Charity's school started again on the second, and since Scott worked
and Barbara had to go take Gabriel clothes shopping, Jonas was stuck at
home with Matt all day. He turned on the TV and watched a few minutes,
flipping through channels. What he saw either bored or confused him.
Finally, after feeling physically sick from watching a bit of TV violence,
he found a news station to watch. When he heard about a country he hadn't
heard of before, and turned off the TV and went to look it up in the
encyclopedia. That article led to another interesting topic, and by the
time Charity walked in the front door, Jonas was sitting on the floor in
front of the couch with the entire set of encyclopedias spread out around
him.
"My gosh, you really do have a thirst for knowledge, don't you?"
Jonas looked up sheepishly. "Once I got started, I couldn't stop."
Scott brought home Jonas and Gabriel's papers that evening.
"We need to fill in your birthdays," he said.
"I didn't even think about that," Jonas said. "I don't know when they were. We didn't celebrate birthdays in the community. "But I was nineteen, so mine would be about..." he paused for a moment, "May nineteenth. And Gabriel was thirty-seven, so his would be... September twenty-seventh."
They were all staring at him. "How did you figure that out?" Scott finally asked.
"Well, there are fifty births a year. Three hundred sixty-five divided by fifty is seven point three days between births. Times nineteen for me is one hundred thirty-nine days, and thirty-seven for Gabe is two hundred seventy. Subtracting the number of days in each month, the one hundred thirty-ninth day of the year is May nineteenth, and the two hundred seventieth day is September twenty-seventh." Jonas had never seen so many open mouths in one place at one time. "What?"
"You figured that out in your head?" Barbara asked, incredulous.
"Yes...?"
Matt whistled between his teeth. "If I could stuff you in my backpack, you could give me the answers on my calc tests." He grinned. "You're faster than my calculator."
Jonas looked around at them. "You mean you can't do that in your heads?" he said.
"Huh-uh." Charity slowly shook her head. "Well, I can tell you right now you'll be in honors math. I think you're gonna have to dumb yourself down so you don't freak out your teachers."
"So not only will you not be learning anything new in math class," Barbara said, laughing, "you'll have to suppress what you do know. Don't you love our educational system?"
The bus pulled up in front of the middle school and deposited its charges on the sidewalk. Jonas stood and looked up at the school, his fellow students milling past him. Charity paused by his side. "Ready?"
He smiled at her. "Ready."
He had been registered at the school, had memorized his schedule and map of the building and had learned the basics of the cafeteria and bell systems. He had chosen new clothes—with them, he felt he had finally moved into his bedroom, with some belongings there. He had even memorized the fabricated past his new family had given him. Now, the real test was coming.
Jonas had never realized that people could be so loud! His fellow students talked, shouted to one another, laughed loudly. And the way they talked! Jonas had had some imprecise language from the Watsons, but the middle-schoolers completely surpassed them in that department. They used many words that Jonas didn't know, and some of them sounded terribly impolite.
"Chair! How was your weekend?" someone asked from nearby.
"Interesting," Charity said with a little laugh. "Hey Katie, this is Jonas Miller, my cousin. He and his brother are living with us now."
"Hey," Katie said casually.
"Pleased to meet you," Jonas said shaking her hand.
"Wow," Katie said, "where are you from?"
"Borneo," Charity said shortly. "Come on, Jonas, your homeroom's down here."
"Why did you say I was from Borneo?" Jonas asked as soon as they were out of earshot. "I don't know anything about Borneo!"
"Neither does she," Charity said, waving at some friends. "Besides, she knows I was only kidding."
"She was surprised when I shook her hand. Isn't that alright?"
"Yeah, it was fine. Very polite."
"Then why did she think it was strange?"
"Because most teenagers don't shake hands when they meet other teenagers. But hey, you're a missionary's kid, right? You were raised to be polite and your parents probably insisted on precise English. It's fine."
Jonas found all of his classes alright. Two of the them were with Charity. One of these was math. The teacher was going over the Pythagorean theorem. Jonas recognized the formula, though he had never heard it called by that name. Once the teacher had explained it, she put a problem on the board. "Who'd like to answer this?" It was a right triangle, with two sides of three and six units each. It asked for the hypotenuse.
Jonas put his hand up. Around him, he could hear people shuffling papers and getting out their calculators.
"Yes, Jonas?" the teacher said, as if expecting a question.
"C equals the square root of forty-five, or three square roots of five," Jonas said clearly.
Silence fell on the room. A couple of people whistled through their teeth.
"Good job!" Mrs. Holtry said, sounding thrilled.
