Chapter 4
"Daddy, what are we doing here?" William asked as Leonard held his hand, entering an office building with Penny and Sarah following close behind them.
"We're here to see a doctor buddy." Leonard said as he opened the door to let his family through.
"Why? Are you feeling sick?" asked William.
"No...you're actually gonna see her." Leonard said.
"But I'm not sick daddy." said the young boy.
"I know buddy...but this doctor is different. This doctor is a child specialist...and she's here to find out how smart you really are." said Leonard, hoping his son would agree and play along.
"Oh? Okay." William said. "How is she gonna do that? Is she gonna test me with some math and stuff?" he asked.
"I don't know buddy...maybe...we'll find out soon okay?" said Leonard.
"Okay daddy...if you say so." William said.
Leonard lifted his son and seated him on the chair. "Don't worry buddy...I'm sure she'll just talk to you for most of the time...maybe give you some puzzles and toys to play with..." he said as the doctor came out to welcome them.
"Good morning! I'm Dr. Pressman...welcome to my clinic." she said while shaking Leonard and Penny's hand.
"Good morning doctor...this is my wife Penny...and our kids, Sarah and William." said Leonard.
"Hi guys...Dr. Beverly talked to me the other day...she told me you might come in for this young man over here." said the doctor. "And I understand your daughter is a high-achiever as well?" she asked.
"Yeah...she's gonna finish high school next year..." said Penny.
"Wow...that is very impressive!" said the doctor. "How old are you again?"
"I just turned twelve a couple of months ago." Sarah said.
"I'm sure your mom and dad are very proud of you." the doctor said, tapping Sarah's shoulder before turning to face the young boy. "How about you young man, how old are now?"
"I'm five." said William. "My daddy says you're a child doctor."
Dr. Pressman smiled at William. "You're right...I'm a Child Psychologist to be exact." she said.
"Psycholo...what was that again?" William asked, making them all laugh.
"Psychologist little brother...they study behavior and how perceptive and smart kids are...like you." Sarah chimed in.
"Is it gonna hurt? Are you gonna put me in a big machine with lots of buttons and lasers and stuff?" asked William, making them all laugh.
"Looks like you've been watching too much science fiction on TV huh?" the doctor told William. "Don't worry, there will be no lasers or scanners and all of that scary stuff...I promise." she added.
"Then how are you gonna do your thing?" asked William.
"We're just gonna talk...maybe play some games...and puzzles...that sort of stuff." said Dr. Pressman.
"And by playing you're gonna do your doctor stuff? That doesn't sound like a doctor at all." said William.
The doctor then smiled and looked at William's parents. "I'm guessing he's just like this at home huh...always asking a lot of questions?" she said.
"You have no idea doctor...he won't run out of them." said Penny.
"Well that's a good thing...to satisfy his curiosity...stimulate his cognitive functions..." said the doctor before facing William again. "You know what...why don't you come with me to that room over there...there are lots of puzzles and toys in it..." she said.
William looked up to his mother, asking for permission. "It's okay sweetheart...we'll wait for you here." she told her son.
"Okay...come on William..." said the doctor as she led the young man into the playroom while Leonard, Penny and Sarah sat down, taking a couple of magazines to read.
"I'm gonna go out and get something to drink...do you guys want anything?" Leonard asked his girls.
"Can you get me a fruit shake dad...like avocado or mango..." Sarah said.
"Just a cappuccino for me honey...two creams and one sugar...thank you..." Penny added while she was leafing through the magazine.
"Got it..do you want anything to go along with that?" asked Leonard. "...like a cupcake or a muffin?"
"Surprise us dad!" Sarah said, making Penny laugh.
"Fine...I'll use my imagination..." he said as he went out of the clinic toward the pastry shop nearby.
Meanwhile, inside the playroom...
"You can take a seat...just make yourself comfortable..." said the doctor.
"Wow...you have so many toys in here!" William said while looking around the playroom. "Did you buy all this stuff?"
"Yeah...mostly...my daughter is almost the same age as your sister so she decided to donate her toys here...so other kids like you can play with them." Dr. Pressman said.
"What's this one?" William asked, picking up a Rubik's Cube.
Dr. Pressman sat in front of him. "That is a Rubik's Cube...you turn the top and sides so you can match the colors on each face...see?" she said, showing the young man how to work the toy.
"Okay I get it." William said, never taking his eyes off the puzzle and trying to figure out how to match the colors. "Can you make it so all sides will have the same color?" he asked.
