All for Acceptance II

By: Rod
(© 2010 by the author)

The author retains all rights. No reproductions are allowed without the author's consent. Comments are appreciated at...

Chapter 3 

“Was that really a test?” asked Paul.

“Sure was.  What did you think about it?” returned Bill.

“It seemed like it was looking for more of an opinion, rather than a definite answer, to me.  Is it supposed to be that way?

“Actually yes.  Depending upon the different way you answer the questions, it can tell us different things about you,” answered Bill.

“So that was one of those psychological tests to determine if I’m crazy, weird, or what someone might call normal I guess.”

“Something like that, there are actually several we like to use.  They allow us to better provide care for those with us.”

“Are you doing neuropsychological tests to see how level headed I am?  Occupational tests to see what I might like to do?  Personality tests to see what I’m like inside?  Intelligence tests to check my IQ and see how smart I am, and last but not least, throw in an intelligence test to see how I understand the world around me?” asked Paul without taking a breath.

“Wow!  Where did you learn about all of those?” asked Bill after trying to pick his chin up off of the floor.

“Simple, one of my high school buddies volunteered to help his college brother, a psych major by taking some tests.  We thought it would be fun so I got to take them all too and then the older college brother tried to interpret them.  I guess he did pretty well cause he and his younger brother took me out for a real nice meal when he got his grades back.  We then sat around the next day in the library and talked about each of the tests, what they were for and how his brother and I had done.”

“The college student discussed your scores with you and explained what each of the tests was for?”

“Sure, why not?  It was fun.  I learned a lot about psychology that day.  Unfortunately it didn’t help me any when I was in trouble with my mom or her boyfriend.  They were too dumb to understand anything I was trying to say.  It just went right over their heads and I got beat up anyway.  Sometimes I think even more so, since they thought I was being a smart ass. Uh, sorry I used that word.  I promise I won’t use it again. I don’t want to get punished for my language,” said Paul meekly, about to break into tears as he started to back away from Bill.

“Paul, I would prefer you try to use better language, especially when you are around the younger kids.  Even so, no one would ever hit you here because of something you might say or a particular word you might use.  Someone might ask you not to use the word again, but no one would punish you. Now, how did you do on the tests?”

“Should I really say?  I mean, you’re giving a series of them and then will interpret them.  Is it smart to have me tell you what the previous tests said?  Couldn’t the information cloud your judgment as to how I do?”

“Ok, Smarty! I guess that would take all the fun out of it.  I guess we will just have to discuss the results after we’re finished, that is, if that is all right with you doctor,”  replied Bill.

“Doctor?  How come you called me that?” asked Paul.

“Well with all you’ve said, perhaps you are a doctor hidden in a little boy’s body.  I don’t think most nine year old boys would have an inkling of what you have told me in the last few minutes.”

“Sorry, Bill, I wasn’t trying to be a smarty, I was just trying to be honest like you seem to be trying to be with me.”

“I appreciate that Paul.  Would you like to take a break and get a snack before we tackle the next test before lunch?  I don’t want the rest of the crew coming after me for not getting you to lunch on time.”

“Sounds good to me.  What is that multiple-colored cube over there on the book case?  Is it a toy, or just a decoration?”

“This?” asked Bill as he picked up the item, “This is what they call a Rubik’s Cube.  It is a puzzle.  The idea is to turn its parts so that you end up with all of one color on each of the sides.”

“Neat, can I try it?”

“I guess you can take it along while we get a snack.  In that time you can get acquainted with it, then, later after we are done I’ll let you borrow it for a while until you either solve the puzzle or decide to give up.”

“I don’t give up very easily.  How much you wanna bet I can get it solved in less than a day?” challenged Paul.

“I’ll tell you what.  It is almost ten o’clock now.  If you solve it by ten o’clock tomorrow I’ll give you a dollar.  For each hour before ten o’clock tomorrow I’ll give you an extra dollar if you can also tell me how many dollars that should be.”

“You’re on.  I hope you got some money on you, cause I plan on taking you to the cleaners!” stated Paul very confidently.

“Let’s go get that snack.  Here’s the Rubik’s Cube; have at it guy!” said Bill, laughing as they exited his office.

As they walked down the hall, Paul held the cube in his hands moving the parts every which way to see just how it worked.  They entered the kitchen and took a seat by the window at the special table placed next to a bow bay window looking out over the back of the property.

