Braggers Gonna Brag

I'm running a little late tonight, because Thevictorians just returned from a night on the town. In the middle of the week!

Yes, a celebration was in order. The Pony scored a perfect 36 on his ACT. The scores came out this morning from the test he took on October 24th. I found out four minutes before first bell. Into my room dashed The Pony, his laptop cradled in his arms. "The ACT scores are out! What do you think I got?"

Let the record show that if he had scored another 35, he wouldn't be making a special trip to show me. A 35 is old hat for The Pony. In fact, he kind of goes into mourning for what might have been. His brother Genius, after all, scored a 35. A tie for him is like...well...like kissing your brother, I suppose. But I played along.

"I don't know. What?"

The Pony whirled around to show me his score on the laptop screen. I congratulated him with a hug. And off he went! "I want to go show my Chem teacher! I already showed--" Let the record further show that I was not the first! The Pony had already showed his Comp teacher, an Algebra teacher he has never even taken a class from, because she was walking up the hall beside him, the office secretary, the counselor, three or four staff members standing around the office, and the principal. Word spread like wildfire. Sure. It's not like he was quarterback of our (nonexistent) football team and won the district playoffs. But academics is a big deal at our little school.

By first hour, students were congratulating me on The Pony's achievement. And Mr. Principal took over the intercom and announced it to the whole building. His former middle school teachers sent me emails to congratulate him. A reporter came from the local paper and took his picture for an upcoming article. His face is on the school website with his accomplishment. He is the first student from our district to ever earn a perfect score. So it's kind of a big deal, whether y'all consider it shameless bragging or not.

Who's gonna brag about The Pony if I don't? Not his brother, that's for sure. The Pony sent him a text with the news. Genius sent a one-word reply: "Congratulations" As The Pony said, "Not even an exclamation mark. No punctuation. No personal message."

Hick might try bragging, but he kind of mixes things up. Like that time he bragged at his family reunion that his son Genius was really smart, that he had an IQ of almost 100. Genius was mortified. "Mom! Dad told people he was proud of me because I was almost average."

The Pony remembered. "Maybe Dad will tell people I have an IQ of almost 200!"

Anyhoo...we took The Pony out for steak. It was Hick's idea. We took him to the center of Backroads, at a crossroads restaurant, a hole-in-the-wall that left us all smelling like we'd spent a week sleeping in an ashtray. But they have good steaks! Hick sprung for a $14.99 sirloin, and of course had one for himself. They both had a side salad and baked potato.

I opted for the catfish dinner, with slaw (was there any doubt?) and steak fries. I opted wrong. That catfish tasted like it had eaten enough mud to deepen the main channel of the Mississippi ten feet. I only managed to ingest 1/4 of that crispy treat. The fries were good, the three hush puppies not so much, and the slaw was great, though I couldn't finish it. Hick took my catfish, The Pony gave me the end of his sirloin and potato skin, I gave him one of my Texas toast triangles, and nobody would take the hush puppies. Between the three of us, we licked those platters clean. Except for the hush puppies.

Yes, it has been a red-letter day for Thevictorian family. Genius may be raising a drink in toast, but I doubt is has anything to do with The Pony.