Ch 9
We were all sitting around the dining room table, occupying our usual seats exactly like we did every single night. Dad was slouched slightly at the head of the table, looking a bit more thoughtful than usual.
Mom was sitting right to his left, dishing out the food. She paused with a serving spoon in her hand and looked over at my dad with a deeply confused expression.
"What are you talking about, George?" she asked, her voice carrying that specific tone she used whenever she was serious and wanted to know things.
Dad simply let out a heavy sigh and gestured across the table toward me with his fork. He clearly wanted me to start talking and explain the situation myself.
I knew exactly why he was doing this. He had been completely blindsided earlier today when the high school principal called him into the main office to inform him that his son wanted to skip multiple classes.
Naturally, Dad had immediately assumed the meeting was about Sheldon and his academic schedule, not mine. Finding out it was actually about Charlie had left him utterly baffled.
"Well, how do I exactly say this without sounding completely crazy?" I started, carefully putting my fork down and looking around at everyone. "I am a genius now. Standard high school is just too easy for me."
I leaned back in my wooden chair and closely watched their reactions. Everyone at the table just stopped eating and stared directly at me like I had suddenly grown a third head right in front of them.
The silence was deafening for a brief second, but predictably, Sheldon was the very first person to respond to my bold claim.
"Getting a few A grades on standard freshman assignments does not mean you are suddenly a genius, brother," Sheldon stated with absolute, unwavering confidence.
He looked at me with genuine pity. "Take it directly from me, an actual certified genius. I have known you for my entire life, and I can easily assure you that you possess a completely average intellect."
"Wow, thank you so much for that touching vote of confidence, Sheldon," I replied dryly, keeping my face completely straight.
Missy, who was sitting quietly next to me, just kept eating her dinner. She was the only person in this house who actually knew that I had gotten much smarter lately because I kept helping her breeze through her math homework.
However, even she did not think I was anywhere near Sheldon's freakish level of intelligence, so she wisely decided not to say anything and just watch the family drama unfold.
Mom looked strictly at me, her maternal radar clearly detecting that this was not a simple teenage prank. She crossed her arms over her chest, silently demanding that I explain myself properly and stop beating around the bush.
I let out a long sigh and began to carefully deliver the exact excuse I had already prepared in my head for this inevitable moment. I knew I could not hide my rapid academic advancement from them any longer, especially with the school principal now involved in the matter.
"Before you guys start asking me a million questions, just let me explain everything in one go," I said, holding my hands up defensively. "You all remember that terrible accident in the garage last month, right? The time I slipped and hit my head really hard on the edge of the wooden table."
"Well, when I finally woke up in the hospital, everything inside my head had fundamentally changed. My brain suddenly felt incredibly active. The entire way I looked at the world, and the way I processed basic information, had completely shifted overnight."
Mom's face instantly dropped, her previous annoyance quickly morphing into deepl concern. She clearly felt terrible because I had not talked to her about any lingering symptoms from the head injury.
She opened her mouth, desperately wanting to say something or perhaps apologize for missing the signs, but I held up a finger and kept right on going before she could derail my explanation.
"It was not anything negative or dangerous, Mom. I promise," I reassured her quickly. "I just did not talk about it with anyone because I was still trying to figure it all out myself before saying anything crazy. I suddenly realized that I could learn highly complex things much faster than I ever could before."
"It is like I possess a perfect photographic memory now. I can completely remember absolutely everything I read after just glancing at a page once. It honestly felt like a massive upgrade so I didn't want to worry you for nothing."
"So test out my new intelligence. I just started going to the library and reading every single advanced textbook I could possibly get my hands on. Honestly, I am genuinely enjoying it, reading and learning things is my new hobby”
I completed my explanation, and the room fell completely silent for a long moment. Georgie was the very first one to break the heavy quiet. "So that is exactly why you suddenly became a massive nerd," he observed bluntly.
Sheldon immediately shook his head in defiance. "I still do not believe a single word of this nonsense," he declared.
"Ask me a complex math problem then," I told Sheldon, challenging him directly across the table.
"What is pi?" Sheldon asked, clearly thinking I was still joking around by throwing out such a basic question. I just stared at him, waiting for a real test of my mental capabilities.
He did not even give me a fair chance to answer before he spoke in a highly condescending manner. "It is 3.14," he stated proudly.
I did not miss a single beat and continued the mathematical sequence smoothly. "159265358979... should I keep going?"
Sheldon narrowed his eyes, finally realizing I was completely serious about my claim. "What is the cube of 6969, and then multiply that result by eight?" he asked after thinking for a moment to come up with a difficult calculation.
I actually did not even have to think very hard about it. The massive number just popped into my brain automatically. Most regular people would have to multiply the digits in their head using specific mathematical methods, but I instinctively knew the correct answer.
"It is 2707705209672," I replied calmly.
He proceeded to rapid fire a few more incredibly difficult questions from advanced physics and chemistry. I answered every single one of his inquiries perfectly.
The rest of the family just looked back and forth between us like we were conversing in a completely foreign language. Meemaw finally leaned forward and asked Sheldon the burning question on everyone's mind.
"Is Charlie actually answering these things right?" she asked skeptically.
"Yes," Sheldon admitted, looking genuinely bewildered by the situation. "I do not know of any reasonable scientific explanation as to how he suddenly got this smart, but it appears he is entirely correct." He clearly did not know exactly how he should feel about this sudden development.
He was visibly torn between being happy to have an intellectual peer and being deeply jealous since he would no longer be the only special kid in the house.
"We are going to the doctor first thing tomorrow morning," Mom announced. Her voice was laced with no word of argument. She was worried. That was her job description.
"Mom, I am completely fine," I tried to reassure her, though I knew I would probably have to pay the local doctor a visit anyway just for her peace of mind.
Dad leaned back in his chair, slowly processing the massive revelation. "Well, I think this is actually incredibly good news," Dad said, finally accepting the strange situation.
Missy turned to our older brother with a flat expression. "I guess we are the dud twins now, Georgie," she noted dryly. I laughed a bit at that observation, but Mom immediately scolded her.
"Absolutely no one in this house is a dud. You are all God's special gifts to me," she proclaimed warmly.
Georgie rubbed his chin thoughtfully. "Maybe I should try banging my head against a hard table right before this semester's final exams," he mused out loud. I honestly did not know if he was being completely serious or just making a dumb joke.
"You will do absolutely no such thing, Georgie," Mom snapped, instantly shutting down that highly dangerous line of thinking.
We slowly resumed eating our dinner, though the usual chaotic chatter was entirely replaced by an intense interrogation. I patiently answered the barrage of random questions they kept throwing my way.
After a while, the initial shock began to wear off just a bit. Seeing me sit there eating my meal normally helped ground the surreal situation.
They gradually started to accept the unbelievable reality that I was indeed a genius now. It was certainly going to take a lot of adjusting for everyone involved.
"Looks like you are no longer the only special boy, Sheldon. Try not to cry in bed about it tonight," Missy taunted him playfully.
Sheldon puffed out his chest defensively. "I will readily admit that it will be much nicer to have at least one other family member who is somewhat intelligent. However, he is still nowhere near my superior level," he stated with total arrogance.
"Oh, is that right?" I shot back, ready to verbally spar with him.
Before we could engage in our new intellectual competition, Mom firmly interrupted us. "Eat your food and do not fight at the dinner table. That is terrible manners.”