Mammy saw them coming in and placed a plate of cookies on the table before asking them what they would like to drink.

“Just a glass of juice if I may, Mammy,” replied Paul, not taking his eyes away from the cube.

“I’ll get a cup of coffee, Mammy, and I can serve myself.  You don’t have to wait on me,” said Bill.

When Bill started to sit back down, Paul looked up towards him.  Paul’s hands were beneath the edge of the table hiding the cube from view.

“Is this the way it’s supposed to look?” asked Paul as he pulled the cube from under the table and placed it in front of Bill.

In shock Bill realized, as he picked up the cube and peered at all sides, it was exactly as it should be.

“Yes, how did you know how to do it so quick?”

“No problem, just a few logical steps and there it is.  Now let’s see, you said that if I solved it by ten o’clock tomorrow I would get a dollar and an extra dollar for each hour before that, right?”

“That is what I said,” answered Bill, still in shock.

“Well, let’s see if we start with a dollar and it is actually ten o’clock right now. Can I count it that there will be twenty-four hours before it will be ten o’clock tomorrow and if I take twenty-four times a dollar and add one to it, I would say you owe me twenty-five dollars.  Am I correct?” asked a smiling Paul.

“Unfortunately for me and fortunately for you, I would say you are correct.  I only have two twenties on me right now, so I guess I need to find some change if I am going to pay up.”

“You can give me a twenty and owe me five if you wish, I trust you!” replied Paul.

“Bill, I have change for a twenty, a ten and two fives all right?” asked Mammy as she approached with her change purse.

“Thank you, Mammy; I am sure Paul here appreciates your assistance.”

“Bill, I’ve been waiting for the day for one of these youngin’s to beat you on that. I bet you thought you’d never have to pay up.  Well I guess young Paul here has shown you up on that one.  Maybe you’ll think a little harder before making that challenge again,” said Mammy as she turned laughing and walked away after exchanging the currency with Bill.

“Mammy, it was worth it in more ways than one!” exclaimed Bill.

That afternoon Bill sat with James to review the results of the testing.

“I don’t know if you realize it but, it seems we have a bit of a problem on our hands,” stated Bill as he began to open the folder in front of him.

“With Paul? How so, he seems rather intelligent.  Don’t tell me there is something wrong with the results of the testing.  What grade should he be in now that he can begin schooling again?”  asked James.

“That seems to be the problem.  Do we have any arrangements with the University of Minnesota?” 

“Why would the University of Minnesota be involved, Paul is only of an age to be in what, fourth grade?”

“Age and physical size, yes.  Intelligence and scholastic level, no. He’s a nine year of normal stature, but his IQ, at least according to the test I gave him ranks him somewhere around 170.  His scholastic level puts him on par with a sophomore or junior in college.  I don’t know what we can teach him here that he doesn’t already know.”

“So your telling me that Paul could probably teach most of the classes given here?”

“I think that about sums it up.  We need to do something very special for him.  It would really be a pity to let his abilities go to waste,” commented Bill.

“Do you have any suggestions?”

“I do, call Phillip II, Allan, and Travis.  I would suggest you invite Mammy and Ernest as well as someone of good stature from the psych department of the University, along with someone from admissions and counseling.  I think it will take all of those people to come to a course of action that will be in his best interest. Oh, by the way, I didn’t tell you that he accepted my usual Rubik’s Cube challenge did I?”

“No, you hadn’t mentioned it.  I take it he did well if today is his first day and you are already to tell some news about it.”

“He got me for the full $25.00, the maximum possible.  He solved it in less than five minutes.”

“He did? Remind me not to play a game of chess with him.  I think he could probably beat the both of us working together while he was watching a football game,” laughed James.

“It just makes his story all the sadder.  To think the way he was treated and at the same time to have the intelligence that he has.  What a pity!”

“Well no time for pity here.  It’s time to see what we can do.”

“Come in,” said James as there was a knock on his door just before Bill was about to leave.

“Hello, Scot, what can I do for you this afternoon?” asked James.

