Higher Learning
“Sally, I love you, but you’re nuts!” you say.
“But Junior has to go to school!” Sally replies back.
“I know that! But there’s no way he can go to a regular school! The other kids will either run in fear, or try to tease him, which will result in him eating one of them. Either way, the teachers are gonna bitch about him to us, and say he won’t be able to attend anyway!”
“Not necessarily, let’s just try it.”
“I’d rather not go through the fuckin’ hassle! Junior can learn everything he needs to know on the internet! He’s proven to be pretty resourceful, and smart already, so all we have to do is find those “self teaching” websites or whatever, and let him go at it. If there’s anything else he’s interested in, it’s just a click away.”
“Yeah, but that’s not the same thing as formal schooling…”
“Sally, really now, do you remember most of the stupid shit they taught in school? Because I sure didn’t, and I sure as hell didn’t need a lot of it.”
“Hmm, maybe you should paid more attention in English class, your grammar is atrocious!” Sally laughs. “I suppose you’re right, in some ways though, I taught myself a lot of stuff, without the help of any formal training.”
“See? And Junior’s pretty curious about everything, so he’ll probably try to learn everything he can, and we can give him those book tests you find in stores, or download them off the net to test him every now and then, and if we find that he starts slacking, we kick his ass to get back on the right track.”
“Hey!” Sally says disapprovingly.
“You know what I mean.” you say.
“So you’re proposing that we just leaving Junior alone in front of a computer all day?”
“Basically.”
“We can’t do that!”
“Why not? Shit, I wished I got left in front of a computer all fuckin’ day instead of having to go to school with a bunch of fucktards!”
“But you wouldn’t have met your friends, Dave and Rick if that happened.”
“Like I said, going to school, with a bunch of fucktards! Junior will be fine! We know he’s fully capable of being alone by himself. Trust me, this’ll work out!”
“Hmmm, I don’t know…” Sally says hesitantly.
You go up to Sally and hold her, reassuring her that everything will be fine. She’s still hesitant, but agrees to try it. The next day, Junior’s all set up with everything he needs. There’s an extended hugging and kissing period by Sally, who’s still worried about her special little mutant being alone.
“Now you know the phone number to the Salon and the Comic Shop right?” Sally asks again.
“Yes Mama.” Junior replies, as Sally hugs him again.
“Alright, Sally, don’t smother the boy! He’ll be fine! And you, you better not play video games all day! Do your work! I’ll know!”
Sally kisses Junior once more and you both leave for work.
In the following months, this situation actually proves to work out quite well; Junior seems to be doing everything he’s told to do. No worries at all, Sally is relieved and glad your idea is working out.
Unfortunately it’s working out TOO well, as you discover one day…
“Hey Sally! Are you home yet? What the fuck?!” you say tripping over a medium metal object just in the doorway.
“Who the hell left a thermo-nuclear bomb in the doorway?...........WHY THE FUCK IS THERE A FUCKIN’ THERMO-NUCLEAR BOMB IN THE DOORWAY IN THE FIRST PLACE???!!!”
You look around and Junior’s been…busy.
There’s weird scribbling all over the walls, with partial thoughts and incomprehensible formulas. There’s also a few other strange things laying around that you can’t even begin to imagine what they are for, but they’re either weapons, or really bizarre sex toys.
“JUNIOR! Where are you?”
“He’s down in the basement.” A high pitched voice says.
“Eugene? What the fuck are you doing here?”
“You son called me up, asking me what I knew about quantum physics and the chaos theory. I told him, and then he said he was making a perpetual motion machine. Naturally such a thing is impossible, so I said he couldn’t, and he said he’s almost done, so I came over to prove him wrong, and then…”
“Eugene will you shut the fuck up? Didn’t you find it strange that a child, even a smart mutated one, was talking to you like fuckin’ Albert Einstein?”
“I dunno, I was kinda like that when I was a kid, before I heard the calling of the Force that is!” Eugene says proudly.
“Hmm, the world’s loss is that franchise’s gain. Jesus Christ, look at these sites he’s been looking up! I have no idea why he needs to know about necrocybernetics and psionic genetic engineering, but I’m putting a stop to this right now! Hey Eugene, why aren’t you looking after Lucas and Lea?”
“I brought them with me…they’re down in the basement with your son.” Eugene suddenly realizes the gravity of the situation.
You and Eugene quickly run downstairs, and see Junior near a switch which is connected to some electrodes which are in turn connected to Lucas’ head. Lea is playfully grabbing at Junior’s tentacles as he writes something down.
