A New Style of Education: Hidden Gifts©
By: Annette MacGregor

An authorized story, based on the characters and environment of A New Style of Education by Karen Page.

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18 - Thursday, 22 July 2004

Someone was trying to get my attention. "Mom?"

"Wake up, Sophia. They delivered lunch. It's a nice soup and some bread."

That's not my mom's voice. Wait, who's Sophia? Could Karen be visiting?

"Mmuuuuhhh."

"Come on, Sophia you need to eat."

"Sophia?" At least that's what I think I said.

"Okay, Dan. Now wake up and eat something."

I groggily managed to get up. "Why'd you call me Sophia?" Then, coming more fully awake, I wondered why this girl was in my bedroom. "And, what're you doing in my bedroom?"

I guess something was funny, to her anyway. "Dan, do you remember visiting the doctor this morning?"

"Doctor? But, I'm never ..." My voice trailed off, as something seemed to squeeze its way into my mind. "Renee?"

"Yes. NOW will you sit up and eat?"

I did manage to sit up with her help. Then found myself too tired to feed myself, so she helped there too. Eventually she got enough into me to be satisfied, and let me fall back to sleep.

I drifted between sleep and wakefulness a while. Most of the times I roused, Renee was there to either feed me, or help me to the bathroom, or just be there when I was prodded. I was sure I could have gotten up and done something, if I'd needed to, it just wasn't necessary. There was also a nagging feeling that I'd forgotten something important, but couldn't get up the energy to figure it out. Then, suddenly, I was awake, feeling hungry and wondering why I was still in bed. Climbing out, I was surprised at how awkward I felt, but a need gave me a purpose, and I made a beeline for the loo.

Coming out, feeling much relieved, I noticed that Renee was asleep on my settee. She didn't look all that comfortable. Going over, I knelt beside her, and gently nudged her shoulder.

"Renee."

She moved suddenly, then seeing me, lunged and hugged me. "You're okay."

"Ummm, I think so. How long have I been out of it?"

"Since Wednesday morning."

"I take it that today's not Wednesday, huh?"

She giggled at my remark. "No, sorry, you're just well so suddenly. It's Thursday evening, now. I've just been so worried. You were so restless."

"Sorry about that. I guess I'm not a good patient, if you had to stay in here."

"No, you were good. I just wanted to make sure I heard you if you needed me. Guess I was tired. I didn't hear you get up."

"I'm doing better, now. But, do you think I could sit on the settee with you, my knee's starting to hurt."

"Oops. Of course." She let go her hold on me, and sat up.

Getting up, I then sat down beside her. She explained what I'd missed, and how I'd been visited twice by Dr. Bill, and once by a nurse.

"Oh, and that reminds me." She reached over, and grabbed her PDA from the table and hit a button.

I figured that she was calling someone when she put the PDA to her ear.

"Yes, Sophia's up now, and acting normally." She paused then, and answered a few questions before turning to me. "Are you hungry?"

At her question, I realized that I was. "Yes, VERY."

She laughed at my reaction, and apparently the person on the other end of the call took that for an affirmative, because her next comment was, "Something will be here in ten minutes. Do you want to get something clean on?"

I realized I was in my nightgown, and wondered how I'd gotten there. Last I recall, for sure, was going to the clinic. "How did I get into this?" I pointed at the nightgown.

"Dr. Bill helped me change you," she said, turning bright red as she did.

"Ohhh. Um, I think I can change back, myself."

I could see what appeared, to me anyway, to be relief on her face.

"I'll go clean up as well. Be right back."

I went, cleaned up, and put on a simple outfit of blouse and skirt. After all, I wasn't going anywhere. Why NOT bare feet? I was smiling to myself about that thought, when I heard a knock on the door frame of the door adjoining our room.

"Dinner is served, sorta. I guess it's more like ‘Tensies' as the Hobbits would have it."

I saw there was enough for both of us, so we sat down together.

