Chapter 3: Great Minds

"…As classing it in the list of fables, the idea was out of the question" (Jules Verne, page 4).

As the kids started the book, Rory was the first to react, possibly because of her proximity to water. After reading the first couple of pages about geysers, oceans, and whales, she knew what she wanted to do this summer.

"Mom" Rory yelled as she ran into the inn, past the front desk, down the main hall, and into room 4 where she could hear her mom humming, "There she goes" by The La's off key, while wearing her headphones. "MOM" Rory yelled louder while doing a little dance to get her mother attention.

Lorelai turned around to see her daughter dancing to the beat of the song, she couldn't hear, better than she ever did in ballet class. Lorelai laughed and asked, "Yes, offspring?"

"Mom I figured out what I want to do this summer and it's all thanks to this book," Rory stated hugging her copy of 20,000 leagues.

"You want to learn to sail a large ship?" Lorelai questioned making a funny face.

"No"

"You want to hunt whales for blubber, oil, and whatever else you hunt a whale for?"

"No"

"You…. Nope I'm out. What brilliant idea have you come up?"

"I want to learn how to swim, officially," Rory explained, "You know like lessons on strokes and such."

"That sounds great, but how did you get from men in a large ship, to you learning how to swim OFFICIALLY?"

"Well…" Rory thought trying to remember her entire process, but in all her excitement; she forgot. "I don't remember," she answered honestly.

"No problem baby," Lorelai reassured her daughter, "I'll ask Mia about where we could sign you up for lesson right after my shift."

"Thanks mom," Rory glowed as she hugged her mom.

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Jess got a little farther than Rory before the language, orientation, and direction of the book had him feeling he as if he was drowning in a sea of words, so he opted to find a life-saver. Jess went down stairs to find his uncle in a completely empty diner counting receipts.

Luke looked up when he heard footsteps across the linoleum floor. "Need anything I can help you with Jess?" Luke offered.

"Yeah, a break from my book. Can I help with anything down here?" Jess asked.

Luke thought for a moment. "You could re-fill the salt and pepper shaker?"

"Ok" Jess answered simply.

So Luke showed Jess how he refilled the shakers, and needless to say, Jess had no problem repeating the steps. Both men worked silently for a time before Jess ventured to ask his uncle a question.

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Lorelai poked her head in the main office of the inn. "Mia?"

"Yes dear" Mia answered with a welcoming smile.

"Could I ask you a quick question, which will probably be followed with a request?"

"Alright," Mia answered her smile never fading.

"Well you see Rory has decided she wants to take swimming lessons this summer…." Lorelai hesitated.

"Yes," Mia urged her on.

"I found out the pool in Litchfield offer classes and I called them on my break. They said they would be happy for Rory to join; although, she will be about a week behind most of the class. Which is fine, but the problem is the beginners class is at two in the afternoon. So I was wondering if I could use both my lunch and afternoon break combined to take Rory to the pool? I was also wondering if I could borrow your car?" Lorelai flinched a little at the end knowing the gravity of her requests. "I'll be happy to run any errands you want during her class, I'll be extremely careful with your car, and I promise not to ask you for any more favors… this month," Lorelai assured her employer. And then proceeded to take a deep breath and wait for Mia answer.

"That may have been the longest quick question I've ever been asked," Mia said with a laugh.

"Well you know me; I'm the queen of brevity," Lorelai joked with a nervous smile on her face.

Mia smiled again and answered, "Of course you may have the time to take Rory to class and I don't use my car most afternoons anyway, so it's no problem."

"Thank you Mia. You spoil me you know," Lorelai proclaimed as her slid out the door to tell her daughter the good news.

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"What did you during the summer when you were my age?" Jess asked his uncle breaking their silence.

Luke thought for a moment. "Well… I played a lot of sports, fished with my dad on the weekends…." Just then he looked down and saw Jess's book on the counter and for some reason remembered, "…your mom and I took swim lessons in Litchfield until I was like fourteen."

"Do you like to swim?"

"Yeah, I guess… I haven't really swam in quite a few years, but back then I really enjoyed it," Luke answered his nephew honestly.

"Do you think I could try classes?" Jess asked timidly.

"Sure," Luke answered thrilled to have something more interesting to offer Jess than refill condiment holders.

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"So what did she say?" Rory asked her mother as soon as she walked around the corner from Mia's office.

Lorelai jumped nearly knocking over a vase with fresh tulips arranged in it. "Are you trying to give mommy a heart attack?" Lorelai said dramatically.

"Sorry," Rory apologized," But what did she say?"

"About what?" Lorelai asked.

"MOM!!!"

"Calm down. She said yes."

"That was mean," Rory said making a pouty face.

"Don't give me that face. I taught you that face," Lorelai exclaimed.

Both girls started giggling at Lorelai exclamation and didn't stop until Mia came out of her office to see what was happening outside her door. Mia smiled as she watched these wonderful girls try to control their giggles and couldn't help but feel blessed that Lorelai had wandered into her inn.

"Thank you Mia," Rory said when she could talk again.

"Your welcome Rory," Mia said and turned back into her office to order some new drapes for six of the rooms down stairs.

With Lorelai shift over and Rory's request taken care of, the girls proceeded to their "cottage" for peanut butter and jelly sandwiches and TGIF.

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Back at the diner, Luke had already called the Litchfield pool and signed Jess up for the two o'clock beginners class, which he would be starting on Monday. After this gesture, Jess seemed to warm up to his uncle a little and was currently telling Luke all about the first two chapters of his book.

"Wow! That's all in the first two chapters?" Luke questioned.

"Yeah," Jess smiled happy to be connecting with his uncle, "Do you know what a cetacean is?"

"No clue," Luke answered, "But I have a dictionary upstairs. You could look it up?"

"Great"

"Ok. I'll be back in a minute," his said putting down the rag he had been using to clean the counter.

When Luke came back down he handed Jess an ancient dictionary. Jess then opened the book, coughing a bit at the cloud of dust that followed each page. Jess read: cesspool, cesta, cestode, Cetacean. "I found it," he then read the definition, "cetacea- an order of marine mammals that comprises the whales, dolphins, and porpoises. These have a streamlined hairless body, no hind limbs, a horizontal tail fin, and a blowhole on top of the head for breathing." Jess thought for a bit making a confused face then asked, "so it's a whale?"

"I guess," Luke, said shrugging his shoulders, "not exactly the mostly useful word to know."

If you don't like my Jess, I'm sorry. I've always thought Jess was probably fairly normal as a child, just a little quieter and more pessimistic. (He wouldn't be a complete hard ass at age seven). Deep down Jess has many redeeming qualities, and if he would have had a more stable childhood with better influences he could be an outstanding man. Or at least that's the perspective I'm using.

Also I know in the series (season 7) Luke doesn't swim, but that never made any sense to me. Anyway… this is my version and here Luke swims, sorry.

Ok. So the music for this chapter isn't very insightful… "There she goes" by The La's, but it's a good song and it came out in 1991, so it's very likely something Lorelai would hear on the radio while working.

Now as a note to my reviewers… Thank you Thank you Thank you Thank you Thank you Thank you Thank you Thank you Thank you Thank you Thank you!!!!! You guys are great… very encouraging for a newbie like me. As for everyone else, I just hope your not following the "Thumper rule."

By the by… the "thumper rule" is from Bambi… "If you don't have anything nice to say don't say anything at all."

Until next time!!!!