Chapter 1: Black holes

First day of Montessori

One of David’s first memories was from when he was three years old. His mother handed him a very snazzy tracksuit. It was navy, with a dark red stripe down the seams of the legs and the arms. It came with a red polo shirt. It symbolised his first step into academia, something David was very passionate about. He remembered his mother come in as he put his jumper on. It was swimming on him. His mom, Mary, smiled at him as she got down on her knees and rolled his sleeves up.

‘You’ll grow into it!’ she winked at him.

‘But mom, it’s too big!’ David whined. He looked down, and saw there was a crest on the left-hand side of his jumper. He pointed at it, ‘am I going to school?’ he asked excitedly.

‘Yes son,’ she answered, beaming at him, ‘today is your first day of Montessori!’

Still unable to comprehend why his clothes were too big, he tucked his red t-shirt into his trousers which were baggy on him. He was so thankful that they had a tie going around the waist, or else they would have fallen down his scrawny legs! He felt uncomfortable. He looked down at the jumper, and it looked like a dress. The arms were rolled up, his trousers too. All he thought as he walked down the stairs was, ‘I look ridiculous!’ He didn’t want to look at his reflection in the mirror, as he thought he would ruin the day, a day he had been looking forward to for so long.

‘David, come on down so I can take pictures of your first day for my scrapbook!’ Mary shouted as he was halfway down.

‘My tracksuit is too big!’ David complained once again.

‘Oh son,’ his father, Big Dave, stated, ‘it’s supposed to be big, so you can grow into it!’

David rolled his eyes. Being small for his age, he knew he couldn’t possibly couldn’t grow that much in one year! He was then placed in front of the hall door for a photoshoot. He plastered a smile on his face, because he knew how much pictures meant to his mother. She was a big scrapbooker. Even at the age of three, he knew not to disrespect that, so he did what he was told, and let her take them, no matter how ridiculous he felt.

After the pictures were eventually finished with, he was given a backpack, his lunch inside. He had snook in a book too. Then there were more photos that just ‘had’ to be taken. Once again, he just put on his smiley face and let his mother click the shutter on the camera over and over, as his father voiced how proud he was that his little baby was starting Montessori.

When it was time to go, the three of them piled in the car. The Montessori school David was going to was only a five-minute drive away, but it felt like an eternity for him. He was nervous, not knowing what to expect! When the car came to a complete stop, David’s stomach was in his mouth. He wondered a lot of things; who was going to be there? would he be challenged, mentally? Will he make any friends? All of those questions were spinning around his head like clothes in a washing machine. They were very deep feelings for a three-year-old.

As he looked out the window for the first time since entering the car, David saw other boys and girls in the exact same tracksuit. Of course, none of theirs were as big as his was on him.

Big Dave opened the rear passenger side door. ‘C’mon David, time to go in!’ David closed his eyes and took a deep breath before he exited the car. He held his father’s left hand, and his mother’s right, petrified.

After ascending the three steps into the building, David walked through the open glass double doors and was sadly disappointed. He was met with toys and really colourful tables and chairs. He had expected there to be a white board at the top of the class, and ‘normal’ tables and chairs placed in such a way that everyone could see it clearly. David bowed his head.

He was only there a couple of minutes when one of the teachers, miss Emma, approached him and asked him if he wanted to come in and see his new class. He looked up at his parents, who were both nodding their heads, his mother with a tissue to her eyes. Miss Emma put out her hand for David to take. He didn’t take miss Emma’s hand, but he did let go of his parents.

Without looking back, he walked across the threshold of the school and looked around. He found where the books were kept, went over and picked one. He took it to the ridiculously coloured green table and sat in the little red chair and began to read. When he finished it, a few minutes later, he got up to get another one.

David looked towards the door and saw his parents talking with miss Emma. He turned and waved. They smiled and waved right back. He looked at the bookshelf, pondered what he was going to read next when he saw ‘the hungry caterpillar’. He took it off the shelf and brought it back to that same red chair to read.

Throughout the day, David had read all the books the Montessori had to offer. He asked miss Rose if there were anymore. She looked at him open mouthed, unable to comprehend the question.

‘You like books?’ she asked him.

‘Yes’, David answered.

‘And you’re after reading all of them on the shelves?’

