Chapter 28

Andrew seriously considered bailing on talking to his parents but then thought that if he didn’t do it that night then he might not get another chance until the following weekend. So once he had dumped his jacket in his room he went through to the living room where his parents were watching the end of some TV show. Andrew sat with them until the show was over and then asked if he could talk to them.

“I want to get your permission to apply for something. I need parental approval as I am under 18.”

He swallowed and let out a sigh before carrying on.

“You know that I am heavily into computers and computer science, right?”

Here they both nodded but sat quietly and looked intrigued.

“The problem is that there are no computer courses yet for me to take. Except one. The Open University has a Computing and IT course that is the only one at present that is microcomputer based rather than mainframe based.”

His parents were looking confused. Andrew didn’t think they realised that he wanted to apply to university at 14.

“The Open University course has no pre-requisites. There are no school based exams to demand as a pre-requisite. It is probably the only course in any university in the country where I could apply and not be at an impossible disadvantage.”

The penny finally dropped and hit them on the head.

“You want to apply to go to the Open University?”

“Yes and no Mum. I do want to apply but I don’t go. It is called distance learning. I would be doing my courses nights and weekends. What I don’t know is whether they will consider a 14 year old as a student. That is why I want to apply. Applying is not acceptance. What I want you to do is sign off on the application and see what they do. If they do offer me a place then we will have a further sit down and discussion of the impact. I want to improve my computing. This appears to be the only way at present. What Julian raised yesterday and what I need to think about some more is how quickly I am doing this, whether I should try and graduate and the impact on the rest of secondary school.

“We went through the syllabus yesterday. Other than one maths course I will be exactly the same as all the other students. For all I know I may have an edge given that already have my own computer. You know me and maths. I will get through that no issue.”

It was time for him to be quiet and gauge the reaction. His father spoke first, his tone skeptical.

“I have never heard of such a thing Andrew. Is this even remotely realistic? Are they not just going to laugh at you and rip up your application?”

“That is the bit I have no idea about Dad. Like I said because the field is so new and especially the move away from mainframes to microcomputers, it is a once in a lifetime chance to get in at an early age. Even in two years’ time there will be pre-reqs as new school courses and exams are created. Will you sign off and let me at least try?”

“Mum and I will talk about it. We haven’t talked about money but I presume that you were planning to pay for it yourself?”

Andrew nodded. His mother stood up and gave him a hug.

“Okay, away to bed and let Dad and I talk about it. Andrew, we are going to seriously consider it. The opportunity does feel like a once in a lifetime chance. We’ll let you know when you get home tomorrow night.”

He could ask for nothing else.

Blessedly school finally settled down. Right through until the end of term there was a comforting consistency to the week. Everything seemed to settle into a nice groove. Andrew knew that for many people that would be exceedingly dull but after the October and early November he had endured he was pleased to have some low key weeks. This is how he remembered school and it felt good. There were interesting little moments but the backdrop to his life, school, was settled and it was a solid base upon which to build the rest of his weekly life.

After Andrew had finished tutoring Paula and Suzanne he told them he was walking round to the City Library and so the three of them left school and set off towards it. It was not unexpected to be asked by Paula to come 10-pin bowling with the pair of them on Saturday night. One of the advantages was that the bowling lanes were in an outer suburb and so there was a lot less chance of being seen than if they went for a movie in the city centre. Not that they were hiding but all of them were gun-shy after the first night out with Suzanne. Andrew looked at the pair of them, looking suspiciously smug.

“Will I be safe with you pair?”

They giggled enchantingly.

“Whatever can you mean Andrew? Of course you will be safe. What kind of girls do you think we are?”

His blush and their laughs was a pretty accurate indication of the answer to that question. He was saved as they arrived at the Library.

“See you tomorrow.”

Andrew shook his head laughing and went in. He searched for quite a while until he found Nikki working in one of the more isolated sections down in the sub-, sub-, sub-basement.

Edinburgh has several odd areas and the library was in one of them. The street the library was on was called George IV Bridge, pronounced George the Fourth Bridge. Except it didn’t appear to be a bridge at all. The original structure was a bridge connecting two higher pieces of ground over a narrow but deep gorge that ran to the south of the original city. Over time the buildings along the road at the bottom of this valley had reached such a height that they connected to the buildings lining the side of the bridge. So the delivery entrance to the library was 150 feet below the main level and the building was an absolute rabbit warren of sub levels. It was tough to find someone if they were working down in some of the sub basements.

Eventually Andrew tracked her down.

