The Miranda MacArthur Story

chapter 3

"What's wrong, Mom?" Miranda asked since Jen had not responded in any way to her daughter's proclamation of what she had wanted to do. "Why can't I go to school like a normal kid?"

Jen sighed, she knew sometime this day would come, she was just hoping it wouldn't be at this age. "I'm sorry, sweetie, but homeschooling is for your own good."

There it was again. The same response of homeschool that Miranda always heard, but never understood it. Why did her parents always tell her that? Even her Uncle Jamie said that to her whenever he would come to visit during holidays while Miranda would have time off and be able to celebrate the national holidays and have days off like a normal kid in normal public school.

"Why is it for my own good?" Miranda became vocal to stand up against her mother's repetitive excuse of homeschooling her without even ever sending her to public school. "What would happen if I came to public school? All my friends go to public school, why can't I?"

"I'm sorry, dear, but it's only for your own good..." Jen told her daughter, not wanting to argue, the girl was only seven, not even at the teenage youthful rebellion stage with effects of puberty.

"Why is it though?" Miranda refused to let that be the final answer. "Why can't I go to school like Layla, Devin, Michelle and all the other kids in Megaville? Why, Mom, why?"

Jen was about to use her excuse, but didn't, then remembered a phrase all mothers used to get their children to shut up and agree with their statement to get them to quit discussing. "Because I said so, that's why."

"Come on, Mom," Miranda still refused to let that stand in her way. "Tell me why I can't go to school. Layla, Devin, and Michelle can, everyone else in school can, why can't I be with them? You and Daddy went to public school, Uncle Jamie went to public school, everybody has! Why do I have to be homeschooled? I love spending extra time with you and all, Mom, but I want to be like everyone else. I wanna spend more time with my friends and be with other people close to my own age. Wouldn't that make you and Daddy happy if I did and became social?"

"Oh, sweetie, you... You might not be ready for it yet..." Jen tried to think of an excuse to cover up the real reason why she and Brick had her homeschooled.

"Mom..." Miranda looked into her mother's blue eyes she had inherited. "Tell me..."

"Well, I guess I should've known to tell you this," Jen sighed. "I wanted to wait until you were a little older, but there's no backing out of it now it seems... Sweetie, do you know anything about Megaville's history?"

"Like what?" Miranda took interest in this topic, hoping it wasn't a ploy to distract her from the truth her mother had locked up and thrown away the key to due to her family's bloodline.

"Well, do you know who ran it in the before times when it was a village, long before I, or Mr. and Mrs. Hill or even Mr. and Mrs. Vincent were born?" Jen continued.

Miranda shook her head. "No, Mom, but what does the history of Megaville have to do with my homeschooling?"

"Well, Miranda, you should know something," Jen sighed again. "Could you please hold all your questions until I'm done? This is very hard for me to talk to you about."

Miranda saw how depressed her mother seemed and decided to do as told, trying to hold in any questions she had about the truth that had been locked away and sealed from her since her birth.

"Anyway," Jen found the strength to continue without Brick's assistance, wishing he were here, but then again, he didn't know this as well as she did. "The village was founded by your great-grandmother, John's mother. John was mine, Uncle Jamie's, and your Aunt Michelene's father. I know you don't know anything about your Aunt Michelene, but this concerns her too. You see, Miranda, your grandfather was a strong and intelligent man, he was even as smart as Dexter Tartovosky. A child prodigy if you will. He was rivaled a lot with fellow amateur scientists, like there was Kathy O'Reilly, David Osworth, John Utonium, Nora Wakeman, and many more."