TWO
On the day of the test, I opened with a talk with both boys individually without their mother, which resulted challenging until Maggie decided to run some errands outside.
I first met with Frank, who was pretty confident about his intellectual prowess. He explained to me how most people he met were stupid, how little culture they exhibited, how he was involved with the right crowd of clever people whose parents were affluent, how people who didn’t see eye to eye with him and his privileged cronies were idiots or evil. On a lighter note, I remember him being impressed with a person he knew who was able to speak several languages, something he wish he could accomplish. I suspected he might have the brains for it but was actually too lazy and worried about sounding stupid if he tried. He confessed to playing tricks on his little brother so as to ‘improve him’. I sensed he had ulterior motives he refused to share. I recall him mentioning how daft his younger brother was because he didn’t subscribe to all the points of view held by ‘smart people’ on TV, he was also supposed to be a coward because he didn’t enjoy violent shows or the harsh humor he would subject him to. When I asked what his brother’s accomplishments were, Frank answered that his French was good but added jokingly that his English was terrible. I detected some sibling rivalry behind that humorous remark.
Joshua, on the other hand, appeared shy at first glance, his downcast eyes were very mobile, curious even, he looked a bit nervous, twisting his fingers constantly. I prodded him about his relationship with his brother whom he idolized. He sheepishly replied he loved his brother but would often feel emotionally wounded by him, he would even feel betrayed when ridiculed in front of his peers. He remarked it was only natural for him to be the target of derision since he was strange and awkward. He appeared saddened at the idea of not having many friends which justified why he would stay in his brother’s shadow in the hope of being sheltered from nasty people. He was articulate and his vocabulary was almost as complex as his older brother’s. I noticed he had good grades overall, except in History, which he clarified by adding he wasn’t interested in that subject because only facts and dates were given with, actually, very little to understand.
That last quip raised my suspicions, nonetheless, I assumed he was simply a reserved kid too young to fend for himself. The real interesting part of the meeting started when I asked him what he liked to do. Suddenly animated, Joshua replied he enjoyed reading very much, mainly books about astrophysics for he was mesmerized by our universe, or detective novels, most of them in French because he was fascinated by Paris. He added his brother thought that was stupid because he assumed French people didn’t even have running water and would generally eat weird stuff. Joshua was actually at the top of his French class, way ahead of his peers, almost fluent, uncanny for a high-school student who’s never left the country. He was also interested in Spanish and German, two of the most widely spoken languages he alleged. When I inquired about why his parents didn’t know about his intellectual abilities he just responded they didn’t care, they thought it was strange, so he never talked about his passions. My conclusion was Joshua felt rejected for being too smart which he accepted as part of his life burden.