Young Again
Copyright© 2018 by Edward Douglass Patterson
Chapter 10: First Day of School
Sally, Sarah’s mother, drove them to school on Monday. It was the first day of school, and they were going to meet with the principal, Ms. Schott, and the counselor, Mrs. Sizemore, to go over the girls’ new class schedule. Ruth Lessner arrived while they were waiting to be called in for the meeting. She was taking Marks place since he was involved in the tour at MSI.
Ashley saw Ms. Schott recognize Aunt Ruth when they entered the room. “Ms. Schott, Mrs. Sizemore, this is my aunt, Ruth Lessner. There is a tour at MSI for the Secretary of Defense, so my grandfather, Mark Sawyer, is unable to be here this morning.”
Ruth also had realized the problem her notoriety had caused. She often had people worrying when she showed up. “I am Ashley’s secondary guardian. We felt one of us needed to be here today. My son, Steve, is also one of her guardians. He is in his last year of law school at Stanford, so he will be the primary alternate to Mark since I live in Santa Monica. Here is a copy of the guardianship papers for Ashley’s file.”
“I’m Sally Pierce, Sarah’s mother.”
“I wanted to personally meet with Ashley and Sarah today. It’s the first time we have ever had a sophomore who was able to have such advanced placement. Let alone two. We have a tentative schedule for both of you, but you will have to each meet with four of your instructors to personally convince them as to your readiness to be part of their classes. Mrs. McNally, the chairman of the mathematics department, said she had talked with Ms. Swenson, who had convinced her you are both mature enough to take the classes.” Helen Schott saw the girls had slightly guilty smiles on their faces. “How did you convince Ms. Swenson at cheerleader practice of your maturity?”
“I think it probably occurred after that. We found out last week that Gloria is engaged to my son, Steve. I never asked her. What does Gloria teach?”
“She teaches upper-level mathematics courses, including Advanced Placement Statistics.” Ms. Schott smiled. “Which may be why she was so supportive of getting the two of you into the Canada College courses. Then again, Mr. Caldwell knew you but suggested it would be informative for your teachers to meet you outside of class. His recommendation got you into all of your classes today. We will have a meeting at the end of the day where you will meet with all of your teachers, if that is OK with you. Mrs. Lessner and Mrs. Pierce, you are invited also. We don’t want to feel we are putting too much pressure on the girls.”
Ruth chuckled. “I don’t think my presence will be necessary.” She looked at Sally.
“I’ll wait for the PTA to meet them. No, I’ll be picking the girls up. I should come in and meet them after the meeting.”
“Mrs. Lessner, why did you laugh?” Helen Schott was surprised at how the attorney known as Ruthless was reacting to her suggestion.
“Al Simpson, the Secretary of Defense, didn’t intimidate them when they met with him yesterday. In fact, it was more the other way around. Don’t worry, I don’t expect them to show anything but respect for their teachers. I’m not sure if I want to meet the person who would intimidate them. One more thing. I have this check to allow you to expand the cheerleader squad to twenty-four. Gloria said it would help ensure they had a chance at regionals. I also have another check to help cover expenses for the school plays this year. If there are other expenses we can help with, just let me know and we will take it under advisement.”
Helen Schott took the checks and was surprised to see they were more than enough for the stated purposes. “Mrs. Lessner, thank you for your donations. This is very generous.”
“It’s not my money, though I may make a donation in the future. Ashley is too young to handle her own money yet. At least legally, so Mark and I get to write the checks.”
Ms. Schott and Mrs. Sizemore looked at Ashley, who blushed. “I have the money. I thought school would be more fun if we didn’t have to worry about some things which money can take care of. I would appreciate it if you would keep my name out of it. I don’t want people thinking about my money when they think of me.”
Sarah reached over and took her hand. “Ash has been through a lot. She sees this as a way to make our last year of public school better. We will be treated differently because of the classes we are taking and other things we will be doing. To have Ashley identified as an heiress will cause her problems.”
“Heiress?”
“She is the majority owner of MSI.” Ruth explained. “Mark appointed both Sarah and Ashley to the board of directors of MSI before they realized how much she inherited. Luckily, the three of them work so well together.”
“MSI is a major company. It is worth billions.”
“It was privately owned by the Sawyer family. Ashley inherited from all her family members who died except her grandmother.”
“She will need bodyguards. How will we handle that?” Helen Schott looked worried.
“That is something which has been suggested to Mark by the FBI. We haven’t resolved what all the issues are yet. We have worked out an agreement with the local police department to fund off-duty police officers to patrol the neighborhood until we come up with something more permanent. We will be having a meeting tomorrow with the Menlo Park police department and the FBI. We will let you know what is decided.
