Alphabet Soup

Debilitate

Debilitate

        After receiving his daily portion of what his school called lunch and what all of the students referred to as something only flies could enjoy, Gabriel took a seat across from two of his best friends, Curtis and Samantha. Normally, the cafeteria was full of the excited chatter of a few hundred extremely sociable teenagers, but today the usual cacophony was replaced by anxious murmuring. The seniors had just taken their state mandated skills assessment tests this morning. While the seniors nervously discussed their results, all of the other students quietly speculated about what the tests were like. They changed every year, but they never failed to cause a great deal of dread that took hold of the entire student body like an iron fist.

        Curtis paused his conversation with his girlfriend and greeted Gabriel with a quick smile. "Good to see you survived. I thought I was a goner once I saw the questions about electrical currents, but they were shockingly easy compared to what I expected." Samantha giggled at the joke and Gabriel managed a small chuckle. "Maybe I'll be assigned to a good college after all."

        Samantha was quick to respond to that. "Of course you'll go to a good college! With a brain like yours, I bet you could design the tests someday." Samantha reached over and held Curtis's hand, giving it a quick squeeze. "You worrying about these tests seems about as unnecessary as Steven Hawking worrying about if he knows what velocity is."

        Curtis shoveled a few forkfuls of overly soggy mashed potatoes into his mouth in a pathetic attempt to hide his embarrassment, but there was no mistaking the warm red glow spreading across his face like a sudden wave of sunburn. Gabriel grinned, abandoning his attempts at impaling a half frozen piece of broccoli with his fork. "No need to be so modest. We all know you're smart enough to make the rest of us look like a bunch of preschoolers, so it's no use hiding it. Besides, you deserve to do well. You spend so much time with your textbooks that I'm half expecting you to invite one of them to a candlelit dinner."

        Curtis scowled for a moment. "Give me a break. You know Samantha is the Guanine to my Cytosine." He smirked. "Besides, we all know I prefer movie dates. Dinner dates are too formal and boring."

        Samantha rolled her eyes "That's not what you said when we went for burgers last week. If I remember correctly, a certain someone actually had soda flying out of his nose by the time I finished telling you about that little mishap we had in AP Biology." Gabriel couldn't blame him. He had seen the mess himself. He hoped that Samantha had neglected to mention his lab partners involvement in what was now somewhat infamously known as The Phenolphthalein Incident. Samantha saved Gabriel from having to confront that embarrassment by changing the topic. "So Gabriel, how did your tests go? I think I did pretty well, but I think Curtis and I are going to have to rely on Skype to see each other during college."

        Gabriel took a sip of his nearly expired low fat milk before delivering his verdict. "I feel pretty confident, but it's hard to tell how well I did. That essay prompt was nasty. I mean, who really cares about Heathcliff's personality. That guy was nuts!"Gabriel's friends muttered their agreement. Gabriel was just about to start a small rant about how he wished the essay had been about a more enjoyable novel when the principal's voice sounded from the intercom, ordering all seniors to report to their homerooms immediately. Thanks to dozens of on site, heavily prepared graders, the test results were ready.

        Gabriel scurried over to Mrs. Wright's room, taking his usual spot in the front row. When everyone was seated, Mrs. Wright hobbled to the front of the class. Her twisted left leg seemed especially noticeable today, standing out like a cadaver in a crime scene as she took attendance. Gabriel silently prayed that none of his friends suffered because of their results. Curtis should be alright since he already had brain damage that messed with his fine motor skills and he couldn't hear out of his left ear thanks to an infection he got when he was three; he had enough physical problems already. Samantha was pretty smart, but hopefully she wouldn't be changed too much. Gabriel was so consumed by his concern for his friends that he hadn't noticed the man who would announce the testing results enter the room in his motorized wheelchair.

        The stern African American man looked intimidating even in his half paralyzed state and his clearly atrophying legs muscles. He pierced each student with stone cold brown eyes as he boomed out their results with a voice that could easily belong to a lion or a tiger. "Lydia Brown. Destination: Houston Community College. Designated handicaps: none." Lydia bowed her head. Her shoulders shook as she quietly sobbed at her fate. "Eric Bradbury. Destination: University of Texas at Arlington. Designated handicaps: loss of left arm." The boy smiled so hard it looked like his face might freeze that way. Gabriel pitied him though; losing a whole hand, even the non dominant one, sounded terrible.

        One by one, each of Gabriel's classmates was told their results. Some laughed, some cried, others tried to stay emotionless despite their fear. As much as Gabriel wanted to go to a high ranking college, he dreaded the possible consequences. Ever since the 46th Amendment was passed, all individuals who were deemed smart enough to go to a high enough ranking college received physical handicaps so that they were on supposedly more equal footing with the less intellectually gifted members of society. This had been going since before Gabriel's parents were born, but it still caused an awful lot of tension. Gabriel's own parents weren't very vocal against the system, but every once in a while Gabriel would catch his blind mother whispering about her discontent to her husband as he hugged her close to his undamaged body.

        Gabriel took a deep breath and slowly let it hiss out from between his teeth. No matter what his results were, he had to stay strong. She had already lost her sight because of these tests. He couldn't bear to tell her if he had to suffer too. He wanted to give her a big hug and tell her he was still happy when the he was released from the hospital after he received his handicaps Gabriel held his head up high and stared the severely disabled man in the face, not even flinching when his name burst like thunder from the man's lips. "Gabriel Marquez. Destination: Johns Hopkins University. Designated handicaps: loss off right arm and muteness."