Magic Defeats Genius

The cafeteria buzzed with chatter of teenagers being teenagers. It was busy. The Cafeteria always is. But in a quieter room, a classroom, away from the cafeteria, sat me with my friends. Sitting on desks running around, we spend our lunches doing, and talking about anything. From crazy dance battles, to drama, we have done and talked about it all. 

Today was different. Sarah brought a deck of cards. My brain buzzed with a memory of a fake magic trick I did when I was younger. I whisper into Sarah’s ear:

“Do you want to prank Patrick?”

“Yes! I’m always down for some funny tricks, whatcha have in mind?”

Patrick was the smartest of our group. He has straight A’s and helps tutor us when we really need it. At lunch he enjoyed hanging out with us instead of the smart kids in the cafeteria because we were fun. However Patrick had just left the classroom to grab some fruit from the lunch lines. Now realizing that we don’t need to whisper, I reveal the plan:

“Okay, so when Patrick comes back with his food, I will do a magic trick to you with the cards. Just a simple trick. You pick a card, look at it, then put it back into the deck. I’ll shuffle the deck a few times then I’ll pick any card from the deck. When I ask you if this card was your card, act like it was.”

“But wouldn’t he know what card I picked?”

“Don’t show him the card when you pick it originally.”

“Ohhhh, okay got it.” Sarah nods in agreement.

The whole group listened and everyone understood their role. The door opened and Patrick, unaware, attended to his desk and began to unravel his lunch. 

“Sarah, can I show you a magic trick with those cards?” I said.

Patrick looked up from his food.

“Magic tricks aren’t real, they’re just illusions. Don’t waste your time with unimportant hobbies.”

Sarah grins and nods at me with encouragement. 

“Okay, Sarah, would you pick a card, any card?”

Sarah reaches over and picks a card and looks at it. She makes sure that Patrick doesn’t see which card she has. She shows Maccee, and Robert. Then, slowly, she puts the card back into the deck. I shuffle the cards. After a couple shuffles I look up and see Patrick half laughing at me.

“You know where her card is. You have it marked with your finger” he says.

“Okay you shuffle it.”

I hand him the cards and he moves the cards to shuffle them under the table where I can’t see. I close my eyes and turn away just for the added effect. Smiling, he hands me back the cards. Once more I break the deck.

“Sarah, what’s your favorite number?” I ask.

“7”

I break the deck once more and count 7 cards. On the 7th card I flip it over. 

“Sarah, is this your card?” I say trying to hold back my excitement.

I knew it wasn’t her card, and she knew it wasn’t, but Patrick didn’t. 

Sarah looked at the card and gasped with awe. Maccee and Robert followed with the same confused expression. I laughed and looked toward Patrick while they were still pretending to be in shock. Patrick looked puzzled. Like he just received a B on a test or got a question wrong on our homework. 

Breaking the chattering noise from the brilliant trick I say, “So Patrick do you believe in magic now.”

His face paused. His brain was burning trying to find out the secret and to prove me wrong. But I knew he couldn’t. Just before he could answer, the bell rang, ending our lunch. Patrick shoots out of his seat, and grabs his stuff.

“I know how you did it,” he says, walking towards the classroom door.

“Oh yea” I reply, “how?”

“I would tell you but I don’t want to be late for class, gotta go!”

I smile as Patrick speed walks out of the classroom towards his English class. I knew he didn’t know. Sarah and I both knew he didn’t know. We packed up our lunch and laughed all the way until we reached our history class. It was priceless. 

We broke the genius.

Don’t overthink It

Buford Solved Math – The funniest Scene 

We ran into the next room. It’s a bright and colorful room and there is a large jar of jelly beans on the counter, with a sign that read: 

How many jellybeans are in the jar?

“OH! I am really good at solving these problems!” I say.

Jacob, Vivian, and I reach down into our pockets and quickly pull out our phones. Carlos carelessly walks over to the Jelly beans to investigate. 

Focused on my phone calculator, I start doing the math. Numbers and equations are flying through my head. Vivian adds to my train of thought.

“So the face of the jar is pi times radius squared”.

I look up, “You are measuring the radius in centimeters right?”

“No, inches, that way the inches with fractions work with pi.”

“Don’t we use 3.14 for pi?” I add.

Hurriedly processing and thinking Jacob, Vivian and I rapidly type numbers into our phones. Our brains, busy at work.

“OH FOR CRYING OUT LOUD!” Screams Carlos. We look up from our calculations.

He picks up the jar, screws off the lid, and pours them into his mouth. 