“I’d like to know when Paul will be starting classes.  He helped Kelly with his math last night and when the rest of the class seemed to be having a problem, he being the only one who was able to correctly do all the problems assigned, Kelly volunteered to explain how to do the division.  His explanation of the process of doing division was more like what I’ve heard in the study of what they call new math, involving set theory and the like.  Everyone in the class listened with unbelievable attention and celebrated afterward, claiming to really understand what was going on.  I gave them a series of additional problems to do in class and every last one of them flew right through them getting everyone correct.  Whatever Paul did to help Kelly was a real godsend.  I can’t wait to have him in class.”

“So you think Paul can join your class and you can let him teach for you?” asked James with a bit of a smile.

“No, I didn’t mean that,” rebutted Scot, suddenly afraid he might have said something he shouldn’t.  “It just seems he can put things in such a way the other classmates understand very quickly.  I would hope he would enjoy being able to help occasionally.  I wouldn’t think at his age he would be able to teach all of the classes.”

“I wouldn’t bet on that if I were you!  Bill just let me know he is capable of doing college level work and has and IQ above any one here, or that we probably will ever meet in our life,” stated James.

“Wow, so what are we going to do with him now?”

“That’s just what Bill and I were discussing.  We are going to contact the University and have a few people join us from there to talk with Phillip II, Allan, Travis, Ernest, Mammy and I guess while we are at it, we should include Tony and Phillip IV.  After all, Tony and Phillip IV are more involved with goes on around here than most would expect.”

“Agreed.  Any possibility I could sit in or at least be apprised of the situation afterwards?”

“I will discuss that with the others and follow their recommendation.  I’ll let you know as soon as I do.  Should be a very interesting meeting.”

“Are you planning on Paul being in attendance?  He is the center of the whole thing after all.”

“I think I’ll have an initial conversation with Bill, and perhaps with Phillip II as well as the psych person from the University first, to decide that and go from there.”

“Good luck, let me know”

“Will do.”

“Kelly, do you need any help with your homework tonight?” asked Paul as they were leaving dinner and heading towards their room.

“No, not tonight.  When the rest of the class didn’t understand the math from last night I asked if I could explain it since I was the only one who had it right.  Mr. O’Shannon invited me up to the front of the class to do the splaining.  I didn’t have any problem at all I just went through things like you did with me last night.  Mr. O’Shannon seemed to be real surprised and real happy when everyone caught on.  He gave us a bunch more problems to do right then in class and everyone got all of them right and said they didn’t have any problem understanding it now.  Mr. O’Shannon was so tickled he didn’t give us any homework.  My other classes don’t always give homework, so I lucked out tonight, I don’t have any at all.”

“Not even something to read for history or English?” 

“Not a thing!”

“Are you reading something for either one of those classes, even though there was no assignment tonight?”

“Well yeah, but the teachers didn’t tell us to read anymore tonight.”

“Do you like what you are reading?”

“Oh yeah, I think the stories for English are neat and I love to read about things that happened in history,” answered Kelly.

“Well I don’t know about you, but for me I like to read all the time.  I either read ahead on the things being assigned for school or I just get something else that seems to pick up where the assigned reading stops.  That way I just keep reading and learning more. I think it’s neat to know more than what the teacher is asking.  Sometimes it even helps me to understand where they are trying to go with some line of thought, cause I’ve already read ahead and know what’s coming.  From what I hear they have a pretty neat library here and that has always been my favorite place.  How bout we visit it and see if there is something we could get interested in?” asked Paul, as they walked down the hall with Paul’s arm around the shoulder of his new little brother.

“Sure big brother, if that’s what you want to do, so do I.  Follow me I’ll show you where the library is,” replied Kelly as he smiled up to his adopted big brother.

“This is a great library, it’s almost as big as some of the public libraries I’ve been in,” stated Paul as they entered the huge facility.

“I heard that Phillip II brought books here from all over the world.  Allan or Travis used to come and read to us, but they have been pretty busy lately.  Phillip IV and Tony do sometimes but I don’t know, they read pretty good but stay with the easy books for the little kids.  No one reads the really neat stuff out loud to a group.”

“Do you think there would be a group that would enjoy someone reading something like Moby Dick or Peter Pan to them?”

“Gee I know I would, but who would do that?”

“Would you like for me to?” asked Paul.

“You bet, would you?  We could ask the librarian lady; she could help us set it up.”

“Ok, introduce me to her, and we’ll see what we can do.”

