Chapter 29 Attentive

Christine Booth sat up straight in the little blue plastic chair and looked expectantly at the lady her mother had told her to pay close attention to. The woman wasn't nearly as pretty as her mom or smell as nice, but she seemed friendly. She had an office filled with toys, blocks, colored building cubes, and other intriguing things. There was a large framed mirror along one wall, and Christine smiled at her reflection. She liked to please her parents, so if this was important to Mom, she would try her best.

Brennan sat on the other side of the glass window, watching her daughter's evaluation with the same body language; intent and focused. She felt that admission to Heritage Hall's prestigious preschool could be significant to Christine's academic future. Stimulating their intelligent daughter with absorbing activities would provide a sound basis for her scholastic development.

Booth, in contrast, had tipped his chair back, one leg crossed over his other knee, and his arm around his wife. He chuckled at his child's preening in what she thought was a mirror, and his wife's hyper-vigilant state. He would support Bones' decision to place their daughter in this ritzy-ditzy school, if that is what Brennan really wanted, but for his part, Booth felt they should just let her be a kid, attend a normal preschool program, and discover the wonders of the world on her own, in their back yard, at the park and the library down the street. And in the Jeffersonian lab of course. It had an excellent Young Scientist Program, and Booth believed that and her mother's encyclopedic influence would be quite sufficient to prepare Christine not only for school, but for life. Rather than aggravate his wife, he resolved to let things take their course and see what developed for their brilliant child.