Mike & Karen Ch. 15

But they decided to give him unrestricted access to any and all courses and forms of education that were locally available, to prepare him for what lay ahead. When he felt he was ready, when Kapuskasing became too damn small, he'd be as prepared as possible. Even Cambrian College and other local institutions of higher learning would be involved, since it benefited everyone if the young phenom was fully educated as soon as possible.

His parents had built a little add-on to the house, his 'library', where he kept his endless books, reading them all fervently, regardless of subject matter. He couldn't really always describe it, but he had to know things. It was a compulsion. And if he tried to describe it to people, they mostly didn't understand. But they trusted him implicitly, knowing who he was and his desire to do good.

He'd read old science books on genetics, and how people inherited traits from their family. This accounted for his size, his strength, and his talents with mechanical things, perhaps. But he knew he was frighteningly intelligent, and that was decidedly not a trait in his family.

It was a... mutation.

He couldn't help what he was, and he also embraced it. So did his family, of course, who were so very proud of him and everything he was going to accomplish. He already felt the weight on his shoulders, which he thought was a strange thing in a ten year-old. The thing was, he was no ordinary ten year-old, and had never been a normal child.

Born strong and healthy, even for a DeBourne, he was crawling and sitting up before his first year, and had already begun using basic sounds and words. By three, he was reading, and had a good sense of his body and special awareness. Despite his size and speed, he was nimble and graceful. His family hardly knew what to do with him, let alone keep up.

He stared at the dark ceiling now, pondering what he would do with his life. More than anything, he loved sciences, but there was so much more out there, too. He'd used old textbooks to teach himself Cree and Ojibwe, going to the reserves to speak with the residents and correct his grammar and pronunciation. He also was teaching himself Latin and Greek, along with French.

And what about history? He took it all in with a great eagerness, wanting to know what had happened on this planet before he got here. How could people not want to know?

Maybe it was just too much for most people to take in. He thought back to one of the books he'd learned to read with, The Hobbit, and how the people of the Shire were pleasant and simple, just wanting to live day-to-day, without adventures, and making merry with their family and friends.

It sounded so appealing when he thought about it that way.

He looked down at the book in his hand, an old, beat-up copy of the pulp novel Doc Savage: Death In Silver. He loved these books, and he enjoyed reading them to his brother and sister. It seemed silly, of course, to have imaginary and fictitious characters as your heroes, but he couldn't help it, and he didn't care to. Doc Savage, the way the character was written, the character's creed and oath, gave Mike something to aspire to, to always strive to be better than he was.

"Let me strive every moment of my life to make myself better and better, to the best of my ability, that all may profit by it. Let me think of the right and lend all my assistance to those who need it, with no regard for anything but justice. Let me take what comes with a smile, without loss of courage. Let me be considerate of my country, of my fellow citizens and my associates in everything I say and do. Let me do right to all, and wrong no man."

What wasn't to love about that idea? What wasn't worthwhile about it?

He felt the book shutting as he stared into the darkness, thinking about the characters he'd been reading about. Doc, Monk, Ham, Renny, and Pat...

Patricia...

She was Doc Savage's cousin, and supposed to be his equal in many ways. Daring and adventurous, intelligent, with bronze hair and captivating golden eyes. Perhaps even more than Galadriel from Lord Of The Rings, Nova from Star Blazers, and Princess from Battle Of the Planets, she was his ideal woman, and his biggest crush.

Good luck finding a woman to rival his fictional crush. Dimwit.

He sighed and stood up, placing the book on the bedside table between Ronny and Connor, leaving the light on as he left for his own room. He'd recently been shuffled out of the children's bedroom, because he was getting too big, and taking up too much space. Most kids would have been delighted to have their own room, but it made him feel somewhat lonely.

He opened his door and looked around, noticing that his piles of books were on the verge of teetering over and crushing him in the middle of the night. He didn't have a bed, he just had an enormous mattress on the floor in the middle of the room, making space for more books.

Don't be so glum, school starts tomorrow.

He smiled at the notion, because he really enjoyed school, and he enjoyed learning. He wasn't an obnoxious or insufferable bright student, and he was in no danger of being teased or picked on, since he was the biggest kid in school as well. He turned out his light and pulled the homemade comforter over himself, listening to the wolf-howling wind outside.

Now if only I had a Patricia Savage. How awesome would that be?

And what would he have to do to deserve her?

***

Author's Notes: A new year beginneth for our cast, and lots of plot exposition. I'm setting up a big milestone change, as they move into the Blackwell Estate, and resume many obligations and aspects of high society, while remaining grounded as well. I'm looking forward to writing it.

Mike and Karen do not have an easy courtship when they are younger, for various reasons, and I think this is fun, because they're so perfectly matched for one another. Even more than Alex and Alexa, they are my Beren and Luthien.

So, this is my one hundredth chapter to be published on Lit, and it is, to my mind, absolutely perfect that it is one of my Alexaverse chapters, and especially Mike & Karen, who are my favourite pairing. Hopefully you're all enjoying it as much as I am.

I've got a LOT of catching up to do with the Alexaverse, so my plan is to pound out chapter 3 of Amberley Bloodstar, chapter 5 of Like A Daughter To Me, and then chapter 9 of Sapphic Serenity. That catches up all my other stories, so I can concentrate on getting the Alexaverse where it needs to be. I'm just split too many ways, and I have to show some discipline and get this done, dammit.

Not really a lot to say in these notes, I hope the characters are continuing to evolve, especially Mike and Karen, since you get to see them in their younger days. I'm gonna have my editor give this a final once-over, and then submit. After that, time to give my darling Amberley some overdue lovin'.

Keep your stick on the ice!

Management