Chapter 12

Haley’s turn:

It was a nice office. I’ve walked into a few offices at school, like our guidance counselor’s office. Big desk. Person sitting behind it. Position of authority is demonstrated and settled by first impression. I guess it makes some people more comfortable that way.

Not this one. Short, Indian (from INDIA) lady in a dress that was elegant in understatement on her. She came from around her desk, hugged Cindy like a daughter, then turned to me. “I am Doctor Aneeta Patel. Cindy calls me ‘Mizz Aneeta’ and I am satisfied with that. And you are Haley Simon, correct?” And she pronounced it ‘See-moan’ like it’s pronounced back home.

“Yes, ma’am,” I said.

“Do not be nervous, Haley. Cindy has given me much practice at this. You and I can talk for a bit, then I want you to meet some people.”

“Yes, ma’am.”

“Haley, I’ll be up the hall for a bit. When you finish, text me,” Cindy said. “And you’re in the very best of hands.”

Okay, I’m nervous. I’ve gotten used to dealing with people in high school, but this is college and Cindy took us around the campus to give us a feel for the place. I feel like it ain’t high school and what in the world is a redneck teenager doing in the office of a recruiter at Auburn University?

“So, Haley, you’re running a 4.0 grade point average. What else are you doing at school?”

“I sometimes help with some of the math classes, but not so much any more.”

“What made you stop?”

“I started catching a lot of bad comments from other students. They thought I had some scam going to get out of classwork.”

“Ah, yes,” Mizz Aneeta said. “I’ve heard this before.”

“The truth was more than they wanted to contemplate,” I said. “I don’t have to put forth much effort to understand high school math, even the advanced placement materials. The same goes with the other subjects. I get them without the exercises.”

“And your friend Deena?”

“My evil stepchild,” I said. “She and I look at my high school materials together. She’s there too, Mizz Aneeta. We’re in school because the law requires us to attend school, but other than some socialization gains, I don’t see much more I’ll get out of high school. And I truly think that the socialization is of the less profitable variety.”

Mizz Aneeta smiled. “Cindy brought you in to see me. You’ve met Cindy. Four years ago she was telling me much the same, except she rescued a football player and got the team to run interference for her to get past a lot of the bullying.”

I giggled. “Run interference. Football player. I see what you did there.”

Mizz Aneeta smiled. “You are fast, and I did not intentionally speak thusly. Now, Cindy tells me that your husband is not thinking of moving to Auburn.”

“He’s got a good job, Mizz Aneeta. And Deena’s got a mom who may throw a fit if she tries to move out of the state.”

“I understand. Hurdles. I’m thinking, though, that perhaps we can do our evaluations and perhaps arrange a program between Auburn and your local university. If they’re amenable, we can see to it that we get you as much consideration for advancement as possible while you maintain parallel student status at home.”

“That’s interesting. From what I’ve seen of how Auburn has interfaced with Cindy and 3Sigma I believe that you have their best interests in mind.”

“And they have ours as well, Haley. We are proud to have a part in some of the developments that have come from 3Sigma. I have glowing reports from students and professors who’ve had mutually helpful relationships with 3Sigma.”

“Part of me wishes WE could move here, but I really don’t see that happening. Of course, I may meet my husband this evening and find out differently.”

“We would welcome that. You and your friends have made me quite a name on this campus. Now, I want you to meet with the big hurdle in engineering...”

“Math,” I said. “I have that from several sources.”

Mizz Aneeta led me to a conference room. Two men. And I’ve been warned.

“You’re Doctor Ramathani and you’re Doctor Brendan,” I said. “Cindy warned me.” I shook their hands.

“We are lost, then,” Doctor Ramathani said. “Call Me Ram, please, Haley. And he’s Bren.”

“So we’re not going to ask if you were told what to study. Cindy would not do that,” Bren said.

“Cindy told me that if I didn’t know it a week ago then a week’s study would not prepare me.”

“Did she give you some sort of pre-assessment?” asked Ram.

“Yes, she did. Said she didn’t want to waste your time.”

“Are you going to waste our time?” Ram queried in a delightful lilt.

“I hope not, but this is new ground to me. I’m quite well past the advanced placement curricula in our school. I have been doing some on-line studies. My husband thinks I’m deranged.”

“And the other girl? Deena?”

“Two years younger,” I grinned. “My husband’s daughter. MY evil stepchild. If I can do it, she can do it.”

