Chapter 03: Fate's Gift
On September 18th, 2011, Judy gave birth.
Despite the fact that she needed to get a C-Section, things ultimately turned out just fine, and the two children were born. Alive, and in perfect condition. No deformities.
"So...We still haven't decided on names for these two.", Judy said in a weak voice as she held the boy, while Hugh held the girl. "Well, I was thinking maybe Sophia for this one.", Hugh said as he cradled his newborn daughter. "I...actually really like that.", Judy said, smiling.
"What about for this little guy?", Judy asked. Hugh answered, "How about Isaac?" Judy laughed, softly. "...No, I don't think so." Her husband made an exaggerated frown. Judy continued, "I was actually hoping maybe, we could name him after you, in a way. I wanna name him James." Hugh responded, "I have always liked my middle name. Plus, we could nickname him Jimmy!" Judy smiled even harder than she did earlier. It was decided.
"Jimmy Neutron, it is.", Judy thought to herself, happily.
September 8th, 2012.
"Suger-booger, come look! Quick!", Hugh called out to his wife from the kitchen.
"What, what is it?", Judy asked as she left the bathroom to see what was going on. "Look! They did it all by themselves!" Hugh said. The two babies just sat there, babbling, their individual milk bottles directly in front of them on the table. Judy looked confused. "What? Did what?"
As if to answer her question, little James grabbed his own milk bottle, drank some of it's contents, and then put it back on the table, needing no help from either of his parents.
Judy stood, stunned. Hugh smiled. "They were both doing it, earlier! Isn't that amazing?" Judy slowly nodded.
"...Yeah...it is. Very unusual, too.", Judy answered.
October 23rd, 2017.
"Hey, Judy, it's for you!", a McSpankies coworker yelled. "I'm coming!", Judy responded as she ran towards the phone.
"Hello?", Judy asked.
"Hello, Judy."
"Oh! Hello Principal Davidson!"
"I'm afraid that I'm the bearer of bad tidings. Your children are both in my office...a student threw a schoolbox at Sophia, and in retaliation...Jimmy punched the student in the face."
Judy covered her mouth with one hand. "Oh...oh my God. I'll be there as soon as I can! Jesus Christ!"
"I've already informed their father, he's on his way, too.", Davidson said.
Judy hung up the phone. "Good Lord.", she said to herself, quietly.
Judy arrived at Addams Elementary School ASAP. She noticed that Hugh's car was there, already. "I hope I didn't keep them waiting too long.", Judy said to herself.
Judy finally arrived at the Principal's Office, and saw that Hugh was standing up, while her children were sitting in chairs directly in front of Principal Davidson. Their teacher, Ms. Erlinger, was also there. "James Isaac Neutron! Even in this case, you're not supposed to go around hitting people! You know better, young man!" Jimmy just sat in his chair, silent. "I'll explain what happened.", Ms. Erlinger said, stepping forward.
"This all started when I began to make the class work on Math. They're Kindergarteners, as you know, so we did nothing but very basic Addition and Subtraction. Your kids answered every question I asked them quickly and without hesitation, and got every single question right. So, I merely assumed that they were just smart for their age, and nothing more.", Ms. Erlinger said.
"We ARE smart for our age!", Sophia yelled, softly crying as she held a hand over her right eye. Jimmy just sat in his chair, shaking. "Sofie, that was very rude! Apologize to your teacher, now!", Judy demanded. Sofie, after a few seconds, reluctantly did so. "I'm sorry." Ms. Erlinger replied to both the little girl and her mother, "I appreciate that, but quite frankly, part of the reason why you and your husband were called here, is because you have no idea just how true your daughter's statement just now, is."
