Chapter 3- Photographic memory
"That snobbish a.s.s!" Alan directed the comment towards the nurse.
"ally, you've really grown up!" seeing how much her son, who still had over half a head needed to be taller than her mother , had grown Alan couldn't help but smile.
Serena was worried that during the conflict with the nurse, Alan wouldn't be able to restrain his temper and hit the nurse, if that happened then the consequences would be very serious.
But in the end Serena couldn't help but be pleased with how Alan dealt with the situation, luring the nurse into a verbal trap, he humiliated her, which must have hurt more than beating her.
"Mum, I promised that I will not let you suffer and I will not let people look down on you again!" Alan said firmly.
"Mumma believes you!" Serena nodded pleasingly.
Alan thought about what the nurse said again: "mum, was I in a coma for 3 days?"
As he mentioned this serena tensed up, nodded and hurriedly asked "Ally, how do you feel now? Are you feeling uncomfortable?"
Alan heart was filling with warmth, looking at his 40 years old mother, her face worn from working over the years, his heart couldn't help but twitch, in order to raise me how much suffering did she have to go through.
"Mumma don't worry, I'm fine. Look!" said while waving his fist. Whilst that happened Alan couldn't help but be surprised at how energetic he felt.
In the past because of a lack of nutrition, Alan's body was always weak, but now he never felt stronger.
"It's probably because I got some rest in the hospital" Alan speculated.
Seeing that her son wasn't pretending, Serena felt more assured
Alan said: "mumma let's get out of here, I'm completely better. Let's go before she comes back and sits on us.!"
"yeah, we can't fight that thing (fat nurse)!!" said Serena and laughed together with Alan.
Serena let out a sigh of relief after laughing and it was after a long three days, if they weren't so poor, how could she let her son, who just woke up leave the hospital?
But the happy memory Dominated them during the scenery, and at this times the two of them couldn't care less about the world and their opinions, and that is what they will live on, not poverty but the happy memories.
As they walked out of the ward they saw the nurse standing in the middle of the corridor, looking at them with disgust.
Seeing the two leave, the nurse muttered: "Hmph, poor bastards, having the nerve to stay in this hospital without money!"
Alan snorted back funnily and said.
"who let the pig out.??"
Serena laughed and patted her son on the back and whispered, "Ally, forget it!"
Alan breathed in deeply, nodded slightly and said, "Mumma, let's go!"
Outside of the hospital, alan couldn't help breath in some fresh air, the smell of disinfectant in the hospital was so strong it made him uncomfortable.
"ally, put the things in the car!" Alan's mother said after bringing over the work tricycle.
Alan immediately felt guilty and asked: "mumma for the last few day, did taking care of me stop you from selling vegetables?"
"Silly boy!" Serena smiled and patted Alan head, "the sole reason I am selling vegetables is for you, if something happened to you, even if I had more money, what use would it be."
Alan felt his head where she patted and smiled, he could truly feel the love his mother has for him.
"It's still early, I don't want to go home yet, I'm going to head to school first." Alan suddenly remembered and said: "I've missed three days of school already I should probably start catching up now!"
Serena said with affection: "ally, I've already called in sick for you, go home and rest for a day and head in tomorrow."
Alan shook his head and said, "Mumma, I am already in the third year of high school, I will study hard and strive to become accomplished!"
Seeing her son adamant, serena stopped persuading him, and nodded happily,
"well if that's the case then I'm going to go buy some meat to treat you after school."
Alan smiled while nodding and started heading towards school.
Watching her sons back, Serena's smile turned into a frown and whispered to herself:
"my son want to go to university, but the tuition..."
She gritted her teeth and said to herself: "no matter what, even if I have to scrap for pots and pans I'm going to get ally into university."
... Serena was also dedicated.
Arriving again at South County high school Alan felt reborn.
It was only 3 days ago in this exact location that Roseanne mercilessly broke up with him.
"Everything is in the past now!" Alan reassured himself, "Alan, you're not alone, you must work hard for your mother. You can be looked down upon but you cannot let your mother get looked down upon with you."
After fixing his clothes, Alan walked calmly toward the classroom.
Alan's class, was the year 2 class 6 of South County high school, located on the second floor.
It was around 10am, the school was quiet because everyone was in class.
As he arrived at the classroom door, Alan stopped and reported to the lecturing teacher: "sorry I'm late!"
The teacher 50-years old middle-aged man and wore a pair of glasses, he nodded and said, "Come in!"
alan came into the classroom, the eyes of all the students were focused on him, some people took pleasure over his difficult situation, some filled disdain and some sympathetic.
Alan naturally walked toward his seat and sat down, on his right where Roseanne Whiteman used to sit now sat a boy.
The boy's name was Zach Ross, he's been in the same class as Alan since the start of high school and is Alan one and only friend.
Alan's results were mediocre at best however Zach was different, other than attending classes every day he never studied, but whenever there was test, he always managed to stay in the top 10 of the year and is also recognized along with the schools prettiest girl, class 6 President Tonya lans and Vice President Susy Edward , as class 6's top 3 students.
But from his appearance no one would believe that Zach Ross is a good student. Yellow dyed hair and his shirt collar wide open that was Zach delinquent like get up.
Alan had just sat down when Zach turned towards him and whispered, "Hey madman, are you all right?"
Alan shook his head and laughed in a low voice: "I'm fine, just some sunstroke."
Zach lips curled upwards obviously not believing him: "I heard about you and Rose, don't think about that snobbish woman too much, when we finish school I'll take you to a seafood restaurant for a meal, how about it?"
Alan couldn't help but smile. He knows that out of more than 40 students in this cla.s.s, the only person to care for him would be his friend Zach Ross
"Let us continue the lesson!" the teacher started lecturing on the podium again. Alan took his book out from desk and prepared himself for the rest of the lesson.
It has only been 3 days since the school opened again, so they had not covered much of the curriculum, so Alan felt more at ease.
"Ding...."
The bell rang for the class to finish as Alan finished reading over a topic in the book.
"I say madman, are you all right?" Zach laughed while shuffling closer toward Alan, "Right now we're covering Physics in class, why are you reading up on English?"
Alan stared at him while closing the book and sighed: "do you think everyone is the same as you, being able to learn things instantly? I'm already 3 days' worth of classes behind, if I dont start catching up now how can I get into university? Also don't call me madman anymore."
Zach smiled without a care in the world and said: "but you are a madman hahahaha!"
"This guy!" alan shook his head and started laughing.
As the two of them were talking and laughing, Alan couldn't help but relax, and he knew that Zach was just trying to comfort him, it was only in the company of friends could he truly relax.
Shaking his head while laughing Alan took out the book he was reading earlier, there were two questions he didn't understand and wanted to ask Zach about it.
But suddenly, Alan froze in shock.
Alan realized, when he thought about the two problems, images of the book played clearly in his head like a movie.
"Is this... Photographic memory?!" Alan couldn't help but think.