Chapter Text
September 1952
The siblings filed out of the house and stood on the front porch each of them wrapped up in their best coats. The little red headed girl shivered with excitement as her bother helped her place the backpack over her shoulders, she smiled brightly as her mother joined them on the steps. The older woman fumbled to place a roll of film into the camera in the chill morning mist. Amelia placed the camera down and crouched down to look into her daughters eyes.
"All right, Lily." She said adjusting the lapel of her jacket and tucking the girls hair behind her ears. "I want you to be good a school. Play with the other kids, try and make a friend or two. Anthony look after her please." She added firmly, as she placed the camera back in her hands. She ushered the children to stand on the front steps while she snapped a photo of them before the first day of school. It had been a silly tradition which her own mother had done, one she had come to see the value in.
The little family walked the five blocks to the school in relative silence. The two children ran ahead, Lily dragging her brother along. Amelia watched her children as they grew further and further out of view. It was just school; it was what she kept trying to tell herself. That she would see them again at three o'clock they would only be gone for a few hours. It wasn't the end of the world, but it felt like it. They were growing up and Amy knew how fast time would fly. She knew that in just ten short years they would both be nearly grown up they would be slowly puling away from her and entering the world. And Amelia Williams knew of the world to come, of rock and roll and the Vietnam War. The world was going to be at a crossroads and someday both Anthony and Lily would be caught in that wave of rebelling youth.
As the rounded the corner the tears began to fill her eyes. Children were filling into the large brick school so unassuming it just had a number. She looked around to see where her children were. Looking for that bright red hair which was so easy to spot in the crowd to catch her eye. But they must have already ran ahead into the school. Her heart sank slightly as she looked up at the building. They were gone, just like that without a care. She realized that in their minds they both though they were ready for school, that to them this was just a new adventure. She had planned on waiting until the last bell rang, until those metal doors closed before she set off, but she couldn’t.
Amy turned to head back home, and felt a sudden squeeze around her abdomen. She looked down in surprise, to see her daughters arms wrapped around her waist. Lily looked up at her with a toothy smile not understand the look of desperation on her mothers face.
"Bye Muma." She chirped before she let go and ran back up into the school.
Amy smiled, the teachers were going to beat that quasi British accent out of her in no time just like they had done with Anthony the year before. But they were going to have no idea of how to deal with how intelligent she was going to be.
***
Three o'clock came and Amy found herself waiting out side the school, just another well dressed mother waiting in line. She smiled running a hand through her deep red hair and smiling politely. She knew how much the other mothers were jading her, some of they were half her age. They looked at her with pity, such young children at such an old age. If only she could tell them her mind, that she and seen more in this world that they could ever imagine, that her children were a miracle.
The bell rang, and all the malicious thoughts were removed from her head. Children began filing out filling the street with a chorus of voices. "Where's your sister?" She asked Anthony as he meet up with her.
The boy shrugged his shoulders carelessly "Her class is at the other end of the school."
"Anthony your promised that you would look after her, you said that she would be your responsibly." Amy said through gritted teeth as she glared at him with wide eyes. The crowds were beginning to thin out and she was becoming more worried. She scanned the crowds for that red hair in a panic, and finally found her standing at the top of the stairs.
She ran towards her daughter with a speed she had not run at in years. She hugged Lily tightly as the panic subsided within her. "Did you get lost, did you?"
"Ms. McGreevy wants to speak with you." Lily said in a well punctuated voice.
"All right." Amy replied standing up and taking both her children in her hands. "Lead the way." Lily lead them through the empty hall ways to a small room with miniature desks all in rows and colorful charts on the walls.
Ms. McGreevy the grey haired teacher who was only a few years older than Amelia herself looked up as they entered the room. She was taken aback by the strong resemblance of the mother and daughter and not the son; but then most people were.
"Mrs. Williams." She said as she sat down at her desk in the front of the room, Amy approached cautiously. "Are you aware that your daughter can read?"
Amy laughed a bit as she stood in front of the desk. "She can recognize words like her name and places when we point them out to her at home, but I don’t think she can read Ms. McGreevy." She politely replied.
The stern woman picked up a Dick and Jane reader and handed it to Lily. "Lily can you read this aloud for your mother."
Lily looked at her mother sheepishly and then opened the book up to the first page and read aloud in a clear voice " Dick said 'look, look. Look up. Look, up, up, up.'" Lily continued reading through the whole book without any trouble, something not even Anthony could probably do. Amy tried to hide a smile as Lily continued reading the book. Of course she was going to be brilliant, was there really any other possible outcome.
As Lily finished the book she placed it down on the teachers desk and sat back down next to her brother, whom she began to kick gently underneath the desk.
"Mrs. Williams both your children are adopted correct?" She whispered, the word adopted with a tone of scandal.
"Yes they are." Amy replied with an artificial smile "Is that relevant?"
"What you've experienced with your sons education growth many be different from your daughters. Children's levels of intelligence can be pre-disposed from what their parents own levels of education are and-"
Amy cut in sharply "Ms. McGreevy do you have any suggestions of how we can help Lily succeed in school?" She knew exactly what the woman was insulating and was doing her best not to one up the woman with some futuristic discoveries of brain science.
"I would suggest that Lily is placed in a first grade classroom."
Amy nodded, not at all surprised by the idea. She looked over at her two children who were still fighting beneath their chairs. "Is it possible that she can not be placed in the same class as her brother." Amelia Williams replied with a smile.