Prodigy (standard:Flash, 1216 words)
Author: Reid Laurence	Added: May 19 2006	Views/Reads: 3661/2162	Story vote: 0.00 (0 votes)
A child prodigy creates the surprise of a lifetime!

Click here to read the first 75 lines of the story

the first place, I remember thinking to myself simply... This, I gotta 
see. 

Walking back to the kitchen while she was still getting her tools ready,
I brought out a loaf of wheat bread and the bologna we'd talked about, 
and set them on the dining room table accompanied by a glass of apple 
juice she'd been fond of drinking ever since she was a baby. “Have 
yerself a time, girl,” I said, never dreaming that she might actually 
come through and create a shape even remotely similar to what she'd 
spoken of, but two hours later, after I'd finished writing out my 
report, I decided to have a look at what little Ellie had been so 
diligently working on and low and behold, I swear for the life of me, I 
couldn't believe what my eyes were telling me. There on the table in 
marvelous three-dimensional space sat the Great Stellated Truncated 
Dodecahedron in all it's mathematical glory, carved completely out of 
wheat bread and bologna! “Ellie!” I exclaimed, “You're a mathematical 
genius! The formulas for the side relationships for that thing are 
tough enough, but you've actually gone and built that monster. I can't 
believe it. I just can't believe it.” 

“It's just a pattern dad,” she replied. “Once you get into it, it
becomes repetitious.” 

“Sure it's a pattern,” I answered. “But an enormously difficult one. Too
difficult, in fact, for most adults, and you've knocked this thing out 
as a kid, Ellie. That's remarkable.” 

“So what now dad?” she asked, feeling the slight depression kick in of
an artist who realizes that after the project is completed, the needs 
for self expression and the challenge to create something out of 
nothing become replaced by feelings of emptiness and loss. 

“I'm not sure,” I replied. “What you've done is just fantastic, but I
know one thing. If the newspapers get wind of this, people will never 
leave you alone. Reporters and newscasters will be bugging us 
constantly. The phone will be ringing off the hook, and your friends 
will treat you like your too different to hang around with. You won't 
be one of the crowd anymore, that's for sure.” 

“So whadda we do?” asked Ellie. 

“Near as I can see, the only thing we can do. We eat the evidence.” And
so, sadly, we began tearing off sections of the perfectly shaped, tasty 
Dodecahedron until - along with a big bag of potato chips and a bottle 
of cola - we'd consumed the entire work of genius. By the time my wife 
had come home, there was nothing left of it but crumbs and the powerful 
memory and imprint on my mind of what my small, innocent child was 
capable of. 

“How was your day today?” asked Mary, as she took a hanger from the
closet and hung up her coat. “Anything different happen, or did you two 
just bore yourselves?” 

“Nuth'in much Mary,” I answered, still chewing on the last bits of wheat
bread and bologna in my mouth. “Same old humdrum day. There is one 
thing though,” I said, looking at Ellie and then back again at my wife. 


“Oh, and what could that be?” asked Mary, on her way to the kitchen. 

“Those educational shows on t.v.... they're a lot more worthwhile then I
ever realized.” 

“How so?” asked my wife, on her way to the bedroom. 

“Let's just say, they give you a lot of food for thought. Which reminds
me... what's for dinner?”


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