Mary has lived with Frank ever since. Despite Mary’s initial disdain for average children her own age, and her boredom with their classwork, she begins to bond with them when she brings her one-eyed cat, Fred, for show-and-tell. Later, she defends a classmate from a bully on the school bus. The principal, having discovered Mary’s math talent, encourages Frank to send Mary to a private school for gifted children, offering the opportunity of a scholarship. Frank turns it down, based on his family’s experiences with similar schools. The principal contacts Frank’s estranged mother and Mary’s maternal grandmother, Evelyn. Evelyn, a former mathematician herself, believes that people with capabilities such as Mary’s have an obligation to use their talents to further help society, and feels that Mary should be specially tutored in preparation for a life devoted to mathematics, as Diane was.