Renee seemed to want to talk, a lot, as we ate. We talked about people we'd known before coming to Hayfield. She seemed fascinated by all the places I'd lived. I guess it is different, but when the other kids you run into are also moving around, it seems normal. Yeah, I hated moving away from friends I'd made, but that happened to all of us kids, and we always seemed to make friends with others at the new posting. Once in a while, we ran into folks we'd known before, but that was rare.

"Maybe that's why you get along with everyone, so well. I mean not just our year, but the others, too. You're used to hanging with older kids through your brother."

I thought about it, and nodded. "That makes sense, I guess. But, so far anyway, everyone's seemed to go out of their way to be friendly and helpful. That makes it easier too." I yawned then, and commented, "Guess I'm not all better."

"Just clean up, and go back to bed then." She laughed. "You don't need help, do you?"

She giggled at my start, and I realized the last had been a joke. "No, I think I can manage. Maybe you can get some more sleep now." I could see how tired she was, and I thanked her again for taking care of me.

She took the cart with her, and I got out clean sleep clothes. I wasn't sure how easy getting to sleep would be, as I'd spent the past few days mostly sleeping, so I grabbed my PDA to try and catch up on some of the time I'd missed. I was surprised at the number of ‘get well' notes I had: everyone in the year, Andy, Andrea, Mrs. Russell, Dan and even Mr. Smith. Mrs. Russell's note included an explanation of where my cold had come from. Apparently Sergei hadn't been suffering from allergies. He'd picked up a virus, and it was just hitting peak contagiousness when he'd been coughing on me.

Thinking about him, reminded me that I'd need to be Sophia whenever I saw him. I was surprised the school had let that happen. Did they expect me to be Sophia from now on? They're not going to MAKE me be Sophia, are they? I spiraled down, thinking direr and direr thoughts, until I remembered that they'd not let me see my parents again.

-- Friday, 23 July 2004

I'm not sure how long I was balled up like that, crying. But, eventually, I felt the hand on my shoulder, and the low comforting words he was speaking broke through my head. "Dad?"

"No, Son. It's just me, Dan," he quietly returned.

I saw he was dressed, but his hair wasn't brushed, nor was one of his shirt tails tucked in. The incongruity of that, more than anything else, pulled me further out of wherever I'd gone.

"What're you doing here?"

"Renee called, when she couldn't get a response from you."

"Oh, no. I disturbed her? After all she's done for me the past few days."

Dan put up his hand. "We can talk about that later. Wouldn't you like to clean up a bit?"

That made me realize how clammy I felt, So, I nodded in agreement.

"I'll wait over there then. Don't take too long." He got up, and moved to the easy chair, where he could keep an eye on me, I suspect.

I guess he's going to want to know what that was all about. I stopped in the closet and grabbed some clean clothes before heading for a quick clean up. It was just a cloth wash, as I didn't want to take time for a shower. Maybe I'll get some answers, too. Dan's seemed like a straight shooter, before. As I put my PDA on the counter, I realized I'd not even thought about it, but still picked it up from the table by my bed. Don't want to become over-dependent on it. They're so useful; I could see how someone might get so used to them that they didn't know how to get around without. Must practice getting around without this thing. That thought made me think of the Marine that had started me on martial arts. Yeah, never become over-dependent on one tool. Though, at that, I realized my ruminating was mostly my way of avoiding going out to see Dan. Am I afraid that he'll confirm things?

I took a deep breath, picked up my PDA, to put it away and saw the time. Whoa!

I went on out, and saw that Renee was dressed, and waiting on the sofa. I guess she should hear this. "I'm sorry you had to drive in at this hour."

Dan laughed, "Saw the time, did you? But, that's okay; I didn't have to. I was staying overnight, here at the school."

"Do all the shrinks do that?"

"No, not every night. But, it's not uncommon for one of us to be here. At the beginning of the year, at least one of us is here every night. Other times, it depends on the circumstances."

"So, it's a coincidence you were here?"

He sighed, "Yes, and no, which is something we're going to talk about and why Renee is here."