Again, he answered ‘yes’.

He stood there and watched her move her mouth, but nothing came out.  ‘Can I read my own book?’ he asked. David was so relieved he had brought it after all. He went and got it when miss Rose stood there in shock, unable to answer.

When he retrieved his thrilling, informative book on black holes, he went back to his green table with the red chair, relieved he could read something of substance rather than the fictional life of a caterpillar.

David was emersed in what he was reading. When miss Rose asked him to join story time, he jumped, unaware of his surroundings. She asked him again.

He looked up, excited, and asked, ‘what book is it?’

‘Winnie the witch!’ miss Rose answered, beaming down at him. After hearing the title, David was disappointed.

‘I read that one already!’ he answered and returned to the reasoning behind black holes.

Miss Rose pleaded with him. David didn’t want to be rude, but he didn’t see the point in story time if there wasn’t going to be something he hadn’t read already.

Miss Rose smiled and said, ‘if you give me your book, you can have it back after story time!’

‘No!’ David said with a furrowed brow. ‘I’m trying to read!’  

‘I promise, when story time is over, you can have your book back, ok?’ miss Rose reassured him.

In order to keep the piece, he agreed and sat on a blue chair, the only one free in the semi-circle around the teachers ‘grown up’ chair.

Miss Nora sat down and began to read ‘Winnie the witch’. David felt impatient as the first two pages took a couple of minutes to flip through. By the time the third page was revealed, he began to recite it aloud from memory. Miss Nora, looked at both miss Emma and miss Rose. Secretly, she was impressed. However, she knew that the disruption to the class was unacceptable. Miss Nora was open mouthed. David didn’t know what he had done wrong when miss Emma took him aside and began to ask him questions regarding ‘Winnie the Witch’.

She sat him down in the red chair with the green table and asked, ‘how did you know the rest of the story?’

David shrugged.

‘Is it a book you have at home?’ miss Emma asked in a curious but calm manner.

‘No,’ he answered, ‘I read it earlier!’

Her jaw dropped. ‘Have you ever read it before that?’ she asked trying very hard to keep her voice nice and steady.

‘I read it this morning!’ David answered. He began to get frustrated.

He was looking at miss Emma, watching the cogs in her mind turn. He couldn’t figure out why!

‘Did I do something wrong?’ he asked the teacher.

She swallowed hard, ‘when we’re in story time, we listen!’

‘But she wasn’t reading it fast enough!’ David insisted. ‘And miss Rose said I could have my book back when story time was over!’

‘We still have to sit still and listen!’ miss Emma reiterated.

‘Can I have my book back now?’ he pleaded, ‘please?’

David saw his teacher think about what she was supposed to do next. He saw her eyes dart from side to side. Then she shook her head and looked towards the story time group. She focused back on David and stood up to retrieve his book from the higher shelf where miss Rose put it.

As she did so, David watched her flip through the large hardcover book, her eyes widening as she stopped on one particular page. David went and sat in that same red chair with the green table. Miss Emma walked over towards him. She went down on her honkers to the right of David. She seemed genuinely interested.

‘Do you read a lot of books like this?’ she asked him.

‘Yes,’ David answered. ‘I like space!’

‘And you read a lot about space?’ she asked.

David nodded, his hands outstretched for the book. She gave it back to him with a smile.

‘How long ago did you learn how to read?’ the teacher asked out of curiosity. David just shrugged his shoulders once again, and flicked through the book until he found page 156. ‘Do you only read about space?’

He shook his head once again.

Miss Emma finally got up and left David be. He was relieved. He didn’t like answering questions about himself. A quiz on a book he just finished, he loved, but not questions about himself.

The next time he looked up, David watched how the teachers were getting the other students ready to go home. He stayed seated in his red chair, determined that when it was time for him to go home, he would close the book, but not one second earlier!           

Each of the other kids were picked up by someone or another. David looked over his shoulder and saw his parents. They smiled at him and waved. He waved back. Then he saw miss Rose and miss Emma approach them.

He watched as they talked. He saw his father with one hand on his hip, the other rubbed his head. His mother had one hand on her collar bone, the other covered her mouth. David wondered what his teachers told his parents in order for them to react like that. He was three years old, so he turned back to his book and continued to read about black holes.