Sheldon coughed again, and his mother came panting into his bedroom. He glanced up from his BC Calculus textbook and said to his mother, "Relax, Mom, I just found the wording of a problem in my book to be very entertaining. I cough when I express amusement." Mrs. Hawkes glared at Sheldon and made her way back down the stairs. Sheldon was twelve years old and terribly prone to getting bizarre diseases, but he was already in the 11th grade- when he made it to school, that is. Sheldon attended University School, New York City's premier school for boys. However, Sheldon had already had strep throat and the bird flu this winter, and now the doctors thought he had mononucleosis.
Sheldon had skipped 4th, 5th, 6th, 7th, and 8th grades. He was now a junior in high school, and after he graduated next year he would go on directly to Harvard, and then to its medical school. Sheldon had always wanted to be a doctor, especially when he was sick. He was fascinated by all the tests his doctors ran on him and all their fancy machines and instruments. He was also a very caring boy, and he wanted to save lives.
Sheldon sighed as he shut his BC Calc book and put on the floor next to his backpack. He pulled out his AP Physics homework next, and quickly completed the worksheet. He put the notebook on top of his math book, and withdrew a slim book. A closer inspection revealed that the book was full of Latin poetry. Sheldon was just beginning to get into the rhythm of iambic pentameter when his mother entered his bedroom carrying a bowl of chicken noodle soup. "Mom! Didn't you hear the doctor when he said no monounsaturated fat, polysaturated fat, trans fat or excessive sodium?" Sheldon knew his mother had a crush on his doctor, so Sheldon always had to tell his mom what the doctor had said.
As for Mrs. Hawkes, she didn't stand a chance of understanding half of the words that came from Sheldon's mouth. She was a high school dropout. She had Sheldon out of wedlock, and his father left her as soon as she told him she was pregnant. Luckily, Mrs. Hawkes' family had plenty of money. Mrs. Hawkes always wished that her son would have more friends. However, he didn't play sports, he wouldn't listen to music unless it was composed by Beethoven, Bach, or Mozart, and actually liked to read. He once read all 1,463 pages of Les Misérables, by Victor Hugo, in six hours. Once he read a book, he translated it into Latin and read it all over again.
Five Years Later
Sheldon was the valedictorian of his class at Harvard. He adored all of his med school classes, especially when he had to dissect a cadaver. As he had in high school, he spent all of his time studying and translating things into Latin. As he graduated med school and became licensed as a surgeon, the stress of being four or five years younger than his peers gradually got to him. He decided that the pressure of maintaining his "Wonderkid" reputation and actually successfully practicing medicine back in NYC was too much, especially after he lost a patient for the first time. He chose to become a medical examiner instead. He quickly became the Chief Medical Examiner, and he met the first friends he'd ever had.