Chapter 35: Friday, August 20, 2010

Friday, August 20, 2010

“It’s unusual seeing you out here,” Jan said to Jake. “You went to all that trouble to get this house, and you’re the person who uses the pool the least.”

Jake had been sitting by the pool in the late afternoon sun with Ellen, Shannon, and Kate when Jan and Christine had puttered up in their bass boat.

“School starts on Monday,” he said. “The summer is almost over. I won’t have many more chances. Besides, I hoped you’d come by and join me.”

Jan pulled a lounge chair over next to him.

“Things start up earlier for teachers than for students. I had an in-service today. In fact, there have been training sessions all week. I missed most of them chasing down your mind readers.”

“I didn’t realize that. Did you get in trouble?”

“The principal isn’t happy with me, but he’ll get over it. To be honest, I was glad to have an excuse to skip out.” She slipped her sunglasses down her nose and studied Jake over the top of the lenses. “So your summer is almost over. You’ve decided to go to high school after all?”

“Actually, I’m pretty sure that I’m not. But whatever I end up doing, I have to get it set up quickly. My grandparents won’t be happy if I’m just hanging around the pool while everyone else is in school.”

“You’ve got the homeschooling course I brought over for you and Kate. You’ll do fine.”

“There is a problem with that. Ellen was supposed to help me with it. Now that Ellen is incommunicado, I can’t claim that she’ll be there to assist us.”

“Leanne and Kara will be here. Shannon, too. She’s as well educated as your mother.”

“And they would do fine, too, but I’ve been thinking about going in another direction.”

“What’s that?”

“I’ve got a few bucks stashed away in the bank.”

Jan snorted.

“That wasn’t very ladylike,” Jake said, giving her a smile. “I’ve been thinking about how I could use the money to get the best possible education.”

“Meaning?”

“Individualized instruction. The very best tutors. For both Kate and me.”

“Fascinating idea. Of course teaching in our day and age is organized around the classroom setting. That means that there are plenty of classroom teachers but not many tutors. It may be hard to find good ones.”

“Not good tutors, great tutors.”

“That’s not going to make your search any easier.”

“What do you want to bet that there are head hunters for that kind of thing. I wonder if Prince Harry’s tutors are still available. Actually, you would be my first pick, but I don’t want to end up getting mad at you for pushing me.”

“Why would I push you?”

“I’ve decided that’s how I want to do this.”

“Meaning?”

“I want to accelerate my education, especially certain parts of it. And I’m not going to stop when I have my high school diploma. I’m going to keep learning this same way until I’ve finished my entire education.”

“You mean through college?”

“I mean through medical school.”

“Jake, they don’t do it that way. You have to go to an accredited medical school. It’s one of the requirements for getting a medical license.”

“I can probably get around it. If nothing else I’ll personally lobby the legislature to give me a license. And if not, so what? I’ll hire a doctor and pretend to work under his supervision.”

“Why medical school? That’s the first time I’ve heard you express an interest in medicine.”

“Duh, Jan, where have you been?” he said. “The brain is my life. And who could go as far exploring it as I can?”

“Are you sure that you don’t want to concentrate on medical research instead? Some students get a Ph.D. in some medicine-related discipline and an M.D. After graduation, they usually go into research, but they also have the option of combining it with clinical practice.”

“I like the way that sounds. With the right tutors, I can go in whatever direction matches my skills and my abilities.”

“I’m still a little confused. Jake, I’ve never sensed an interest in medicine from you. Oh, I’ve noticed that you want to use your skills to help people, but you can do that in a lot of ways. Hell, you’re already a pretty good psychologist. That would be a better fit for your interests.”

Ellen began to stir. She turned her torso toward them, her legs clumsily coming off the lounge. It took her ten seconds to face them. Her face was a frown.

Ellen, darling, Jan sent, that’s great. I can’t believe how quickly you’re getting better.

“R-r-ead me!”

When Jake did he found an image of Ellen as an old woman. Jake was standing over her dressed in a lab coat giving her a medical exam.

What do you mean? Jan sent. She looked over at Jake who was looking down into his lap and grimacing. “What is Ellen saying, Jake?”

Jake kept his head down and remained silent.

“Come on, Jake,” Jan said. “Don’t make me have to drag it out of you.”

“Ellen’s been watching me plan out my education all afternoon. She’s got this notion that the only reason I want to do it is so that I can devote my life to healing her.”

“Jake, she’s been making remarkable progress, but there is a limit to how much she can recover. She’s missing part of her brain.”

“Maybe for regular doctors,” Jake snapped. “The only limit for me is my own ignorance. I can make brains regrow themselves. I just need to know what shape the new tissue should take and how it should connect to the other parts.”

“You can coax brains to extend axons, Jake. Maybe you can even induce synapses to form. You can’t grow new neurons.”

“We don’t know that yet. Until I learn what there is to know, we don’t know what my limitations are.”

“So you want to undertake more than a decade of post-secondary education to heal one person?

“No and no. First, there are plenty of other people I can help. Like Kate, for instance. And the thousands of other people who need the kind of help that only I can give them. Second, it won’t take as long for me as it would for a traditional medical student. That’s the whole reason for changing my approach to my education. I won’t be just one student among many sharing teachers and labs and other resources. I will be one student with the best tutors and teachers. I can buy or hire high-quality facilities. There’s a fine medical school 15 miles from here. I looked it up. It’s ranked twentieth in the nation. If I work hard and use my advantages, don’t you think that I can shave years off what it would take the traditional way?”

