It was official. Charles had gone off the rails, or his rocker, depending upon which of his parents pronounced the verdict.
Mr Ramsey was the first to notice that his son had not been following him around as he worked on his various projects. Being a very self absorbed man, as many scientists tend to be, Mr Ramsey hadn't noticed Charles' absence for quite some time and might not have for at least a few months more but for his wife's urgently bringing it to his attention.
"Look at what he's reading George! I found these under his bed, hardly suitable for a ten year old boy wouldn't you say?" she demanded, brandishing the offending books. One was 'The Naked Lunch' by William Burroughs and the other was "Hothouse' by Brian W Aldiss.
"Well I don't know about that first title but I suppose that Naked is a clue? However some of my friends read science fiction and I believe that's Aldiss' line, quite good stuff too I'm told. He's a bright lad, I'm not surprised he's discovered sci-fi, probably giving him inspiration for some of those abstract paintings he has on his bedroom wall.
I like them actually they remind me of some of that quantum tomfoolery that the top boffins currently seem to have an interest in. Some connection with radar I believe."
"Well I'm not taking any chances George, I'm taking him to see Dr. Skinner, he's a respected child psychiatrist that Joan recommended to me."
Charles had protested to no avail that his choice of reading material did not indicate anything wrong with him and he produced the paintings his father had noticed as evidence of his sanity. Not only was there nothing wrong with him there was definitely something creepy about the good doctor and after the third session he flatly refused to attend any more of them, muttering darkly about people in glass houses and pots calling kettles black.
At the school Parents Day a few weeks later, Charles Art master had come to his de fence after hearing Mrs Ramsey's concerns about her sons recent cultural influences.
"Forgive me for saying so Mrs Ramsey but that's just the sort of tripe the newspaper Sunday magazines espouse for their more gullible readers. He's a perfectly normal boy with a healthy imagination though I must say that perhaps he'd be the better for not reading Burroughs. Its all this furore about Lady Chatterley thats muddied the waters of the gutter press, not that it takes very much for that to happen."
All any of his concerned parents and guardians needed to have done was to simply ask Charles about his strange artwork because none of them were regarding them in the correct way and no one wanted to listen to him explaining them but Mr Chapman the Art master inadvertently let the cat out of the bag though it wasn't understood by Charles mother, not at that moment anyway.
"You know the Head denied him the opportunity to study Physics, Mrs Ramsey? So your son immediately set out to find all he could about current research and what he was missing and his artwork is his way of representing some of the more esoteric theories that normally only mathematicians can follow. I suggest you encourage this because I think he may be on the verge of a discovery that could well make his name later on in life at the collegiate level."
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