Like Father, Like Son
Chapter 4
House arrived at his apartment the next morning bearing coffee and bagels. He found Greg on the couch having fallen asleep there watching TV. He had been watching the Discovery Channel. Apparently, the boy wasn't into porn just yet.
House took the food to the kitchen and then went to the computer to check the history. As far as House could tell, unless he had deleted the history, all Greg had done was check his email. House figured that he would see that Greg had played on World of Warcraft or Runescape. Most kids looked at MyFace or Spacebook, but it seemed that Greg didn't have an account in either place. Last, he checked YouTube. There wasn't anything there either. Well, Greg had been homeschooled; maybe he wasn't aware of them. He doubted that was true, though.
Quickly bored with the computer, House made his way to the piano. He played loudly in hopes of waking Greg. First he started with scales. Greg didn't stir. Next, he played Moonlight Sonata. He made great use of the dynamics but Greg slept on. It occurred to House that he had no idea what sort of music the kid liked, or food, or movies. Did Greg have a religion? House was in the dark about all of the above. The first order of business in his mind was Greg's education. He had teased him about being Doogie Howser and the kid had commented on being smarter than the teachers but all he had was Greg's word on that. Hopefully his family had kept records and his education wouldn't be a big deal.
Somewhere in the course of thinking, House had moved on to a boogie woogie melody that he was spontaneously improvising. As he was playing, Greg nudged him and sat alongside his dad. House slowed his playing a bit in order to see what the boy would do.
After a few false starts, Greg played the bass line, and then increased the speed back to House's original tempo. The errors had merely been attempts at determining the key. It took him less than thirty seconds to figure it out. Next his right hand joined the melody. Since House was improvising as he went, that Greg was able to join his father completely astounded the man. Once Greg was holding his own, House played a variation and then modulated down and changed keys. The boy didn't blink. A smile crossed House's lips, and then he found himself laughing out loud. This child, this prodigy, was his own flesh and blood! For the first time in his life, House knew what it felt like to be blessed! Greg looked over at his dad and smiled. He knew that he had been impressive and was pleased that House could appreciate his skills.
As they continued to play, House sobered. A line from a movie came to mind. "With great power comes great responsibility." In that moment, Gregory House, Sr. realized his responsibility to Gregory House, Jr. and to his future. If this child was as gifted intellectually as he was musically, then House had his work cut out for him. House wouldn't allow the roadblocks that had been set up for him to touch his son. He intended to be Greg's biggest cheerleader. Suddenly he was glad that he had squirreled away most of his salary over the years, because now that money could be used to support his son….his son…..
"Greg…..House….Dad!" House turned and looked at Greg. "Are you going to go all psycho on me? You stopped playing and then just sat there!"
"No, I'm fine. I just realized what you have."
"Uh, like some disease?"
"No, your gift."
"I didn't give you anything. What are you talking about?"
"Your piano playing."
What's so gifted about that? Mom played, Grandma and Grandpa played, and you play. What the big deal? Everybody does it!
House shook his head dumbfounded. "You really don't know what you have?"
"Can't everybody play like that?"
House smiled. "In your world, yes, maybe everybody played like that, but in the world in general, you are a prodigy."
"This is just a hobby. I want to be a doctor."
"Most people in music have other careers to fall back on in case music doesn't work out. In your case though, you can have music to fall back on if doctoring doesn't work out."
Greg smiled sheepishly.
House closed the piano and moved to the table. He warmed the coffee and bagels in the microwave. After a minute, Greg joined his dad at the table.
As they were eating, House decided to discuss what the boy needed in terms of school.
"I looked at the homeschooling laws in Louisiana and New Jersey. If anything, New Jersey is more relaxed so I think we just need to figure out where you stand and what you need."
Greg sat and looked at his dad smugly as he continued.
"I was thinking that at your age I was a freshman, so I assume that's about where you are, right" House sounded proud that he had figured it all out without needing his son's help.
"Uh, not really, I'm done." Greg replied blandly.
"So we start on your sophomore year! I can live with that!"
"Wrong again."
"Junior?"
Greg shook his head.
House grinned broadly and said, "My boy." If a man could actually burst with pride, Greg was about to have a mess. "Fourteen years old and a senior! Wow! It doesn't get any better!"
Greg rolled his eyes and House got the feeling that he was looking in a mirror again. "I'm sorry to hear you say that, because I don't want to disappoint you, but I'm not a senior either."
"Oh, God, You're a dropout! What was your family thinking? You need more than just music! You need an education! Damn!" House stood and commenced pacing as he had the night before.
"Stop! I graduated already! I'm done! I told you I was done!"
"You graduated…already?" House tried to shake off the shock. "So, what's the plan.?"
"The plan had been to start community college this past fall, but my grandma got sick before school started and I decided that I needed to wait a year for school. I wanted to help her and then I needed to get the house ready to sell and then I wanted to find you. I wasn't interested in going into foster care."
"Is anyone looking for you?"
"I don't know. Grandma's funeral arrangements were all preplanned, and family friends either stayed with me or I stayed with them and then when I was ready, I said good-bye and left."
"You left."
Greg nodded, "I left."
"Just like that."
"Yes, just like that."
"Do I even want to know how you got here?"
"I hitched." Greg said it with a straight face, but the twinkle in his eye said that he was going for shock value rather than the truth.
"Cool!"
"Really?"
"No, you as….turkey! You're lying!"
Greg grinned, "How did you know?"
"Parental intuition."
"You found out that you had a kid twelve hours ago and suddenly you are blessed with 'parental intuition'?"
"No, everybody lies."
"I'll keep that in mind. Since you asked what I need, I'll tell you straight out. I need a library card. TV really sucks!"
"A library card?"
"Yeah, it's this thing you take with you to the library when you want to check out books. And maybe a bus pass, if they have them around here."
House paled visibly. "I'll get you a bike or you can take a taxi"
"I didn't figure you for the phobic type."
"Long story. I'll take you wherever you need to go."
"I'd rather have a bike."
"Google bikes or look it up in the Yellow Pages. Take a taxi and call me when you find what you want. Here's my number and some cash to get you where you want to go." House flipped Greg his card, two one hundred dollar bills and a charge card. "We'll see if they'll take it," said House with a smirk. "The names will match if they check your ID, right?"
Greg was incredulous. Had his dad just handed him two hundred dollars and a charge card? He wasn't going to argue with him, but it seemed strange that a man that he had just met was handing over money and charge cards. "I haven't got a key." He was wondering how far he could push this.
House pulled his key off of a key ring and tossed it to him. "You're gonna be here more than I am anyway. I think I have an extra in my office, and I can always take Wilson's. He's such a girl he'll probably think I'm breaking up with him!"
"I thought you said that you two weren't together like that."
"We aren't. You just have to know Wilson to understand. I need to get to work. I don't want Wilson to come looking for me. There's a map in my desk. If you go out, take it with you. Get a cell phone, too and call me. Wilson will wonder who my mystery date is! This could be fun!" House grabbed his backpack and headed out.
Greg locked the door behind House and went back to the table to finish his coffee. He was pretty certain that House was indeed still crazy but he didn't think that House was dangerous. His dad seemed to be generous to a fault and Greg wasn't sure what to think of it. He wondered if House was this generous to everyone. According to their chat the night before, he didn't think so, but like House said, everybody lies.