"Best Friends Forever"
Nicole and Richard Watterson's Love Story
Chapter Seven: The Prodigy
Nicole couldn't believe how easy it was to raise little Anais. Darwin's upbringing had already been simple, but Anais' was by far the best. She practically raised herself.
Nicole first noticed this one day when she was changing her diaper. Richard had entered the room to show her the shards of one of the vases in the living room, which Gumball had broken, and from the corner of her eye Nicole saw her daughter finish fastening the diaper at both sides with the tabs. At first she thought she was just mimicking what she saw her mother do to her every day, but soon her opinion changed.
Anais was a very precocious baby. She started walking when she was only six months old and talking when she was eight. By the time she was two years old she could already make very well structured sentences, although she still pronounced her L's and R's as W's, a characteristic she lost in just a few months. Nicole was the only one who noticed how fast her daughter was progressing, and whenever she would tell Richard how she was special and gifted, he would give her that 'every mother thinks that about her child' excuse. Nicole never gave up, until one day she got the proof she needed.
One night after dinner she was washing the dishes when Darwin walked in with one of his schoolbooks.
"Mrs. Mom, can you help me with my math homework?" he asked, feeling bad for not being able to figure it out himself.
"Darwin, I told you, you can just call me 'mom'." she corrected him, while scrubbing a plate with her sponge. "And I'll help you as soon as I finish washing the dishes."
Darwin turned sighed and returned to the dining room table to try and finish his homework by himself. Nicole continued her task.
"Darwin, it's easy!" she heard her daughter from the other room. "All you have to do is multiply pi by the square of the radius."
Nicole dropped the plate she had in her hands into the sink when she heard that, which resulted in splashing herself and everything around her with foamy dish water. She quickly took off her rubber gloves, ran to the dining room and picked up Darwin's book, analyzing the question he was trying to answer. Her eyes widened as she lowered the book.
"That's correct…" she couldn't believe it. "Anais, how do you know sixth grade math?! You're only three!"
"I read Gumball and Darwin's schoolbooks in my free time." explained little Anais.
"Well, that does explain a lo-YOU CAN READ?!" Nicole was now even more perplexed. "How can you read?!"
"I taught myself how. I'm home all day, I have to entertain myself somehow!"
Nicole couldn't believe her ears. Her three-year-old daughter could read! READ! She returned Darwin his book and ran to the living room to tell her husband what she had heard.
"Richard! You won't believe this!" she was hysterical. "Anais can read!"
"…So?" he didn't get what the big deal was.
"Richard, she's THREE!" his wife insisted.
"…So?" he still didn't get it. Nicole rubbed her temples, trying to keep herself calm.
"Richard, no child is supposed to know how to read at age three!"
"…What are you saying?" he STILL didn't get it. Nicole grabbed him by the shirt collar, now completely enraged.
"I'M SAYING SHE'S GIFTED, DARN IT!" she spat onto his face. "Don't you get it?! Our daughter knows things she was only supposed to know in about five years!"
"OK! OK! Calm down." he tried to soothe her. She threw him back onto the couch and sat beside him, still angry. "So what do you want to do about it?"
"We need a confirmation. Nobody's going to believe me if I tell them my daughter reads at age three." she thought for a minute. "We could take her to a psychologist!"
"I don't know any psychologists. Do you?"
"No…" then she remembered something. "But I know the next best thing!"
The next morning Nicole and Richard were sitting in the hallway of Elmore Junior High, right outside the school counselor's office, with little Anais sitting on Nicole's lap.
"I hate this place… It gives me the creeps!" complained Richard, remembering what he had been through in junior high.
"It's amazing! It hasn't changed a bit…" noticed Nicole, looking around.
"Mom, why are we here?" asked Anais.
"We're here to see an old friend who can tell us just how gifted you really are." Nicole answered, playfully poking her daughter's nose.
"Why?" she didn't understand why that was really necessary.
"Because your mom will go crazy if you're not!" Richard told his daughter teasingly. Nicole frowned at him.
"Richard…" she threatened.
"I knew I recognized those voices!"
The three turned to their left to see a tall, fluffy cloud-like creature standing right next to them. He wore a rainbow-patterned shirt, black bellbottoms, and blue and yellow sandals. White fluff covered almost all of his body, but it was more plentiful on his forearms, feet, and head. He had a small ponytail to keep his hair tied back and his eyes were round and colored olive green with red pupils, resembling a green olive. He looked at them with a warm smile on his lips.
"If it isn't my good old friends, Nicole and Richard." He gave them both a friendly hug.
"How have you been, Steve? It feels like forever since we've seen each other!" remarked Nicole.