We talked, and we talked. Some of it wasn't too bad. Some was harder. Eventually, he got me to admit to the one of the hardest bits. That I was afraid they actually were going to force me to be a girl.

He sighed. "There is NO WAY this school will force ANY student to be other than they are. Our goal is to help each of you be all that you can be, but also to be happy with who you are. Your efforts to learn what life as Sophia is like, and our attempts to help you and also make sure what you're really trying to do here is both good for you and that what you're doing is healthy. Sadly, this lead to some confusion last week and you got a talk from Bill that you didn't need. If you want or need to stop learning what it means to present as a girl, it's done."

He was leaning forward and looking very intently at me as he said all this.

"I know this is a lot to take in, and we'll talk about it more over the coming weeks. One of the things that's also probably worrying you, still, is your outside piano teacher. We already talked about this some, and while you've been sick, I talked with Mrs. Russell. If you stop being Sophia, then she'll just find a new teacher for you. Sergei Romanov is NOT the only person that could teach you. To protect those students that need to ..." He paused then, and looked at me intently. "But, that's not your biggest fear, is it?"

"No," I choked out; then I blurted, "I'll not be able to see my family again, will I?"

"I was afraid you'd figure that out, though, I'd hoped it wouldn't happen for at least another month or two, once you trusted us more."

He sat there, for a little while, with, what I'd call, a thoughtful look on his face. "You already know that this school's very different from most and that there are many students here with special problems." At my nod, "Some, like Renee's, can be addressed with care and understanding." He looked at Renee, "Yes, we can help."

She gulped then, and nodded.

"Others, like Fran, we can help with as well. That's a big reason for the rule that says your family can't visit and you don't go home until you've finished here."

"That's not what I meant."

He nodded. "I know. You meant after graduation. And, that's what I'm getting to. Your conversation with Dr. Bill should have also given you some more hints on how far the school goes to help students like Fran."

I nodded my understanding; then added my guess, "You don't make the girls wait 'til eighteen for hormones, do you?"

Shaking his head, "That was another clue, wasn't it?"

"That was part of it. You let them live how they're happy. Based on what Dr. Bill said, I figured you had to also let them be themselves on the inside. But then, given what Fran's said about her dad, I wondered how you could let any of them go home. Just one family objecting would hit the school."

He never stopped his side to side nodding. "What made you think you couldn't go home?"

"It wouldn't be right, for some of us to go to our families and some not. Besides, it's not just their families that might complain. Some others might get upset about things like mix-up days or hear about kids like Fran and not be able to accept it."

He sighed then. "That's basically it. That's the rationale behind the rule as well."

With a bit of fear, "But, how can you keep some of us from going back?"

He stopped, and sat back. "If you really think about it, there's no way we can stop any of you from seeing your families. We're not packing you off to the moon, after all."

That startled a laugh out of me. "But, why the rule you can't enforce?"

He looked at both of us then. I was looking at him carefully, trying to see if he was doing anything. I'd have sworn he came to a conclusion in his looking at us.

"Okay, you got there, too. No, the school doesn't enforce it. And, before you ask about it, we don't condition you to not go back. But, by the time you've been here a few years, all of the students have seen all the evidence you have. They get to know their year-mates who are transsexuals. And, so far anyway, they all come to agree that the ‘rule' is for the best. The school helps them find further schooling and employment so that their families can accept that it's difficult to get back. So, the school doesn't really enforce the rule. It's the students."

I started slowly, but got faster as I thought things through. "So, you're saying we keep each other from... No. No, you're saying we decide to not go back. Is it just that since some can't, the rest of us don't?"

"There are probably as many reasons why as there have been students. But, so far anyway, by the time they are finished here, all of the students have come to the conclusion that the best thing is to follow the rule. As far as we can tell, none of the students have had direct, face-to-face contact with their families since becoming aware of the rule."

"It seems so mean."

