Chapter 16
Jamie was pleasantly surprised by how well the interview with Dr. Stuart, who worked at the Seismology Laboratory at Caltech, had gone. He’d been nervous, but she had explained about the exponential power of earthquakes, The Chilean earthquake had been 9.5, a 9.0 earthquake was the equivalent of 2 *million* Hiroshima bombs or 31 *billion* tons of TNT. The damage caused by the Chilean earthquake was enough to change the topography off the coast of San Diego. Was it enough to trap a submarine, one sitting in stealth mode, and at least hide it for fifty years until another earthquake, a 7.4 magnitude, which even if exponentially smaller was centered much closer to San Diego, shook it loose again. Jammie postulated that it was. He had a working theory for at least part of his great uncle’s story.
If he could only figure out how his uncle ended up there in the first place. His uncle, well technically, his great uncle, had been about 24 years old when he disappeared. He was only nine or ten years older than Jamie was now. And he’d wound up with plans to a classified nuclear-powered spaceship on a Soviet submarine, trapped for fifty years. Jamie shuddered to think about the sub trapped under water. What Gerald had felt, what the crew had felt. There had been no details about how Gerald had died, only that his remains were recovered. Ms. Kincaid had said that she was reaching out to a friend in the navy to see if there was a way to get any more intel.
He had promised not to read the letters without Helen. So that was on hold until after the Mathlete tournament scheduled for Saturday. In addition to being a Mathlete, and working at the library part time, Helen also tutored younger kids in math. It was another thing, in a growing list, that he liked about her. He remembered fondly her explanations of fractions back in the third grade that enabled him to understand. She’d made it a game.
Someone slammed into him, pushing him into the lockers.
“Out of the way, f**” Kyle shouted as he continued with his groupies down the hallway.
“I hear his family is a nest of commie spies” Jamie overheard someone in that group announce.
“Yeah, go back to Russia” someone else called.
Jamie shook himself off. He had to let it go. It was different if he was shielding one of the smaller kids, but when it was directed toward him, it felt personal. He was pretty sure he could do some damage if he let his anger get the best of him. He was pretty sure that although the Kyle crew meant every word as insults, they didn’t know what they were talking about. And no wonder they were failing world history. The cold war had ended in 1991, before they were born. Well maybe not Kyle, he’d likely repeated more than one grade more than one time – enough times and maybe he’d get his facts straight. Besides, Jamie thought, his family had been Americans going back to the Revolutionary War. He had nothing to prove to the Kyles of the world.
The bullies’ comments did get him thinking about Gerald. Paul had said that things were different back then. People could go to jail, be committed to institutions. Had Gerald been bullied for who he was, or did he hide it enough that no one knew. Jamie didn’t think he could ask Grandpa, but he might be able to get some more information from Paul.
He was still pondering as he walked over to the elementary school where Helen was tutoring. He stood in the back of the classroom and watched her talk to the three students. She was having them work out a recipe for chocolate chip cookies, with measurements like 6/8 a cup of milk, and 6/12 package plus 5/10 package of chocolate chips. Eye on the prize, there was a covered plate of her mom's cookies that he could smell even from the back of the room.
Jamie was impressed with the easy way Helen talked to the younger kids. She acknowledged their attempts; she gently nudged them in the right direction. Helen had suggested that Jamie consider tutoring some of the kids in reading and writing. He started forming a plan for what that looked like – perhaps having the kids write a story together, where they all participated and had a story at the end. They could print it out and maybe bind it like his mom did her scrap books. Something creative to show for the efforts.
Jamie’s mom and dad, who like Georgia’s parents before her, worked on feeding the hungry. They had started a group in conjunction with other stores around town and different denominations called Loaves and Fishes. Food from the various grocery stores was cooked by members of one church at a completely different church on a rotating basis. They had always encouraged Jamie to “walk the walk.” He did help with boxing up and delivery of food, but he really had not fully understand until recently. Be true to himself; do for others. Don’t talk about it. Do it. When Helen finished up, he’d talk to her about taking on some language arts tutoring for the grade schoolers.
As he was walking Helen home, he floated the idea that perhaps Gerald had been bullied. He wasn’t sure if that fit into the story they were piecing together, but he still wondered.
“Don’t tell me the Kyle crew was at it again” Helen said.
“At least I got tall enough they don’t try to shove me in lockers or dumpsters anymore. How do you handle the mean kids?”
Helen laughed. “I help them with their homework. I don’t do their homework for them, but sophomore year I did actually get Cathy Dunbar to pass Geometry. She passed, her mom got her a kitten, she stopped harassing me – and stopped others from teasing me either. Not altruistic, but effective.”
“And not something I could pull off. You’re way smarter than I am.” Jamie gave a shrug.
“Jamie Toay!” Helen said. “You are smart. Don’t you ever say or think you’re not. There are all kinds of smart. It’s not all about math.”
They’d reached the point where they went in different directions. Helen had Mathletes after school the next day. Jamie said he’d start writing down things he wanted to ask Paul, and that they could call him after the tournament on Saturday.
