grew wider. 'To do what?’

  'To look at articles on the computer. There were some others on there I'd like to have a look at. If it's not against the rules,’ Eldred added.

  'Oh, right,’ she said, exhaling again. Eldred thought she seemed rather a tense person. 'Well, I don't see any harm in that. Do you know how to call up the articles you want?’

  'Yes, thanks. Thank you very much,’ he said politely. 'I hope I haven't got Terry into trouble or anything.’

  She looked at him with sad eyes and shook her head. 'No,’ she said. 'It would take more than that, I'm afraid.’

  Eldred tapped keys and rolled pages on the screen, speeding past the articles he had scanned last time; he had no need to re­read them. He just wanted to see if Terry had filed any other documents on the subject that might be of interest to him. He hadn't but in the process Eldred flicked through articles on fossil classification and different palaeontologists’ methods of identifying fragments of bone and as he read he memorized them. It wasn't something he needed to know about at the present time but, he reflected, you never knew when information might come in handy in the future.

  When he had read all he wanted to, he went home. He had spent less than the half-hour Mildred had allowed him in the library but it wasn't worth starting new research now. Anyway, it was his favourite tea tonight, he remembered happily: sausage, beans and chips. He walked home at an even, steady pace.