CHAPTER 18
‘That Miss Palmer's going to your school today,’ said Mildred, returning to the breakfast table from answering the phone.
Eldred's heart leapt. ‘What for?’
‘For her article on you, I suppose,’ Mildred said, ‘though you'd think she had enough to write about now, wouldn't you, Daddy, with all those questions she asked us yesterday – even with lunch running late and everything?’
Edgar chewing toast methodically, nodded.
‘Be sure and answer politely if she asks you anything, Eldred,’ his mother told him. ‘You won't be difficult, will you, like you were with that other journalist?’
‘I won't,’ Eldred promised. ‘Can I go now?’
‘You'll be too early,’ Mildred pointed out, but Eldred had already gone.
There was no sign of Louise at school until breaktime, when Charlie Austin sent word for Eldred to come up to the high school complex. Last time Mr Austin had sent for him, Eldred had gone reluctantly. This time he ran all the way, arriving out of breath.
Louise, looking elegant and professional in a mushroom-coloured suit and high-heeled shoes, stood beside Charlie Austin in the computer room, looking at something on one of the display screens. Eldred recognized it. Mr Austin had not erased Eldred's design.
‘Here is the man himself,’ Charlie declared, turning to Eldred. Eldred was taken aback by his friendliness. ‘Come here, Eldred,’ said Charlie encouragingly. ‘We've just been taking another look at your little machine.’
If Eldred thought this a patronising term for an industrial plant that converted bulky waste material into compact pellets, he gave no sign of it. He looked at Louise. Louise was looking at Charlie. Her face was expressionless.
‘This very intelligent lady has made it clear to me,’ Charlie said, ‘that the design is quite obviously your own, Eldred, because although it's very good- very good indeed for a nine- year old to dream up - there is of course a fatal flaw in it.’
Charlie looked at Louise and smirked. Louise gave him a dazzling smile. Eldred stood speechless, looking from one to the other. For a few moments the three of them stood in front of Eldred's crosssection graphics on the screen, without a word.
Eldred cleared his throat. 'A fatal flaw?’ he said.
‘Yes,’ said Charlie, smirking even more. ‘At first I didn't see it. I thought, in fact, that you must have copied this whole project from somewhere or other.’
‘I didn't,’ said Eldred.
‘I know that now,’ said Charlie patiently. ‘Louise has shown me that couldn't have been the case.’ He showed his teeth. Louise smiled on. Eldred felt bewildered. He examined their faces for clues. What was going on here?
‘It couldn't work,’ Charlie explained. ‘The concept is very interesting but there's a fault in the second chamber. There wouldn't be enough gases present for the necessary breakdown and conversion of the solid matter.’
Eldred opened his mouth. Louise, for the first time since Eldred had entered the room, looked him full in the face and winked. Eldred closed his mouth again.
‘It was a very good effort,’ said Charlie kindly. ‘Quite impressive, in fact. For a nine-year old. Well done, Eldred. I'm sure by the time you reach my class in high school you'll be capable of some excellent work, if you keep up the pace. Run along back to Mrs Garcia now. We don't want you being late for class, do we?’
‘No,’ said Eldred. He paused by the door. ‘Goodbye,’ he said to Louise.
‘I might as well walk down with you, Eldred,’ she said. ‘Mr Austin has given me all I need.’
‘Charlie,’ said Mr Austin, smiling fit to split.
‘Charlie,’ Louise conceded. She held out her hand as Charlie removed the disk from the machine. Charlie held out his hand to shake hers. Louise took the disk from it. ‘May I?’ she said. ‘For my article?’
‘Oh, please,’ said Charlie, ‘be my guest.’
Eldred followed Louise down the corridor. Mr Austin watched them depart. Round the corner, out of sight, Louise abandoned her dignity, scooped up Eldred and whizzed him round. ‘We did it!’ she exulted. She handed Eldred the disk. ‘Guard it with your life,’ she instructed, ‘until we've got this sorted out with the Patents Office, signed and sealed in your name. Make at least two copies.’
‘But what about the fatal flaw?’ said Eldred, bemused. ‘The deficiency of vital gases in the second chamber?’
‘Are you kidding?’ said Louise. ‘The design is perfect. I checked it out with my brother. It'll work.’
Eldred began to laugh and found he couldn't stop.
‘What are you thinking?’ Louise asked.
‘Thank you,’ Eldred hiccuped. ‘Thanks very much.’
‘My pleasure,’ said Louise. ‘Your computer teacher is a pompous idiot, if you don't mind my saying so.’ Eldred didn't. ‘Are all your teachers like that?’ Louise asked. ‘Think they've nothing left to learn and everything to teach?’
‘More or less,’ Eldred admitted.
‘Is this the right place for you?’ Louise wondered. ‘Isn't there some school for bright kids where you could find your own level without being penalized for not being average?’
The advertisement Eldred had memorized from the magazine found in his hands in the staffroom swam into his brain. Without pausing for thought, he recited, ‘Verne House School, The Coppices, Shelbury, Dorset.’ He omitted the postcode, not considering it necessary in answer to a casual enquiry.
Louise blinked. ‘Wow,’ she said softly. ‘Is that where you'd like to go?’
‘I don't know,’ said Eldred. ‘I only just thought of it.’
‘Well, think on,’ she told him. ‘You're wasted here. I'll be in touch, okay? Keep that disk somewhere safe.’
Eldred was sorry to see her go. But for the rest of the morning, as he laboured to keep his mind on reading aloud in turn with his classmates, agonizingly slowly, he kept experiencing little darts of hope. It seemed to him - though without any concrete evidence that the worst might be over now and life might never be quite the same again.
Genius Page 18