"Why don't you try it out...see if you can get the colors to match?" said the doctor. "Do you have lots of toys in your home?"
"Yeah...from my grandparents mostly...I usually get them for Christmas and my birthday..." William said, trying to figure out the puzzle in his hand.
"What about your mom and dad? What kind of toys do they give you?" asked Dr. Pressman.
"Only a few actually...but they give me lots of coloring books...and story books too..." said the young man.
"Do you like reading?" she asked.
"Yeah...I get to learn new stuff..." said William. "...like did you know that the first animals to go to space were fruit flies? Everybody thinks that it would be a monkey or a dog...but it's actually fruit flies...so the scientists would know if other animals would survive going up there inside a rocket ship." William said.
"Wow...I didn't know that..." said the doctor. "Listen...I'll go out for a couple of minutes...you stay here and keep playing okay?"
William nodded. "Okay..." he said as the doctor stood up, leaving the young man occupied.
Outside in the waiting area...
Leonard just came back, handing out his girl's drinks and a couple of muffins the same time as Dr. Pressman joined them.
"If you'd like to follow me...you can observe your son in this room..." said the doctor. "We have a hidden camera in the playroom so we can record our patient's progress..." she added, showing the young family the video monitor where William is quietly playing inside the room. Penny and Sarah took a couple of chairs and sat in front of the monitor.
"Look mom...he's trying to figure out a Rubik's Cube..." said Sarah.
Penny looked closer. "Oh yeah...isn't it there's a competition for guys who can solve that thing the fastest?" she said.
"Yeah...some even make robotic projects and scanning software just to solve it." Leonard chimed in, sitting beside his wife.
"I'm gonna go back in there...you guys just make yourselves comfortable." said the doctor.
"Thank you." Leonard said.
Back in the playroom...
"Look I solved it!" William exclaimed while showing the puzzle in his hand.
Dr. Pressman saw it and was surprised at how quickly the young man was able to figure out the puzzle toy. "Very good William! That is so amazing!" she said, taking the toy from him. "Tell me how you did it."
"I just turned the sides until I saw that there was a pattern...and then it was easy to figure it out from there..." said William, turning his attention to another puzzle. "What does this do?" he asked, taking a metal-looking toy with hoops and key inside.
"Oh that? You have to get the key out of the metal hoops...to be honest, even I can't figure it out..." said Dr. Pressman.
"I'm gonna try this one too..." said William, carefully twisting and turning the metal puzzle.
"Did your mom or dad tell you anything about why you're here?" asked the doctor.
"My mommy told me that you need to figure out how smart I am..." said the young boy.
"That is one thing...and I think you're doing quite well..." the doctor said.
"Thank you Dr. Pressman...and I'm only smart because my mommy made me smart..." said William, making Penny shed a tear as she watched the video monitor from the other room.
"Really? I thought it was your dad who made you as smart as your sister?" Dr. Pressman asked.
"My big sister got her brain from her real mother...she got sick and died when she was little...way before I was even born." William said. "That's why she's only my half-sister."
"And how does that make you feel?" asked the doctor.
"Nothing...I mean, she's still my big sister...and I love her..." said the young boy. "...even if she acts weird sometimes..." he added, making Sarah laugh, happy to hear her little brother's affection.
"What about your dad? Do you spend a lot of time with him?" Dr. Pressman asked.
"Yeah I guess...when he comes home from work...but he's tired most of the time so I try not to bother him because I know he works hard so we could have food and other stuff around the house." said William.
"Well it's your father's responsibility to provide for you...you know, give you food and take good care of you and your sister...and your mom..." the doctor said.
"I know...that's why I try to behave so he won't get headaches and stuff..." said the young man, making the doctor smile.
"Well I'm sure you're not doing it on purpose..." she said.
"No...my daddy's great...he doesn't yell at me or my sister...well only a few times actually...but that was when we really did something bad..." said William. "...but I always say sorry so he won't stay mad at me..." he added. "Is this part of the test?"
"Yes it is." The doctor said. "Is there something wrong?"
"No...it's just that we're talking about my mom and dad and I don't see the point to all this..." William said.
"Well...it's not really a test like the ones you have at school...it's more of me assessing your behavior when dealing with different stimuli." said the doctor.
"Stimuli? What's that?" asked the young man.
"Well...a stimulus is something that engages a reaction from a subject...like some sort of a give and take...does that make sense?" asked the doctor.
