As I went about my life, I had no idea of the trouble my conversation with Magneto would cause. I just felt glad that it had been dark and that I'd lost the tail. If I knew the amount of resources Magneto had put into finding me I would've quickly scrambled to the other side of the earth.
Instead I was young and very stupid. I stayed in my city and found another job at a local library. It felt like a dream come true. I'd talk to adults who wanted to learn and helped them pass the GED. My young age lead to me being called kid genius. If a fellow GED tutor didn't want to answer a question they'd say "ask kid genius". But this time it was different, I was praised for my knowledge and not scorned for it.
Once, a man started crying in the middle of class. He was a veteran of the Vietnam War and thus there was nothing "soft" about him. He said seeing me brought him hope.
I didn't understand why this was the case. There had to be thousands of people who were smarter or more successful than me. I'd just gotten the luckiest break ever. I'd met Magneto and he let me live. If he wanted me to be dead that's what would've happened. There was nothing hope inspiring about having your fate decided by another arbitrarly.
I wasn't that durable either. I dropped out because I was being mistreated in school. Rationally speaking, I knew that would destroy my chances for a lot of high school freshman scholarships, but I found I didn't care. I wanted freedom and if that meant I had to go to a less than perfect college then so be it. A key part of success I'd read, was being able to delay gratification and I certainly didn't meet that. I read because it was fun. I did everything I did because it was fun. There no discipline involved whatsoever.
I chalked up my self directed education to my mother. She was the rebellious black sheep of her family for daring to pick up a book. In her family the education differences between the sexes were sharp. The sons learned about "god's great planet" and learned advanced mathematics and science (while conveniently ignoring evolution) while the women did the chores. In my grandfather's mind an education for women was an unnecessary burden. My mom sometimes read solely to spite her father (who could neither strike her for reading the good word nor praise her for knowing the Bible like the back of her hand).
By the time I was born, she'd had her first mental breakdown from the stress involved from moving away from everything she knew. I was lucky my dad committed suicide (he was not a nice man. I will leave it at that.) soon after giving us a paid off house.
My intellect and skills were simply the product of my being at the right place at the right time. My mom read to me, I was smart enough to see through religion, and I wasn't a girl so I could freely move about to retrieve forbidden information.
Yes, that was how I thought. I did not see anything remarkable about any of my achievements. I was given a life and this was it and I did my best with what I was given.
Why wasn't my mother a 'god fearing woman' married soon after that? Her being mentally ill stopped most of the available Christian males from approaching her. And when her illness became less obvious and I got older I scared the rest away.
"My mom is not going to be married to someone who thought about her like she was a piece of meat!" I said before going on a prank spree that rivaled Home Alone.
There was blood spilt (I'd cut myself with power tools built for larger hands) which only made me more determined to win.
If a well aimed water balloon did not persuade them, I'd bump into the suitors saying compromising things like "My mom said she had theses things called STDS what's that?" while putting on a an innocent face.
This eventually lead to me tipping off the FBI about a quack doctor who withheld information from the parents of a child so they'd continue to pay him for his "natural and godly remedies". This was nothing sophisticated. I'd heard him mispronounce and misuse medical terms that I'd heard on tv.
My reasoning was childish but accurate. Doctors go to to school for a really long time. So if he was one he'd know his bones by now.
I saw this my chance to get him out the picture forever as I knew how much my mother hated liars. I didn't have a phone so I called from a public phone (which coincidentally made the discovery of my identity impossible) using a quarter I'd stole from him.
I remember thinking.
If this guy's not a doctor then he deserves to lose money for all the people he's cheated. If he is one I'll give it back.
Turns out he was part of a network of fake doctors who gave faux medicine for exorbitant prices. My actions ended up saving the lives of a hundred people who had severe medical conditions that were not being addressed. If my identity was made public we'd be in the bad graces of many powerful people (the state health department was involved- they knew about the doctors but didn't say anything for a fee) and "dealt with" quietly.
Back to the topic at hand, instead of of saying what I thought I put on my 'nice church boy face' and said "That's great.". I was at work and my job was to help these people earn GED's. If they found inspiration in my story however misguided I ought to use it to do my job better.
It was as I said it was a dream come true. I made even more money than my previous job with the added bonus of being able to attend intellectually stimulating events on a regular basis.
When my want for a college education bugged me my knowledge of statistics and my self confidence went to war.
The odds of your graduating a near zero are you really willing to put yourself into debt for that?
I am not a statistic.
But you are, complete with the single mother and the total lack of parental supervision. Our life is practically a checklist for failure. I honestly don't doubt that you - we forget it I can learn the material. But there are other barriers that simply being smart won't cover. How long will this GED job last? Will we able to stay on top of our taxes to avoid losing our house. Face it we live in a house of cards.
I am. You have a point there. But that simply doesn't mean we give up. I am willing to accept a compromise here.
I'm listening.
This lead to me studying for several CLEP tests and taking several online courses. I did this while going about my ordinary life. I figured that if I could excel in my academic studies while working full time that I could handle anything life threw at me.
I succeeded in this pursuit. I had big plans of going to college next semester and even entertained the notion of receiving a degree while my mom attended the ceremony crying from her joy as she did in church.
The last part was obviously going to never happen, my mom would be upset that I chose to major in the heathen subjects that were engineering and metallurgy. But the fantasy was very appealing.
But like all dreams they had to be end.
