Chapter 16

Still Bill’s turn:

Doctor Seavers raised an eyebrow. “I accept your premise, Miss Haley...”

“Mizz,” she said, showing her wedding band.

I’m thinking that just maybe Haley’s feisty side might be less than profitable here.

“Yes. I apologize. But accepting your premise, would you be up to a little examination by our own faculty, just to validate Auburn’s findings?”

Okay ... Here comes Haley the Berzerker now, swinging a war hammer.

“Yessir. Bring it on. But let’s make it interesting. If I prove myself as capable as Doctor Brendan and Doctor Ramathani indicate in their letter, then you will accept the other letters at face value.”

I watched. Doctor Seavers sat back in his chair, obviously not used to being challenged like this.

“It’s not a game.”

“Understood, sir,” Haley said. “It’s my life, and if you wish proof, I think I can deliver proof. I have no doubt that Deena can do so as well.”

“All right then. Am I correct in assuming that your high school has no problem with you spending a day with us?”

“Sir, my high school has written me off as an impossibility. They ask that I participate there as often as I wish, helping other students. Deena’s received the same dispensation.”

“I shall attempt to set up an interview between you and one of our mathematics professors within the next couple of days. Will you be able to meet with them?”

“Yessir,” Haley said. She turned to me. “Right, baby?”

“You want ‘em both?” I asked.

“Haley has issued the challenge. We would like to see her first. We will determine from her performance whether we also wish to see Deena.”

I caught Haley’s look. Her mouth opened. “So what gets Deena in on the interviews? If I do good? Or if I crash?”

Doctor Seavers looked at Deena. She and Haley, they are starting to think alike. It’s a bit scary. Deena had a confident little smile.

“Deena will stand on her own.”

“I can do that, sir,” Deena said.

“With all that, then,” Doctor Seavers said, “I think we can defer any further actions. I have your contact information. I shall see that you get the date and time for our discussions.”

We all stood. “Thank you, gentlemen,” I said. “We look forward to continued cooperation.”

Outside, once we got to the car, I sort of came down on Haley.

“Baby,” I said, “You came off as a little bit harsh. Overconfident.”

“I don’t think I was overconfident. And he had that look, like some of the kids at school have. You know – ‘I think you’re running a scam and I’m gonna call you on it’.”

“You could’ve been a bit more tactful.”

“I think that if – no – when we pull this off, he’ll remember and he’ll laugh about it. I think the guy’s running his own game and we’re gonna beat ‘im on HIS court with HIS ball. Right, Deena?”

My adorable daughter nodded in collusion with my adorable wife. I’m outnumbered.

“We’re going to school in the morning,” Haley announced. “If the university calls with an afternoon meeting, we’ll know ... In the meantime, life will proceed along whatever lines we have here that pass for ‘normal’.”

“Yeah,” Deena inserted. “Mom’s waiting to see what happens next. I talked with her about me being a college student...” She paused to make sure she had my attention. “At Auburn.”

“I imagine she’s all on board for that idea,” I said.

“You might be surprised. I told her about the Munchkins. Said I’d be part of that, and outside the influence of my evil dad and his teeny-bopper bride.”

Yeah, Haley’s got that smirk, so she’s already privy to this conversation.

I suspected that Doctor Seavers wanted a bit of time for whatever challenge he might offer to Haley. I was right. Haley’s presence was requested in the morning on Wednesday after our Monday meeting.

She dropped Deena off at the middle school, then went to the college campus to meet her fate.

“I appreciate you wanting to be here for my moral support, honey,” she told me with a kiss as she left. “I have to get used to being Haley in an academically advanced position.”

“Just remember, sweetie,” I chided. “More flies with honey than vinegar.”

“Some flies thrive on dead meat and feces, too.”

“You know what I mean,” I said.

Haley’s turn:

On my way to a college campus by myself. Mighty brave of me.

There was something about the way that those guys looked at the letters from Auburn. I’d read the letters myself. I was more than a little bit proud of them.

I found a place to park – no small feat in itself. Apparently universities are all about status, and mere students are at the bottom of the heap. So I parked in student parking. It’s a trek. I’m not alone in my trudge towards the campus, though. There’s one girl with a backpack slung over her shoulder, sort of like I was doing. She’s taller than me. Of course, EVERYBODY is taller than me. She’s carrying, in addition to the book bag, about forty more pounds, but she’s nice-looking in that ‘college student’ fashion.