Judy looked confused. "What...what are you getting at?", she asked. Erlinger continued, "After the basic math lesson was over, I told the class the same throwaway line I've told all my Kindergarteners over the years, that that was all we would be doing for now, due to the fact that children their age couldn't do much else, but that I wholeheartetly believed that before they knew it, they would be eighteen-year-olds doing complex twelfth-grade level math. Your children both then raised their hands, so I allowed your daughter to speak, so she said, 'Ms. Erlinger, with all due respect, me and my brother don't need to wait even half that long, we already can do math of that caliber.'"
Judy and Hugh both looked confused, their children just sat there in their chairs, silent.
Ms. Erlinger continued, "After her statement, the class laughed at them, and one of their classmates yelled out, 'Prove it!'. In an attempt to put the matter to rest, I called your children up to the front of the classroom to demonstrate their abilities by asking them to solve a number of the most complicated twelfth-grade math equations I could think of. What I expected to happen was for your children to fail the first two, and then sit back down, as no six-year-olds could possibly be capable of doing such math. Instead...they both took turns quickly and effortlessly answering every single question I asked them, and every single time, they were correct."
Jimmy and Sofie both smiled softly, proud of themselves. Their parents eyes both widened in utter shock. "What-what are you saying?", Judy asked, stammering. Erlinger answered, "I'm saying that I think...I think that your children are the smartest human beings...possibly ever to exist. Even Albert Einstein and Nikola Tesla weren't anywhere near that good when they were their age."
"Now, you gotta admit, THAT is pretty neat!", Hugh said in a chipper voice, failing to grasp the true magnitute of the situation. Judy, after allowing herself to take in the shocking information for a few seconds, said, "Well that's...remarkable, but how exactly did things get violent?"
One Hour Ago...
Ms. Erlinger was starting to feel horrified, but she decided nonetheless that it was worth asking one final question to the two apparent six-year-old genuises. "Um...okay, o-order these numbers from greatest to least: Twenty-Five to the Hundredth-power, Two to the Three-Hundredth-power, Three to the Four-Hundredth-Power, Four to the Two-Hundredth-power, and Two to the Six-Hundredth-power.
Jimmy and Sophia grinned, it took less than a second for them both to figure that one out. "Well, since I answered the last one, I'll let my sister answer this one." Sophia gave a thankful nod to her brother. "Ahem, Three to the Four-Hundredth-power, Two to the Six-Hundredth-power, Twenty-Five to the Hundredth-power, Four to the Two-Hundredth-power, and last, but in this particular case least, Two to the Three-Hundredth-power!", Sophia proudly answered. "...You are correct...on all five accounts.", Ms. Erlinger answered.
Jimmy and Sophia then looked out at their classmates, expecting a standing ovation for their remarkable intellectual capacity.
Instead, what they got was something that would impact the two children for the rest of their lives, and not in a good way.
"You're a FREAK!", a girl named Tiffany yelled as she hurled her completely full schoolbox at Sophia, and successfully hit her in the face hard enough to shatter her glasses, bruise her right eye, and send her to the floor, causing the entire classroom to laugh at her misfortune.
Jimmy's emotions moved before his brain, and he wasted no time sprinting towards Tiffany, and then, punched her in the face. He moved with so little hesitation that the rest of the class didn't even fully register what was going on until Tiffany shrieked in pain. Tiffany was only hit once, and it wasn't as painful as what SHE did to Sophia, but Tiffany was not tough, even for her age.
Ms. Erlinger then sprinted towards Jimmy, grabbed him by the neck, and hauled him off to the office, not saying a single word. "No one hurts my sister!", Jimmy yelled with unwavered conviction as he was hauled out of the classroom.
The other students crowded around Tiffany, speaking in concerned voices as if Tiffany was just assaulted for no reason.
"Are you okay, Tiffany?", her friend asked her. "AHH! AHHHH! NO I'M NOT OKAY! HE HIT ME!", Tiffany cried in agony and fear. Sophia, meanwhile, had just risen from the floor, covering her throbbing eye. It was then when she noticed all of her classmates, shooting their dirtiest possible looks at her. Tiffany then screamed, "I HATE YOU, AND I HATE YOUR BROTHER, TOO! I HOPE YOU BOTH DIE, YOU FREAKS!" The rest of the class then all joined in, shouting hateful things about how they were the weirdest kids they had ever seen and how neither of them were ever going to make any friends.