— Lkai
Jamie was pleasantly surprised by how well the interview with Dr. Stuart, who worked at the Seismology Laboratory at Caltech, had gone. He’d been nervous, but she had explained about the exponential power of earthquakes, The Chilean earthquake had been 9.5, a 9.0 earthquake was the equivalent of 2 *million* Hiroshima bombs or 31 *billion* tons of TNT. The damage caused by the Chilean earthquake was enough to change the topography off the coast of San Diego. Was it enough to trap a submarine, one sitting in stealth mode, and at least hide it for fifty years until another earthquake, a 7.4 magnitude, which even if exponentially smaller was centered much closer to San Diego, shook it loose again. Jammie postulated that it was. He had a working theory for at least part of his great uncle’s story.
If he could only figure out how his uncle ended up there in the first place. His uncle, well technically, his great uncle, had been about 24 years old when he disappeared. He was only nine or ten years older than Jamie was now. And he’d wound up with plans to a classified nuclear-powered spaceship on a Soviet submarine, trapped for fifty years. Jamie shuddered to think about the sub trapped under water. What Gerald had felt, what the crew had felt. There had been no details about how Gerald had died, only that his remains were recovered. Ms. Kincaid had said that she was reaching out to a friend in the navy to see if there was a way to get any more intel.
He had promised not to read the letters without Helen. So that was on hold until after the Mathlete tournament scheduled for Saturday. In addition to being a Mathlete, and working at the library part time, Helen also tutored younger kids in math. It was another thing, in a growing list, that he liked about her. He remembered fondly her explanations of fractions back in the third grade that enabled him to understand. She’d made it a game.
Someone slammed into him, pushing him into the lockers.
“Out of the way, f**” Kyle shouted as he continued with his groupies down the hallway.
“I hear his family is a nest of commie spies” Jamie overheard someone in that group announce.
“Yeah, go back to Russia” someone else called.
Jamie shook himself off. He had to let it go. It was different if he was shielding one of the smaller kids, but when it was directed toward him, it felt personal. He was pretty sure he could do some damage if he let his anger get the best of him. He was pretty sure that although the Kyle crew meant every word as insults, they didn’t know what they were talking about. And no wonder they were failing world history. The cold war had ended in 1991, before they were born. Well maybe not Kyle, he’d likely repeated more than one grade more than one time – enough times and maybe he’d get his facts straight. Besides, Jamie thought, his family had been Americans going back to the Revolutionary War. He had nothing to prove to the Kyles of the world.
The bullies’ comments did get him thinking about Gerald. Paul had said that things were different back then. People could go to jail, be committed to institutions. Had Gerald been bullied for who he was, or did he hide it enough that no one knew. Jamie didn’t think he could ask Grandpa, but he might be able to get some more information from Paul.
He was still pondering as he walked over to the elementary school where Helen was tutoring. He stood in the back of the classroom and watched her talk to the three students. She was having them work out a recipe for chocolate chip cookies, with measurements like 6/8 a cup of milk, and 6/12 package plus 5/10 package of chocolate chips. Eye on the prize, there was a covered plate of her mom's cookies that he could smell even from the back of the room.
Jamie was impressed with the easy way Helen talked to the younger kids. She acknowledged their attempts; she gently nudged them in the right direction. Helen had suggested that Jamie consider tutoring some of the kids in reading and writing. He started forming a plan for what that looked like – perhaps having the kids write a story together, where they all participated and had a story at the end. They could print it out and maybe bind it like his mom did her scrap books. Something creative to show for the efforts.
Jamie’s mom and dad, who like Georgia’s parents before her, worked on feeding the hungry. They had started a group in conjunction with other stores around town and different denominations called Loaves and Fishes. Food from the various grocery stores was cooked by members of one church at a completely different church on a rotating basis. They had always encouraged Jamie to “walk the walk.” He did help with boxing up and delivery of food, but he really had not fully understand until recently. Be true to himself; do for others. Don’t talk about it. Do it. When Helen finished up, he’d talk to her about taking on some language arts tutoring for the grade schoolers.
As he was walking Helen home, he floated the idea that perhaps Gerald had been bullied. He wasn’t sure if that fit into the story they were piecing together, but he still wondered.
“Don’t tell me the Kyle crew was at it again” Helen said.
“At least I got tall enough they don’t try to shove me in lockers or dumpsters anymore. How do you handle the mean kids?”
Helen laughed. “I help them with their homework. I don’t do their homework for them, but sophomore year I did actually get Cathy Dunbar to pass Geometry. She passed, her mom got her a kitten, she stopped harassing me – and stopped others from teasing me either. Not altruistic, but effective.”
“And not something I could pull off. You’re way smarter than I am.” Jamie gave a shrug.
“Jamie Toay!” Helen said. “You are smart. Don’t you ever say or think you’re not. There are all kinds of smart. It’s not all about math.”
They’d reached the point where they went in different directions. Helen had Mathletes after school the next day. Jamie said he’d start writing down things he wanted to ask Paul, and that they could call him after the tournament on Saturday.
— Lkai
Here we see the beginnings of ambition. Even helping others is a thing that can be done well or not. These kids are out to achieve things, only not the usual things. (5/10ths indeed!) More glimpses of our main characters, thank you! (Macoff)
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