“I don’t recognize you,” she said. “I know most of the people that show up about now.”

“I’m sorta new,” I said. “Haley Simon.”

“I’m a junior. Stacey Gamble.”

“Hi, Stacey,” I said. “This is my first trip onto campus by myself.”

“Really? It’s mid-semester.”

“Yeah, I’m trying something different. Not a regular student.”

“You look young. Like my little sister.”

“I’m sixteen. Just jumped sideways out of high school.”

“Wow! Really?”

“Kind of how I feel.”

“Going to class?”

“No,” I said. “I’m supposed to meet with Doctor Seavers with the College of Engineering and talk my way out of some courses. Math, mostly...”

“How do you do that?”

“I did it a few weeks ago at Auburn...”

“Alabama Auburn?”

“Yeah, them. And I interviewed with them about a bunch of coursework. They said I didn’t need any further math work. But that’s Auburn. These people think I might be faking it.”

“I can imagine,” Stacey said. “I’ve heard of really smart kids doing that, but I don’t think I’ve actually met one.”

“I might not be the one you’re waiting for,” I said. “We’ll see.”

By now there was a little cluster of students heading in the same direction. I walked along, listening to a dozen different conversations. Once on the campus, we sort of broke up, going to various destinations. I made my way to the engineering building, walked up the steps (COLLEGE steps – much more significant than high school steps) and into the door.

I presented myself to the receptionist, a nicely dressed middle-aged lady, about Mom’s age and size.

“I’m Haley Simon. Doctor Seavers requested I be here at nine-thirty.”

She looked down at a computer monitor, tapped, clicked. “Oh, yes, here you are. You’re scheduled to meet with Professor Huang. I haven’t seen him come in yet, but let me ring his office.”

She punched her phone purposefully then spoke into her headset. “Professor Huang? I have a Haley Simon here. She’s early. She can wait here or...” Pause. “Yessir. I’ll send her back.”

She turned to me. Miss Haley, go up that hall to the end. Turn right. He’s the fourth door on the left.”

“Thank you,” I said. “Wish me luck.”

She smiled. “You’re going to talk with a math professor. Luck won’t do it. You need an exorcist.”

I followed instructions, found myself at a door with “Huang” on the nameplate. I knocked softly. “Professor Huang?”

“Ah, you must be Haley Simon.” He pronounced it the conventional way.

“See- moan, if you please, sir...”

“Oh, a formal young lady, you are,”

“And Yoda, you’re not,” I retorted.

He smiled. “No, I am not. You can call me Professor Huang, or you can call me Casey, since you’re not my student, and we can dispense with formalities.”

“Casey?”

“Yes, the Americanized version of the Chinese name my parents gave me. I find it a bit easier getting through the day. Chinese names are as different as Cajun names.”

I chuckled. “Yeah, especially when one’s name has both an English and a Cajun pronunciation. I know my husband says he’s given up.” Smiling because I just thought of Bill, I continued. “But I just GOT the name and I’m rather fond of it.”

“Just got it?”

“I got married right after my sixteenth birthday. My husband’s an alumnus here. Electrical engineering. Another reason for Doctor Seavers to raise a very expressive eyebrow.”

“Doctor Seavers told me that you had attitude, if nothing else. I read your letters from Auburn. I know Doctor Ramathani and Doctor Wilkins and I don’t think they would write this as a prank, but I DID call them.”

“And they told you I was a horribly incompetent fake?”

“Hardly. Ram says that for my own peace of mind, to posit a problem modeling a Klein bottle.”

“‘Cuz, yeah, like I got that one memorized, right?”

“In what perverse universe would somebody choose to memorize the mathematics?”

“None,” I said. “But Bren’s got one on his desk, so we talked about it.”

“Then suppose we dispense with the discussion of odd glassware. Let’s talk about multi-variable calculus.”

“I can do that. I’ve been playing with some MIT on-line coursework.”

“Okay, that question about the universe containing memorizers of Klein bottle math? It also contains students who play with MIT math courses?”

“Apparently it does.”

He stood up, went to the whiteboard, took a marker and wrote out a problem. He handed me the marker. “Okay, Haley, go with it.”

I looked for a second, stepped up, wrote out the answer.

“Intermediate steps? Where are your intermediate steps?”

I tapped the side of my head.

“Humor me, if you please.”