Chapter Ten

His first pit stop was his school. He checked out several programming textbooks from the library before going to purchase a bowl of meat porridge and some fruits for Caroline. After a quick lunch, Caroline started on the books. Cole’s advice that she should take some rest, inadvertently, fell on deaf ears. She was filled with a burning desire to absorb all the knowledge, to restart her life. If not for hee weak body, she would have been out there looking for work.

However, she knew certain things couldn’t be rushed. Health was one of them. Overexertion might exacerbate her head injury. She decided to use the downtime to catch up on the six years of progress that she had missed.

“Sis, your reading speed is fast…” Cole whispered in shock as he took a bite out of his apple. Caroline finished reading two-thirds of a book in half an hour. Caroline replied without taking her eyes off the page, “I’m speed reading just to familiarize myself with the current technology. I’m not reading the details.”

Since Caroline already had a good foundation, she could figure out which parts of the texts she needed to focus on after a brief scan. This way, she didn’t have to waste time reading about things she already knew… She put down the book she had in her hands and picked up another. Cole studied her quietly. He still had trouble accepting the reality that his sister was a computer programming master.

“Sis, how come I’ve not seen you near a computer in the past three years?” Cole asked curiously.

Caroline’s amnesia shouldn’t have wiped out her motor memory or go so far as to obliterate her computer knowledge completely. There wasn’t a lack of conversational topic on computer science in their household because that was what he studied, so why hadn’t she said anything in the past six years?

Caroline stared at the space before hee vacantly…. The brilliance in her eyes dimmed somewhat as she said, “I felt so useless…”

“Huh?” Cole had trouble understanding her.

“After my memory loss, I became so useless, it felt like I was suspended from reality.” Now that Caroline thought about it, the past six years seemed like a long dream. She had no idea memory loss would be like that. Her brain appeared to have emptied, leaving only an empty husk behind….

She would fail at everyday chores and she didn’t seem to be conscious of the world around her. If she was to describe her past six years in one word, it would be lost. Cole thought back to how things were six years ago when Caroline first moved in with them. She would stumble over the simplest of things. In fact, it took her great courage to go looking for work. The process was long and difficult because she needed to overcome great psychological pressure every step of the way.

She even had trouble remembering his name in the beginning much less her computer science knowledge. She was like a puppet, her very essence gone. Afraid it would lead her down a dark path, Cole quickly changed the subject, “Sis, I’m so sorry for bringing up the past. Now that you’ve recovered your memory, let’s focus on the future. With your impressive skills, I’m sure things will only get better from now on.”

“You’re right,” Caroline said with a slight smile before resuming her reading.

Within the shortest amount of time, she had managed to get herself updated to the latest IT information…. With the project payment in Cole’s account, Caroline no longer hurried to leave the hospital. Caroline was a practiced spender because she only spent on worthwhile investments. She needed a fully recovered body before she could go out to earn more. Money can be earned but health can’t be squandered, that was her philosophy.

Cole’s graduation was approaching so he was only needed at school for a few days of rehearsals. He decided to stay at the hospital to look after his sister and worked on some small paying projects. Caroline’s dedication to her studies inspired Cole. He also picked up a few books to study in between his programming downtime and whenever he came across things that he didn’t understand, he would ask Caroline. After two days like this, Cole realized that Caroline had an almost encyclopedic knowledge on computer science!

There was no question that she couldn’t solve. Instead of dampening his spirits, it made him push himself much harder so he could one day catch up to his genius sister. However, there exists a large gap between a genius and a commoner. Over the past two days, Caroline was done reading ten reference books. Caroline shook her head and sighed as she put down the last book. She didn’t look satisfied.

“Sis, what’s wrong?” Cole asked, “Something wrong with these books?”

“No, there’s nothing wrong with them. It’s just that these are all text books for programming students. Does your school have anything for professionals?” Caroline enquired.

Cole pouted. “These are recommended readings by my professors and I couldn’t even understand half of them. Sis, you’re really something else.”

“At the end of the day, these are intended for classroom reading, the information provided is only at a rudimentary level. Do you have any place in mind where you can borrow books on this topic other than your school library?”

Cole thought about it and said, “How about my senior? He’s the director for an IT company, I’m sure he has some literature that is more your level.”

“That’s not a bad idea.” Caroline agreed.

“Okay, I’ll go find him now.” Cole knew she was anxious to get her hands on new material so he went immediately into action. He called his senior, George Smith to state his intention. George readily agreed and asked Cole to meet him at his company. Cole rushed to his company. He was going to ask the receptionist to send a message to George when George walked out of the elevator.