Unable to withstand the emotional barage any longer, Sophia sauntered out of the classroom, and went in the direction of the Principal's Office, tears streaming down her red cheeks.
Hugh and Judy both sat there, saddened at the story. "Anyways, Jimmy is going to be suspended for a week, I'm afraid. Since Tiffany was the instigator, she won't be coming back for two weeks.", Principal Davidson said. Sophia suddenly spoke out, "No! You can't separate me and Jimmy! I can't go back alone!" Judy cut her off. "Hey! that's enough!". The little girl shrank back into the large grown-up chair, and put her hands over her face, again. Judy's expression softened as she walked towards her daughter. "Oh, no no no, Sweetie, please don't cry.", Judy said as she wrapped her arms around her. Sophia let out a relieved sigh as her mother comforted her.
Davidson and Erlinger smiled at Judy's maternal instincts. Davidson then continued, "You both probably already figured this out, but Jimmy and Sophia are to go home for the remainder of today. Today just happened to land on a Friday, so Jimmy has a perfect Monday through Friday to miss before he can return."
The family of four left the Office soon after, holding their children's hands. Erlinger then turned back towards Davidson, and said, "You know, they're really good parents for their age, I must say. They're both quite a bit younger than I am!" Davidson grinned in response. "Can't have enough good parents, these days. No matter the age. How fortunate it is that those two just happen to be the parents of two little future-scientists, it seems. If what you told me is true, we'll likely be seeing those two children on the cover of a magazine, one day. With thoughtful and loving parents like Hubert and Judith, I'm sure they'll both turn out just fine."
Save for a moment where Judy told Hugh not to playfully encourage his children, a painfully awkward silence plagued the car-ride home. Jimmy hugged himself, and stared off into space. His sister softly cried, though now it was due to the fact that she would have to face the other students next week without her best (and only) friend with her.
Later that evening, as they tucked their children into their beds, Jimmy finally brought the events of the school-day back up. "Why do the other kids hate us so much? We didn't do anything wrong!" His sister said nothing, but her attention was drawn to her parents as she awaited their answer.
For a few seconds, neither Judy nor Hugh could think of anything to say. Then Judy finally answered, "Other people...tend to not like things they don't understand." Then she decided it was finally time to answer the question of why they didn't have a grandfather. "Your Grandpa...hated me and your father, because we were different from him."
"Different how?", Jimmy and Sophia both asked in unison. Judy answered, "Basically, he saw the world one way, and your father and I saw it the other. And just for that...he really hated us, both." Both of the children's eyes widened. "That's terrible!", Jimmy said. "Yeah, it was. And he's not the only one who thinks that way, unfortunately." Then the look on Judy's face grew even more serious. "Now listen, I understand why you hit that girl. But just because you can get revenge on those who hate you for being different, doesn't mean you should. You both may be different, but that doesn't necessarily mean that you have to be bad different."
She took a moment to turn her gaze over to her daughter, and then turned back to Jimmy, and then continued her speech, "Because what Ms. Erlinger said back in that office was right. From what I've seen over the last six years, you two are the smartest human beings the world has ever seen. Which means hopefully, you'll understand what I'm going to tell you both, next. Listen carefully." Both children nodded.
Judy continued, "You both need to decide what kind of people you really want to be, because whoever those people are, good or bad...they're gonna change the whole world."
Jimmy looked down, tears building up in his eyes. "Come here.", Judy said, offering a hug. Hugh and Sophia both walked towards them to join in on the hug.
Now, the whole family was embracing one-another. "Your mother and I love you both more than anything. More than anything.", Hugh whispered as he hugged his children.
