David Zeman - The Pinocchio Syndrome

Pinocchio looked at Candlewick. To his astonishment he saw that Candlewick’s teeth had grown very large, and that his ears were growing longer.

Pinocchio looked at his own face in the mirror, and saw that his ears were growing longer too, as were his teeth. He looked down at his hands and saw that they were turning into hoofs. So were his feet.

Pinocchio cried out in terror. But his cry came out as the braying of a donkey.

May 15

Aboard the cruise ship Crescent Queen Somewhere west of Crete

It begins with a fairy-tale prince and an open sea …

‘Look at the way he moves.’

‘He’s sexy.’

‘Look at the way his ass moves when he jumps.’

‘Don’t you two ever think of anything else?’

The Crescent Queen , a charter cruise ship of American ownership staffed by an English crew, was sailing smoothly on a calm sea, her decks bathed in Mediterranean sunlight.

Three girls, all thirteen years old, were standing on the promenade deck, their eyes riveted to a volleyball game being played by eight boys their own age. The boys were sweating from their exertions, calling out encouragement to each other as they changed position and dove for the ball. The deep blue of the waves made a brilliant backdrop to the game.

The prettiest girl, Gaye, was also the shyest. She had a crush on the dark-haired boy who was now serving the volleyball. She lacked the confidence to approach him or even to smile when their eyes met, but she had made no secret of her feelings to her two friends.

Their names were Alexis and Shanda. Alexis was a tall girl with unruly auburn hair and a determination to wear as much makeup as she could get away with. Shanda, whose parents were both physicians, was the most aggressive of the three. Her mother, back home in Connecticut, had already endured many sleepless nights over Shanda, who seemed to be on a fast track leading to cigarettes, alcohol, and perhaps pregnancy.

The present cruise had been chartered by the National Talented and Gifted Scholarship Association, whose acronym was TAGS. The purpose of the Association was to encourage achievement by junior high school students around the country by sponsoring events that would reward the students for good grades and challenge them intellectually.

There were eight hundred students aboard, along with sixty-five teachers from around the country and a crew of sixty. The cruise was six weeks long, with extended stopovers in Australia, New Zealand, and Hawaii. En route the students were given intensive course work in language, science, and history. There was to be a competitive exam given on the way back to New York, the winners to be honored with scholarships and a guaranteed return cruise next year.

A less-than-publicized fact about intellectually gifted children is that they tend to be sexually precocious. This was particularly true of Shanda, whose career in junior high had already included some amorous adventures that she had managed with considerable difficulty to keep secret. Shanda had quickly gravitated to Alexis the day the Crescent Queen set sail from New York Harbor. The two had co-opted Gaye into their friendship because they envied her beauty and were beguiled by her sweet, gentle personality.

An only child, Gaye had been lively and rambunctious until the onset of puberty dropped a shroud of self-consciousness over her personality. For a while she was so withdrawn that her mother sent her to a child psychiatrist. Then it was discovered that her IQ was 164. Her moodiness was chalked up to her high intelligence and the routine identity crisis experienced by gifted children. It did not help that she was the only daughter of Kemper Symington, the United States secretary of defense, a highly visible architect of the current administration’s foreign policy.

Like everyone else on board, the three girls had become aware of handsome Jeremy Asner, a tall, athletic boy from Riverside, California, who was the sole representative of his school district on this cruise. Jeremy was a junior high school all-American in soccer, and had dreams of a career in politics.

A well-spoken, polite boy whose gray eyes had a dreamy and somehow withdrawn quality, Jeremy had quickly become the most popular boy on the Queen. Shanda and Alexis had coveted him from afar for several weeks, but had made no romantic headway with him. Now they had decided their best bet was to set Jeremy up with Gaye, who exceeded them in physical beauty and seemed more Jeremy’s type. If Gaye got to first base with Jeremy, the victory would be for all three.

The only problem was Gaye herself. She was too shy to approach Jeremy directly. Weeks of wheedling by her two willful friends had not moved her. Before long the cruise would be over and it would be too late.

Tonight, however, was the Week Five dance, to be held in the main ballroom. According to the rules set by the social committee, anyone could invite anyone. Girls were free to invite boys. Shanda and Alexis were giving their final push to Gaye.

‘You’ve got to invite him,’ Shanda said. ‘I talked to his roommate. He doesn’t have a date. He’s even thinking of not going to the dance. He’s just waiting for you, Gaye!’

‘I don’t know,’ Gaye temporized, looking across the deck at the boys, who were now changing sides. Under the bright sunlight, his dark hair tousled by the wind, Jeremy looked almost too handsome to be real. She felt unworthy to approach him. He looked like a prince out of a fairy tale.

If only I knew he liked me …

Sensing Gaye’s thoughts, Shanda said, ‘Look, he thinks you’re cute. His roommate told me. But he thinks you’re standoffish. He’s afraid to talk to you.’

Gaye took this news with suspicion. ‘When did you talk to him?’

‘Last night after dinner,’ Shanda said. ‘For God’s sake, Gaye, can’t you see this is your chance? You can ask him to the dance. That way he doesn’t have to get up his guts to ask you. There’s no risk. It’s guaranteed!’

Gaye had only known Shanda for a few weeks, but she was familiar enough with her mannerisms to know when she was lying. This story didn’t sound right.

‘If he likes me, he can ask me,’ she responded.

‘He can’t, dummy!’ Shanda exploded. ‘He’s afraid of you. Don’t you listen?’

Gaye still hung back.

Then something happened that forced the girls’ hand. Jeremy left his friends and headed toward the academic area amidships. The game went on without him.

‘I can’t do it,’ Gaye said fearfully.

‘If you can’t, I will,’ Shanda said.

Still a bit out of breath, Jeremy called something over his shoulder to one of his friends. He was coming straight toward the girls.

Gaye knew she was trapped. Shanda, the aggressive one, would not hesitate to speak to him on Gaye’s behalf. Jeremy was only a dozen feet from her now, not looking at her but coming straight toward her.

‘Come on, dummy,’ Shanda hissed in her ear as she pushed her forward.

The push was rough. Gaye’s slender young body was flung forward, right into the path of the approaching boy. She tried to catch her balance, but it was too late. She saw Jeremy’s arms react as his eyes turned to her. In that last split second she thought, Shanda was lying. He doesn’t like me. He can’t –

The thought never completed itself. Before she could turn to dart a look of reproach at her friend, Gaye Symington ceased to exist.