He sat back, held his hand up with a finger — as if asking us to wait a minute... Then he sat there. "You've deduced quite a lot already. There's a lot of information that's normally presented to the students BEFORE they're told the rule, and due to circumstances you've not gotten it. I'm going to ask you to trust us, me, a few more hours and withhold any decisions you may feel you need to make. I will answer your questions. But, before I give you all the background, I want to talk to the rest of the support staff. I'd like to be able to give the information to you in an organized way — rather than have it come out in a mishmash like it has so far."

"There's a lot more, isn't there?"

"There is. I will say that MOST of it is to protect the kids."

"So, you're saying I really won't be seeing my family again?"

"Probably. But, only you can decide that — once you finish."

"You've seemed straight with me, so far, even if you didn't tell us this before we started." Do I say I'll trust him? Do I try to get out? What's REALLY going on? How much more can there really be. "When can you tell me more?"

He looked at his PDA. "It's half four now. What say we all try and get some rest? I'll set up an appointment to talk to the people I need right after breakfast, and I'll let you know when you can get more information after that. How does that sound?"

I suddenly realized how tired I really was, now that I wasn't running high. Yawning, "I think I'd best take it."

"Are you going to be okay, alone, the rest of the night?"

"She'll not be alone! I'm here," Renee jumped in.

The worried look on his face lessened a little. "Perhaps I should have asked if the two of you would be okay. I can stay, if it will help."

"I, um, I think we'll be okay, now. I know some of it now, rather than just think it's true. And, you've said that SOME of my fears are wrong. I guess I can wait a bit more, now."

He talked with us a few more minutes, I figure to make sure I wasn't going to go and do anything crazy. Well, I wasn't going to, at least not yet. Where could I go, anyway; a kid with no money?

After Dan left, I thanked Renee for being there, and suggested that we get SOME sleep.

"Are you sure you'll be able to? Sleep, I mean. You've mostly slept around the clock and then some."

Trying to stifle a yawn, and not succeeding, "I think I'll sleep."

She laughed then, and headed off to her room.

I quickly showered and went to bed, setting my PDA to ring in a few hours. Got a lot of work to catch up on, I'm sure. A few hours should be enough for now. Gotta get my schedule back to normal.

Waking up, feeling very refreshed, Did I sleep through the alarm? I looked at the alarm I'd set and saw that it was still set for ten o'clock. Strange. Wonder what happened. Then I noticed the message waiting indicator. Did I already miss something?

It was a note from Dan saying he'd overridden my alarm after talking to Dr. Bill. Apparently I was supposed to sleep myself out, now. That a meal would be delivered a half hour after I got up and requested it. And, since I'd not heard anything from the adjoining room, I guessed the same applied to Renee. I wonder how much sleep she got, watching me?

"I'm awake, may as well get up." Probably shouldn't talk to myself. They'll think I'm loony. Smiling to myself at the thought, considering how I looked, I wondered if I was a bit loony. I don't THINK so, but, they say crazy folks THINK they're sane. Shrugging, May as well assume I'm sane, since assuming I'm crazy doesn't change anything.

I changed into something I could move in, and slowly stretched out. It felt good to be moving, and slowly I was able to move into more advanced positions. Deciding not to push things, I stopped and cleaned up for the morning. No, it'd be afternoon by now, I realized, or at least it would be after my shower.

Feeling quite refreshed, I dressed and called for the meal. I'd best check on Renee... Wouldn't want to wake her with the lunch cart. I tapped lightly on the door frame. Getting no response, I stuck my head in. With the lights out and the curtain drawn it was quite dark in the room, but I could see to move around. I could see she was still sleeping, or at least in bed.

"Renee," I said quietly. Hearing a moan, I reached out to her. As I touched her shoulder, I realized how warm she was. I gave her a little shake. Probably does need to get up, even if she's tired.

A bleary "Whaa" sounded. "Oh, Sophia, how come you're up so early?"

"Early?"

"Uhuh. I set my alarm for ten when I saw the note to lie in."

Smiling, "Dan overrode our alarms. Guess he wanted time to sleep, too. He also said he'd check into a few things before getting back to us. It's half past twelve, and lunch will be here in about twenty-five minutes if you're interested."

