flowers for Algernon

chapter 21: progress report 17 April 28

April 28 I don't understand why I never noticed how beautiful Miss Kinnian

really is. She has brown eyes and feathery brown hair that comes to the top

of her neck. She's only thirty-four! I think from the beginning I had the feeling

that she was an unreachable genius-and very, very old. Now, every time I

see her she grows younger and more lovely.

We had dinner and a long talk. When she said that I was coming along

so fast that soon I'd be leaving her behind, I laughed. "It's true, Charlie. You're already a better reader that I am. You can read

FLOWERS a whole page at a glance while I can take in only a few lines at a time. And

FOR you remember every single thing you read. I'm lucky if I can recall the main ALGERNON

thoughts and the general meaning."

"I don't feel intelligent. There are so many things I don't understand."

She took out a cigarette and I lit it for her. "You've got to be a little

patient. You're accomplishing in days and weeks what it takes normal people

to do in half a lifetime. That's what makes it so amazing. You're like a giant

sponge now, soaking things in. Facts, figures, general knowledge. And soon

you'll begin to connect them, too. You'll see how the different branches of

learning are related. There are many levels, Charlie, like steps on a giant

ladder that take you up higher and higher to see more and more of the world

around you.

"I can see only a little bit of that, Charlie, and I won't go much higher

than I am now, but you'll keep climbing up and up, and see more and more,

and each step will open new worlds that you never even knew existed." She

frowned. "I hope ... I just hope to God-"

"What?"

"Never mind, Charles. Ijust hope I wasn't wrong to advise you to go into

this in the first place."

I laughed. "How could that be? It worked, didn't it? Even Algernon is still

smart."

We sat there silently for a while and I knew what she was thinking about

as she watched me toying with the chain of my rabbit's foot and my keys. I

didn't want to think of that possibility any more than elderly people want to

think of death. I knew that this was only the beginning. I knew what she

meant about levels because I'd seen some of them already. The thought of

leaving her behind made me sad.

I'm in love with Miss Kinnian.