Nervous System

At six months old, Thomas speaks in sentences. At one year old, he figures out how to stop his runny nose by shutting down his secretion glands. At two, he can tell when a cold is coming and head it off with the exact dose necessary of vitamin C. At three, he startles his parents with the memory of his birth. At four, Thomas discovers Crichton and Cornwell, and asks for medical texts for his birthday. At five, Thomas regulates his autonomic nervous system when he is anxious or frightened. He puts himself into a stupor several times before he figures out the proper balance for his body. At six, he discovers he can heal wounds by producing platelets and deliberately growing new skin cells. He calls up adrenaline and floods his body with it to win a race. He grows his hair back when his mom insists on a dreaded buzz cut that makes his ears stand out like flags waving in a breeze. But being able to control his entire body can’t help Thomas with everything. It can’t help his mom, who dies in a car crash two days before his dad is redeployed in the Navy. It can’t help him connect with his grandma, who he’s met twice in his life and comes to stay with him after the accident. It can’t help him make friends. Though he has the intellect of a man, Thomas has the yearnings of a six-year-old boy to bring his mother back to life. He has the power, but it’s trapped inside his own body. NERVOUS SYSTEM is a novel about how far we will go to get what we want, and just because we can, doesn’t always mean we should.