“LUCAS! LEA!” Eugene screams, knocking you out of the way, quickly disconnecting Lucas and snatching him up. Eugene is equally quick about snatching up Lea.
“Lea! Don’t play with other boy’s erm…tentacles!”
“Boy, you better have a REALLY good explanation for this! ALL of this!” you say to Junior.
“We were just playing! Lucas kept saying how his Dad talked about the Force, and I said I found a way that you can temporarily display those powers they show in those movies, just with a certain jolt of energy to your head. It unleashes dormant psionic powers That’s all me and Lucas were doing.”
“Really?” Eugene asked. “Hey hook those up to…”
“Get outta here Eugene!” you snarl, as he quickly runs up the stairs with his kids.
You turn your attention back to Junior.
“Now I’m not EVEN gonna ask if you tested that little theory before attempting to electrocute Lucas, or why you built a small nuclear bomb, or even where you got the materials to build such a thing. I’m not gonna ask why the walls are covered with writing that looks like a formula for creating a planet, or any of that. I just want to know why!
“I dunno, after I was done with my assignments I got bored.”
“That’s it? That’s your answer for turning the house into a fuckin’ evil genius’ hideout? You couldn’t have just played video games or some shit?”
“Well I did that, then I started surfing the internet, and there were some interesting things on there, so…”
“Arrrgh! Nevermind! We gotta clean this stuff up! If your mother sees this, I’ll never hear the…”
“Junior where are you? And I know YOU’RE here too, because your car’s in the driveway! We need to talk NOW!” you hear Sally say from upstairs.
“Fuck. See what you did?!” you say to Junior.
After a LONG discussion, Junior’s punishment, is no internet until further notice and he has to clean up all the mess he made (particularly the walls). Sally is also displeased, that a couple of those sites in between the mad scientist ones he was looking at were adult websites, although he claims he was merely studying human biology. (You quietly breathe a sigh of relief that he was only looking at naked women though)
After sending Junior to bed, Sally’s displeasure now extends to you.
“Alright, alright, you made your point! How the hell did I know he was gonna do all that shit? But think about it now, he’s learned his lesson and he won’t try this again. Let’s just give him a rest for a few weeks.”
“No! He’s become isolated and weird!”
“Um he IS isolated and weird!”
“Well that’s the problem! He needs to be around others, so he doesn’t get warped! School isn’t all about academics; it’s also a social learning experience. He needs to go to school, to learn how to interact with others so he doesn’t see people as all potential experiments.”
“Actually I think after interacting with other people, he’ll be MORE convinced that they should be used as lab rats. I know I do.”
“Well let’s just try it.” Sally says.
“Alright, but I know what’s gonna happen.”
The next day you and Sally go to the local elementary school with Junior. And just like you thought, the screams and scampering of little children follow. As you approach the door, a figure opens it up and stands in your way. Oh fuck, not him. He’s much older now, but you’d remember that ball busting prick anywhere.
“Mr. Morningstar! I never thought, I’d see YOU ever again. I figured you’d be serving in Nethergate Penitentiary.”
“Mr. Raker. What the fuck are you doing here?” you ask.
“Promotion, transferal, in any case I’M the Principal of THIS school, and I demand to know why YOU’RE here, Mr. Morningstar!”
“Mr. Raker, we’re just trying to enroll our ...er my son into this school.” Sally says
Mr. Raker looks over at Sally and his expression instantly changes from hostile dickhead to lecherous old man.
“Sally! Ah how you’ve changed. I remember you being one of our best students, and might I add one of our prettiest.” He says looking Sally up and down.
“HEY, you fucking pervert, let’s keep our eyes on her face, before my fist hits yours!” you say.
“Are you threatening me with physical violence Mr. Morningstar?”
“No, I’m PROMISING you physical violence.”
Sally intervenes at this point.
“Look Mr. Raker I just want to enroll my son in this school, so what papers do we have to sign?”
Mr. Raker finally looks at Junior who’s holding onto Sally’s hand. He looks up at Mr. Raker and growls at him a little.
“Aaagh! We…we can’t! We couldn’t! I mean the other children! They’d be frightened out of their mind!”
“Well maybe initially, but I’m sure if they’d get used to him eventually.”
Mr. Raker shakes his head.
“I’m sorry Sally, but as much as I’d like to help, I have to think of the entire school. I’d be getting complaints from other parents constantly. Your son would cause too much distraction.”
“Bullshit! You could do something. You’re the fucking principal.” You say.
“Well…maybe I could, if Sally could convince me to.” He touches her hand, catching Sally off guard.
“Excuse me???”
“Sally, I remember how I lusted for you when you first got to high school.”
