When I Grow Up

In Short

Set in the year A.D. 3896 at a massive, centuries-old University, this story explores the clash between two academic giants—one championing environmental conditioning and the other advocating for the preeminence of heredity. Their long-standing, friendly rivalry is shattered by the arrival of Herbux, a student who defies both theories. Herbux’s chilling, involuntary ability to "destruct" creates an atmosphere of mounting unease. The narrative endures as a sharp, unsettling meditation on the limitations of human knowledge and the unknowable, often terrifying nature of the future we raise our children to inhabit.

The Story

The University serves as the ultimate center of learning, housing schools that obsessively debate the origins of human behavior. Professor Miltcheck von Possenfeller, representing the School of Environment, and Dr. Arthur D. Smithlawn, of the School of Heredity, spend their lives attempting to prove that nature or nurture dictates human destiny. Despite their intellectual combat, they are close friends who meet weekly to play chess and hide their professional secrets—including the fact that both professors employ spies to monitor each other’s work.

Their equilibrium is destroyed when Possenfeller confesses that he has encountered an anomaly in his school: a ten-year-old boy named Herbux. Possenfeller reveals that since the age of five, the boy has consistently expressed a singular, inexplicable desire: to be a "Destructor." When Smithlawn scoffs, Possenfeller produces a dead cat, claiming the boy killed it simply by looking at it. Initially skeptical, Smithlawn agrees to meet the boy. During the interview, Herbux demonstrates his power by staring at Smithlawn’s pet parakeet, Dicky, which drops dead instantly.

As the two professors struggle to process this horror, they realize the boy does not know how his power works, nor does he want to kill; he simply feels an inevitable compulsion to become something for which no definition exists. The men debate whether to turn him over to "physio-psychological rebuilding," but Possenfeller resists, fearing the scientific establishment will treat the boy as a lab specimen rather than an individual. They discover they have both been using unethical methods—like hypno-therapy and secret surveillance—to force their students to conform to their respective theories, exposing their own professional desperation.

The climax occurs when Smithlawn, determined to test the limits of the boy's ability, forces Herbux to try to "destruct" him. The boy struggles, breaks down in tears, and admits he cannot kill a human. The professors feel a wave of relief, believing the boy is safe after all. However, Herbux suddenly turns on them, his face filled with a terrifying, precocious rage. He screams that he will eventually succeed, vowing to kill when he grows up. The story closes on this chilling promise, leaving the professors—and the reader—to confront the reality that the boy’s developmental path is entirely outside their control.

How It Unfolds

The academic stalemate Two rival professors, Possenfeller and Smithlawn, spend decades competing to prove whether environment or heredity determines human behavior. They maintain a fragile, secretive friendship, masking their professional anxieties behind chess games and mutual spying.

The boy with a dark purpose Possenfeller brings news of Herbux, a ten-year-old student who insists he wants to be a "Destructor." The professor reveals evidence that the boy has already killed animals with nothing but a glance.

A demonstration of power The two men meet the boy, who appears perfectly ordinary until he looks at a parakeet and kills it. This display of raw, lethal power breaks the professors’ composure and forces them to acknowledge that their theories cannot account for him.

The confession of the frauds During their panic, the professors drop their academic facades and admit they have been manipulating their students through secret, unethical methods to hide their own failures. They realize they are merely desperate men trying to maintain their status rather than true scholars of human nature.

The final confrontation Smithlawn forces the boy to attempt to kill him, pushing the child to his psychological limits. When Herbux fails, he erupts in a fit of rage, declaring that his inability to kill is only temporary.

The People

Professor Miltcheck von Possenfeller is a dedicated academic who believes environment is the sole architect of human personality. He is a foundling himself, which drives his faith in the power of education. While he initially seems like a rational man, his secret use of hypno-research reveals a desperate, controlling nature. His connection to Herbux is defined by a mix of genuine affection for the boy and a terrified desire to study him without alerting the rest of the University.

Dr. Arthur D. Smithlawn is the proponent of heredity, convinced that success is written into one's genes before birth. He is observant and slightly more cynical than his friend, but he is ultimately just as trapped by his professional ego. He represents the danger of approaching a human life as a mere data point; his attempt to test his own mortality against the boy’s power shows his reckless intellectual pride.

Herbux is a quiet, polite, and "ordinary-looking" ten-year-old who stands at the center of the conflict. He is the book’s most unsettling element because he is not a monster in the traditional sense; he is a boy grappling with an, as-yet-uncontrollable, destructive instinct. He does not want to hurt, yet he identifies with a role—the "Destructor"—that implies a violent future. His development from a calm student into an enraged, determined boy marks the story's descent from an academic puzzle into an existential threat.

In Its Own Voice

"The youngster of this story isn't a child monster at all. He's just--a 'destructor.'"

The book’s introductory commentary highlights the unsettling nature of the boy’s character.

"He just looked at the cat, and the beast dropped dead."

Possenfeller describes the chilling moment he first witnessed the boy’s lethal, mysterious power.

"But I will," he screamed, "I will do it! I will! When I grow up!"

The boy’s final, terrifying declaration serves as the story’s haunting conclusion.

What It's Really About

The book is a dark inquiry into the hubris of scientific categorization. It argues that the academic obsession with labeling human behavior—whether through heredity or environment—is fundamentally doomed to fail when faced with the truly unknown. By focusing on the professors’ "tenuous" careers, the text suggests that education and psychology are often used as tools for control rather than understanding. Ultimately, it poses a disturbing question: are we merely shaping the next generation, or are we inadvertently fostering forces we cannot comprehend? The boy’s desire to be a "Destructor" acts as a metaphor for the unpredictability of progress and the fear that, as we guide our children toward adulthood, they may become something that renders all our current knowledge obsolete.

Why Read It Today

Readers who appreciate a lean, intellectual style of science fiction will find this story particularly compelling. It does not waste time on world-building for its own sake, instead using the backdrop of an advanced, thousand-year-old university to ground a very human, very claustrophobic drama. The experience of reading it feels like watching a slow-motion collision between academic arrogance and an impossible reality.

The story remains relevant for its critique of expert culture and the way it touches on the anxieties inherent in parenting and mentorship. The period tone is evident in the professors’ formal, witty banter and their somewhat rigid, mid-century approach to "child behavior," yet these elements only add to the sense of an institution detached from the chaotic reality of the boy in their midst. You should be prepared for the fact that the story ends on an unresolved, chilling note; it offers no tidy explanations for the boy's powers or his future. Instead, it leaves you with a lingering, uncomfortable question about whether the structures we build to understand the world are actually just masks for our own helplessness in the face of the unknown. For anyone who enjoys a short, sharp story that lingers long after the final page, this is a distinct and memorable piece of speculative fiction.