Intervention: A Science Fiction Adventure (11 page)

“Well, I think the
best way to choose would be to first decide what it is that you want
to do, then just choose the school that can best help you reach your
goals.”

“You know, Mom,
people keep telling me how smart I am. I just hope someday I can be
as smart as you.”

Mary put her arms
around Christopher and held him close. “I love you Christopher,”
Mary said as an unseen tear rolled down her cheek. After a few
moments Mary stood up. “I’ll leave you alone for a while. It
looks like you’ve got some thinking to do. I’m going to make some
popcorn for your dad and I. Would you like some?”

“Sure, Mom.”
Christopher paused, “and Mom?” Mary, already heading for the
stairs, stopped and turned around. “Thanks.”

“I’ll bring the
popcorn up when it’s ready,” Mary said as she entered the stairs,
stopping again briefly to look back at Christopher. “You’re
welcome, honey.”

“Mom, Dad,”
Christopher stood halfway between the hallway and the couch where Joe
and Mary were sitting watching television. “I’ve decided what I
want to do, and where I’m going to go to school.”

Joe got up from the
couch and turned the television off. “Well, why don’t you sit
down and tell us what you’ve decided,” Joe said.

“I’ve given it a
lot of thought and, well, you know how much I like to solve puzzles.
So I thought it would be a good idea to work solving puzzles or code
breaking. It seems they’re working more and more with computers for
high-tech decryption, so I think the best choice would be for me to
go to MIT or UCLA. I’ll write to both of them and tell them I’ll
be deciding between the two of them.” Christopher paused for a
moment, waiting for his parent’s reaction. To him their opinion was
very important.

Joe and Mary looked at
each other for a moment, then turned to Christopher. “Well, son,”
Joe spoke first, “I think you’ve made a very wise and logical
choice.”

“Whatever you decide,
you know your father and I are behind you one hundred percent,”
Mary added.

“Thanks, Mom; thanks,
Dad. I’m going to write the letters to them now so I can mail them
tomorrow.”

“When you finish, why
don’t you come down and watch some television with your father and
me?”

“Sure, Mom.”
Christopher didn’t particularly care for television much, but he
knew he would soon be going away to school, and it was a chance to
spend a little time with his parents.

After going over the
return letters from MIT and UCLA, Christopher decided to attend MIT.
If he was going to work with code encryption of any significance, it
meant working with the government and possibly with the CIA or the
NSA. In any case, Christopher felt MIT had more to offer him for a
future in this type of work. Christopher felt fortunate there was a
field he could work in that allowed him to do what he enjoyed.

Christopher continued
to attend school year-round as he had for the past seven years. His
parents would miss having him there each summer, but he would at
least be there for holidays. His studies were too important to take
too much time away from school each summer. He knew his parents,
especially his mom, would not be overjoyed with this decision, but
they had always respected his choices in the past and would continue
to do so. Christopher felt fortunate to have such good parents—ones
who stood behind him one hundred percent, even if it meant saying
goodbye as he left for school.

“You know, if you
change your mind and decide to come home for summer vacation, just
let me know.”

“I’m going to miss
you too, Mom,” Christopher responded. “I’ll be back
Thanksgiving and for the Christmas holidays. By the way, what would
you like for Christmas?”

“How about a big hug
from my favorite son? I’ve got everything else I could ever want.”

Christopher stopped
packing for a moment and gave his mother a big hug. “I’ll think
of something.”

“As soon as your
shirts come out of the dryer, I’ll iron them and bring them right
up so you can finish packing. Would you like me to fix you something
to eat before we leave for the airport? I could make you a sandwich,
or I could heat up some of that chicken from last night.”

“You know how much I
love your chicken, Mom. That would be great.”

“Chicken it is. It
will take about twenty minutes. I’ll let you know when it’s
ready,” Mary responded.

Mary went to the
kitchen and put some chicken into the oven to reheat for Christopher,
took his shirts from the dryer and ironed them, and took them
upstairs. “Here’s your shirts. I think that’s everything. The
chicken will be ready in a minute or two, so don’t be too long.”

“I’ll be down in
just a minute, Mom.”