She yawned. "Oh, my, that late? Wow. I knew I was tired." She started to toss off her covers, then I guess she remembered I was there, because she hesitated.

"I'll see you in a few." I smiled and returned to my room. I could hear her starting to move around, so I checked my computer schedule to see what was up. Looks like company I laughed to myself when I saw that Dr. Bill and Dan had both indicated they'd be stopping by. "Hmmm. What's this? It wasn't there when I first fired things up." It was a flashing exclamation mark icon.

"Well, it got my attention. May as well see what it is." It was an icon I'd not seen previously. On opening, I realized there was a message from Dan.

Dan, that you're opening this alert indicates that you're up and probably coherent now. I overrode the alarm you had set, after consulting with Dr. Bill. He wanted you (and your study partner) to get a GOOD period of sleep to avoid a relapse. He should be stopping by to talk to you later (unless he already has, but I suspect you checked your computer before he could get there). I'll be by sometime before the evening meal. I'm sure you'll be up by then. On the topic we discussed in the wee hours this morning, you'll find a few links to resources below. They provide a lot of the background I discussed. A few of them will probably not be working yet, but I went ahead and sent them to you, as you'll probably recognize the holes in what you find in the others and I want to be as open as I can. I'll discuss the blocked links when I see you later today. I've gotten clearance to give you a little more info now, thus the above links. As you might expect, if you think about it, it's not an easy decision on what and how much to tell you. If there ends up being something they do not agree to tell you, I will talk to you about this. I don't know there will be, but want to prepare you if such a decision is made. For now, there's more material than you have time to get through in a few days. Yes, there really IS that much material. Some of it is very technical in nature, but most is very approachable. Again, I'll talk to you more about this later. One thing I probably do not have to do is remind you that you have some studies. That's the other set of links. Don't let your exploration of this new material put you any further behind. See you later, Dan

Wow. He SOUNDS like he's trying to be open with me. That bit that they might not share it all ... No. I can think of something already — information relating to other students and their medical situations. That may relate, but it's not something I should see.

I was sitting back, staring into space, thinking when Renee came up, and tapped me on my shoulder.

"Sophia, lunch is here."

"What? Oh, sorry. I was thinking." Glancing over at the screen, I saw it'd gone blank. I got up, "Let's go eat it. I've got Dr. Bill coming over for a visit in a little while, and then Dan will be by before dinner."

"I hope he gives you an all clear," she said, as she rubbed an eye.

"Still tired? Maybe I shouldn't have woken you?"

"Maybe. But, no. I need to get up, so I can get to sleep tonight and we can get back on schedule for tomorrow. I hope we can go back to eating with the year and to lessons on Monday."

"You've been stuck in here with me?"

She smiled at that. "Guess you forgot that. Yes. The two of us, stuck in here alone, except for a few visits. They don't want the entire school infected or something."

I tucked in quite well, at lunch, but realized that she'd only picked at her meal. She said she wasn't really hungry when I asked.

"It's like we were in a hotel, putting the cart outside the door like this."

"Huh?"

"Oh, when we traveled in the States, sometimes my folks'd order room service. That's when they serve you food in your room. But, when we finished, they didn't come right away to collect. We just put it out in the hall, and it would go away when it was convenient for the staff."

"Uhh. Guess that makes sense. We never traveled much as a family."

"Really? That's one thing I'm wondering about the school. Mom and dad had planned on going all over doing the tourist things this year and now I'll miss out." No, I'll not cry! I swallowed. "Didn't you ever go see any of the neat stuff like castles?"

"A few times, but they were all day trips. We would always end up at home at the end of the day. Dad traveled sometimes to play and compete. But the rest of us usually stayed home."

She was talking about her family! But, it sounded sorta strange, as if she's describing someone else or only half-thinking. We talked a bit more, and she still sounded kinda remote. That's not like her. Wonder if it's talking about her family or something else...

A knock at the door interrupted us and my musing. It was Dr. Bill.

