Dolbin School for the Extraordinary-Chapter 13-Jedidiah Dolbin

 I am publishing my middle grade novel, Dolbin School for the Extraordinary, chapter by chapter.

You can download the whole book for free on Amazon.

Click here for the previous chapter-chapter 12 The First Class.

Or if you wish, you can go back to the beginning with chapter 1-Jake Cooper.

Chapter 13: Jedidiah Dolbin

“Quiet down, class,” Professor Guinness began when everyone was seated.  

A black and white picture appeared on the video screen at the front of the classroom. It pictured a man with unruly hair, a beard and glasses sitting in a laboratory.

“We’ve been discussing the life of Jedidiah Dolbin, Mr. Cooper, so this is a good time for you to have entered our class,” the professor began. “Someone tell me what skill he noticed first? What was the first Extra ability he discovered?”

“Super-strength,” said a girl named Sarah Johnson who was sitting in the same row as Jake.

Jake leaned over and saw that she had long brunette hair which was pulled back in a ponytail.  

“He heard about a circus strong man lifting a thousand pounds,” Sarah said. “At first he thought it was just for show, but when the circus came near Washington, D.C., Dolbin went and saw the circus. It was there that he saw Ivan Kiniski.”

“Korinski, Miss Johnson. The last name was Korinski,” Professor Guinness corrected her. “But everything else you said was correct.” 

The professor turned back to face the screen behind him. He clicked a button on his tablet and the picture changed to an ugly, bald-headed man with a large mustache. 

“Ivan Korinski was born in the Soviet Union,” he continued. “He came here soon after World War I. He had been traveling with the Bartleby Circus since he was eight years old with his parents, who were also circus performers.  At first he helped with the horses.” 

The picture changed on the screen and showed little Ivan holding the reins of a horse. 

“Then one day, after Ivan turned eleven, an unruly stallion went wild with the older trainers and got loose. The horse bolted for the crowds. Ivan caught the horse and stood in front of the stallion. He put his hands out, grabbed the reins and pulled the horse to the ground.

“Luckily, this happened away from the public,” Professor Guinness added. “Only Aaron Bartleby, Ivan’s parents, and a few other horse wranglers saw the incident. Understandably, most of the witnesses weren’t sure what they had witnessed, but Mr. Bartleby was sure he had a money-maker on his hands.”  

The screen changed to show Mr. Bartleby, who had a neatly trimmed beard and a part down the middle of his hair.

“Now, what do you think would have happened to Ivan after something like this?” the professor asked, looking around the classroom.

“People would have panicked,” shouted a chubby boy with a crew cut, who was sitting two rows behind Jake.

Professor Guinness nodded. “Thank you, Mr. Johnson. That’s what we would think would happen. But what happens when people claim to see UFOs, ghosts and Elvis?”  

The class chuckled.

“Nobody believes you,” said Sarah.

“You are exactly right, Miss Johnson. No one believes them. If a Basic sees someone jump over a building, or lift a car with one arm, or run a mile in under a minute, most people don’t want to believe. And that is to our advantage. Remember that.”

The professor hit a button on his tablet, and the picture changed on the screen. Now there was a cell phone pictured on the big screen.

Professor Guinness turned and looked at the screen. “Now everyday technology makes our existence a little more difficult. And that is why everyone in this room and their family was resettled when your Extra abilities were discovered. Your abilities are harder to hide now. When Ivan was discovered, no one had cell phones or even instant cameras. The early stories we know of him come from himself and Bartleby.”  

The professor looked down at the floor and walked around. Then he looked up and continued his lecture. 

“But people do talk and rumors begin. The majority of people don’t want to believe that someone could lift a ton with one hand, but word-of-mouth helped spread the news about Ivan.  And it caught the attention of Jedediah Dolbin.”

Jake leaned forward in his chair. He was mesmerized by these stories. There were people that came before him with these extraordinary abilities. This knowledge gave him comfort.