"Ever since your wedding! Although I have been seeing a lot of your sons, Gumball and Darwin. They're sent to my office pretty often." He then noticed Anais, who was staring at him curiously. He knelt down to her size and gave her a friendly grin. "And who's this little cutie?"
"This is our daughter, Anais." Nicole replied, placing her hand on her little girl's head. "She's actually the reason why we came to see you. We have reasons to believe her level of intelligence is highly above what would be normal at her age, and we were hoping you could confirm this, since you majored in Child Psychology, and all."
"I see…" he gave Nicole a nod and turned back to Anais. "And just how old are you, sweetheart?"
"I'm three and a half, and I would appreciate it if you would stop treating me like a baby." Anais replied with a frown. The cloud man backed up an inch, surprised.
"Hum… I think you might be onto something." He told Nicole as he got up. "Come into my office so I can analyze her further."
He opened his office door and directed the three to his desk. It had two chairs in front of it and Nicole and Richard took both seats, with Anais sitting on Nicole's lap again. Steve sat on his own chair and folded his hands on his desk. Nicole explained to him what she had witnessed that made her think her daughter was gifted and he seemed quite impressed.
"Really? Reading? At such tender age?" he asked, incredulous. Nicole nodded. He looked over at Anais again. "So tell me, Anais, what do you like to read?"
"Mostly Charles Dickens." She replied. "I also like to read my brothers' schoolbooks."
"I see…" he turned back to Nicole. "I for one wouldn't need any more proof, but I'm required to apply some tests that will determine little Anais' level of intelligence." He opened his desk drawer and took out a sheet of paper with several questions on it. "Now, Anais, I'm going to ask a few questions, OK?"
"OK." she focused her attention on the man in front of her.
"OK, let's see…" he read the sheet in his hands. "If I have ten oranges, and give a friend four, how many oranges do I have left?"
"Six."
"Very good… Now let's imagine I have three slices of cake, and want to divide it with another friend. How many slices do we each get?"
"One and a half."
"Excellent!" he chose another question from the list. "Who do you prefer to spend time with, your brothers or your parents?"
"My parents, especially my mom. My brothers are dumb."
"I'm impressed…" he rubbed his chin. "OK, one last question: can you recite a passage from your favorite book?" Anais cleared her throat.
"'Let the tears which fell, and the broken words which were exchanged in the long close embrace between the orphans, be sacred. A father, sister, and mother, were gained, and lost, in that one moment. Joy and grief were mingled in the cup; but there were no bitter tears: for even grief arose so softened, and clothed in such sweet and tender recollections, that it became a solemn pleasure, and lost all character of pain.'" When Anais finished everyone in the room had their mouths open. "…What? Did I say something wrong?"
"No, quite the contrary, actually." Said Steve, trying to believe what he had just heard. "Nicole, Richard…" he turned to two parents with a big smile across his face. "…I am happy to announce that your daughter is gifted. She's the brightest child I've ever seen." Nicole hugged her daughter tight and Richard patted her head. "In fact, she's so bright I think she should start school right away!" Nicole's heart sunk.
"Right away?! But she's only three!" Nicole was starting to panic.
"Three and a half." corrected Anais.
"Nicole, your daughter has the IQ of an eighth-grader." explained Steve. "In fact, I think I can pull some strings to make her start school here after summer!"
"No! She's too young!" Nicole held her daughter tighter against her chest, feeling tears start to rise.
"Mom, look…" Anais pushed herself away from her mother and looked her right in the eyes. "This is once-in-a-lifetime opportunity for me. I'm stuck at home all, most of the times bored to tears. Besides, it'll be a chance to expand my knowledge. Gumball and Darwin's books are so full of wrong answers and stupid doodles I actually think they're making me dumber! I really need this." Nicole had no idea how to respond to such a well-though-out line of reasoning.
"Are you sure this what you want, honey?" she asked, secretly hoping she would change her mind at the last minute.
"Yes, mom. I'm sure." her daughter replied with certainty. Nicole sighed in defeat.
"OK… If that's what you really want…" her voice cracked due to the lump that was forming in her throat. She wiped her eyes and tried to smile like she meant it. "Steve, thank you so much for this." she thanked her old friend.
"It was my pleasure." he patted Anais' head. "I look forward to give you some counseling." he told the little bunny, who smiled at him.
As they drove back home Nicole didn't speak. She was still trying to process what she had heard.
Her three-year-old daughter was going to start junior high.
AUTHOR'S NOTE (PLEASE READ)
Short chapter is short. x'D The next one will be the last one.
And for those who are wondering, Anais is quoting "Oliver Twist".