“EWWWWW! I was only 14!” Sally exclaims horrified, moving her hand away.
Mr. Raker breaks down onto his knees, into some sort of repressed emotion explosion.
“I know! I know! I’m a sick fuck! I used to masturbate thinking about you, in your little skirts and …and…(sob!) but don’t you see? It’s okay now! Because you’re old enough now! I still want to be your Daddy…” he begins to attempt to touch her legs, but you stop him with a kick to the face.
“You fucked up, nasty motherfucker! If I’d known you were a sick ass pedophile who was jerking off to mental images of my sister, I would’ve kicked your ass a long time ago!” you kick him a couple more times in the side, as Junior bites his arm. Mr. Raker seems oblivious to this beating though, as he’s sobbing in his own private hell in his mind. Sally drags you both away, before a bigger scene is caused.
The children seem to cheer you as you leave though.
After reporting anonymously to the cops, to look into “suspicious behavior” by Mr. Raker, you and Sally are left back at square one.
“Well I guess you were right.” Sally says.
“I wish I wasn’t. Actually we’ll never really know if I was, since we didn’t even really get a chance to enroll Junior, because of…”
“Ugh! Let’s never speak of that ever again! Eww! Okay, well I guess its back to that internet plan, you had, I guess we’ll just have to hope he learned his lesson. “
“I dunno, he might just become sneakier about it, maybe he does need so other people to occupy his mind from world domination. Hey! Wait a minute; Kelly didn’t go to a formal school! He went to some circus school because they used to travel a lot and a lot of the circus freaks generally aren’t accepted by society either.”
“What are you getting at?”
“Well Kelly’s circus doesn’t travel anymore, it’s like permanently parked outside of town, like a bunch of fucking gypsies. Let’s take him there, to go to school! It’ll work out! He’ll be in a structured environment, around others similar to him, its perfect!”
“Uh aren’t you forgetting that that you have to be a carnie to go there?”
“Well I’m sure Kelly can get his midget Mom to pull a few strings.”
“Oh yeah, I’m SURE she’ll be thrilled to help us out! As I recall the first time we met, you continued to insult her and Mom threw her across the room, and then later Dad cheated on her with Mom.”
“Well her problem should be with Mom and Dad, not us, besides you can help too.”
“Me?”
“Yeah, you go with Kelly to talk Sparkle into this. Play up the mother in a bind routine to appeal to her maternal side. She’ll agree to it. Besides everyone likes you anyway.”
“In light of recent events, sometimes I wish people liked me a little less! I’m not sure Kelly will be able to talk his Mom into this, but I suppose we have to try.”
You nuzzle up against Sally and kiss her to reassure her that this plan will work. This happily leads to more intense nuzzling in the bedroom later.
The next day Sally takes Junior with her and talks to Kelly, who’s willing to go talk to his Mom, but isn’t entirely sure that she can do anything. After work you all go to the circus.
“Well we’re here, I’ll try, but I can’t promise anything.” Kelly says, knocking on a trailer door.
Bruno the Strongman opens the door.
“Hey, it’s Kelly! How are you? Come back to join the act? That new sword swallower we had just recently impaled his stomach accidentally. Very nasty.”
“Ouch! No, I just came to see Mom.”
“Okay, Hey Sparkle, your son’s here!”
Sparkle comes to the door and Kelly bends down to hug her, she looks overjoyed to see him, she looks less overjoyed when she sees Sally, and then looks downright unfriendly when she sees you! Well at least she’s not wearing her clown make up. You’ll never get over your hostility against clowns.
“What the hell are THEY doing here?” Sparkle asks.
“It’s a long story.” Kelly replies.
“Sparkle, we need your help, please don’t judge us based on our father and mother. I’m sure you don’t like it when outsiders judge your circus and all your friends for who they are.” Sally says diplomatically while holding Junior.
Well as usual Sally manages to make friends where hostility would normally be.
“Well, I suppose you’re right. I’ve actually always liked you Sally. You’ve always been pleasant, and I’m glad that you and Kelly get a long so well, I heard how you employed him at your Salon. Is this Junior? My, he’s changed a bit!”
As Sparkle goes to touch him, you half expect him to take her arm off, but instead he likes the affection. Maybe the whole “circus environment” makes him feel calmer. You knew this was a good idea.
“Actually Sparkle, this is about Junior, that’s why we need to talk to you.”
“Oh? Okay well let’s go inside.” Sally, Junior and Kelly all enter the trailer, but when you attempt to enter, you’re stopped.
“Not you! I’m sorry Sally, but I still don’t like your brother! He can remain outside!”