"Come to make sure I'm not dead?"

"Oh, I was pretty sure you'd not be dead this time, or any of the other times I've been by but you were fairly sick, young lady." He put a bag down, and indicated I should sit on the end of the bed. "Not quite optimal, but it'll do the job for the exam." Turning to Renee, "I'll join you in your room when I'm finished with Sophia."

Renee, apparently familiar with the drill from previous visits, took the hint and went over to her room.

He poked and prodded me a bit. The stethoscope was cold. The rest wasn't so bad.

"You appear to have made a fairly speedy recovery, Sophia. I don't expect a relapse. And, luckily, the virus doesn't appear to be that contagious and, now that we've found out more about where it came from, doesn't seem to affect most people as hard or long as it did you." He walked toward the open door between our rooms. "Now to check on your study partner. Wouldn't do for her to catch this without our recognizing it." He walked over to the open door and called her name as he knocked on the frame.

While he was in with Renee, I decided to look at what kind of info Dan had provided in the links. The first bit was the school's official charter. Wow, they actually have such a thing in a document. Then, the next document had links to more. Going to take a LONG time to get through all this!

"Sophia," a voice pulled me out of my reading.

Turning around, I realized Dr. Bill was back.

"Sorry, I was reading."

"So I saw. I'm not sure if Renee's come down with it or not. Though, she does seem to have something. Just in case, I'll be extending your restriction through tomorrow, to make sure."

"She's sick?"

"Maybe. Maybe coming down with it. Maybe just fighting it off. If she gets bad notify us, but otherwise I'll see you in the morning. Do you have any questions?"

"What do I do?"

"Mostly just be aware of what's going on and how she's doing. As I said before, most folks that have come down with this virus didn't end up with more than a little sniffle and low-grade fever. I could PROBABLY let you out and not worry, but I prefer to play things safe. If it were really serious, I'd have her at the hospital hooked up to monitors. At this point, she's mostly just tired which could be from not enough sleep as much as this virus."

I nodded understanding. "I can do that."

"You're not fully recovered, yet ... despite what you may think."

"I know. Figured that out when going through my kata earlier."

He nodded, "You can keep doing that, just don't overdo it. Get plenty of rest, too." Then, he got a stern expression, "I don't want to be seeing you back in my office soon, young lady."

But, before I could get worried, I saw what folks must have meant by a twinkle in his eye. It wasn't any one thing, and, no, his eyes didn't shine light. But, whatever it was, I could tell he was joshing me. Trying to stay with the program, I schooled my expression and quietly returned, "No, sir. I think I've seen too much of it already. Who knows what you might be telling me next time? No, I think I'd best stay healthy and avoid visits for a while."

He chuckled, "You do that, young lady. I don't think we have to worry about misunderstandings like that again." His face really lit up as he started, making me realize how somber he'd been at the beginning of his visit and when he came back from Renee's room.

He left then, and I went over to see how Renee was doing. His comments had given me a little worry. I shouldn't have. Oh, she was really tired, but otherwise seemed to be doing better. She even suggested we study something. I told her about the links Dan had provided and described what I'd seen in the charter. When I showed it to her, she said the fancy gold blob on the corner indicated that it was a Royal Charter, and she'd not heard about those being given out in a long time.

"Some of the stuff in the charter doesn't seem to make much sense to me, but it is pretty clear about providing the students with the best possible environment for learning, encouraging classical music and serving as an ambassador for the kingdom to the world."

"I saw that… But, did you see the date?"

She looked where I indicated. "So?"

"How many people have you seen here that were old enough to have been here from back then? I mean, my folks were kids back then!"

"Umm. Dr. Bill, maybe?" I could hear the questions in her voice.

"Yeah, him and maybe Fran and Ingrid's shrink. I know ..." My voice trailed off. "Maybe I can find something on Google."

