Day 4: Numbers

 Day 4 of the FlashNano2022 flash fiction month from prompts. This was write something with numbers. I'm a little behind because of my accident. 

 

"I was a strange kid." Terrell James stretched his long legs toward the woman in the chair opposite him.

"Frank, we're ready to shoot." She flipped her hair and licked her lips. "I'm Jana Dubois and I'm here with Terrell James. You just told me you were a strange kid. Why strange?"

"My sister taught me to count to ten when I was three or so. I began to count everything. I think I remember counting the peas on my plate to ten. But there were a lot more peas. I then started over but gave the peas new numbers named after animals. 1,2,3,4,5,5,7,8,9,10, spider, dog, cat, mouse, Milky. Milky was my stuffed cat that I always took to bed. My mom would yell at me to eat the peas.

"My mom was a cleaning woman for a professor of mathematics at M.I.T. She lived in Cambridge. One day, when Grans, who usually took care of me, was sick, she had to take me with her. Tuesdays and Fridays were her regular cleaning days with Dr. Angela Barinsky.

"My mother told me not touch anything, just to sit in the library, but I was bored. I wanted to count the books but there were too many. I didn't have the words. But there was a rug with flowers and a Kleenex box. 

"I tore pieces of Kleenex and put them on the flowers as I counted. Unlike peas, I couldn't move them around. At that point I only had words for up to 20.

"I didn't realize a woman was watching me. That was Dr. Barinsky. She asked me what I was doing.

"She went to her desk and took out a box of pencils. I'd never seen so many. She told me to play with them. I began to count them.

"I don't know how long I played with them. I didn't just count them, I arranged them in groups. I would take away a couple and recount them.

"Well to make a long story short, Dr. Barinsky took me under her wing. Paid for a private school and made sure I had a scholarship at M.I.T. I've been there ever since, as an under grad, grad, researcher and now a full prof."

The interviewer shifted in her seat. "That's amazing. I won't ask you to explain the theory you developed, because I'm not sure our viewers would understand. I've tried, but failed."

Terell laughed. "Not many people can. Don't worry, I was garbage at most other subjects, which is why I've been called an idiot savant."

"Thank you Terell for being with us today. And congratulations on your Nobel Prize.