Too late, Jonas remembered he wasn't supposed to let people know what he could do. He could hear the class whispering around him, and he bent his head over his binder, his face burning. He was almost scared to look at Charity, see her mouth 'I told you so!' But he did glance back at her. It looked like she was silently laughing. She grinned at him and winked. Jonas felt a smile spread over his face. Charity held up her calculator and tapped it. Jonas nodded, and turned back to his work. Charity shook her head, still laughing.
"My gosh, you really do have a thirst for knowledge, don't you?"
Jonas looked up sheepishly. "Once I got started, I couldn't stop."
Scott brought home Jonas and Gabriel's papers that evening.
"We need to fill in your birthdays," he said.
"I didn't even think about that," Jonas said. "I don't know when they were. We didn't celebrate birthdays in the community. "But I was nineteen, so mine would be about..." he paused for a moment, "May nineteenth. And Gabriel was thirty-seven, so his would be... September twenty-seventh."
They were all staring at him. "How did you figure that out?" Scott finally asked.
"Well, there are fifty births a year. Three hundred sixty-five divided by fifty is seven point three days between births. Times nineteen for me is one hundred thirty-nine days, and thirty-seven for Gabe is two hundred seventy. Subtracting the number of days in each month, the one hundred thirty-ninth day of the year is May nineteenth, and the two hundred seventieth day is September twenty-seventh." Jonas had never seen so many open mouths in one place at one time. "What?"
"You figured that out in your head?" Barbara asked, incredulous.
"Yes...?"
Matt whistled between his teeth. "If I could stuff you in my backpack, you could give me the answers on my calc tests." He grinned. "You're faster than my calculator."
Jonas looked around at them. "You mean you can't do that in your heads?" he said.
"Huh-uh." Charity slowly shook her head. "Well, I can tell you right now you'll be in honors math. I think you're gonna have to dumb yourself down so you don't freak out your teachers."
"So not only will you not be learning anything new in math class," Barbara said, laughing, "you'll have to suppress what you do know. Don't you love our educational system?"
The bus pulled up in front of the middle school and deposited its charges on the sidewalk. Jonas stood and looked up at the school, his fellow students milling past him. Charity paused by his side. "Ready?"
He smiled at her. "Ready."
He had been registered at the school, had memorized his schedule and map of the building and had learned the basics of the cafeteria and bell systems. He had chosen new clothes—with them, he felt he had finally moved into his bedroom, with some belongings there. He had even memorized the fabricated past his new family had given him. Now, the real test was coming.
Jonas had never realized that people could be so loud! His fellow students talked, shouted to one another, laughed loudly. And the way they talked! Jonas had had some imprecise language from the Watsons, but the middle-schoolers completely surpassed them in that department. They used many words that Jonas didn't know, and some of them sounded terribly impolite.
"Chair! How was your weekend?" someone asked from nearby.
"Interesting," Charity said with a little laugh. "Hey Katie, this is Jonas Miller, my cousin. He and his brother are living with us now."
"Hey," Katie said casually.
"Pleased to meet you," Jonas said shaking her hand.
"Wow," Katie said, "where are you from?"
"Borneo," Charity said shortly. "Come on, Jonas, your homeroom's down here."
"Why did you say I was from Borneo?" Jonas asked as soon as they were out of earshot. "I don't know anything about Borneo!"
"Neither does she," Charity said, waving at some friends. "Besides, she knows I was only kidding."
"She was surprised when I shook her hand. Isn't that alright?"
"Yeah, it was fine. Very polite."
"Then why did she think it was strange?"
"Because most teenagers don't shake hands when they meet other teenagers. But hey, you're a missionary's kid, right? You were raised to be polite and your parents probably insisted on precise English. It's fine."
Jonas found all of his classes alright. Two of the them were with Charity. One of these was math. The teacher was going over the Pythagorean theorem. Jonas recognized the formula, though he had never heard it called by that name. Once the teacher had explained it, she put a problem on the board. "Who'd like to answer this?" It was a right triangle, with two sides of three and six units each. It asked for the hypotenuse.
Jonas put his hand up. Around him, he could hear people shuffling papers and getting out their calculators.
"Yes, Jonas?" the teacher said, as if expecting a question.
"C equals the square root of forty-five, or three square roots of five," Jonas said clearly.
Silence fell on the room. A couple of people whistled through their teeth.
"Good job!" Mrs. Holtry said, sounding thrilled.
Too late, Jonas remembered he wasn't supposed to let people know what he could do. He could hear the class whispering around him, and he bent his head over his binder, his face burning. He was almost scared to look at Charity, see her mouth 'I told you so!' But he did glance back at her. It looked like she was silently laughing. She grinned at him and winked. Jonas felt a smile spread over his face. Charity held up her calculator and tapped it. Jonas nodded, and turned back to his work. Charity shook her head, still laughing.
