Chương 43: Book 2 - Chapter 11 A

That next week, my life started moving faster at the University. I had lab days on Tuesday and Friday where I worked, using proper equipment to recreate my graphene success. I went ahead and tested out of my Monday classes. They weren't interesting enough to keep going to in person. Then I did my Wednesday classes, then finally my Thursday classes. Dr Maytubby tracked me down one day to ask about my lab work.

"John, any chance you can move lab days from Friday to Thursday?"

"Sure, I'm finished with my spring semester classes, no problem."

"When did that happen?"

"Just yesterday."

"It's just the 31st!" He counted it out on his fingers.

"You finished a semester of school in fifteen days?"

"The classes weren't interesting enough to make attending worth the effort, so I just tested out."

"Okay, your new lab days are Tuesdays and Thursdays. I'll see about getting you into the Sophomore classes for the rest of the semester. It's early enough in the year, it shouldn't be a problem. I'll make sure that they only give you classes on Monday, Wednesday and Friday."

"I did most of those already during the fall semester. Maybe the Junior classes instead?"

"Yeah, whatever classes you have next, let's get you in to them."

"Hopefully they will be more interesting. Do you want to see what I just made?" I asked him. He paused from turning and heading to wherever he was going next.

"I'm afraid to ask," he said.

"But sure, show me." I waved him over to the table where a single graphene flake was between two clips, sitting above a mirror. I handed him a pair of tinted lab safety glasses, and then donned the pair hanging on the strap around my neck. The room lit up in a magnificent brilliant light, and he stepped back and shielded his face.

"That is very bright," he said.

"It's dimable," I told him, and adjusted the knob. It lowered the intensity until it was only as bright as a 40 watt bulb.

"How bright was that?" he asked.

"About 6, 000 lumens," I said with a grin.

"How much electricity?" he asked, seeing the tiny clips holding onto the tiny 5x5mm graphene flake inside the sealed glass tube.

"15 watts at full brightness," I said, and waited to see if he would faint. He looked a little unsteady so I pulled a chair over and he sat.

"I'm still waiting on patent protection, Dr Maytubby. There are all kinds of nifty uses for my graphene flakes. Lucrative uses. I think this will be my last experiment until I get protection. It's too dangerous, and I've got a few other things I want to try now that I have time in a real lab." February 1st at breakfast, I announced to my family, "I'm finished with my first year at the University. I tested out of the classes I had, and got full credit.

Dr Maytubby is enrolling me in the next set of classes I need, so next week I'll be doing those for the rest of the semester." The author's tale has been misappropriated; report any instances of this story on Amazon.

"Is that too much work?" Mom asked.

"It's fine, I'm still in the University Chemistry lab Tuesdays and Thursdays, where I'm having fun. I'll probably test out of the classes as I get bored with them."

"Well don't rush, College is supposed to be a time of learning and having fun," Grandma added.

"I think I'm a little young for the fun that most of the College students are having, Grandma." Dad laughed, and she looked abashed. Grandpa patted her hand.

"I know what you meant, dear," he told her.

"There's no reason to rush, if you test out, you should just take the time off and go do something fun. I still haven't been to the shooting range with you yet," Dad said.

"I'm concerned you are loading yourself down with too many classes."

"I'll be fine, Mom. I'll test out of the Monday and Friday classes first. That way, I'll just have to go to school Tuesday through Thursday. I can get back to writing computer programs on those days, plus I'm having fun shooting with Matt on Saturdays, and you let me spend time in my lab upstairs on Sundays. I'm busy but I'm doing the things I enjoy." That satisfied her, so I dropped another bombshell.

"By the way happy anniversary! We put your present upstairs in the new bar."

"Really? What is it?" she asked.

"Just go see," Dad told her.

"You know what it is?" she asked him.

"I've been helping John hide it for five months." She went running off for the elevator.

"You better go with her," Grandpa advised Dad.

"How did you do it?" Grandma asked me.

"I bought the piano while the OneOk building still had its crane in place. I had them lift it to the roof of our building. Dad helped me disguise it. It came sealed in an airtight package and a big crate, so it was safe, even while it was sitting outside. Once the remodel of the penthouse was done, a work crew moved the crate in and disguised it. Then while Mom was gone I had a factory expert come in and assemble it and tune it."

"But what is it?" Mattie asked, having not been part of the secret.

"It's a big white Grand Piano. The bar up there is only going to be open 3pm to midnight. The rest of the time Mom can use it to practice or even give lessons. The bar area has doors that fold around to lock up the bar area. That's so we can rent it out with or without a bartender. It'll be a very cool space to give lessons in."

"I think she will love it," Grandma predicted. I left Mom and Dad to their anniversary plans, and gave Grandpa the signal we needed to talk. Once we were locked away in his office I handed him a sheet of paper, and an address.

"These two guys in New York are starting an investment company. Take them 10 million dollars, and tell them you want to invest. Also give them two hundred thousand and tell them you want a seat on the board, and to be a one third silent partner." He smiled as he checked out the information.

"They're just getting started, so it's their home phone number. They are calling the new company Blackstone. You'll have to fly to New York to meet with them. They are very aggressive traders and are very, very good."

"When do I need to go?" he asked.

"Fly out Wednesday so you can come back Monday. Spend some time with Grandma having fun in New York over the weekend."

"She'll enjoy that," he agreed. Spending time at the University lab let me work out the steps required to automate the production process. It also gave me time to write lots of scientific papers to be published in journals after the patent application was complete. I liked having Monday and Friday free, so I tested out of the classes early, and arranged to just start sitting in a class I was interested in. I arranged my schedule to do that on Wednesdays where possible.

If the class was interesting, I'd stick around for a while, if it bored me, I'd take the class final to test out. That left lots of time to work on the graphene flake production problem. Our largest graphene flakes got sent over to the engineering lab where they performed all sorts of tests on them. Our first carbon felt filter got the same treatment. They gave me a lab assistant, who was in the graduate program. He was working on documenting everything, and setting up experiments on days I wasn't in the lab.