Simon Stoica-Bodor
It was a rainy time of the season in California. Jacob couldn’t afford a lift by taxi, so he had to go home alone in the rain with wet socks on his feet.
Two hours previously, when the principal of his school asked him to write an essay about how he feels about being the best and most successful student of the facility, he didn’t mean to say yes, but for an unknown reason he accepted the assignment. He wrote a very long text (since the principal said it must be four or more pages) about his further goals and about how he got here. He mentioned how hard it was to prioritize between his hobbies, and how he wanted to live his life and attempt not to have any regrets when throwing back to his past in the future.
Jacob finished it even though it took away ten hours of his life (as though being the smartest kid in the school hadn’t already required enough time).
The final stage was to read it out loud in front of the whole school the next day. He took it seriously, but he was very tired after the working hours. Without packing the composition, he fell asleep behind his desk and left the papers there.
The day when he had to read his story, he was looking for his writing, but he couldn’t find it. He looked around the table three times, and around his bed. – It just can’t be possible! – he said. – I left it over here!! After a quarter-hour treasure hunt, he stopped and began to worry. His mother saw her son in trouble, so she went straight upstairs for him. She said they should look for the papers behind the desk, maybe they could have slid between the desk and the wall. She was right. The composition was there.
Jacob shouted out: – Eureka!!! This means “I have found it” in Greek. Jacob was very thankful for his mother, so he hugged her and ran down the stairs to get ready for his speech. Funny that the smartest person (among teenagers) forgot to think for fifteen minutes. I guess even the smartest kid can make mistakes.