“That’s it!” Bren said. “We must stop Aneeta. She was sending them to us one at a time. Now she’s doubling up on us.” He looked at me, laughing. “I don’t suppose you’re going to major in mathematics, are you?”

“Husband’s an engineer,” I said. “I’m ruint.”

“Then let us proceed,” Ram said with an exaggerated sigh. “Doctor Patel says we do not have time to do a full assessment as we have done with others. We will give you the abbreviated version and if you do well, we will beg you to return for a bit more comprehensive workout.”

“Nikki Granger told me about your workouts.”

“Nikki Granger has one of our degrees,” Ram said.

“We wanted her to stay with us for advanced work,” Bren added. “Perhaps you...”

“College is back home, I’m afraid,” I replied. “But Mizz Aneeta says she’s going to make me a hybrid. Let’s do this.”

Two hours later I was in their office again, having called Cindy to come rescue me.

“Haley, two hours isn’t enough,” Bren said. “We want you back here. Give us two days. Please.”

“It would be very beneficial to your college aspirations, even if you did Renaissance Literature, “ Ram chuckled. “If we get something on paper that we think we see in our two hours of conversation at the whiteboard, baccalaureate-level mathematics for you will be completed.”

“But we need something on paper,” Bren reinforced. Looking up he said, “Well, Doctor Richards, it appears you have competition.”

“Hi, Cindy,” I said. “You said you knew where a good chocolate malt can be found?”

Cindy’s head bounced in the affirmative.

“I’m too young to drink alcohol. A malt will work.”

“You guys got time?” Cindy asked the two mathematicians. “We’re buying...”

“Hamburgers too?” Ram asked.

“I thought beef...” I started.

“Oh, dear Haley, do not get caught up in stereotypes,” he laughed. “That place makes a very good burger.”

“And I suspect we will need our strength this afternoon when we meet Deena Simon,” Bren inserted. He pronounced it Sigh–mun’.

“It’s ‘See-moan’. She’s Cajun. Like me. My fourteen year old step-daughter.”

“A slip,” Bren laughed.

When we got into Cindy’s SUV, I called Bill.

“Well?” he said, “you don’t sound particularly abused.”

“I WAS abused, but I’m over it. If you wanna meet me ‘n’ Cindy and a couple of math professors for lunch...”

“I’m gonna see you later,” he said, “but I see Nikki and Deena...”

“Send ‘em to meet us. And you and I will have to celebrate later.”

Cindy giggled. “I love those celebrations.”

“They are rather uplifting,” I answered.

We met Nikki and Deena at the burger joint with Ram and Bren close behind us.

The reviews do not do the place justice. Burger. Real onion rings. A chocolate malt of optimum viscosity, too thick to slam, just thin enough to suck through a straw without causing yourself an aneurysm. And good conversation.

“And you’re not going to tell me ANYTHING, are you?” Deena asked, her eyes flicking between me and Ram and Bren.

“At this stage of the game there’s nothing I could say that would do you any good, Deena. They said I did okay. I know what YOU know, so you’ll do okay, too.”

“Nikki,” Ram said, “how do you find these wünderkinder?”

“We don’t exactly troll for them,” Nikki said. “We have the corporate website and it links to some of the activities and capabilities of the community.”

“That’s how we found this,” I inserted. “We talked with Nikki and Cindy and...”

“Dana,” Deena inserted. “They sort of interviewed us to see if we were real or just some kids messin’ around a website.”

“And here we are,” I grinned. “Are we messin’ around?” I looked at Bren.

“Sadly,” he said, “I have come to recognize the smug tone in Doctor Patel’s voice when she prepares to do this to us again.”

Nikki dropped Deena off into the shaking hands of Bren and Ram. Cindy took me back to the robotics lab.

It is cause for wonder. The ‘adult’ in the room is a sixty-something old guy who’s in the corner with machine tools making something.

“Mister Gerald,” Cindy said. “Retired machinist. LIKES what he does, so he comes in a few days a week and gets a paycheck and gets to play grand-dad to a bunch of college kids.”

“Neat,” I said. “I don’t have a grand-dad. Modern American family, you know...”

“I know,” she said. “Mom’s dad is long gone. Never knew who my biological dad was, so that’s a dead end, so I went out and adopted grandfathers all over the place.” She giggled. “I think I’m gonna have to pass out certificates.” Giggle. “Mom married one of ‘em. Family tree looks like a briar patch.”

“Welcome to the Brave New World,” I said.

“Oh, don’t get Terri started on that book. She announced she’d read it when she was ten. Her and Rachel both, actually. Poor Alan liked to have lost it.”