“Yes.”
“All right. From this point on, my aim is to identify your boundaries. There is nothing bad about giving me a wrong answer, or saying you don’t know something. That is actually my goal here. I want to see how far you can take these elements of reasoning and deduction. Nothing more. Do you understand?”
“Yes.”
“You mustn’t be frightened or worried if you don’t know the answer. Just tell me, and I’ll explain things, and we’ll move on.”
“I’m not scared,” Colin replied. And he wasn’t. He was so excited it was hard to stay in his chair.
This time, the smile touched his entire face. “Then let’s begin.”
CHAPTER4
They stayed at it for another hour and a half. It would probably have lasted much longer. Colin didn’t care. It could have gone on for days. Weeks, in fact. When the chair could no longer hold him, he slipped around the table and stood beside Arnold, who shifted his chair over to make room for him. They chattered with an increasing sense of shared energy, flying through the lessons, spilling papers everywhere. Colin couldn’t say which he liked more, getting the answer right, or the sudden electric illuminations that came when Arnold explained something that he could not figure out on his own.
But the door finally opened and Celeste came in, smiling larger than Colin had ever seen. She was followed by the man who had passed them in the parking lot and the other woman, grey haired and precise, but in her own tight way Colin thought she looked as pleased as Celeste.
Arnold said, “We’re not done.”
The woman said, “I for one have seen enough.”
“More than enough,” the grey-haired man agreed. “Young man, you are an astonishment.”
They all left together. Arnold joined the two other strangers, walking ahead and talking all at once. Celeste led him down the hall and asked, “Are you hungry?”
He realized, “I’m starving.”
She found that humorous. “So let’s go see if they’ve got anything here worth eating.”
They descended two flights of stairs, then walked a long hall, passing several conference rooms and a classroom and then a cafeteria filled with noisy children. Colin was immensely pleased when they passed those doors.
They entered a smaller cafeteria filled with adults in soft conversations. The windows were tall and frosted with sweat from the AC. Green plants grew from large ceramic planters. The walls held beautiful photographs. Celeste said, “What do you feel like?”
“I could eat anything.”
“Well, you’re the man of the hour, which means you can have anything you want.” As they walked down the line and he settled on beef brisket and mashed potatoes, she asked, “You want some vegetables with that?”
He shrugged. “If I have to.”
“Not today, you don’t. You want a Coke?”
“Lemonade.”
“Lemonade it is.” She filled up a glass and set it on his tray, then said, “Some days it is just so good to be me.”
Colin liked that enough to laugh out loud.
“Child, you should do that more often.” She gestured to the line of desserts. “Anything suit your fancy?”
As they started toward a table, the silver-haired gentleman called over, “Celeste, the attorneys are here.”
She settled him at a table by himself. “You going to be all right, sitting here alone?”
“Sure.”
“That’s my little man.” She pointed to where the adults gathered. “You need something, I’ll be right over there.”
He ate slowly, relishing every bite. The brisket had been cooked until it flaked on his fork. There was a lake of gravy covering his plate, so much it had spilled onto the tray. Colin started to use his only napkin to mop it up, but nobody was watching, so he ate and reviewed some of the more challenging exercises Arnold had shown him. He did not mind the solitude at all. In fact, he almost felt as though it was important. He was so used to making himself small. Finding the tight corner, the little area behind his bedroom door, any place that left him feeling momentarily safe. Here was different in every way. The light was different, even though it came from the same sun. The food, the quiet conversation, the solitude … Glorious. When he finished eating, Colin took a long breath, so long he wondered if he could just keep on breathing in, growing bigger and bigger until he actually filled all this beautiful space.
