Let us return to our primary purpose of storytelling.
Wilson family home. November 11, 1982 was a special day, the birthday of the family's first child. Even though it was early morning outside, the family itself was already in a festive mood. The smell of fresh baked goods wafted through the first floor of the house. There was a birthday cake with three multi-colored candles on the table. Pillows and plush toys were scattered everywhere. An atypical picture for an English family. But why should we care about their opinion, right? That's right, we don't care about their opinion in any way.
The only woman in the family, Sarah Wilson, was in charge of the kitchen. This day was a holiday not only for the birthday boy, but also for the woman. After all, on November 11 exactly three years ago, she gave life to her beloved son. To the son who never ceased to please the older generation of the family for a single minute of his life.
Living with her husband and son is the best part of Sarah's life. She was happy. And although this may change in the future, we live in the present, don't we? The future is the future, it is not certain, we have the power to influence it. What we cannot influence is the past. It is unshakable. Or is it not?
Calder himself was something special for a woman. Could an ordinary little girl from an orphanage ever dream of living in a family with a loving husband and son? No, in those days she constantly struggled to survive and spent the rest of her already not very free time on studying in order to somehow get settled in life. After all, no matter what people say, it is much better to know and be able than not to know and not be able to. Anything can be useful in life. Even the smallest detail that might seem unnecessary.
Could Sarah Jones still dream of a family back then? No. But fate loves to joke. The joke happened to her too. Then, in her teenage years, at the London Medical University, she met him. Tom Wilson. Oh, for her it was love at first sight, and when they were assigned to the same study group, she was ready to jump with happiness. The only thought at that moment was: "Here is the chance." The main thing is not to miss it and not to scare it away. And Sarah didn't miss him. And she grabbed with the grip of a real fighting dog.
And thank God Tom understood the hints and, as she later learned, Tom liked Sarah too. And somehow it so happened that after 2 months they became a couple. And a year and a half later they officially registered their marriage.
Now, after so many years, it is impossible not to remember these moments with a smile. Oh yes, how many stories they had to go through, how many annoying girls she had to drive away from her boyfriend. It's nice to remember. And more than one evening she and Tom can sit by the fireplace and tell these stories. Magic time.
Now they have the fruit of their love. Calder Wilson.
Calder was an unusual child. Already now, at the full age of three, he knew the elementary school curriculum. Oh, how much he and Tom discussed about revealing or keeping Tom's abilities secret. Whatever genius Calder was, he was a child. But the opposite was also true; Calder was an unusual child. He is not interested in children, not only those his own age, but also those who are less than 15 years older than him.
And even Sarah herself understood that her son's loneliness was inevitable. The differences between him and other children are too stark, and teenagers much older than Calder will not take him seriously. This is a joke, but the woman herself would not have taken him seriously if she had not witnessed his growth.
But any genius has its downsides. Unfortunately, in Calder's case, he is not alone.
The first one was described above. Problems of socialization.
The second is a reflection of his own gift, his intellect. Due to his undoubtedly very highly developed intellect, Calder himself had little emotionality. In moments when not only children, but even ordinary adults would either laugh or cry, Calder would only slightly raise or lower the edge of his lips, or squint his eyes. And this will not affect his behavior in any way.
Therefore, any moment when their son smiles is the family's greatest treasure. For which they will stand until their last breath.
Unfortunately, there are not as many of these moments as we would like.
The first is moments of gatherings with family. Therefore, Tom and Sarah spend all their weekends and vacations with Calder. Be it trips to nature or flights to France, or ordinary gatherings in front of the fireplace with a book. All these moments were sacred for the whole family.
The second point was learning something new. Or even better to say self-improvement. As Calder said: "There is no better feeling than growing above yourself, be it a banal run or new knowledge, like a new language."
O new languages. This is another reason to be proud. It so happened that Sarah, in addition to English, also taught French at the orphanage, and Tom learned German. So their son knew not only English, but also French and German in addition. Not only did he know, but he could both speak, read and write in these languages.
From all of the above there was only one conclusion. Hide Calder's abilities. This decision was not made lightly. In the mother's soul there was still a smoldering hope for the normal socialization of their son. But Tom and little Calder persuaded her not to send her son to school. It's just that Calder will officially study at home and take exams every year, like ordinary children, with the only difference that a separate commission will be assembled for Calder.
At first there was an idea to take all exams ahead of schedule. But they still decided not to do that. This would attract too much attention, which Calder and Sarah did not want, unlike Tom, who wanted the whole world to know what a genius his son is. Now the son and mother had to convince Tom of the opposite.
This thought was followed by the sound of the front door opening and closing. Sarah slowly turned off the water, wiped her hands with a towel and, putting it back, went into the hallway to meet her husband. After all, only he has the keys to the front door and it was at this time that he should have arrived from work.
Tom stood at the front door, who was currently taking off his outerwear.
"Good morning, dear," Sarah said, hugging his neck and kissing him, she continued. -How did you get home? Did nothing happen along the way?
"Everything is fine," the man answered. -The weather is beautiful outside, as if nature itself is celebrating with us.
-Just great. Perhaps we can still go to the park for a walk with Calder," the woman said with a smile, releasing Tom from her embrace. -How was the shift? Were you very tired or was everything fine?
-You know, everything is just fine. Not a single patient was treated during the night; we even managed to sleep for a few hours. So I'm fully prepared for our holiday activities.
-Great. Let's go to the kitchen and have breakfast while Calder sleeps, although most likely he has already woken up and is reading books again. Well, let's not interfere. I hope you'll have bacon and eggs?
-Anything if you prepared it with your own hands.
"Go already, ladies' man," Sarah jokingly hit Tom in the shoulder with her fist.
"Yes, my queen," the man bowed playfully and quickly disappeared into a life-saving flight from the righteous anger of his wife.
Having sat down at the table, they started breakfast discussing the latest news. It was a family idyll.
Which was broken at one point.
Suddenly it started to rain outside. The water flowed in a continuous stream; from the outside it seemed that it was not rain, but a solid wall that stretched from heaven to earth. A terrible and beautiful picture of the power of nature took place outside the window. Lightning flashed somewhere high. She opened the heavens with a carpet of sparkling lines. The sound of thunder and raindrops was comparable to a symphony of the greatest maestros of stories.
Laughter echoed from the second floor. Laughter filled with happiness and joy. Sarah and Tom seemed to fly up the stairs in an instant and opened the door to their son's room to see him floating.
Calder seemed frozen in mid-air. Blue circles of energy radiated from his body, like circles on water, and the boy himself laughed. For the first time in his life, he laughed, a laugh filled with boundless joy, and even cried. I cried with happiness.
And while the couple watched their son in a stupor, a stack of books with a note appeared on the table near the birthday cake, as if by magic. To which the following was written: