In the Unlikely Event... Read Free

student exploring and thus forming his or her personality. I only have until I’m eight. One kid is bringing his border collie, which I think is a unique choice. The dog has a tuxedo, and I guess she’s a good dancer. Collins is taking Judy. They’re both wearing suits.”
    “I see.” She sounded just like Gitana, but Bud kept chattering on about personality forming and kids bringing their dogs as dates and that Collins was certain she was gay and this personality-forming-by-the-time-you’re-eight-years-old thing and calling the principal by her first name. Chase checked the queue. She had six cars and at an estimated time of two minutes for drop-off that gave her twelve minutes. She would start small.
    “So you guys always call the principal by her first name?”
    “Melinda prefers it that way. She says that a center for learning should not be a totalitarian regime but rather an egalitarian society where each person receives according to his or her needs.”
    “That sounds like Marx’s Communist Manifesto ,” Chase said.
    “It has vestiges,” Bud replied.
    “Have you read it?”
    “Last summer. He made some valid points, but I am rather fond of my private property.”
    They were down to three cars. “Now what’s this thing about your personality being formed by the time you’re eight?” Chase’s mind raced. Could that be true? Did they have only two more years to make sure Bud turned out to be a normal, decent, tax-paying citizen who was driven to get her Ph.D. at an early age and make a distinguished career for herself and win the Nobel Peace Prize or a Pulitzer or both?
    “It’s a psychological fact. Our personality, the one that will be ours for life, is created from the time we are born until the age of eight. That’s why early childhood development is so imperative for the creation of a well-adjusted human being.”
    Chase’s brain took off on two tangents simultaneously. First, had there been any traumatic experiences to date that had malformed or maladjusted Bud’s personality? And second, what had been her own transformative experiences? Because she’d turned out to be neurotic on many levels, and she didn’t want Bud to have any of her phobias—excessive hand sanitizer usage, debit machine performance anxiety, burying roadkill and risk management strategies, just to name a few.
    She gave further thought to her phobias. The world was a germy place, debit machines meant spending and excessive spending was a bad thing. Burying roadkill was simply giving the dead dignity, and as long as Bud didn’t grow up to be a mortician that was not a bad thing. Risk management was the basis of the insurance industry, so it was a viable pursuit as long as Bud didn’t grow up to be an insurance salesperson. She meant no offense to those professions. She just couldn’t see Bud doing them.
    Bud scrutinized Chase’s face and appeared to ascertain the current neurosis Chase was experiencing. “If you were worried that you’ve done anything to make me weird—you haven’t.” She quickly kissed Chase’s cheek and popped out of the car. Summer and Collins were waiting for her. Bud took Summer’s hand as they went up the stairs to the front door of the school. Chase’s mind went into overdrive when she saw that. Could you be gay at six? Was Bud gay? Should the school be egalitarian? And what about the dog going to the dance as someone’s date? That was going too far. Anyone could see that.
    She glanced at the dashboard. It was ten to eight. Her board meeting at the Institute was at nine thirty. She had to talk to Gitana and not on the phone. This warranted a face-to-facer. She’d go to the Blooming Orchid nursery and tell Gitana all this stuff. Gitana was the voice of reason. She could sort this mess out. She would know what to do.

Chapter Two—Explanations
     
     
    Chase sent gravel flying as she pulled into the nursery’s parking lot. Under normal circumstances, she would have made note of how