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Hamptons. 25/04/2012. 16:25

Robert and Diane Lyndon were standing in the living room of their house. A cup of tea in hands, they were looking through the window at their garden. Near the pool was their grandson sitting cross legged, eyes closed and hands on his knee. He appeared peaceful and serene, the only things that were moving was his chest at each breath that he took.

"When did he start doing that you say?" Ask Robert, his cup of tea all but forgotten in his hands, entirely focused on his grandson.

"Two weeks ago give or take. Since he could walk again." Said Diane before laughing out loud. "You should have seen the look on the face of the doctor Evan when he saw him walk, that was priceless."

"I would have liked to see that. Did he pay the thousand dollars from the bet?"

"No he did not, he paid ten thousand. They double down on the bet a few times." She responded with humor still present in her voice.

"That's my grandson!" Said Robert with pride evident in his eyes. "What did he do with the money?"

"He gave them to an orphanage in NY near their ancient apartment. He said that since this was not money he earned with hard work, he didn't deserve it so as well giving it to someone who needed it." She said warmly.

"Well, pity, that was stupid." He said in a harsh voice.

"Hush you, he's still young. Did the doctor find out how he could walk that fast?"

"No, he says that's a medical anomaly. One in a million, he claims. He kept begging me to let him study him. Like that would ever happen." He sneered.

"What if he talks?" Ask Diane, worrying.

"We have an NDA with him and his entire team. If I hear a whiff of rumor, I will take everything from them. And that is if I'm kind enough to involve a tribunal." He said in a chilling tone.

"Good." Said Diane in a satisfied voice.

She was a kind lady but after more than two month with Nathaniel, she was growing incredibly fond of her grandson. Anyone who wanted to make things difficult for him would incur her wrath, things that even her husband would not have the nerve to do.

"What is he doing with his day beside physical exercise and that?" He asks, pointing to Nathaniel.

"Mostly reading books on my library or school related stuff on the internet."

"What kind of book?"

"Every kind. Politics, Astronomy, Psychology, History. He just read everything that caught his eyes. He is smart." She said with pride. "I saw him work through the pain, you would have been proud. Our grandson is a fighter. The moment the doctor and his team were leaving, he would go back and keep exercising until he would be too weak to even talk. I stopped counting the number of times Amal had to carry him to his bed."

"Good." Robert nodded, satisfied.

"There is one thing I don't understand though." Diane said while frowning.

"What is it?" Robert stopped looking at the young man outside and focused on his wife.

"You know how the doctors told us to take particular attention to Nathaniel's mental state?"

"Of course, they told us that because of the time he passed in coma, he will be a twelve years old stuck into the body of a sixteen years old. We should anticipate him to behave like a child and not a teenager and that slow mental ability and poor intellectual thinking should be expected. Trust me, I wasn't at all thrilled to hear that as you were, I'm sure." He answered.

"Naturally, who would want that? So for that purpose, I started testing him. We often get to talk in the evening when he's done with his physical exercises and even debate on some subject. Since Mary told us that Nathaniel always liked to read before the accident, I started with easy topics and nothing."

"Nothing!?" Robert shouted.

"Yes, no slow mental ability, no poor intellectual thinking, nothing. He's nothing that the specialist told us he should be. He's quick witted and knows how to express his ideas and how to defend them. His general culture would be incredible for a twelve years old and still impressive coming from a sixteen years old. If he should be considered slow, I believe some of my old students would be considered brain dead. Congratulations, the heir you were stressing about turned out to be a genius."

Robert looked at his wife in surprise before he turned into a delighted smile. Before the company took off and his wife took on an executive role, Diane was teaching business at Cornell University, one of the ten best universities in the country. Nathaniel was maybe her grandson, but he knew that his wife was a fair teacher and would never have said something like that if it wasn't true.

"How is that possible? We both know that he went to a public catholic school. Who taught him?" Robert questioned.

"Based on what he told me, he fell in love with music because of Mary but Karine was the one who gave him his will to learn. He said that she showed him the keys and then let him decide which doors to open."

"Is that so?" Robert asked, deep in thought.

"Yes. I know we always had issues with Karine and blamed her for a lot of things back then but she was an amazing mother to Nathaniel and if we want to be involved in his life, we will have to make things good with her. He may like us but if we were to do anything that disrespected her, he would leave without a second of hesitation."

"Yeah right. They would return to their crappy life struggling to meet end needs? I don't think so." He sneered.

"Yes, he would in a heartbeat. You need to understand Robert who your grandson actually is. He doesn't care about wealth or privilege. He was there for only one week and he already knew the name of everyone working here. He's gentle, kind and polite to everyone he talked to whether it's me or the maids. He has that magnetism that puts everyone around him at ease. He's also calm, too calm for someone of his age. Even when we debate, I shouted some time and used bad faith arguments to try to make him mad and he never did."

"Hummm, interesting. Let's go see him, I want to ask him some questions." Robert said, putting his cup of coffee back on the table.