I made sure I had their names right, and did some searches. "Well, looka here. There's a wedding announcement describing William Mayhew marrying a Katherine Grayson who'd recently completed her education. Ohhh. He was her mentor. Bet that raised some eyes! Wonder when ... Wait. That's interesting." I kept following links, and discovered that Kate had gone on to specialize in adolescent psychiatry and development and had published a number of papers before the date on the charter. It seemed she and two colleagues started the school on a shoestring. The school was small, but seemed successful even if it struggled financially. Then, the grateful parent of a student who'd benefitted from the school helped arrange the charter. The school seemed to do better after that. Sometime in the late '80s or early '90s, there was a sudden infusion of capital, and this location became available. The papers seemed to trickle off after the school moved here.

"I wonder why she quit publishing?" The question in Renee's voice was apparent, even through my concentration.

"Dunno, and I'm not sure I want to ask, yet. Maybe it's 'cause she doesn't want to tell others what they're doing here. I mean, imagine the outcry at FORCING the mix-up day."

"Yeah, there is that. Wonder where all the money came from?"

"Some of it's probably the government. Some's probably from rich folks. You know that Bill Gates gives lots of money to education stuff these days. Maybe there was some rich guy back then that did it."

"Okay. I can see that. But it's been a long time, could the rich guy STILL be paying for it?"

I thought. "Something my folks said one night. What was it?" I thought, then suddenly recalled. "Oh, yeah. My dad was commenting about his school writing him to pledge to give them money every year, along with the rest of his class. Like that was going to happen while he had my brother and sister in college. But, maybe some of the graduates of the school give it money."

"Graduates? This isn't Uni. Oh, you just mean finished. I guess that makes sense too, and it'd keep getting money coming in."

"Yeah, and some of the graduates might be important folks in companies by now ... My voice trailed off. "Sounds like something to ask Dan, I guess."

"Yeah, we CAN ask. Maybe there's more in the school files he pointed out to you."

We spent some time browsing through the files just to see what kinda stuff was there. Some of the documents had links to other documents. In other cases, it was just directory locations with files. Since some of the directories seemed empty, and a few of the links didn't go anywhere, "I wonder what kinda information they don't want us to have."

"Something else we can ask, I guess," she put in.

"No, I don't think so, at least not yet. I'd like to see if we can guess some of it, before they tell us."

"How would we do that?"

"Here, see this link." I pointed to where we were in the document. "Well, most of the links took us to places that had more information on whatever we clicked on. This one is talking about the school grounds. That first link showed us a map, but when we clicked it, we could click on some places in the map, that told us what the spots were. Other places said the file wasn't found. So, there's gotta be some places they don't want us to know about, yet."

"Ahhh, I see what you mean. Sorta like multiple choice tests, where if you know one or two answers are wrong, it's easier to guess the right one."

Both of our PDAs took that minute to chime. We both jumped a little, and looked at each other, before pulling them out.

From Renee's expression she had the same message I did.

Don't you answer your doors when someone knocks?

Renee let Dan in, as I closed down the computer. As he came in, I saw he was pushing a cart with what looked like food for all three of us.

"Did you find anything interesting?" he queried, after the door closed behind him.

We looked at each other. "Huh?" I replied, as we took the seats that were becoming normal — him in the chair and the two of us on the sofa.

"You were apparently very engrossed in something, as neither of you heard my knocks."

Renee asked, "What's this Royal Charter business?"

"You saw that, did you?" Not pausing, he went on. "It's basically what established the school as a functioning organization. If you saw the charter, you probably noticed that it was granted a few years after the school was started." At our nods, he went on to describe a little history of the school. After a few questions, we got to the funding area we'd noticed. He acknowledged that the school did have an endowment and that many alumni contributed to it. But, it seems that some of the money did come from patrons as well as corporations. He did interrupt questions then, though, suggesting that we eat dinner before it got cold. We began eating and continued talking.

"I can sorta see folks that graduated donating. My folks get letters from their college asking for money every year." Then I paused, as an idea came to me. "School's been around long enough. Some of the kids must be pretty senior wherever they're working now. Right?"

At Dan's acknowledgement, I nodded, "That explains recent corporate sponsorship. But, what about back in the '60s? Why would any of them have contributed back then?"

