Chapter 16 Homeschooled because

Howard's point of view

*memory 16*

Peggy's point of view

The morning after Tony was born, I woke up in the hospital to find Howard sitting in a chair with Tony in his arms, I heard him whisper

"Tony? You're going to grow up smart, strong and brave. I will make sure of that. You're already an exceptional little boy. Mom and I have loved you from the moment we learned that you existed, and that will never ever change." Howard swallowed thickly here, and continued.

"I promise you will never go to bed hungry, or scared, because of something that I have done or said. I will not turn into my father. You will have two parents who will respect you and treat you with love and kindness. I promise that I won't ever raise my voice or a hand in anger. Most of all, I promise that I will never demean you or make you feel worthless."

I could see tears filling Howard's eyes

"Your childhood will be the opposite of mine… You will be cherished and adored by everyone and regardless of if you have inherited my genius level intellect or not, mom and I will always be proud of you." said Howard, his thumb was gently stroking Tony's forehead.

"My childhood was terrifying, my father was a violent alcoholic who abused my mother, brother and I. We were dirt poor, literally living hand to mouth. My father sold fruit — when he bothered to go to work, that is — my mother sewed shirtwaists for a factory. She worked long and hard… taking as many extra shifts as her boss would allow. She eventually made floor supervisor, but because she wasn't male, she wasn't allowed to progress any further."

Howard paused and looked over at me.

"My brother Ed was 5 years old when I was born. When our father would turn violent, he put mom and I behind him and stood up to our father. More than once, Ed got knocked out. I think that's why he had such difficulty in school. When Ed was in the 6th grade and I was in the 2nd, I broke and told my teacher everything. She took Ed and me home… it was mom's day off and Dad was who knows where… When my teacher saw where we lived, she was horrified… she told my mother that there were places she could go to get help… Unfortunately, my father chose that moment to come home in a drunken stupor. My teacher told him and mom that I'd told them everything. My father threw my teacher out of the house, beat the hell out of Ed and me, and then turned on mom. He beat her terribly… she screamed that Ed should take me and go… find the police and ask them for help. I heard her screaming as our father violated her, and then… as we rounded the corner onto 5th Avenue, there was an ALMIGHTY explosion and the building caught fire. We were on our way to the police station when we ran into my teacher. She took us with her, to a place of safety. She had always known that I was above average intelligence. Not only that, but she formally adopted us and gave up her job to take care of us. She homeschooled both of us. She helped Ed overcome his difficulties, and she helped me reach my full potential. When she died when Ed was 19, and I was 14, Ed got a job and sent me to boarding school so that I could achieve my full potential. The second-worst day of my life was the day my brother died… I've never told anyone about that until now," When Howard finished speaking, there were tears pouring silently down his cheeks.

*Memory 17*

There was no denying that Tony was intelligent. He learned to read and write at 18 months old, by the time he was 3 years old he knew all the times-tables up to the 20 times table and could explain the mechanics of a combustion engine without any prompting. We sent him to preschool, but it was a disaster, he was profoundly rejected by the other kids for being too intelligent.

When Tony was 4 years old, he surprised me.

Peggy was at the office, and I was working from home. I was sitting at the kitchen table going over the expenses for the company when Tony came in.

"Dad?"

"Yes son?"

"Can I show you something?"

"Of course"

He pulled a small robot from behind his back.

"Did you build that?"

"Yes. Uncle Obie supervised when I had to use the soldering iron. I told him he couldn't tell you about it though because I wanted it to be a surprise."

"That's wonderful… I'm proud of you, Tony".

"Do you think Mom will like it?"

"You made it for her?"

"Yes… for Mother's Day"

"I think she will love it."

"I am keen to learn more."

"OK…"

"I love what I'm learning, but it's not challenging enough. I don't want to go to regular school, but I want to learn…"

"I understand kiddo… we'll find you some tutors, OK?"

"OK… while I am keen to learn, I also want to be a kid, I wish to have friends and go to the park and goof off… and pull pranks every so often. I would never pull a prank that would hurt someone, though."

"Mom and I want you to do that, son."

"Why don't we go to the park just now?"

"You know what? Maybe we should. Just let me finish this and then we can go."

"OK…" Tony crawled into my lap and looked at the figures I was examining.

"Do you itemise each project?"

"Yes, we do… here… why don't you see if you can add up the total for me?"

"OK"

Tony got some paper and a pencil and copied the figures onto the page.

He looked at them… and wrote down the answer. He passed the paper over to me. I checked his work.

"You got the answer! Well done!"

In the room

"You were an excellent father, Howard"

"Well… I was certainly determined to be".

"We're about to see that determination in practise. This is a memory of Tony's."

*Memory 18*

Tony's point of view

I was homeschooled from when I was 3 until I turned 11. I was taught by Dad, Uncle Obie and a tutor that Dad had found, Professor Friedrich Baehr.

"Mr Stark, I would like to talk to you about your son"
"Please, Professor Baehr, call me Howard. What is it you want to talk about?"

"Tony is very gifted, he's an eager student, and he works very hard — I think he actually works a little too hard sometimes — and I think he could go to MIT in the next few years."

"WOW, really? That means he is more intelligent than me."

When my mother found out that I could go to MIT when I was 14, she was horrified.

"I don't want him to grow up too fast, Howard"
"OK, I think I would like to leave it up to Tony to decide."

"Maybe you're right"

"I want to attend MIT when I am of college age. I know I could probably do it and graduate at 17, but I don't want to do that."

In the room

"You could have gone to MIT at 14?"
"Yes"

"WOW! When I was 14 I was still trying to work out what I wanted to do"

Memory 19

When I was 9 years old, my accidental magic came through and Aunt Maria taught me to control it.

"You're going to be going to Hogwarts in a couple of years, and there's something you should know about that school's headmaster…"
"He's evil?"
"Yes"

In the room…

"I clearly remember one other incident… it happened when I was 7 years old…"

"Put the tip of your wand to the side of your head and extract the memory, then put it on the pensieve stone."