"Uh, is it like when my daddy does something and my mommy didn't like it so she yells at him or something?" said William, making Dr. Pressman laugh.
"You could say that..." said the doctor. "...the stimulus is the thing that your daddy did...making your mom react by yelling at him..." she added.
"Or when I asked my sister when is she getting married and how many kids is she going to have...oh boy she ran after me like a hungry lion or something." William said, making the doctor laugh even more.
"You like teasing your sister huh?" asked Dr. Pressman.
"Yeah...but I always say sorry so she won't come at me anymore." William said.
"How do you do that?" asked the doctor.
"When she's not looking, I'll come up behind and hug her tight, sometimes kissing her many times until she forgives me." said William, making the doctor laugh. "That'll surely get her."
"And who taught you how to do that?" she asked.
"No one...but I saw how my daddy does the same thing to my mommy when they fight or something...he'll come home with a bunch of flowers and some chocolates and my mommy will cry a little but then kiss him on the lips which is so gross...and then they'll go out to dinner, leaving us with a babysitter...and later they'll come home with my mommy all drunk and a little crazy and weird..." said the young boy as his parents watch in disbelief from the other room.
"He really got it down to the fine details huh?" Sarah said, teasing her parents.
"And how does it make you feel...seeing your mommy a little drunk and all..." the doctor asked.
"It's alright I guess...I know she needs some time off because her job is so hard...you know, cooking, and cleaning the house, making me and my sister lunch, and giving me a bath and making sure our clothes are clean...I mean all I know is that stuff is hard to do..." said the young boy, making Penny shed a tear after hearing how her son appreciates what she does around the house. "Look! I solved it!" he exclaimed, showing her the separated pieces of the puzzle.
"Good job William!" said Dr. Pressman, giving the young boy a high five. "Now do you mind if we do something else?"
"It's alright..." said the young man.
"Okay...I'm gonna show you a few pictures and I want you to tell me what you see." said the doctor. "Do you think you could do that?"
"Is this part of the test?" asked William.
"Yes, this is part of the test...and just say what comes naturally...there's no right or wrong answers here...okay?" Dr. Pressman said.
William nodded. "Okay...I'll do my best." he said as the doctor took out a few pictures from a folder, showing one of them to the young boy.
"Here...tell me what you see in this picture..." said the doctor, showing the picture of a man and a woman sitting on a couch, with the woman slightly facing away from the guy.
William looked at it for a few seconds. "Why is she angry? Maybe the guy forgot her birthday or something." he said, making the doctor laugh. "Yeah...he forgot her birthday for sure...or he said something the lady didn't like."
"Okay...how about this one?" Dr, Pressman said, giving him the next picture.
William took the picture and looked at it. "This guy is probably up to no good." he said, pointing at one of the persons in the photograph.
"Really? How can you tell?" asked the doctor.
"Well...you see he's obviously trying to put something in his computer while the other guys are looking away...maybe he's going to steal some stuff from the computer..." said William.
"What stuff?" the doctor asked.
"I don't know...maybe some secret plans for a nifty invention that they made..." he said.
"What makes you think that?" she asked.
William showed her the picture and pointed at it. "You see here...he's obviously a scientist or maybe an engineer...like my uncle Howard...you see his books on the shelf...it's all about high-tech stuff because if he wasn't a scientist, then his books would be about something else, like carpentry or gardening..." he said.
"That is impressive William..." said the doctor, impressed at how perceptive and insightful the young man was. "It seems that you have a very good insight."
"Insight? What does that mean?" asked William.
"Being insightful means understanding things just by looking at them...it's like knowing what the other person is feeling just by observing their behavior..." the doctor said.
"Like the way I can tell if my daddy did something bad because he would sweat a lot and sometimes he would avoid my mommy..." he said, making the doctor laugh.
"That's funny huh?" Dr. Pressman said.
"Yeah it is...but when my mommy starts yelling, you better get out of her way because she's like a tiger that can rip your face off." he said.
Back at the other room...
"Oh my god...he really won't stop huh?" said Penny, shaking her head in disbelief at what she was seeing on the monitor.
"Why are you so surprised mom? You and dad made him that way!" said Sarah, getting her digs at her parents.
"You're gonna get grounded if you don't stop young lady." Penny said.
"Well you just proved your precious son's point." Sarah said.
Penny gave her a serious look. "One more word out of you and you're in trouble!" she said.