Professor Guinness continued. “One day, when the circus came near Jedidiah’s hometown, he decided to go and see Ivan. This super-strong man lifted barbells over his head and picked up a table that had several men sitting on it. These were very impressive feats, but not much different from other strongman acts of the day. After the show was over, Mr. Dolbin stayed behind and wandered the circus grounds, where there were sideshows still going on. He spotted Ivan and asked for his autograph in hopes of starting a conversation.  

“As the story goes, as Mr. Dolbin was handing the pen to Ivan, a scream went out across the circus. An elephant had gone wild and broke away from his handler. The crowd cleared out as fast as it could. Ivan handed the pen back to Mr. Dolbin and ran toward the elephant. Grabbing the chain from around the elephant’s neck, he firmly planted his feet into the ground and pulled the elephant down to the ground.”

Professor Guinness clicked his tablet and a picture came up with the elephant on its side.  

“This is a picture of the elephant pulled down to the ground with his handlers and Ivan standing by the elephant.”

Jake raised his hand, but did not wait for Professor Guinness to call on him before asking, “Why did Ivan stay there? Wouldn’t he have run? Wouldn’t people have been scared of him?”

“Good questions, Mr. Cooper. Again most people don’t want to believe that there is something extraordinary going on right in front of them. Some people just believed that it was part of an act, that the elephant was trained to fall,” Professor Guinness explained. “Mr. Dolbin knew better. The circus people were scared. Ivan later said he surprised himself. But Dolbin knew there was something different about Ivan. His interviews with Ivan documented the first recorded incidents of Extra abilities.”

As Jake stared at his tablet, he thought about how Ivan didn’t know what was happening to him. He must have been freaked out. There was no community of people with Ivan’s skills.

“Now, Professor Guinness, that theory no longer holds,” said David Kurtz.  

Some of the students shifted in their seats, sensing the disrespect in David’s comment.

“I mean, after all, our families were relocated when we discovered our talents,” David continued, putting air quotes around the last word. “After all, when I was discovered, my talents were put on the evening news. People do believe when they see something extraordinary. I think they want to believe.”  

Professor Guinness listened intently and then responded. “Well, Mr. Kurtz, I would argue that the system we have developed here works,” he said. “In fact, if I remember correctly, most people after seeing your antics on the news believed that the event was faked.”  

There was some nervous laughter in the room.

“It wasn’t faked,” David said under his breath.

  “What did you say?” Professor Guinness asked.

“It wasn’t faked!” David shouted.

“There is no need to shout,” the professor said in a soothing tone. “I know that it wasn’t faked.  That is why you are here at this school. I don’t know why you are arguing with me, young man.  You can spend some time in detention this afternoon, Mr. Kurtz, thinking about why you are here.”  

The class went quiet.

Then Jake’s tablet turned off. He looked for the on button hoping to get it up and running. Then he noticed that the students sitting near him were looking at their blank tablets as well.

“What’s going on?” one of the boys asked.

“Settle down. We will find out what is going on,” Professor Guinness assured the class.  

Sparks began to fly from behind Jake and then a bolt of lightning zapped the video screen.

“It wasn’t faked!” David shouted again. He was pointing toward the front of the class, a stream of electricity flowing from his index finger.

Suddenly alarms began blaring. Students dove for cover under their desks. 

Professor Guinness stood calmly in front of the class. David aimed his finger at him. The professor leaned to the side and let the electricity hit the wall. Then he bent down behind his desk.

David started screaming and walking toward the professor. “That’s right! Hide from me! This isn’t faked!” he yelled.

The door in the front of the room suddenly burst open and three suitmen charged through.  David turned and aimed his finger at the first one, who collapsed and landed with a thud. The other two separated. One headed toward the front, while the other walked to the back of the room. David blocked the second one by sending streams of electricity in his direction. The suitman hit the ground and slid under the lightning.

