He arrived at his office at Edwards AFB early but his head and heart were elsewhere. He didn’t even notice his secretary was already at her desk. Surprised by the absent greeting she followed him into his office.

“Colonel Austin is everything alright?”

“Oh hi Suzanne…ah yes everything is fine why do you ask?”

“I just wondered what happened to the usual cheerful greeting I’ve been used to.”

“Sorry I guess my mind is on other things. What’s my schedule look like today?”

“Well Colonel Thomas dropped off these 24 proficiency files for you to review and sign. Other than that you only have an appointment here with Oscar Goldman and Rudy Wells at 1:00 p.m.”

“That’s today?” Steve was hoping to leave work early.

“Yes sir.”

“Well I guess I’d better get through these files then.”

“Would you like me to hold your calls?”

“No, I might need the interruptions to keep me from falling asleep.” He explained dryly with a crooked grin.

“I understand. Buzz me if you need me.”

“Thanks Suzanne.”

By lunch Steve had only gotten through half the pile on his oak desk. He couldn’t quell his anxiety over Jenny starting school. Oscar and Rudy arrived on time; with the secretary absent from her desk they entered Steve’s office. They found him standing at the window behind his desk staring blankly out at the tarmac.

“Well I see you’re working hard.” Oscar teased but the words didn’t penetrate Steve’s wandering mind. The two visitors shared a concerned glance as Oscar tried again in a louder voice, “Steve?…Colonel Austin!”

Steve was snapped back to the present, “Oh hi Oscar I didn’t hear you come in. Have a seat. Hi Rudy, how are you?”

“Fine and you?” The doctor noted the tired eyes.

“I’m fine. I’m just trying to adjust to having my daughter in the care of strangers that’s all.”

“And how is that niece of ours?” Oscar asked.

“She’s fine, growing like a weed.” Steve wanted to change the sensitive subject. “So what brings you to Edwards?”

“The OSI has a new project ready for the experimental process. We were hoping you would help us out with it.”

“What more bionic upgrades?”

“No not exactly.” Rudy explained, “We have a new in-flight system we want to test.”

“Really, for speed, control, navigation, weaponry, radar, what?”

Oscar dropped the bomb, “All of the above.”

“You’re joking right?” Steve expressed his shock with a chuckle.

“No.” Rudy answered simply.

“How the hell did you design a system that could do all that? It is one system right?”

“Yes.” The doctor answered unsure if Steve would accept the rest.

“You are serious! This system, it obviously fits into the plane?”

“Yes it does.” Oscar was hopeful seeing Steve’s enthusiasm.

“How big is it? How much does it weigh?” He couldn’t contain his curiosity.

Rudy answered, “Six feet tall and about 175 pounds.”

Steve locked eyes with the doctor recognizing his height and weight, “What are you talking about?”

Oscar responded, “We want to ‘plug you in’ so to speak.”

Steve was quickly on his feet pacing the carpet unsure how he felt about being used as a conduit. Silence filled the room for two very long minutes before Steve spoke again, “What exactly do you want to do?”

Rudy filled in the details; “The system would connect to your bionic system, mainly your computer, after some modifications of course. It’s similar to flying by thought processes alone. We were trying with the human brain but it’s just too complicated. One of my colleagues asked about the system I used on the bionics project.”

Steve continued his pacing, “I see.”

The conversation was cut short when the secretary buzzed in, “Colonel Austin there is a Miss Mallory from the Franklin Academy on the phone who wishes to speak with you.”

Steve gut twisted instantly thinking something had happened to his child. He was quickly at the desk, “Put her through Suzanne. Excuse me a minute.” He grabbed the phone, “Miss Mallory this is Steve Austin is my daughter alright?”

“Oh yes she’s fine. In fact she is the reason I’m calling. I was wondering if we could meet today to discuss her.”

Steve began rubbing his head feeling a headache coming on and wondering what Jenny could have done on her first day to warrant a parent-teacher conference. “Miss Mallory I know my daughter can be a little rebellious but I find it hard to believe she has gotten into trouble on her first day of first grade.” After hearing that Oscar and Rudy shared a chuckle.

“Oh no Colonel she isn’t in trouble, she is extremely well-behaved. I wanted to discuss her schooling. She is well beyond the first grade level. I think we should talk about her educational options today so if changes need to be made they can be done in the next few days, making her adjustment easier.”

“I see. What time do you want me there?” He looked at his watch that displayed 1:45 p.m.

“Is 2:30 p.m. too soon? That way you can take Jenny home with you.”

“Sure that’s no problem. I’ll see you at 2:30. Thanks for calling.” He hung up the phone slowly, deep in thought, momentarily forgetting he had company. He quickly apologized for the interruption and the need to conclude the meeting early.

Oscar and Rudy were concerned, “Is Jennifer alright?”

“Yeah, I just need to meet with her teacher. How about the two of you come to the house for dinner, say around 5:00 and after that we can discuss the project further?”

“Okay, no problem.”

“Great I’ll see you later.” He said as he left the office.

Miss Mallory met Steve outside her classroom where she could talk privately but still keep an eye on her pupils. Steve glanced inside the room and saw Jenny sitting at her little desk diligently working on her macaroni noodle art project.

“Colonel Austin I’m sure you are aware that you daughter is a very bright child.”

“Sure but she isn’t that much ahead of her peers is she?”

“I’d say so. Of course we would need to complete some formal testing for which we would need your consent. In my opinion I’d say her abilities are 1 to 2 years ahead of her classmates.