Mary put the chicken
out for Christopher to start on, then went to answer the knock at the
door. “Hi, Linda, come on in.”

“Hi, Mary. I just
came by to say goodbye to Christopher, and I brought him some cookies
I baked for the trip. You know how bad that airplane food is.” Mary
and Linda went into the kitchen and sat at the table with
Christopher.

“Hi, Christopher. I
came by to wish you luck. I brought you some of my homemade chocolate
chip cookies to take with you. I thought you might like some.”

“Sure, thank you,
Linda.”

Mary turned to Linda,
“Let’s go out on the porch and let Christopher finish.” Turning
to Christopher, she said, “We’ll be on the porch, Christopher.
There’s more chicken on the stove if you want a second helping.
I’ll be on the porch with Linda.”

Once they were outside,
Mary told Linda, “I’m really going to miss Christopher.”

“I will too, Mary,”
Linda replied. “It seems like only yesterday we went to inquire
about his school. Now he is off to college. Time sure seems to fly
sometimes.”

After a moment of
pondering, Mary broke the silence. “It hasn’t sunk in yet, you
know? I can’t believe my baby is going off to college at 12 years
old. I thought I was ready for this, but I guess I’m not. I
promised myself I wouldn’t cry and I’m not going to. It’s just
going to be a little harder than I thought.”

Linda held Mary’s
hand and said, “We’re just going to have to spend a little more
time together now. What time do you have to leave to take Christopher
to the airport?”

“Not for a little
while yet. Joe should be getting back from the car wash any time now.
He didn’t want to drive Christopher to the airport in a dirty car.”
Mary smiled. “Nothing’s too good for his favorite son. Here he
comes now,” Mary noted as Joe turned in from the main road and
crossed over the little wooden bridge.

Linda gave Christopher
a hug while Joe put the suitcase in the trunk for the trip to the
airport. “I’m going to miss you, Christopher.” Linda said.

“We better get going
if we’re going to get there in time. Don’t want to see your plane
leave without you,” Joe said as he closed the trunk.

“I’ll come by
later, Mary. Have a safe trip, Christopher.” Linda said as Joe
started up the car. As they began to pull away, Christopher turned
around and waved goodbye to Linda.

It was a little warmer
than normal for the first week of September, which made it a
beautiful day for the ride to the airport. At the airport, goodbyes
were said and hugs were given. Joe and Mary stood by the large
terminal window and looked out as Christopher’s plane was pushed
back, and then taxied out, and took off.

“I can’t believe
our little boy’s gone,” Mary said as she and Joe walked out to
the car.

“He’ll be just
fine. I’m sure of it,” Joe reassured Mary.

Once the plane landed
and started to unload, Christopher exited the plane and entered the
terminal. Even though he seemed caught up in the crowd, he was able
to see a sign being held up high that read “Christopher Adams” in
big black letters. Christopher made his way through the crowd toward
the sign and the person holding it.

“I’m Christopher
Adams.” Christopher said looking up at the rather tall young man
holding the sign.

“Hello, I’m
Phillip,” the young man said as he extended his hand to shake
Christopher’s. “Professor Stevens sent me to pick you up. Do you
have a claim check for your bags?”

Christopher pulled out
his ticket folder with baggage claim stubs stapled to the inside.
Once the bags were retrieved, Phillip led Christopher to the parking
lot where a new white van with the school logo on the side was
parked.

“I’ll take you to
your room on campus so you can get settled in a little. Professor
Stevens will be by a little later to check in with you.”

The school seemed so
big to Christopher—at least a lot bigger than he was used to.
Phillip pulled the van into a small parking lot and parked.

“Here we are,
Christopher. Your new home. Well, for a while anyway. Come on, let’s
get your bags.”

Christopher was
surprised at how nice his room was. It was more than just a
room—there were several rooms.

“Who else lives
here?” Christopher inquired.

“Just you. Very few
students get these digs, and those are usually seniors. The rest are
teachers. Everybody is pretty excited to meet you, Christopher. It
isn’t every day that we meet a fellow student who is only 12 years
old. So you are getting the special treatment,” Phillip said as he
set Christopher’s bags down. “I’ll leave you to get settled
in.” Phillip handed Christopher a piece of paper. “Here’s my
number in case you need anything. If I ’m not there, just leave a
message.”