Seeing a window of opportunity, Professor Guinness stood up from behind his desk. He zoomed across the room and tackled David. In less than a second, he had bound the boy’s arms and hands. David was on the ground kicking and screaming. 

“The situation is contained,” one of the suitmen said into his wrist radio. “Turn off the alarm. We will need medical here. Williams is injured and in need of assistance.”  

The suitman named Williams was groaning and remained on the floor, where he had fallen.

Principal Glover appeared in the doorway and said, “Remove him.”

The suitman picked up David and left the room.

“Is anyone in here injured?” the principal asked. “If you are able, please stand so we can take roll of the class.” 

The students stood up. Mr. Glover took his tablet and scanned the room. A woman’s voice originating from the tablet said, “Everyone present and accounted for with the exception of David Kurtz.”

Principal Glover looked at his tablet and then at the class. “I am glad to see that everyone can stand,” he said. “Now I need everyone to pick up a chair, take a seat and wait. The medical team will come in and make sure everyone is okay.”  

A team of people in white coats began filing into the classroom.  

“Professor Guinness, I will hand the class back over to you,” the principal said. “I am needed elsewhere.”  

He turned and walked briskly out the door.

For the next several minutes Jake was checked over by one of the doctors. He was fine. Except for a few bruises and scrapes from diving to the floor, everyone was fine.

The bell rang and the students filed out of the classroom. Jake headed to his next class, math.  

“Why are classes are not canceled?” Jake wondered aloud as they walked down the hallway.

“What are they going to do? Send us back to our dorms and have us sit there? Call our parents and have them come get us?” Henry answered. “We’re at an elite school that is hidden. We don’t draw attention to ourselves. Out-of-the-ordinary things happen here all the time. We can’t stop every time something different happens.”

Henry pointed to a classroom and said, “We have math here.”

He walked in and Jake followed.

Dr. Fisher was standing at the podium in the front of the room. She had short black hair and wore a black suit jacket over a black dress. She looked up. “You must be Jake Cooper,” she said and reached out to shake his hand. “Find a seat next to Mr. Cho. He will show you the assignment we are working on.”

“Yes, ma’am,” Henry said as he led Jake to a table.

This room was different from Professor Guinness’ classroom. Dr. Fisher’s room had large tables where the students sat together. When Jake was seated, he took out his tablet and saw that a math problem had appeared.

Henry leaned over and nodded. “Yeah, that’s the problem we are all working on.”

Jake’s second class at Dolbin went much more quietly and calmly than his first one.

After class, Jake walked out with Henry and Cal. “Sorry, man. We gotta go to detention,” said Henry. “We will see you later this evening at dinner. If we don’t hurry, we will get more time in detention.”  

Cal and Henry waved and began jogging down the hallway to detention. Jake was sad to see his new friends go. He looked down at his schedule. Gym came after lunch.

Bruce approached Jake and patted him on the back. “Come on. Let’s go eat lunch,” he said. “You’ll see them later this evening.”

Jake was still a little shaken by what had happened in his first class. He sat quietly with Bruce at the lunch table. Then Jake felt a punch on his shoulder. 

“Hey, wake up! That was a quite a first class, I hear!” Red said.

Jake looked up and said, “Yeah, you could say that.”

“Shake it off. You’re safe. Didn’t Professor Guinness stop it quickly?” Red said, doing his best to make Jake feel less scared.

“You’re about to go to gym class,” he continued. “You’ll get to show off how strong you are there. Don’t worry about David. He’s not the only one with superhero skills here. He just scared you new guys. Remember, Jake, you are strong. You’re not helpless.”

“So why didn’t I fight back?” Jake asked. “Why didn’t the other students?”

“It takes training to not be afraid and to know what you are capable of doing,” Bruce responded.  “Don’t worry. You will learn how to fight and self-defense in your middle school years here. Meanwhile, remember what happened at your old school. You can take care of yourself.”

The bell rang. 

Jake cleared off his plate and headed to gym class.