Chapter 13

"Scott, could I have a few moments of your time?" Lord A.S. asked me, when we were back at his place in England, outside of London.

"Surely," I said, and went off with him.

We walked to another portion of the house, which I had not seen yet. We sat in an interior room that had no windows. There was a tea service set up, as well as coffee for me. Hmm, this smacked of planning.

"Scott, could you fill me in a little on your education and background? I have been curious about you, and have been wondering. Please tell me if this question is out of bounds at all," Lord A.S. said finally.

So I related my life story, short as it was. I told him of my part time job, my high school years, and where I had been living when all this came down. He just sat there listening and sipping his tea. I finished fairly quickly. It was a short story, with not much to tell. Afterwards, we sat in silence and drank our drinks, for a few minutes.

"Didn't you want to go to college? It sounds like your parents could have afforded to send you to college? I can't understand why they didn't," he finally said.

"Oh, they wanted to. I just didn't feel the urge. College just wasn't in the cards then. Sometimes, I wish I had gone when they asked. But no, I don't think I have or had the mental temperament to go and continue my education, at that time. By the time I graduated high school, I was sick and tired of school and the education 'rules and guidelines', and the silly things they were making us do," I said.

"Silly? What were the silly things?" he asked curiously.

"Oh, in order to graduate, we had to perform 'x' number of hours of 'community service' in the area we lived. And we had to have it monitored by someone the school could check with to make sure we did it. I felt like I was a criminal, sentenced to 'community service', for a minor crime of some sort," I said, feeling again the anger this requirement caused me.

"Ah, I see. Yes, I can understand. While I am sure it was not their intent to humiliate you, you were resentful all the same," he said with a nod.

"Yeah, they are supposed to be teaching, but have branched out into all sorts of things they should not be bothering with, if you ask me," I responded.

"Then there were the 'councilors'. If you didn't think the way they thought you should, you were labeled something, and they moved to 'help' you overcome this seriously wrong thought process. If you resisted or thought they were being stupid about it, you found yourself labeled a 'special ed' student. Sometimes you would be taken out of class, and moved to other classes where you could not 'hurt' others. It was stupid!" I had gotten up and was pacing.

"I see. Yes, I can see exactly where this would not inspire the best of experiences for you," Lord A.S. Said.

We talked some more, and he refilled our cups while I talked. The more I talked, the angrier I got at the highhanded methods of my school's treatment of me. Finally, I ran out of things to say, though. After all, it's not like I had a lot of life experiences or anything like that, as yet.

"You're so very young to be so angry and suspicious of those in authority over you. Scott, I am sure they had your best interests at heart. If they did go overboard, as you insist, it was not done with a malicious intent. Until you understand that, you will always be bitter over your experiences in high school.

"As for your ability to do about any job a college educated person can, I doubt that, for several reasons. I do think you're very intelligent. You just have chosen the path of least resistance, and that includes minimalizing yourself in front of others, so as not to draw attention to yourself.

"Certain jobs take specialty training, and I am afraid that a college education, or college training is mandatory. Plus, say you can make a bridge. But you don't have a college or university degree saying you're an engineer. If for some reason this bridge collapses due to unforeseen problems, you and the company that hired you will be held responsible.

To the government and the people suing, a college education means you were trained to think in certain areas. Just coming off the street with no qualifications and saying 'I'll build your bridge', will get you laughed out of that office. You have no official training that can save them, in a court of law. They would be crucified," Lord A.S. told me.

"I know. It's just a big game though. A lot of people are never given a chance or the pay for a job they could do because they don't have half the alphabet soup behind their name. Take the hardware store I worked at. I have watched them, and I could run that place myself, but I was never promoted to a supervisory position. I have watched kids come in and I taught them, for Christ's sake!" I yelled.

"I can feel your frustration. I see your frustration. But Scott, you take the least path, and you resist responsibility. I see you have let your older brother take the leadership road, here. While it is true that I feel he is a real shaker and mover, I'll bet you would be too, if you didn't always defer to others. You have spent your life deferring, and it has contributed to your bitterness, as well," he told me.

I sat there a while thinking of what he said. If I was honest with myself, I could see a lot of what he said was true. I really didn't like to take leadership roles. I hated the spotlight or limelight. I didn't like being singled out. I would have to change this.

About that time there was a knock on the door, and the head servant came in. Just a few years ago he would have been called a butler, but they changed that to something else. He ran the household servants, and kept Lord Avery-Smythe informed of developing situations in the house, phone calls, and messages. Handy guy to have really.

"Your young friend Mr. Wilshire would like your attendance in the main office, m'Lord," the man said, delivering his message and then getting dismissed.

"Well, it looks like things are getting ready to start again. Shall we see what you're brother wants?" he asked me.

"Certainly. Ah, thanks for the talk. While I don't really feel better, I at least have cleared some anger out of me," I said grinning.