"That was one of the benefits of the charter, to be honest. If you look around, there are very few schools with charters, and almost all of them are universities. But, just having the charter was sufficient inducement for several groups to start providing funding. Of course, I wasn't here when that happened."

"Really? I tried to keep an innocent sound in my voice.

"Yes, really. I'll have you know ..." He must have seen something because he stopped then. "Winding me up, are you? So, how did you figure out I wasn't here then?"

I swallowed, "Your bio was on one of the spots I looked at, and as you said that, it hit me that you'd not graduated yet." I was surprised at his smile. It was almost as if he were expecting some such answer.

"Back to where we were; the Charter gave the school more credibility in some eyes and even led to the donation of this site. The rest, as is said, is history."

"Right, what about mix-up days and even this?" I said, pointing at what I was wearing.

"You're right. Mix-up days were not there at the beginning. The no-contact rule wasn't there either. Those developed over time." He paused, holding his left hand to his chin, then nodded. "You're aware that not all students come from good family situations?"

I looked at Renee, and then looked back with a questioning expression. Like DUH. How could I not be aware of it? She doesn't even HAVE a family!

"That was a rhetorical question, Sophia. I know you're aware. But, where I was going with that was that there always have been people here that come from very bad situations at home. There have also been a few that came from really good ones. One of the early decisions was to make some aspects of the school minimize those differences. It wasn't long before we had to institute the no contact until graduation rule. We also had to take steps to not make the school so attractive that the privileged would try to take it over. The charter helped there, as well."

Huh, how's that?

He smiled, "Most of the old money and titles have traditions on which schools they attend. The new money generally tries to rub up against them so it wasn't too hard. The no-contact rule and the absence of obvious folks to make contact with — at least in the early years — helped. Then, once we were able to establish the selection process, which the charter protected, we were able to go further."

"So you'd not let someone in — from some rich family?"

"That's not it. There have been, or might even still be — I'll not tell you — such students. BUT, they have to go through the same screening process you two did. We don't use ‘social status' or ‘money' as criteria, either to include or exclude. We have to make sure any of you have a good chance of doing well in our environment and also that each of you has something to contribute to the school." He looked at each of us. "We honestly believe you both will do better here than you would have had you stayed where you were, in the long term. Yes, there will be some bumps, such as the rules we've talked about. There will be others you'll run into over time."

We continued talking, and at this point I can't recall all of the topics. I know I was feeling, mostly, better at the end. As he was standing at the door, "I know you've both got more questions. But, I can also see that glazed expression that tells me you've absorbed about as much as you can. We can have as many sessions as you need to talk about this or other topics. Just do me a favor, please?"

I looked at him. "Huh?" I know, at times I'm a brilliant conversationalist.

"Please, from now on, don't sit and stew on things that bug you, ask questions. The whole staff is here to help you." Then he paused, "And before you start thinking about this and wondering, no, we may not directly answer all of your questions. Sometimes, we'll guide you to finding the answers yourself and/or provide you with the tools you need to find the answers."

Renee giggled a little.

"I'm not THAT bad, am I?"

"No, not really, but you do have an analytical mind that might have seen the sloppiness in phrase which might have lead you to question us. And, I'm not saying you shouldn't question — just that you should consider withholding any judgment until questions are addressed. And, talk to someone. You're a smart kid, but you don't know everything, YET." The smile on his face at the last, took the sting out of his statement. Yeah, I guess I do need to talk more. But who?

After Dan left with the cart, Renee was doing all she could to keep from yawning. I realized I was tired too, so we decided to call it an early evening.

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Author's Note: I want to thank Karen for allowing me the pleasure of continuing this story and I hope you all get as much pleasure out of reading it as I've had writing it. I also want to thank the individuals that proofed and commented on the story as it developed and moved toward what you see posted here. Their comments and criticisms helped immeasurably! Any problems remaining are mine and not that of any of these remarkable ladies.

Comments are greatly appreciated!