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question,
Rebecca. Whatever course of action we pursue will require that you
stay here with us for the foreseeable future. Is that acceptable to
you? Are you comfortable here?”
    Becky’s eyes began to tear up a little, so
she wiped the back of her hand across her face.
    “Oh, you’ve been so wonderful to me, Mrs.
Crown. Mr. Crown. You, too, Sam. I keep thinking I’m in a fairy
tale and it’s all going to end! What more could a girl ask for? I
have my own room, books to read, wonderful people looking after me!
The ocean! I . . .”
    She could not continue. She buried her face
in her hands. John Crown reached over and patted her shoulder.
    “There, there, Becky! Don’t let her upset
you! We just want to make sure you’re happy here,” he said.
    Sam got up and grabbed a box of tissues from
the bar and put them on the table in front of Becky. She took a
couple and blew her nose and wiped her eyes.
    “I’m sorry! It’s just . . . I’ve never been
treated so nice before. Rachel tried, but . . .”
    Helena said, “You’ll never be treated badly
again, dear! I’ll see to that! Before we move on to your schooling,
is there anything you need, dear? Or want?”
    “Oh, no, ma’am!” spouted Becky—then she
looked up. “There is one thing though. Do you think I could use the
computer in Sam’s room sometimes? I jot ideas down all the time,
and it would be nice to use a word processor to type them up. And
internet access would be useful. We learned how to use that in the
8th grade.”
    “Of course, dear. Why didn’t you mention it
earlier? Samuel, will you show her what she needs to know to use
your computer? Then, as an action item for you, John, call one of
your computer buddies and get Rebecca one of those laptop things so
she can have it in her room,” said Helena.
    “Sure, dear,” said John as he pushed tobacco
into his pipe. “I’ll get one with a wireless modem.”
    “Whatever. Now, I’ve talked to some of my
friends from my various committees—discretely, of course—about
various approaches for handling gifted children. I never mentioned
Rebecca, of course—just talked about hypothetical situations.
They’re all used to me doing that, so I don’t think I aroused any
suspicions.”
    John lit his pipe and said, “Get on with it,
woman!”
    “Well, first we arrange for Rebecca to take
some tests—like GED tests—and get high school officially out of the
way. You could pass such tests, couldn’t you, dear?”
    “I’m sure I could. It would help if I knew
the areas of interest, and the scope. I could brush up in a day or
two,” replied Becky with a furrowed brow. “I never forget anything,
but there may be areas I’ve missed somehow.”
    “I thought so. With that done, we go to UCI
and get the chancellor to assign Rebecca a mentor—or whatever you
call it. She will then zip through college courses as indicated by
her mentor. Get her degree in, say, mathematics. She seems to like
that. This way, she’ll never get bored, and can study at her own
pace. What do you think?”
    “Sounds like a plan, Mom, but I see a couple
of problems,” said Sam.
    “That’s why we’re having this meeting,
Samuel. Lay out the problems so we can solve them,” Helena
replied.
    Sam sipped some lemonade, then said, “First,
Becky—on her own—can’t do any of that. She’s only 13, for Christ’s
sake!”
    “Language, dear!” said Helena.
    “Sorry. I mean, these people will be looking
for a parent—or a legal guardian—to bring Becky to these tests. She
can’t just walk in and say, ‘I’m smart, give me a test!’” exclaimed
Sam.
    “I know. I have a solution for that. You’ll
go to that judge you know—Judge Manley. He was in Vietnam with you.
You saved his life, I believe. You’ll have him make you Rebecca’s
legal guardian without a lot of scrutiny or red tape. Then you can
run interference for Rebecca,” said Helena.
    The fact that Lt. Manley had become a
Superior Court judge had