Classes went about how they expected since most of the other students were seniors and two years older. Lunch went better. They sat with the other cheerleaders, who were all talking about the squad being expanded. They were all excited about their chances of winning the regional and going on to the state finals. One of the girls had heard Ms. Swanson’s future mother-in-law had given the money to expand the squad. Ashley was happy for the rumor.
At the end of the school day, Sarah and Ashley hurried to the room where they were to meet with their teachers. When they entered the room, they found seven teachers there to meet with them. One of the women was someone who they didn’t recognize.
Jim Caldwell, their drama teacher, made introductions. They knew him through his wife, who was the drama club sponsor at their junior high last year. One of them wasn’t one of their teachers, Mrs. McNally, the chairwoman of the mathematics department.
“Why do you want to learn Mandarin?” Ms. Yang Ying asked them.
“We speak French, Spanish, Latin, and Russian. Sarah speaks Russian much better than I do, but we just need more practice with all of them. We read French, Spanish, Russian, Latin, Mandarin, and Japanese. Mandarin is the obvious one to learn next. We are lucky Woodside had a class we could take to learn to speak Mandarin.”
Yang Ying said something very fast in Mandarin.
Sarah thought for a couple of seconds, then responded. “I will be communicating with doctors from China. They will appreciate that I have taken the time to learn their language. It will enhance our ability to work together.”
“Why would you be working with doctors from China?” Ms. Marsha Franklin, Sarah’s biology teacher, asked.
“I plan to go to medical school and do medical research.”
“Ashley, what are your plans for college? I understand the two of you will be taking the California High School Proficiency Examination in the spring.” Ben Phillips was Ashley’s physics teacher.
“I plan to get degrees in engineering and business at Stanford. Our choices for classes this year were to help us with our future plans. Even drama will be very useful.”
James Caldwell laughed. The other teachers looked at him. “Did you see Sarah’s first interview in Hawaii? Janet and I talked for hours about how she took over the situation and played her part. If she wasn’t here in school this year, I would be using it to show technique for controlling your audience. This year I have them in class, and they will be showing how to do it in person. I plan to help them refine their abilities and get them to participate in our presentations.”
“Yes, they both did well in the later interview.” Mrs. Helen Purcell was their English Literature and Composition teacher. “What do you expect to learn in my class?”
“We are fifteen. We may know things and be able to do a number of things well, but that doesn’t mean we don’t have a lot more to learn. We will learn by writing and having it critiqued. You learn a lot more about literature when you read and discuss it with a group. Most of our personal reading is technical. We plan to enjoy the change of pace.” Ashley looked at Mrs. McNally, who obviously wanted to ask the next question.
“You learned all of this from reading. Why haven’t you skipped grades?”
“Ashley and I enjoy being with other people our age. We have enjoyed school. If most of her family had not died, we would have probably continued in school as we have been doing. Now things have changed.”
“Why are you taking robotics engineering technology? It is not something I expect a future doctor to be interested in.” Denise Wainwright was their teacher for the course.
“There isn’t much which doesn’t interest us. Robotics is becoming more and more important in medicine. Often the movements robots make mimic human motion. Working to have a robot perform those types of motions leads to a better understanding of what is entailed in motions for humans and other animals. Also, three of our activities this year, the robotics, drama, and cheerleading, will improve our ability to work as part of a group.”
“I don’t have any more questions. I look forward to reading what you will write and hearing your comments on what we will be reading.” Helen Purcell was the first of the teachers to get up and leave. In a couple of minutes, Denise Wainwright and Jim Caldwell were the only two who remained.
Jim indicated for Denise to go first. “Will you participate in the robotics team competition this year? I think you will find the engineering work we do interesting.”
Jim laughed. “Denise, Ashley Sawyer as in Mark Sawyer Industries, which is headquartered less than three miles from here. I think all the Sawyers grew up interested in things like robotics. Sarah has already expressed her interest in it. They aren’t taking your class to fill out their schedule. My wife Janet said they were always well prepared at every rehearsal last year. Even though Sarah was an understudy, she worked with the other girl to get the part right.”
“We plan to participate in three extracurricular activities this year. Cheerleaders, fall play, and the team robotics completion. We won’t be participating in the later drama productions because we will have to commit more time to robotics and our outside commitments.”
“Great, I will be passing the information packets out in class tomorrow. We will also need to find sponsors to help finance the material we would need. If you know anyone who can help, see if you can talk them into making a donation. We need several thousand dollars.” She hurried out of the room.
Jim was smiling. “I guess the unnamed source who is financing the drama productions this year may also be making additional donations for other activities at the school.” He looked at Ashley. “I appreciate what you have done. It is a hassle every year to round up the donations we need. I am going to continue to make the same rounds this year, but I know it isn’t critical, so it will be almost enjoyable. Do you want us to put something in the programs?”
Ashley didn’t hesitate before giving her answer. “A full-page ad saying “In memory of all the people who died on August 7th.”
