Page 120 of Charlie
I lowered my voice. “It’s hard for him. He misses Atlas, and some kids at his new school have been bullying him.”
The second I said it, Kit lowered the glass and narrowed her eyes. “Tell me who bullied him and Damian and I will go talk to the little wankers. I’ll have Damian show up in his uniform and scare the shite out of them.”
“Thank you for the offer, but the principal is on it.” I sighed. “It’s inevitable that being Conor O’Brien’s son will affect him for the rest of his life. It’s too big to hide with the story being international news for weeks, everyone at his school knows what happened.”
Kit looked thoughtful. “Kids can be brutal if you have the wrong shoes or a big nose. I can’t even imagine what it would be like to have a dad who was a mass murderer. I can imagine the other parents telling their children to keep a distance just in case it’s inherited.”
I watched the handsome boy run around and voiced my concern to Kit. “Yeah, it’s tough being him, and it’s like Max is taking on the guilt and shame of his father’s actions, even though we keep telling him it wasn’t his fault.”
Lumi lowered the book she was reading. “It’s Maximum, not Max. I told you that Ciara was always adamant about us not shortening her boys’ names.”
“I’m sorry, Maximum told me the same thing this morning; it’s just so natural for us Americans to shorten names.”
“What about Atlas, is he helping his little brother cope with all of this? They seemed so close,” Kit asked.
Lumi answered, “Yes, they talk often. Atlas called last night.”
“And how is our local genius doing at Harvard?”
Lumi gave Kit a shrug of her shoulders. “He said that his professors aren’t too happy with him. Apparently, he got into trouble again.”
“Why?” I frowned. “What did he do this time?”
Lumi got defensive and crossed her arms. “Nothing! It’s not his fault.”
Kit gave me awhat’s going onlook, so I sighed and explained. “Atlas has gotten in trouble for correcting his professors while they’re in the middle of teaching a class. I can’t figure out if it’s because he’s unfamiliar with a normal classroom setting, or if it’s because he’s rebelling against authority due to what happened. His disrespect for his current professors could very well be a projection of his anger toward his father, who used to be his teacher.”
“But was he right?” Kit asked.
“About what?”
“Ye said that Atlas corrected his professor. Was Atlas right or was the professor right?”
Lumi gave a proud smile. “Atlas was right of course. He’s not one to speak just to be heard. He felt it was too grave a mistake to stand uncorrected.”
“What did the professor say?”
“That Thomas Edison invented the electric light.”
Kit looked to me, “But he did, didn’t he?”
I shrugged. “Apparently not.”
Like a small lexicon, Lumi began. “It’s a common myth that he invented the electric light, but in reality, he improved on an invention already made by Sir Humphry Davy forty years earlier. The problem was that although many scientists tried, none of them could find a way to make the carbon filament glow for more than twelve hours. Davy’s invention brought electric light, but it was the inventors in Edison’s lab who found the right filament that would burn for days on end.”
Kit tilted her head. “Huh. I had no idea.”
“That’s okay, but a history professor should know better.”
“That might be, Lumi, but Atlas humiliated his professor and that’s not smart.” I leaned forward. “So, tell me. What did you mean when you said he got into trouble again?”
“It’s just that they don’t understand his way of studying.”
Kit and I exchanged another glance and then she snickered, “What are ye on about? Does he do it at midnight, under a full moon with a cape on? How can there be a wrong way to study?”
“They say it’s not enough that he takes all the classes. They want him to write reports and do exams too.”
I pushed my sunglasses up. “Duh! Exams are part of going to college. How does he think people get their degrees?”