“Andrew, what are you doing down here?”

“Just came by on the way home to see how you were. I figured you had some calls last night when you got home and I wanted to make sure you were okay.”

“Yeah, you are right. I got into two separate shouting matches with my Mum and my oldest brother. I think they are the main forces behind the match making. The conversation started badly and went downhill quickly. I hung up on Mum and told my brother to leave me alone and not contact me again. It went about as badly as it could go. At the end of it I was shaken up and a bit tearful but you know what I also felt relief. They were horrible. Completely not interested in listening to anything I said. I am starting to see my family in a whole new light.”

“I am here if you want to talk. Should I tell Mum I will be home later on Wednesday? If you want to talk then you could drop me off again?”

“I will let you know when you are in on Wednesday. Thanks for stopping by.”

She gave his shoulder a quick squeeze. When Andrew got home his parents at least had the good sense not to raise the Open University in front of Rowan. Once she had left the table he looked at them expectantly. His mother had just finished feeding Scott and his Dad was burping him on his shoulder, so it was his mother that did the talking.

“We are not yet giving our approval to start the course but we will let you apply to see what they do with your application. We do have a couple of stipulations that will be part of our final approval should it get that far, okay?”

Andrew nodded and waited.

“Firstly, you maintain your grades at school. That means 90% plus in Maths and Physics and 85% plus in everything else except Latin. Any report card that comes back under that and you have to stop. Okay?”

Again he nodded.

“We don’t have the money to pay for this Andrew. You will have to fund it completely yourself. I know that you are aware of that but it bears repeating. You are already paying for school. The final one is not a demand but more of a concern. You are pushing yourself awfully hard at the moment Andrew. This will just pile on the pressure and take away from your free time. Have you thought about that? You are always talking about balance. How will this impact your balance?”

The first two stipulations were not a surprise but his parents did have occasional moments of inspiration and this last one was unexpected.

“The first two are fine and I was expecting them. The balance issue is probably my biggest concern with trying this. I am planning on only studying for this on weekday evenings after homework and Sunday mornings. I am keeping my regular times with Julian on a Saturday, the Food Bank on Sunday afternoon and my time with Leslie on a Sunday night. It was Julian who talked to me about it on Saturday. I am doing this as I way of getting some computer science training. This should help us with our projects on Saturdays. There are three comp sci courses in the first block together with a maths course. I will re-evaluate whether to carry on at the end of the first block. How much have I learned, how long it took, how difficult it was and how interesting the choices are in block two?

“Thanks for letting me apply. I am doubtful that they will admit me. You know it started as a Labour Government initiative to democratise education and reduce barriers to higher education. I hardly think I was the intended candidate. If they have too many applications then I am pretty sure I will be the first one rejected. But we won’t know unless I try. Thanks”

Andrew gave his mother a quick hug and went through to his room. He spent the evening working on his application. There were several parts he would have to talk to Leslie about but was able to complete more than 80% of it that evening. Tuesday evening he told Leslie the exciting news. She had taken a copy of the application so they sat and went through the form together and she coached him on the remaining sections. Once they were done Andrew completed the form and took it through for one of his parents to sign. In the end his mum who signed and dated the form on his behalf and Andrew carefully addressed an envelope and put it in his bag. He went to the post office on Wednesday lunchtime and it was gone. Now it was time to wait.

Nikki had been given the cold shoulder treatment by her family which was fine by her, so rather than just head home be popped over to see Tony. He got there five minutes before the shop was closing and they chatted while Tony locked up and cashed up the till.

“Don’t see you around much anymore kid. What’s been keeping you busy?”

“School mainly Tony. I help tutor two students after school so I have less free time. But they are paying me so it is working out.”

Tony nodded at this.

“I can see how that soaks up the time. You doing much photography?”

“Not as much as a couple of years ago but I still shoot several rolls a month. I have been working on depth of field techniques this autumn, seeing how tight I can focus on something, with the background all a blur and then see if I can still make the subject sharp but have more of the photo in focus. You know the kind of stuff.”

“Yeah, I know. It is amazing how many guys are still pretty crap at that. What are you shooting?”

“Stuff close to the house. There is one tree in a neighbour’s garden that stands on its own. I will practice with that most of the time. Trying to blur out everything behind it, the houses and stuff in the distance. But then see if I can get the tree to be sharp and still show the detail of what is in the background. I realised that I needed to start taking notes of settings if I was going to improve. Best way to describe it is slow and steady. I think I am getting better but sometimes it is difficult to tell. How are things here?”