the summer i was ten

[deepest_magic]

Bella is ten. School has let out; she spends one week at the beach with Renée, celebrating, and then from there Renée drives her up to Forks, and drops her off, with many hugs. Charlie picks her up, with some hugs, although not as many; it's not his way. Bella settles in for the summer. It is, if nothing else, cooler up here.

Comments

[deepest_magic]

Bella stretches her arms up above her head. "What do you want to do when you grow up?"

[neverbeatme]

"I'm going to be a mathematician. What do you want to do when you grow up?"

[deepest_magic]

"I'm not sure yet. I want to do something useful for people but I want to do it the best way. The obvious thing is to be a doctor but there might be something better."

[neverbeatme]

"What's 'best' mean?"

[deepest_magic]

"Well, like," says Bella, "lots of people help a few people. Or help a lot of people a little. My dad helps people. People who sell you ice cream are technically helping you. I want to help the most people the biggest amount that I can."

[neverbeatme]

"Why?"

[deepest_magic]

"If I don't they won't get helped," says Bella reasonably.

[neverbeatme]

"But you just said lots of people help people, so...?"

[deepest_magic]

"Right, but not everybody has already been helped all the ways they need to be, and I bet that's still true when I'm grown up," says Bella. "If I don't do whatever I'm going to do, it won't get done. People will still get sold ice cream but maybe then they die of cancer or something."

[neverbeatme]

"Hmm," says Elizabeth.

[deepest_magic]

"What?" laughs Bella.

[neverbeatme]

"Filing that."

[deepest_magic]

"Also I want to be immortal. It's probably easier to figure that out if I'm a doctor than if I decide to be helpful by running a food pantry," Bella muses.

[neverbeatme]

"It sounds like what you want is medical research, then," says Elizabeth.

[deepest_magic]

"Yeah, I probably wouldn't just be the kind of doctor you go and see. They only do things for their patients and it's not that many people."

[neverbeatme]

"Or you could be a judge. But that won't help with the immortality part."

[deepest_magic]

"Right. And judges have to do what juries say a lot of the time anyway, I think, I'm not sure they do as much as it sounds like or there wouldn't be a point to juries."

[neverbeatme]

"No, that's not what being a judge is for," she says. "I was thinking politics first, but I bet you wouldn't be really good at politics, but I bet you would be pretty good at law, and judges don't just sit around doing what juries tell them to, they set precedents and stuff."

[deepest_magic]

"Why wouldn't I be good at politics?" asks Bella curiously.

[neverbeatme]

"Too honest," she suggests.

[deepest_magic]

Bella laughs. "I can lie. I don't like it and I'm better at just saying the most useful parts of the truth, though."

[neverbeatme]

"I'm not sure that's what I meant," she says thoughtfully.

[deepest_magic]

Bella tilts her head.

[neverbeatme]

Elizabeth shakes hers.

"'Too honest' was mostly a joke. What I figured out about you is something else, but I don't know how to explain it. Just that there's skills you need to get elected to something, and you could learn them but you wouldn't be a natural, and it wouldn't suit you as much as other stuff."

[deepest_magic]

"How come you want to be a mathematician?" asks Bella.