asked Vijay and Leila to get some more for him yesterday, and they did not disappoint. He liked both of his assistants very much, but they always closed up anytime he came around. It was as though they were trying too hard to be professional. He didn’t mind that they smiled and joked around. He had even told them that on numerous occasions. They didn’t need to get serious just because he was walking around. Still, both of them just treated him like a boss and not a friend. It was a little heartbreaking, even though he knew it wasn’t personal. They were just scared of him.
It was Uncle Raymond who had told Donnie that people would be intimidated by him. Apparently, not everyone could appreciate a child genius. A lot of them felt like they were too stupid to hang around him, or that they just couldn’t relate on any level. Even Leila and Vijay, who weren’t much older than him, seemed to treat him like he had the plague. They acted friendly enough, but never wanted to hang out with him. To them, he was their boss. He was smarter than them, had that coveted PhD from MIT, and needed to be respected as such. He would never be seen as an equal.
“You’re brilliant, Donnie.” Raymond said once when they were eating dinner. Even though he had bought pizza that night, Donnie wasn’t very hungry. He kept poking at the pizza crust, but not bringing any of it to his mouth. “You’re intelligent beyond compare, and that’s what scares people. They think they’ll never be able to understand you. I know that you’re a nice kid, too. I know you want to get along with people, but you might have to hide your genius from them, at least a little bit. People are afraid of what they don’t know.”
“I could always teach them!” Donnie would point out. “Come on, Uncle Ray! I could teach them not to be scared of me, or of anything I say. I just need to get them to talk to me!”
Raymond sighed. “You mean well, Donnie. I wish people would see you the way I do. I know you are a kind, warm-hearted individual with a gifted mind. The next time you see a person you want to know, just go up to them and treat them like you want to be treated. Be nice to them. Ask them what they like. You’re bound to find something you have in common.”
“I’ve tried that,” he mumbled. “It just feels like no one has anything in common with me.” Turning away and looking at the wall, he added, “Sometimes, I wish I could just leave this place and find something new. I want to live a world where people actually like me.”
Raymond sighed and leaned back in his chair. “I don’t think anyone hates you, kid. You don’t need to leave the world because someone isn’t talking to you.”
“That’s not the only reason.” Donnie finally finished his dinner. An idea was now forming in his head, and he wanted to get upstairs to explore it. “May I be excused? I’m finished.”
“Just put your plate in the sink and rinse it off.”
That was where their conversation had ended. This was the same one he’d had with Raymond year after year. Nothing had changed. He was still alone, and he hadn’t become famous enough to stop caring about it. He had nothing to be proud of. That was the worst part of it all—he had the ideas, but no single achievement that made him well up with pride and forget everything else.
After he’d cleaned up and got changed, Donnie went looking through his old drawings of a new world. He was no artist, but he had the ideas of what he wanted. He had come up with so many ideas for different worlds: a world where every country was a democracy, a world where spirits lived with people, and many worlds where animals were living like people did. He had thought about all the possibilities. Things would be very different if the Earth hadn’t formed in a certain way, or if wars never took place.
“Of course, some changes would never happen if war had never existed.” He told himself. “Maybe it wouldn’t be for the best.”
Donnie still wished that he could have someone to talk to about this with. Olivia seemed slightly interested, but would she care the way he did? For her, this would just be