CHAPTER 68
'The sooner he starts at that new school the better,’ said Edgar. 'It'll get him out of the limelight and he can be a normal child.’
Mildred raised her eyebrows.
'More normal,’ Edgar amended. 'They'll know how to deal with a bright child, at Abingdale. Mr Clinford didn't get annoyed with him even when he asked all those questions and took books off the shelves and strewed them all over the floor, did he?’
'No,’ said Mildred. 'But it won't be Mr Clinford teaching him. Shouldn't we ask to meet his class teacher, Edgar, before we decide?’
'We could do,’ Edgar mused. 'Though I can't see that Eldred could be any worse off than where he is now. Why didn't he tell us earlier about that Mrs Garcia? The woman sounds a menace - telling him to shut up in class and changing his grades to suit herself. Who does she think she is?’
'Maybe we didn't listen to him when he did tell us,’ said Mildred. 'He did complain. We told him to have more respect for his teachers.’
'Nonsense,’ Edgar said. 'I would never have told him that. The woman's not fit to teach, Mildred, if she can't give every child their due merits. I've a good mind to make a complaint to the school.’
'Oh, don't!’ pleaded Mildred. 'You'd only cause Eldred embarrassment. But let's get him out of there before that programme gets shown on telly or she really will make his life a misery.’
'He said something about Mrs Garcia? On TV?’
'He must have said something at the preliminary interview, Edgar, and the presenters asked him directly what happened at school when he came top of the class too often. He didn't know how to get out of answering; I could see he didn't want to answer. Then some people in the audience asked him about being bored in class and what kind of things he was being taught and they started to laugh.’
'Laughed at Eldred?’
'Not at him, no. They laughed because it seemed so ridiculous that he was drawing little pictures of Henry the Atom, or whatever it was, when he'd been answering complicated questions about the nuclear power process.’
'It is ridiculous,’ said Edgar grimly. 'It's gone on long enough. We'll tell Mr Clinford we accept that place for Eldred at his school, Mildred. It's the best offer we're likely to have, isn't it? They might make him wait till next term to change schools, in any case.’
'We could insist that he doesn't,’ said Mildred.
Edgar was surprised. 'Us? Insist? It's up to the school, Mildred!’
'Mr Clinford seemed keen to have him,’ Mildred pointed out. 'He was quick enough off the mark, after Eldred was on the News.’
'What about his present school, though? They won't let him leave in the middle of a term, surely? We owe it to them to do things decently.’
'We don't owe them anything,’ said Mildred.
Edgar looked at her. 'You know, you've changed,’ he said. 'You never used to say boo to a goose.’
'It's different, standing up for yourself and standing up for a child,’ Mildred said. 'You can do all kinds of things you wouldn't normally do.’
'Like mixing with TV people at a studio all day,’ Edgar said. 'You won't be in any state to go to work tomorrow, Mildred, that's for sure. You'd better phone them first thing in the morning.’
'I'm phoning nobody,’ said Mildred. 'I'm going.’ Seeing Edgar open his mouth, she said, 'Don't tell me I can't do it, Edgar. I can, and I'm going to.’
'Yes, dear,’ he said meekly.
'I'll go and take Eldred his biscuits,’ she said. 'I think I heard him letting the bathwater out. By the way,’ she said, from the kitchen doorway, 'what took you so long to decide? About the school?’
'I wasn't sure,’ said Edgar, 'if it might be better to wait and aim for the boarding school. The standards might be higher than at a local one.’
'Are you sure now,’ said Mildred, 'that Abingdale's the best place for him? I mean, if they offered him a free place there, he might get other offers - even from one of those public schools.’
Edgar shook his head. 'What made me decide was you. It'd do no good to send him away from home, Mildred. You'd pine.’
She was shocked. 'You can't decide that because of me! He might be better off in one of those schools, surrounded by clever people who can answer all his questions. Every question he asks me, Edgar, I say, "I don't know." No wonder he's frustrated.’
'He'll get frustrated anywhere,’ said Edgar, 'because he wants to learn everything about everything. All he needs is a school that'll show him how to find answers for himself; you heard what Mr Clinford said. But where would he find anyone, in boarding school, who'd make him hot chocolate or bring him biscuits in bed when he's upset? Think about that one, Mildred. He's still only nine years old.’
'I know,’ she said. 'I know. But I'm still not happy about you making the decision because you think I'd pine away without him. That can't be right, love. You know I'd let him go, if it was for his good.’
'Nothing wrong with a bit of letting go,’ Edgar conceded. 'At nine years old, a child needs a bit of freedom, I grant you. What he doesn't need is his parents letting him go, full time, to a lot of strangers.’
'I don't want to coddle him,’ said Mildred fearfully. 'After all, in the circumstances, his birth being unusual and coming when we didn't expect ...’
'No need to worry,’ said Edgar robustly. 'He won't get spoilt. You can't get away from it, Mildred: there's people much better equipped to educate him than us but they can't take the place of parents. The best parents Eldred could have are the ones he's got. It's meant to be like this.’
Mildred looked thoughtful. 'I suppose we didn't choose him,’ she said, 'any more than he chose us. So maybe it is meant.’
Edgar gave her a wink. 'While you're being the perfect mother to our son,’ he said, 'his dad wouldn't mind a cocoa. If you're too tired, I'll make it myself,’ he added.
Mildred kissed the top of his head. 'I'm not the perfect mother,’ she said, 'or the perfect wife, but cocoa is something I can manage.’
Genius Page 68