“There, Zero”

He puts the jar down and the next door of the escape room opens. He walks through. 

Bewildered, we pause in confusion and frustration.

“Okay so technically that is correct, but you didn’t show your work!” I yell as we start to follow behind him.

The World Isn’t Ending

The world is ending. 

People are crying. It’s over. Jason’s face is covered by the wet palms of his hands. Tears are rolling down his face, quickly traveling down his arms. 

The world is ending.

Suddenly, his friend, Chris, taps him on the shoulder. Jason doesn’t move. 

Chris sympathizes, “It’s going to be okay.” 

Offended by the words, Jason throws his head up to look at Chris. Jason’s face was blotchy, red, and pink, while Chris’s face was neutral. 

The world is ending. 

Jason rubs his nose, “My parents don’t know, I’m not going to tell them.” 

“They are going to find out eventually” Chris says, aiming to comfort Jason while staying realistic. “Plus, a C isn’t even that bad.”

Lesson Learned

It was a warm sunny day. My mom, my sister, and I were on our daily walk home from our elementary school. On our walks home, our mom would question us asking all about our day at school. She loved the details; the more details the better, as she would always say.

One time, we were walking home from school as my sister began ranting about her fun day in art class. I was watching my steps carefully and jumping over every crack in the sidewalk that I saw. I always used to play small games on our walks home, when I wasn’t story telling. Out of the corner of my eye I saw my sister’s bag move. To this day, I still don’t know why I didn’t express my concern for the sudden lifelike movement in her bag. I remember my sister asking my mom for her permission to bring home their classroom pet the night before. However I knew my mom had said no, because our older brother was scared of most animals and my sister wasn’t known for her responsibility.

When we got home, I hung my bag on the hook. To me, that signaled that my learning-filled day was over. Normally, my sister would do the same, however this day was different. Although we each have our own hooks for our bags by the front door, she decided to take her bag up the stairs to our room. Confused, our mom stealthily followed her to see what she was doing. 

Suddenly my mom screamed, “AHHHHHH! Why would you bring that home!”

Startled and curious, I ran up the stairs to see what the commotion was about. My sister stood there silently with her head down when I peeked inside the room. As I opened the door, a white and black spotted bunny sprinted past me down the stairs. Quickly realizing I forgot to close the front door, I sped after the bunny. As I got to the bottom of the stairs, I searched in panic but the bunny was nowhere to be found. 

The Nutcracker

It was a few weeks before Christmas. Decorations and lights were brought out of their long hibernation, and the holiday season was stirring. The Dolph family was beginning their festival traditions. Gina and John were discussing possible gift ideas for their children as they heard a shatter coming from the other room where Timmy, John Jr., and Melissa were decorating the tree. As they turned the corner they saw their children staring at the shattered nutcracker on the floor. It was an heirloom that was passed down every year from Gina’s family; it was older than all of them.

After the beginning shock wore off and realization hit, John told John Jr. to grab the broom from the kitchen to sweep up the broken treasure. Once John Jr. came back Melissa helped him sweep up the pieces and they put the dust pan on the table. Sitting around the table, saddened, Gina was hurt. It was passed down from her great great grandfather who had originally made it and offered it to Gina’s great grandmother as a gift that represented their love. 

Gina poured the dust pan with the pieces into a bowl. She didn’t want to get rid of it because she was still so attached. To her, the nutcracker represented love and selflessness. It was one of the only things that her mom treasured. The broken nutcracker sat on that table in the same bowl for weeks. 

A while later Gina threw herself onto the couch after a long day at her job. Putting her feet up on the table she noticed that the bowl was missing. Worried that someone had thrown it away, she jumped up to go talk to her husband. John was sitting in the kitchen eating chips while looking at his phone. He had no idea what happened to the family heirloom. Even more worried Gina ran to her kids’ rooms. Timmy was sitting on his desk chair, the bowl next to him on his desk. Relieved, Gina went to grab the bowl. But the nutcracker wasn’t in it. She looked over to see a bottle of glue and a picture of the Dolph family as well as extended family. Everyone who was loved, both friends and family. Timmy was in the middle of gluing the pieces of the broken nutcracker to the frame.

It was perfect. It encompassed all Gina idealized in her family. Her mom and dad, her children, her husband, her cousins, and friends, everyone was in the photo smiling two years ago around christmas time. Even in the back of the photo, on the tree, you could see the nutcracker hanging on the highest branch.

Decades later, John, the third, opened the box of Christmas decorations and pulled out the picture of his family. The picture and nutcracker frame came with the attached note on the back explaining the love story and purpose of this holiday picture and tradition.