Sarah gave them a big smile and quickly hugged and kissed her mother on the cheek. "I love you mom...you're the best." she said, quickly softening Penny up and making Leonard laugh.
Penny sighed. "Fine...now let's watch some more..." she said as they continue watching the young man as he interacted with Dr. Pressman inside the playroom.
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After almost an hour, William and Dr. Pressman came out of the playroom, with the young boy running to join his mother in the waiting area.
"Hey sweetheart...did you have fun inside?" asked Penny, lifting her son to sit beside her.
"I did mommy..." William said, leaning on his mother. "..and there was really nothing to it...I just played and talked to her..."
"Well I think you did just great sweetie...now you stay here with your sister, your dad and I are just gonna talk to Dr. Pressman...okay?" said Penny.
"Can we go to that burger place later?" asked the young boy.
"Sure buddy...we'll go there after we're done here." Leonard chimed in as they follow the doctor to her office to talk about their son.
Inside the Dr. Pressman's office...
"Well, you should be very proud of your son...he seems to be more advanced than other kids of his age...and his problem-solving skills are just impressive..." said Dr. Pressman.
"Wow...I don't know what to say." said Penny, glancing at her husband.
"What do you suggest we do now?" asked Leonard.
"Well based on what your son told me, and I think you saw it too with our hidden camera...it's a good thing that he's in a good family environment in your home...it makes him keener on learning new things knowing that his family is there to support him..." said the doctor. "...it's a good thing that your daughter is equally gifted...that way, he'll have someone to look up to besides his parents..."
"So we just keep him engaged with whatever he wants to learn?" Penny asked.
"Yes...and I would suggest not forcing him to do stuff and let him decide on his own...that way he won't get discouraged into feeling that he's doing a chore or something." Dr. Pressman added.
"Oh believe me doctor...it would be a miracle if you could make him do things he doesn't want to do..." said Penny, making Leonard laugh a little.
"Yeah...that's the Nebraskan in him." Leonard said, making the doctor laugh and Penny roll her eyes.
"There's not much for me to say anymore...it seems you guys are doing good by him and your daughter..." said Dr. Pressman as she stood up to shake the couple's hands, seeing them out of her office to join the kids in the waiting area.
"Sweetheart, say goodbye to Dr. Pressman now..." Penny said.
"Bye doctor...thanks for letting me play with those puzzles..." said the young man while waving at the doctor.
Dr. Pressman leaned over and lightly pinched William's cheek. "Bye William, you can come back here anytime you want...okay?"
"Okay... maybe by then you'll have more difficult puzzles for me to figure out..." said the young boy, making them all laugh.
"You got it!" Dr. Pressman said, giving the boy a high five.
"Now come on...let's go to that burger place you've been bugging us about." Penny said, leading her kids out of the clinic.
"I want a big bowl of those crispy fries mommy." said William.
"Sure thing sweetie..." said Penny while smiling at her son.
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"Mommy...what did Dr. Pressman told you and daddy about me?" asked William while the waitress carefully put their order on their table.
"Nothing much sweetheart...she's just impressed at how smart you are..." said Penny.
"And insightful!" William added, making his parents laugh. "...that's what she told me..."
"And do you know what that means?" Sarah asked while eating her salad.
"Umm...it's like seeing things in people...like knowing what they feel...or something...right daddy?" he said, asking his father to back him up.
"That's close enough buddy." said Leonard while tapping his son's back as he ate his burger and fries, washing it down with a can of soda.
William then faced his sister. "See that? Insightful!" he said, surprising his parents and making his sister laugh.
"You are so smart." Penny said, kissing her son as they continue eating at the diner.
"What's gonna happen now mommy? Am I gonna go to big sister's school too?" the young man asked.
"We don't know yet sweetheart...your dad and I haven't decided yet..." said Penny.
"Your mom is right buddy...and we don't want to force you in doing anything you don't want..." Leonard said.
"So does that mean I'm gonna stay in my school?" the young man asked.
"For now buddy..." said Leonard.
"Your dad is right sweetheart...don't worry, just enjoy your time in school with your friends." Penny said.
"Mommy is it okay if my friends come over so we could watch cartoons and play video games and stuff?" asked William, making them all smile.
"Tell you what, I'll even make some snacks for you and your little friends." said Penny.
"Really? Like ice cream and cookies and candies?" the young man asked, obviously excited.
"Sure sweetie..." Penny said as they continue eating at the diner.