“What the fuck? I thought you weren’t judging us based on our fucked up parents!” you say.
“I’m not; I’m judging you based on your own Assholiness! I still remember your rudeness to me, and I’ve heard about how you’re still rude to Kelly! You’re not coming in!” Sparkle then kicks you in the shin and slams the door in your face!
“Fuckin’ little munchkin! Oww!” you say rubbing your shin. Bruno comes out.
“So, you’re Dick’s other son eh?”
“Unfortunately. Why, what of it?” you say defensively.
Bruno seems to be sizing you up; he’s certainly much bigger than you, and obviously much stronger. You dare say he’d even easily be a match for Retard Rick. Hopefully you’re quicker, but you don’t really want to get into a fight in any case, you’re here for Junior after all.
“I kicked his ass you know.” Bruno says coming up to you.
“Yeah, heard all about it.”
“Oh? And that doesn’t make you mad?”
“Why should it? It sounded like you had a valid reason.”
“Maybe you’re just backing down, because you’re scared of me.”
“You trying to prove something?”
“Yeah, I’m proving you’re a fucking pussy just like your Dad!” Bruno is now looking down at you, as you stare up his nostrils.
“Oh wow, you beat up my Dad, what an accomplishment! My Mom can beat up my Dad, I can beat up my Dad, it nothing really to brag about steroid freak. And if calling me a pussy makes you feel like a big macho guy, go ahead. I know who I am. ”
“Well maybe I should just kick your ass and brag about it then.”
“What the fuck is this shit? I was just out here minding my own business and you come out here and start fucking with me! Look fucktard, I’m not here to cause trouble, but I will give you fucking trouble, if you continue with this macho posturing just because you got short dick.”
“What’d you say bitch?” Bruno barely pushes you, but it knocks you back more than you expected. It doesn’t matter, you’re mad at this point.
“I said you got a short dick motherfucker! That IS why you’re fucking a midget isn’t it? Speaking of which, how’s it feel to get sloppy midget seconds AFTER my Dad fucked her little ass?”
You notice a solid piece of wood on the ground, and that’ll be the first thing you’ll go for, as soon as Bruno charges at you.
Fortunately it doesn’t come to that.
“Har Har! You hard man. Okay I gotta go do my act, nice talking to you.” Bruno says and leaves.
“What the fuck was that about??!” you say to yourself. Must be a carnie thing you think.
You wait a little longer in peace and watch all the unusual inhabitants walk by (Keeping a close eye on the clowns of course) just then everyone comes out of Sparkle’s trailer.
“Okay, it was nice seeing you Kelly, you should visit more often! And bring that Lance I’ve heard so much about next time!” Sparkle says to Kelly. “And Sally, when Junior comes here for school, Bruno and I will make sure to look out for him until you come to pick him up.” Sparkle says petting Junior again.
“Thanks Sparkle, you’ve really helped us out.” Sally smiles.
“So? What’s going on?” You ask Sally.
“Junior’s going go to the school here. I mean it’s not so much for the academics of course since he’s already going to be way ahead in that department. But this’ll be more for social interaction that we all agree he needs. Plus he seems to like it here.”
“So how did you get around the fact that he’s not a carnie?”
“Oh, well that’s part of the schooling, he’ll be performing.”
“What?! Doing what?” you ask.
“Well he’s very intelligent, and there hasn’t been a “human computer” type act since Brainiax got recruited by the government. Plus Junior’s unique look will attract people as well.” Kelly says.
“Wait so my son is gonna be on display as a side show freak??! Sally how could you of all people agree to this?!”
“It’s not like that! He’s not going to be in a cage where people just gawk at him! He’ll be in one of those game booths, where people try to stump him with a question, and if they do, they win a prize. Kind of like those people that try to guess your weight. He’ll also be paired up with another carnie child. That won’t be all the time anyway, that’s just half of the “school time” the other half takes place in a tent like a regular classroom.” Sally explains. “Look baby, this’ll be good for Junior just like you said. He’ll be safe here, and he really likes it here. It’s like he feels like he belongs here or something. I’ve never seen him so calm before.”
“Yeah, I have noticed that. Well if you don’t mind Sally, I certainly don’t. I guess it’s all set then. School for you starts tomorrow” You say to Junior, who looks overjoyed at this fact.
As Sally and Kelly both say goodbye to Sparkle, you take Junior aside and just tell him one thing.
“Alright, I know they’ll be teaching you a bunch of weird carnie stuff here, but there’s ONE thing don’t ever start doing.”
“What Dada?” Junior asks.
“Don’t ever, EVER become a fuckin’ clown!”
THE END