“Tony, did you see the announcement on the bulletin board that Paul is going to read in the library to anyone who wants to listen each evening for thirty minutes an hour before bedtime.  I guess that way with the last half hour; anyone who listens to him read will have time to get ready for bed.”

“From what I hear he’s a pretty smart cookie.  I’m glad he came here; I think he’ll really be a help with a lot of the kids. Phillip, I think we may need to start including him in some of the things we do around here.  I bet he could come up with some pretty good ideas and be a lot of help.  I know Kelly has sure taken too him.  They literally treat each other like brothers, and I think both are really enjoying the situation.”

“I don’t think we could come up with a better suggestion. I’ll talk to grandpa.  Why don’t you talk to Uncle Travis and Uncle Allan?”

“Sounds like a plan to me.”

“James, I had a conversation with some of the staff over at the University to try to set up a meeting.  They requested I send them a copy of the test results first.  They didn’t want to waste their time and couldn’t believe what results we had for Paul.  Then after they reviewed everything, they switched gears and were very friendly and accommodating.  The only problem was I got a call from Allan and he had overheard one of his profs talking about a “wonder child” who had just been transferred to our facility and how they planned to try to get him reassigned to their care so they could dissect him  like some frog or something.  They had no idea of Allan’s connection here.  With him just having transferred after getting his Associate’s degree at the other school, they don’t really know much about him yet, and especially who he is and who he is connected with. As soon as he felt he heard all he needed to hear, he called to let me know their plans.  It seems that when they show up for the meeting, they are planning to hijack Paul with some legal mumbo-jumbo for us never to see him again.”

“Well, that figures, I had a funny feeling in the back of my mind that they might try to do something.  I guess it’s time to contact Judge Hamilton.  We’ll need all the help we can get, going up against those vultures.”

“Judge Hamilton, James Townsend here, I have something I need to discuss with you.”

“James, always glad to hear from you but I was just ready to call you.  I got a request from a Professor Saunders in the psychology department at the University of Minnesota earlier asking me to remove a Paul Stevenson from your care and place him in the care of Professor Saunders.  He claims to have the written permission of a Mrs. Stevenson, the boy’s mother.”

“That is the same issue I was calling you about, Your Honor.  We can’t let this happen; there are quite a few details that I think you should know about before rendering a decision.  May I meet with you to sort them out?”

“Certainly, we want to do the best for the young man.  From what I was presented, it appeared to be pretty simple. I was thinking along the lines of a brief check with you before I granted the petition, all looking in the best interest of the boy.  If you seem to feel otherwise, I think it would only be proper for you to have the opportunity to fill me in on just what is going on first.”

“Would you have time first thing in the morning, Your Honor?”

“I think that can be arranged.  Shall we say around nine A.M.?”

“Fine with me sir. Shall we meet in your chambers there at the courthouse?”

“No, I have a thought; I think it might be best if I met with you at your office.  I would like to meet the boy as well, and there is no reason to drag him down to the courthouse if half of what I believe could be true.  I’ll see you in the morning James.”

“Thank you, Your Honor I’ll be looking forward to our meeting.”

“Detective Jones?  This is Judge Hamilton.  I have something I want you to look into as soon as possible.  It has to do with one Paul Stevenson, nine years old, currently in the care of Phillip’s Second Chance Home.  I received a petition from a Professor Saunders over at the University requesting to take over the care of Paul, claiming he has the mother’s permission to do so.  I would like for you to dig up anything you can and get it too me by eight-thirty in the morning.”

“Thanks, Your Honor, I guess you could have asked for it by this evening, but the extra time is appreciated.  I have it to you first thing in the morning, to your chamber or where?”

“Yes, to my chambers.  I will be leaving immediately afterward to go the home to talk with James Townsend and meet the boy in person. Perhaps you will be able to provide me with enough information that I can make a wise and proper decision.”

“You always do so, Your Honor.  It’s a pleasure for me to give you the information allowing the normal results from your courtroom, unlike a few others I could mention.”

“Now, now Detective Jones, we wouldn’t want to say some thing bad about one of the Judges, now would we?”

“No, Your Honor, certainly not.  I’ll have that information to you first thing in the morning.”

“Thank you, Detective Jones, I’ll be looking for it.”

To be continued...

A special thanks to Jesse Mercer for editing.

Posted: 11/19/10