“Thank you, Phillip.
Will I see you tomorrow?”

“Probably. Professor
Stevens should be by in an hour or so. I’ll see you later, and, it
was nice to meet you, Christopher.”

“You too, Phillip.
Thanks for the ride. I’ll see you soon.”

Christopher took a
quick look around before unpacking. The living room they had entered
into was as big as the living room at home. Christopher found a big
kitchen with a small eating area. The kitchen was fully equipped with
pots, pans, dishes, and silverware. His mom would love it. There was
a second room next to the bedroom. It looked as if it might have been
a second bedroom at one time, but it was now a study with all the
trimmings. There was a large desk with a computer, paper, and pens
and even a cork bulletin board on the wall. Christopher smiled. He
was going to like this. After a moment, he returned to the living
room and took his bags into the bedroom. It, too, was nicely
decorated and very complete.

Christopher laid the
bags open on the bed and put his clothes neatly in the chest of
drawers and closet. He then took all of the papers he had prepared
into his study and began filing them as orderly as he always did at
home. After he had filed everything away, he opened the folder that
was on the desk when he came in. It contained a welcome cover letter
and a map of the school showing the locations of the cafeteria,
bookstore, on campus living areas, and the different classrooms and
labs throughout the school. Christopher quickly located his location
on the map, as well as the cafeteria, and the bookstore. He was
studying the map, when he heard the doorbell ring.

“Hello, Christopher.
I’m Professor Stevens,” said a tall man who seemed to have no
pretense.

“Please come in,
Professor.”

“Have you had a
chance to get settled in yet?” the professor asked as they entered
the study.

“Yes, thank you.”
Christopher pulled his chair out from the desk and motioned to the
chair next to the desk. “Please have a seat, Professor.”

As they sat down, the
professor suddenly felt a little like the student. Even though the
person sitting in front of him was clearly a pre-teen with lanky arms
and legs, there was something unusually mature about Christopher.

The professor said, “I
thought I might take you to the cafeteria for dinner and we could
discuss your first year’s workload. I don’t want to overload you
right off the bat.”

Christopher pulled open
the file drawer in the desk and produced a sheet of paper, and handed
it to the professor. “I wrote down what I thought would be a good
schedule for my first semester while I was waiting for you to
arrive.”

Professor Stevens
looked at the paper for a moment. His eyes got a little larger. He
looked up at Christopher, then back at the paper. “Christopher, you
can’t possibly expect to handle all these classes during your first
semester at MIT. This is a bigger workload than most seniors have.”

“I’ve examined each
of these courses and their requirements, calculated the necessary
hours of study time, allowing time for eating and sleeping, and I
don’t see any problem. Remember, Professor, I’m twelve years old.
I don’t date or go drinking with fraternity brothers. I came here
to study and learn, and that’s all. The knowledge available here is
like one big puzzle that I can’t wait to solve.”

“I must admit,
Christopher, you’re an amazing young man. If you feel that strongly
about such a workload, I won’t stop you. But at any time I feel
it’s too much for you, we’ll have to make the necessary
adjustments. Okay?”

“Sure, Professor
Stevens. Can we go eat now? I’m getting pretty hungry.”

“Sure, let’s go.”

While they ate and
talked some more, the professor felt certain that the next few years
working with Christopher and following his progress were going to be
very interesting, to say the least. Christopher was, without a doubt,
the most intelligent, organized, analytical, yet down-to-earth and
just plain nice student the professor had ever met in his thirty some
years at the school.

* * *

Christopher worked hard
and studied relentlessly. The only interactions he had with other
students was when they discussed their studies. Many of the students
didn’t quite know what to make of their young classmate.
Christopher never became involved in social events on campus, even
though he was invited on several occasions. It wasn’t that he was
antisocial, he just really didn’t have the time. His workload kept
him busy around the clock. Besides, he was more interested in what he
was learning than how many people could fit into a Volkswagen. If he
did have any spare time, it was spent keeping up with his somewhat
new interest: world news.