Chapter 5 - Education

Three days later and Tracy was getting right into her textbook. She was also getting used to googling all the big words she found. Once she had come to the realisation that she could do it as well something awoke within her. A thirst for knowledge that had been suppressed by family tradition. Each day she was actually looking forward to clocking off and getting back into the textbook.

She was on the late shift at Calm Waters Rehabilitation Centre mopping the corridor in the girls dormitory. She finished the area and took her break in the canteen. At the other end of the room a fight broke out between some girls, a particularly vicious fight that distracted the staff.

Tracy looked up to see another girl come and sit at her desk. There was a policy of not talking to ‘clients’ as they were called. Most of the time this was easy enough, but right now it could be a challenge. “Nothing like a nice little distraction when you want to talk to an outsider. I’ve been looking for someone like you.” Tracy kept her silence while the girl continued looking completely unafraid, cold and calculating. Tracy had been warned of the cold ones. “I would kiss you, but you’d probably rip my fucking face off so I’ll help myself to your half eaten germ laden soup while you think about your job security. Hmm, not bad at all. You have been a busy little shitkicker with all that math homework.”

Tracy almost spoke but decided against it, she slowly reached into her pocket and pressed the alarm. This sent her employee number and location to security while the girl continued, “Why don’t you, just a suggestion, google the Fermi paradox. The aliens are out there alright, but why build a spaceship when you can listen to the bacteria in the comets just dumping all that wonderful information right into your solar system?”

“Come on Imogen, lets leave this lady finish her lunch.”, suggested the security guard, a middle aged man whose body had seen better days.

Imogen got up to go in a rather lazy casual manner while the security guard retained his alertness. He reached into his pocket and handed Tracy a folded paper. After they had gone she opened it. It was an incident report, requiring a short interview with Dr Watson…

“Tell me what happened today Tracy.”, asked Karen.

Don’t mention the math bit, that was too freaky, and the kiss bit was too embarrassing. Tracy shrugged her shoulders. “Not a lot of time for anything to happen really. She talked about eating my soup, germ laden soup that is, about aliens and comets. Strange stuff really. I was worried that I may have to defend myself and there was a fight going on at the other end of the room. Bit hard to remember the details, sorry.”

“Yes, that’s perfectly normal under those kinds of circumstances. How are you feeling about yourself and Calm Waters now.”

“Once the day is over, it’s over. I can put it behind me and keep the place clean for ya. I keep my mind on the fact that when I'm sweeping the front drive my bum wobbles at all the guys as they pass by. How do you think Cinderella got the Prince? When I said I was worried I meant about keeping my job. Imogen couldn’t do me any harm, I’m a big girl.”

Without a doubt you are, and quite intelligent as well, thought Karen but she had seen a video of Imogen attacking another client that had dared to bully her. Imogen was both devastating and strong. An extremely dangerous girl when she chooses to be and she was worried that Justin, the security guard, was not up to the job. “We have security for that. You responded admirably to the situation today Tracy. You sure you don’t have the jitters?”

“No really I’m fine. All in a day’s work Ma’am.”

“Karen”

“Karen, sorry, can’t help the habit.”

Karen smiled, blissfully unaware that she did not understand the situation at all.

Tracy got home, a small rental in Spencer Park, and began to prepare her meal. While she was running on auto pilot she thought about today’s events. She could have done with the full bowl of soup, she didn’t give a shit about the aliens or the comets. But it was the math. How could she have known that. How many of her ilk study math in private for fuck sake, not many. Unless, unless Andy told Imogen to see if she would spill the beans. These important people liked to keep their secrets. She couldn’t help thinking that this must be some kind of test. But what if it wasn’t some kind of test, she would sound like a nutcase herself. She mulled the situation over in her head while she ate her dinner.

Right, dinners over, time to stop thinking about that shit. It’s math time.

The following day Tracy was cleaning at Andy’s again. “Hey, I’ve just got one question. You never talked about confidentiality, you know about what we’re doing.”

Andy’s eyebrows raised. “Shame on me, I never told you about that. Ok, confidentiality 101. It goes without saying that legal, financial and health stuff are confidential until you are very specifically told that something is not confidential. That applies not only to me but to the rest of the world.

Now for our little project, whatever it’s going to be. I consider it the utmost confidentiality. So far the only ones that know about it are you and me. My lawyer does not know about it, nor my doctor, nor my mother or my girlfriend and my father would not know about it if he were still alive.

If someone comes into your house and they see, for example, your math book then you tell them that you are learning it so you can help your kids with their homework, when you have them. If in the future someone comments on some gadget or luxury beyond the means of a cleaner then you tell them you won a lotto, or some other such bullshit.

Our purpose is to be kept secret. You don’t tell them that something is confidential for then they know they have a secret to uncover. You give them some believable story that will satisfy their curiosity.”

“Ok”, Tracy answered, somewhat taken aback by his intensity. “Got you. By the way I’m buzzing along with the math ok, when are you going to test me?”

“Never really thought about it. Hmm, you see that kiddies pool in the back. That’s a cylinder right. Without crunching the numbers can you explain to me, right now, how you would go about calculating the height needed for a pipe with a smaller diameter than the pool to contain the water within the pool.”

Tracy’s brain raced. “Well you’ve got these volumes that is the measure of how big a cylinder is. Volume is three dimensions, the height is the unknown in the pipe so removing that dimension from the volume are are left with area which is two dimensions. Since the volume is the same in both, and that is so because you are pouring out from one into the other, then the height of the water in the pipe will be the height of the water in the pool multiplied by the area of the pool and divided by the area of the pipe”

“That is very good. That is excellent. I’ve never had it explained quite that way before, probably because you have never discussed it in a group learning situation. That’s a trivial matter anyway, the important thing is that you understand. So how would you go about calculating these area’s.?”

“Pi times radius squared. However in dividing one area by the other the pi’s would cancel each other out, so you wouldn’t have to do the complete area calculation. Also in a practical sense it is easier to measure the diameters of both containers. Since the diameter is twice the radius then the two’s will also cancel each other out.

So the pipe water height is the pool diameter divided by the pipe diameter and that result squared multiplied by the pool water height.”

“Well fuck me girl, I’m impressed.”, Andy clapped.

“I’ve never had a math teacher congratulate me quite that way before. Maybe you need some practice in the classroom”, laughed Tracy.

“I like the bit about it being easier to measure the diameter. You’re going to be taking the knowledge you learn and be doing practical things with it. Keep it up, everything in that book needs to become second nature to you.

I think it’s gadget time. Come on in.”

Tracy felt at ease. She knew he wasn’t after sex.

“I can’t pay you with money, because that is traceable. Pick something that you like and I’ll arrange for a new one to be delivered to your house.”

“That’s a nice teapot you’ve got.”

“Having a healthy pair of testicles tends to diminish my ability to rank teapots. Come on girl I'm trying to get you to think big. What about the home theatre?”

“I haven't earned that”, said Tracy quietly.

“Well neither have I, not really, not in any true sense of the word. But you don't let shit like that stop you from having the good life."