The Juvenescence Juxtapostion

By Dr Skywalker

Everyone had their breaking point and Missy Cooper - had reached hers. While she grew up with a person who other people considered weird and strange because of his high intellect, it was quite another thing raising a child like that. She had just put him to bed after a very difficult night. Her husband had taken off to god knows where, and with no money, no idea where he was and an incredibly difficult child to take care of, Missy lay in her bed eyes wide open with no idea what to do. Bills piled up. Rent money got harder and harder to come by, and hard decisions had to be made. Which bills could be paid and which ones couldn't? Some nights the lights had to be kept on in place of getting dinner on the table.

It wasn't that she particularly disliked her son, it was just that…he was creepy. He had an eerie way of staring at her, as if he were trying to figure her out. Hed been like that as a baby. It drove shivers up her spine. Even though she knew he was only a child, there were things about him that she knew he did because of his high intelligence but they were things no child should do or say. She wondered what it was like for her own mother when raising her brother. She thought about her meeting with Albert's teacher the week before.

"Little Albert is disruptive, and frankly Mrs. Thompson, and hes lazy." Mrs Martinez said sternly. "He dosent pay any attention, he belittles everything I say, and he encourages the other children to do so as well!"

"Its Cooper. Im divoresed."

"Oh…I had no idea." Mrs Martinez said "How long?"

"A few months. It …hasn't been easy on Albert." She said awkwardly. "Or … anyone." Bret just….took off one day. That was two years ago. I finally filed the paper work and got it taken care of."

"Well, that might at least explain Albert's fascination with traveling." Mrs Martinez said. "Last week, I caught him in the shop lab trying to make a GPS out of safety sissors and some alumnuim tin foil."

"Yeah I keep telling him that I don't think his daddys coming back, but he seems determined to find him."

"Albert is a very special child, but hes … well…." Mrs Martinez said akwardly.

Missy sighed. Shed heard this speech before. "The problem with Albert, is well, he …he dosent belong here. We just don't have the capabilties to deal with a special needs child like him, and I think its best he be placed in a class…" She paused uncomfortably. "More suited to his…needs." Missy knew exactly what Mrs Martinez was saying to her. "This is a brochure for the Roosevelt School for Children." She handed Missy the brochure with a bright sunrise behind what looked like a university except there children Albert's age coming out of it. All the children looked bright and happy. She flipped to the cost break down and her stomach dropped.

Mrs Martinez looked sadly at Missy, and placed a hand on hers. "There are options for him…he could apply for grants from the state or maybe you could get him a scholariship if he really wanted to knuckle down." She sighed heavily. "Im afraid I cant keep Albert in my class Ms Cooper. The other kids need to focus and study, and its hard enough having a child like Albert in our class."

Missy kept going over the conversation over and over. It all seemed impossible for him. She knew Albert didn't want to hurt or bother anybody, and he was just being who he was, but that was the entire problem. No one wanted him to be who he was.

Little Albert was bright to the point of genius no one was denying that, but he was also so easily distracted. Shed sat with his teachers who marveled at his aptitude for reading and comprehension, but also all agreed he belonged in a school for gifted children. These schools were thousands of dollars in tuition and Missy was a broke hostess whos husband took off. She sighed heavily. The pile of bills sitting on her desk werent going away, and neither were the constant calls about them.

"I think the television is broken mom." Albert said one day. He crawled out from the back of it figiting with the wires with his little tounge sticking out trying to figure out what the problem was.

"Al, get out from there, you'll hurt yourself!" Missy barked. She knew very well why it wasn't working, and was in no mood to explain to her toddler son she couldn't afford to pay for the science network right now.

"But I think I can fix it…" He insisted

"No. You cant." She said coldly, and grabbed him from out of the back of the TV, pulling him roughly.

He looked at her sadly. "Sorry mom." He said in a small voice.

Being overwhelmed and out of money was hard enough. "Just go play Albert." She said not looking at him.

Albert sat in his room sadly. He looked at his stuffed giraffe. "Youre right, I bet you we can help her." He jumped off his bed and scurried into his closet tossing nick knacks about. He pulled out his chemistry set his Uncle got him for Christmas last year.

"All we have to do is invent a serum that will make Mom happy again." He pulled out a large heavy chemistry book hed gotten from the library, and flipped through the pages to find something that might seem to work.

"Hmmm…." He stuck a crayon behind his ear. "Says here The most important classes of antidepressants are the selective serotonin reuptake inhibitors, serotonin–norepinephrine reuptake inhibitors, tricyclic antidepressants and monoamine oxidase inhibitors." He read. "Maybe I should try to mix them all together."

He pulled the crayon and began scribing chemical compounds on his construction paper.