Steve was surprised, “Miss Mallory you’ll have to forgive me I’m new to this parent business. I just thought she was a little above average. What did you mean by educational options on the phone?”

“Yes, that would involve moving her ahead in school. If you keep her where she is I’m afraid she will become very bored quickly.”

“Bored?”

“You see her classmates are just learning reading and spelling. In math they are adding and subtracting. We both know Jennifer is well beyond that level.” Steve just nodded his understanding. “Would you be willing to sign this consent form for the formal testing? Then we will have a better idea as to where Jenny can best be challenged.”

Steve again just nodded and affixed his signature to the form. The testing would be completed within the week.

As Steve drove his daughter home he mentally reviewed his options as Jenny rambled on non-stop about her first day of school. He asked her if she was bored with the subjects today. His daughter replied affirmatively before adding that she really enjoyed helping her fellow classmates learn the information.

“So you might want to be a teacher like Miss Mallory?”

“No dad, I’m going to be a doctor.” She adamantly replied as he stopped the car at the red light.

“A doctor huh?” He looked at her smiling knowing how proud Jessica would be to have heard that. It was the first time the child shared her aspirations.

Continuing their journey home he shared with her the conversation with Miss Mallory and Jenny was very excited. She wanted to be allowed to advance and learn new things.

Steve explained to his headstrong and impulsive daughter that moving her ahead may not be the best idea and he would have to think about it before making the final decision. Jenny was frustrated, feeling her opinion would not be taken into account. The last mile of the ride home was driven in silence.

Steve prepared dinner without much thought or enthusiasm as he mulled over the information in his head. Rudy was the only guest as Oscar was in a meeting regarding the project that was previously discussed.

It was blatantly obvious to the doctor that there was tension between father and daughter. He was silently amused at the scene, both handling the tense situation with identical behavior, pushing their food around their plates as conversation settled on small talk. After 30 minutes Jenny wanted to leave the table, “May I be excused please?”

Steve looked at her uneaten meal, “You haven’t eaten your dinner.”

“Neither have you.” She challenged looking at his plate.

Steve just sighed in resignation, “Okay, go.” She slid from her chair, walked into the living room and switched on the T.V., seating herself on the floor.

With dinner concluded Rudy assisted Steve with clearing the table, “Mind if I ask what’s going on?”

Steve took a deep breath hoping his friend could shed some insight on the issue at hand. “Jenny’s teacher doesn’t think first grade is appropriate for Jenny. She thinks she should be moved ahead 1 or 2 grades. Apparently Miss Mallory wasn’t ready for a 6 year old who can do multiplication, division and fractions.”

Rudy laughed, “Well she is very bright.”

“I know that but…”

“But what?”

“Rudy I know my daughter loves an intellectual challenge and I think she would do fine academically but I’m worried that socially and emotionally it wouldn’t be good for her.”

“Uh huh.”

“Think about it. She’d be 12 years old going into high school and 16 years old going into college! Would you put your 16-year-old daughter in college? She wants to be moved ahead and I told her, as the parent here, I would make that decision. What you saw at dinner was our agreeing to disagree for the time being.”

Rudy just allowed Steve to vent.

“Maybe if I explained my daughter’s personality a little bit better you’d understand my position, she smart and loves adventure but she has a very bad habit of taking risks without any thought to the consequences.”

“Steve don’t you think your exaggerating a little?”

“You know what she did last Saturday? She was riding her horse in the corral, just trotting around. I was watching her from this window. Next thing I know my six-year-old has him in full stride toward the fence line! I couldn’t believe she would be that irresponsible!”

“What did you do?”

“What do you think I did? I ran after them at full speed! I caught up with them AFTER they made the jump. I was so angry with her I pulled her off the animal and asked her what she was thinking.”

“What was her response?”

“She wanted to know what it felt like to sail through the air. Can you believe it? If that horse would have stopped short or not cleared the fence she would have broken her neck. After getting her back here I wanted to break her neck.” Steve sat heavily on a kitchen chair. “What will happen with more freedom but the same immaturity?” He said more to himself than Rudy. Steve smiled at his longtime friend and in a soft tone, “You know if Jessica were here I bet she would have this all figured out by now.”

“So is she going to be tested?”

“Yeah, sometime this week. I signed the papers today.”

The phone rang; it was Oscar explaining he would be unable to stop by as he was heading back to Washington. The project was on hold until further notice, budgetary reason, and that he would be in touch. Steve and Rudy wandered into the empty living room, “Where did she go now?” Her father asked.

Steve called out her name by there was no answer. Looking out the back he saw her sitting on the corral fence, sulking. Rudy directed, “I think you need to talk with her.”

Rudy watched as Steve headed out the back door and stood close to his daughter, no doubt afraid she would tumble off the 5-½ foot fence. Steve asked for her thoughts on the school issue and Jenny assured him she could do the work, although unknown to her that was never his concern. He tried his best to explain his concerns over the emotional and social ramifications in a way she could understand. He wasn’t sure how much of his rambling she comprehended until his precocious daughter explained she could easily make friends her age through the 4H club, girl scouts and dance lessons.

Steve stepped in front of her and smiled realizing the whole time, since returning home from school today, she wasn’t just brooding but busy preparing for this debate and had handled herself quite well. Their identical blue eyes met as she placed her arms on his broad shoulders, still seated atop the fence. Steve agreed to try it her way for now, reserving the option to change his mind in the future if things were not working out and she was not acting responsibly. They leaned together in a warm embrace and Jenny got the last word in, “Dad you really need to stop worrying so much about things that haven’t even happened yet.”