✅1️⃣ | Hypnosis Doesn't Work Like That!

198: I Don't Need to Learn Any Lessons

Dean sat on the sofa in front of the television, with Adi beside him. She hadn't been able to see the DVD he put in the machine, no matter how much she craned her neck, so she found that she was still in the dark. She stared at the screen, waiting for the show to start, and didn't turn away even when she heard the door slam. Mom was going out somewhere, maybe fitting in a few hours at work so they'd be able to afford some kind of treat this month, but all Adi cared about was what Dean was going to show her.

It turned out to be a kids' show with two brightly coloured dinosaurs. There were animated bits where the dinos found some problem, like a pile of rocks between them and their dinner. And then they would go to a room where they seemed to have turned into puppets, and a man with crazy hair and a big grin taught them how to count the rocks, or how to add up and take away tomatoes so they knew how many they were buying. It was clearly supposed to be educational, and at the first minute Adi thought that she was going to be so bored, because everything was going to be so easy for her. She was a genius, after all, and she was only playing at being a baby.

But two minutes into the show, she almost fell out of her seat laughing at a dinosaur bouncing and rolling, down a grassy hillside. They'd been teaching him to count, and now the poor dino was trying to count how many times he'd turned over before he got to the bottom. Adi didn't know why it seemed so funny, but it seemed to have all the right elements. Or maybe everything was funny now just because she wasn't thinking so much; and as soon as that thought had crossed her mind, she realised that she really didn't need to try thinking. She was enjoying herself.

"I see you're enjoying it already," Dean looked down at her with a smile. "You might learn something, too. Or you can show me how much you already know. If you were a baby, every little thing they teach you on the TV will seem really challenging, and if you know it you'd be so proud of how much you learned."

Adi was about to answer that she didn't expect to learn anything, because she was a big girl and this show was just for babies. But before the words could leave her mouth, she thought that she really was enjoying it, and even being treated like a baby felt good. And she knew that Dean's words would let her enjoy this show, even if it was really stuff she'd known for years. She didn't need to argue with that, so she just sat back to watch TV with her head resting on Dean's arm.

The show must have been made for kids, but that didn't stop it gripping Adi's attention. The story was interesting and always managed to surprise her, and the segments with the teacher fitted in well. Of course, Adi already knew how to count, how to add up numbers, and everything else they were teaching. It should have been easy, but the way they turned the sums into real problems meant she really wanted to find the answer every time, and it was hard enough that she felt really good at being able to solve all of the problems.

"You having fun?" Dean asked again after the third or fourth episode had finished. Adi realised that she hadn't been counting them, even though she'd been so excited about learning to count a few minutes before.

"Yeah! I know more than the teacher I think. What's next?"

"I think that's the last one. The end of this disc, anyway. Should I try teaching you the next bit?"

Adi grinned at that thought, looking from the TV screen to Dean and back again. While her attention was distracted, he'd picked up a couple of plushies who could maybe pass for dinosaurs, and he was putting on a serious expression that almost looked like the doctor in the videos, and she found herself bouncing with glee at the thought of getting those lessons from a real teacher, so he could see how well she was doing. But then another idea came to mind, something that would let her impress him even more.

"I'm smarter than the teacher!" she burst out. "I'm gonna teach you some stuff!"