Jim smiled. She didn’t want to emphasize her losses. She wanted it to be for everyone who died. “I have copies of the script for the fall play. It is a take-off on the Wiz. It was done by a guy in San Jose. It has a high-tech spin on it. He sent it around to all the local high schools trying to get someone to put it on. Janet and I both read it. It is pretty good. Here are two copies of the script for the two of you. Tryouts are Thursday after school. I may have to get with Ms. Swanson to coordinate cheerleading practice and play rehearsals.”
“We already got copies from Wayne. We will have it memorized before the tryouts.”
Jim was going to ask about Sarah’s comment, but Ashley’s next statement made him forget about it.
“Gloria was going to be getting with you on that also.” Ashley saw the surprise on Jim’s face at her calling a teacher by her first name. “I have been trying to be careful with that. My cousin proposed to her ten days ago. They will be marrying next June after school is out. Steve will be doing work for us, so Aunt Ruth is here getting things started for their new office.”
“Ashley fixed it so Steve can work for his family law firm. He was looking for another firm to join when he graduated. Gloria and Steve want to stay in the area. You see why we will have to work to remember to call her Ms. Swanson. I think we need to wait until after the wedding to call her Gloria.”
“I think it will be better for all three of you.” Jim wondered if they were teasing him. He didn’t think they would make such a simple mistake.
Terry was exchanging emails with Dr. Tuilier when she saw Jim Pierce walk by. She got up and hurried to catch him. “Jim, can I have a minute of your time?” She called out as he rounded the corner. “She stopped abruptly when she turned the corner and saw the group he was with.”
Len didn’t seem upset by her interruption. Mark even looked happy to see her. “Al, this is Dr. Teresa Schultz. She is the director of Advanced Manufacturing Engineering. Terry, we were going to show them the work your people are doing on the advanced composite armor. Would you take over and explain the work which is going on?”
“Len, I have been emailing with Dr. Tuilier. We have been trying to arrange the meeting Sarah set up. I saw Jim and wanted to ask when Sarah might be available to meet with us. Dr. Tuilier will be at a medical conference in LA the week after next. She wants to meet Sarah. I’m having a hard time with translating the emails in and out of French. The doctor needs to make her reservations.”
“Tell her we will pay for all her transportation including her flight and her stay when she visits with us. Jim, when do you think Sarah may have some free time to attend the meeting?”
“Between school and everything else which is going on, Sundays are the only big block of time I am sure of without consulting her.”
“Terry, make it for a Sunday. Overtime for anyone you want to have there. Do we have anyone else who can act as a translator for the doctor? We don’t want to tie up more of Sarah’s time than we have to.”
“No, or I would have been having them help me with these emails.”
“Maybe I can help.” Admiral Kyser offered. I speak French, but my written French is out of practice. If you can call the doctor, I would be willing to act as a translator.”
“That would work better. Len, call Shen in his office. He would be the best one to describe our latest attempt. We expect with Dr. Tuilier’s help, we can get rid of the color.” Dr. Schultz and Admiral Kyser returned to her office.
“It is all set up. She will fly in here for the weekend, before going to the conference. She will stop back after the conference and see what we have accomplished. She’ll then spend the next week working with us.” Terry told Len when she entered the laboratory along with Admiral Kyser and Dr. Shen Lee, whom they had met in the hallway.
Larry Kyser had seen the green lens Dr. Lee had brought to the meeting. “Mark, I understand some of what they accomplished and what their problems are from the conversation I assisted. You still have the ball bearing with you. Maybe you should show it to them.”
Mark smiled. He got the implication of what Larry was saying. He took the green sphere out of his pocket and handed it to Terry.
Terry’s face fell as she realized what she had been handed. “Someone else has been doing the same research as we have been doing.” She handed it to Shen Lee.
“The color is different. This is the same as the first green material I created. It cracks at very low temperatures. What we have now doesn’t crack or react to extreme temperatures until we reach around 9600 degrees.” Shen was thoughtful. “Why didn’t they do more work to make it clear?”
“It was used as a ball bearing. We believe it is thousands of years old.” Mark explained.
“You and Sarah knew about this and were guiding us to make something better.” Terry looked hurt.
Mark laughed and shook his head. “Not unless she has prescience. We didn’t know about this until we were on our way back from Hawaii. We were using this in our talks with the defense department to illustrate that there was an advanced civilization thousands of years ago who was advanced beyond anything we can do today. You have shown we were wrong. In fact, your people look to have done something they couldn’t do. Shen Lee, I would like you to look at a lens which is thousands of years old and give us your opinion of it. We don’t know if it even came from the same group who had the green sphere. It might have been older.” He turned to Admiral Kyser. “Larry. Thank you for recognizing the similarities between the sphere and our work. That’s two favors you did for us in a few minutes.”
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