26 Telling the Doctor

The three of them ran back to the complex, as excited as children believing they’d discovered a treasure chest—which, in fact, they had.

Dr. Sam had taught the children to use the scientific method of discovery, so Dante devised a series of tests to prove whether or not Rand could really distinguish gold from other metals. They put different metals, including Spinny’s silver ring and copper coins, into separate glass jars, then covered them with cloths. Rand put her hand over the jars and told them what was in them. Dante then moved the jars around, like in a shell game, and Rand tried again. She identified them perfectly each time.

Less than an hour later, Dante, flanked by the other two, knocked on the door of the doctor’s den. Plato barked. Excitedly.

“It’s not locked,” Dr. Sam said.

Dante was in the lead, excited to share the news. Dr. Sam finished looking over a medical report of one of his patients, then looked up. As usual, Plato was curled up on his lap. “What can I do for you ladies?”

“Dr. Sam, we’ve discovered something exciting.”

“Tell me.”

“Rand can smell gold.”

“And silver,” Spinny added, pointing to her ring.

“What does that mean? ‘Smell gold.’ You mean through her nose?”

Dante shook her head. “I use the word ‘smell’… figuratively.”

“Good use of that word,” Dr. Sam said. “Now explain what you mean.”

Dante said, “You know how Rand can—”

“Wait,” Dr. Sam said. “Why don’t we let Rand explain?” Rand was shyer than the others, and the doctor was always trying to get her to speak more.

“Okay, well, you know how I can always tell if there’s another electric around?” Rand said.

“Yes,” he said, smiling. “That’s why they wouldn’t let you play hide-and-seek when you were little.”

“I’ve never told anyone, because I didn’t think it really mattered, but I can feel metals. Like, an American penny and a nickel feel different to me, and not just because of their size. I can feel all the metals around me, and they all feel different. So when I found Volt’s medallion—”

Dr. Sam held up his hand to stop her. “Wait, you found Volt’s medallion?” The medallion had been a point of contention among the youths, and it was the first time that there had been a fight in the colony. Volt had accused Sart of stealing his medallion, and it had turned into a shoving match between them before Socrates and Thoreau had pulled them apart. The conflict between the two had been a great disappointment to Dr. Sam, as peaceful conflict resolution had been one of the skills he had hoped to teach the youths, as well as honesty and trust.

Rand nodded. “I found it two days ago. I kept having a strange feeling every time I made one of the beds. I first looked through the sheets. Then Mia helped me lift the bed. In a crack under the bed was the gold Saint Christopher medallion that Volt had lost.”

“I’m sorry, I know we’re off topic, but you took the medallion to Volt?”

“Yes.”

“What did he say?”

“He apologized to Sart. Then he gave him the medallion to show his sincerity.”

Dr. Sam smiled. He had not failed after all. “And how did Sart respond?”

“He refused the medallion. He said their friendship was more valuable than gold.”

Dr. Sam’s smile grew still larger. “You have no idea the joy that hearing this brings me. Now tell me more about your discovery.”

Dante, no longer able to keep quiet, jumped back in. “You taught us to rely on the scientific method, so we did our own experiment. We put gold, silver, copper, steel, and a rock in identical jars, then covered them with a cloth. Then we had Rand put her hand over the jars and tell us what was in each of them.”

“And could you?”

“I could tell what everything was,” Rand said.

“We tried it three times, and each time she was one hundred percent successful. The last time, we didn’t put the gold in a jar, and she said, ‘It’s not here.’ ”

“Your experimental method is sound,” Dr. Sam said. “How did this come up?”

Dante said, “We were wading in a stream when Rand felt something. She reached into the water and found this.” Dante brought the first nugget out of her pocket and set it on the doctor’s desk.

Dr. Sam lifted the nugget to examine it. “That’s real, all right.” He turned to Rand. “You found this?”

“Yes, sir. And more.”

For a moment he thoughtfully rolled the nugget between his fingers.

Dante was confused by his response. “I thought you’d be happier. We’ll be rich.”

The doctor took off his glasses. “We are rich, dear ladies,” he said. “We have peace and contentment. There are no greater riches. Gold could help, but it usually brings the desire for more gold. It could introduce greed into our home, and greed will destroy us.”

“But wouldn’t wealth make us able to help more people?” Dante asked. “We could buy new machines to help? We could buy our own MRI.”

He slowly nodded. “You’re not wrong.”

“And what about Chisp… Paul? He could get that operation. Isn’t this good news?”

“Yes,” Dr. Sam said. “It could be the very blessing I’ve hoped and prayed for. But it could also be a curse.” He handed the nugget back to Dante. “There’s so much more I want to give all of you. But I’ve seen the effect of gold on people. I think our family can handle it. But even if it doesn’t just change us, it could change the people around us. Once they know we have gold, they’ll want it too. They’ll envy us. It’s human nature.”

The youths just looked at him sadly. “So this isn’t good?” Rand asked.

Dr. Sam suddenly raised his hands and smiled. “I’m sorry. Sometimes I worry too much. Rand, it’s remarkable that you can do this. And you’re right, Dante. This could change our world in big ways and open new possibilities for all of you.

“I’m probably getting ahead of myself, but if this is as real as you say, we could afford the kind of education I’ve dreamed of for you all.” He smiled again. “Thank you for bringing me this. Rand, it’s very exciting that you have this gift. Let me think on this and how best to proceed to keep us all safe. In the meantime, let’s keep this quiet between us, okay? We don’t need to stir anything up.”

“Yes, sir,” they said in unison.

“Keep up the good work, girls.”

As they walked out of the room, Spinny said to the others, “What do we do now?”

“We do what Doc said,” Dante said. “We keep this to ourselves. But he didn’t say that we couldn’t go find more gold. He just told us to keep it quiet.”

“You’re right,” Spinny said.

Dante suddenly smiled. “I have an idea. Let’s find enough gold to buy that X-ray machine Doc needs. Then he’ll see that this is a good idea.”

“We should tell him what we’re doing,” Rand said.

“No. It will be more fun if it’s a surprise. Can you imagine the look on his face?”

Rand smiled in agreement. “Yeah. That will be fun.”

“Great,” Dante said. “Let’s start tomorrow.”