“You’re 14, Jake. That’s awfully young to make that kind of commitment. And let me speak bluntly. You’re bright, but it takes more than that to be a good doctor or a good scientist. You need the right kind of smarts. For instance, doctors need strong memories and topnotch logical reasoning skills. What if your intelligence goes another way?”

“That’s the case with any student, Jan. If I find that I’m limited by my abilities, I’ll just have to adjust my ambitions. But I don’t see a reason to do that if I don’t have to.”

“J-Jan. M-make. Him. R-reason,” Ellen said.

Jan raised her eyebrows at Jake.

“She wants you to make me be reasonable.”

“Go away, Jake. Let me talk to Ellen,” Jan said. “No, on second thought, you’d just eavesdrop on us.”

She turned to Ellen. Actually, I’m not sure that his plan isn’t a good one.

He sacrifice life for me.

Jan shrugged her shoulders. How do any of us decide on a career? Were your reasons for studying business any better than his are for considering medicine?

Jake knelt in front of Ellen. Facing her made his dominant streak stronger, but he pushed it down, as he had been trying to do ever since her rescue.

Mom, if I lived my life for you it would not be thrown away. This way I can attend to my responsibilities and do something worthwhile, too.

Jake, no!

It was too much. Jake’s dominant side could not let that pass.

Enough! I’ve been coddling you since you were injured. Do I need to remind you which one of us is the master and which one is the slave?

Not reasonable!

Apparently I do.

Jake grabbed Ellen under her thighs and muscled her up and over his shoulder. Jake straightened up under her weight and carried her back into the house to the surprise of Kate and Christine. Shannon smiled after them. Jake sensed her envy.

“A booth or a table?” the hostess asked.

“Table,” Nina said. “As close to the front as possible.”

She followed the hostess stiffly and settled into a seat with a sigh of relief.

“Why didn’t you let me get your wheelchair from the trunk?” Jake said. “I hate to see you in pain.”

“I guess I thought I was more recovered than I am,” she said, grimacing. “We had to walk farther and stand longer than I expected at the movie.”

This is a one-time thing, Jake sent.

He made her pituitary gland deliver just enough endorphins to relieve the ache in her pelvis. She put her hand on his and squeezed it in thanks.

You’re using the wheelchair for the rest of the evening.

Send Brian out for it. Maybe then we’ll have gotten something worthwhile from having him along.

Brian was still sulking about their choice of movie. He’d wanted to see Priest, a newly-released vampire movie. The women had voted for The Baster, a Jennifer Aniston romantic comedy.

It’s not worth fighting with him about it, Jake sent.

He went out to the car and returned with Nina’s wheelchair.

Take Mona to the bathroom, and I’ll have a word with him.

She nodded and turned to Mona. “Help me get to the ladies’ room,” she said.

Jake helped Nina into the chair. Mona pushed her off to find the restroom.

“Brian, what’s your problem?” Jake said when they were out of earshot.

“You’re the mind reader. You tell me.”

“I know what the problem is. That was just to get the conversation going.”

“Those chick flicks are so lame. Why did you just roll over like that?”

“Actually, I didn’t mind seeing it. Romantic comedies are kind of a guilty pleasure for me.”

“Faggot.”

“Whatever. But I’d rather be a faggot than what you are.”

“And what am I?”

“Perpetually horny, and at this rate, you’re going to stay that way. You’re doing your best to torpedo any chance you have of getting laid.”

“I won’t get laid anyway. She says she can’t fuck yet.”

“Nina knows her way around a dick. If you give her a reason, she’ll make it worth your while somehow.”

“Not tonight. You see how she’s being.”

“Brian, I know that you don’t have my advantages, but surely you can see that Nina wants to do things with you. Even at this point, you can still turn it around.”

“I’m not doing anything wrong.”

“First off, you’re poisoning the mood. If you don’t learn anything else tonight learn this one fact — sulking equals no sex. Second, she can’t have sex with you unless you behave decently. The other women would have her scalp if she did.”

“I knew you were behind this.”

“You don’t know crap, Brian. Of course, I know what’s happening. I can’t help but know. But this dating thing is under their management.”

“It has your fucking fingerprints all over it.”

“If that were true, I would expect your fervent thanks. We live with some of the sexiest women in the solar system and you might just get to sleep with some of them. But I’m telling you the truth. I’m staying out of it because I hope they’re successful. I don’t want to ruin it because you turn it into a pissing contest with me.”

“Then why are you here tonight?”

“Because in their beautiful but devious and convoluted minds, they think it will do you some good. They pressured me to come.”

“What kind of good?”

“They have several reasons. I’ve already told you about some of them before, including the fact that our house is submissive-woman central and there aren’t enough hours in the day for me to run them all. But I think that the chief reason I’m here today is to show you what it takes to get lucky.”

“Yeah, right. What can you show me?”

“If you watch, you’ll see.” Jake lowered his voice confidentially. “They’re about to come back. Here’s one thing for you to learn. Romantic comedies put girls in the mood. Sure it may not be your cup of tea, but if you take advantage of it, the payoff can be big.”

Mona and Nina came back.

“What are you all talking about?” Mona asked.

“We were talking about the artistic merits of the movie,” Jake said. “I was saying that they have unrealistic portrayals of relationships, but Brian says there are some worthwhile lessons to be learned.”

“You do, huh?” Nina said. “Just what do you find worthwhile, Brian?”

Brian shot Jake a panicked look.

Come on, Brian, Jake sent. It’s not that hard. Talk about how the stars always manage to get back together in the end, even though they’ve had a bad break up.

“Uh, uh, it’s like how at the, uh, the end,” he said, “the way they work out their differences. It shows how you can’t, uh, hold a grudge if you want to end up with the girl.”