Today's #flashfiction Daniel The Child Prodigy

“15 minutes can save you 15 percent or more on your car insurance.”

Andy Warhol* #quote

How much karate did the Karate Kid actually do? I don't think he actually did any real kind of karate style I've ever heard of....Anyway onto the flash fiction!

Daniel The Child Prodigy

               Daniel, the child prodigy, knew far more than he should. He dazzled his parents with his ability to retain information and do incredible feats for his age. As a four year old he started working on the tests needed to prove he deserved a high school diploma. And in a year he did.

              Then he tried college. His parents expected him to outshine everyone. Daniel barely managed to squeak by a few classes, but then he started failing. Year after year he failed the classes. His parents decided he should review high school material and try again, perhaps developing more naturally would help him. But even going through normal years of education he couldn't muster passing a year of college.

                 He just wasn't smart enough. A child prodigy. Daniel's intellectual abilities were not above average, they just merely came to quicker, making him seem smarter than those around him. He may have been smarter than everyone at his age when he was four by leaps and bounds, but as an adult, when everyone reached their potential...he was below average.

               It took Daniel a long time to deal with this. After his whole life where everyone told him he was smarter than all the rest, and people he knew to previously be “dumber” than him began understanding much more than him. Eventually however, he settled into his new identity, although with a damaged ego from what had been built up during his youth.

              “Sometimes I just don't know what to do with myself.” Daniel complained to a coworker at the grocery store as they refilled inventory.

               The oldest worker there, probably three years away from retirement in such a dreary job chimed into the conversation from the other aisle, “It's obvious! After work go out and go to some clubs, then hit on cute gals.” The old man smiled showing age robbed him of a few teeth. Daniel learned from the old man's wisdom that you don't need to do anything important or impressive to enjoy life.