Counting to 100-hundred

I was "Star of the Week."

This is a big deal - an entire bulletin board dedicated solely to you...in this case, me. My accomplishments and interests put on display for all to envy. Move over Jonathan DuPriest, I was about to be the most fascinating person in class (he was typically considered the most interesting because he was the only black person in the class...maybe in the whole school).

I had made my mother take a series of me in my favorite yellow shirt (the one with giraffes on it). I had painstakingly assembled my list of favorites.

Color: orange

Food: CCC and Fettucini Alfredo (I was impressed with myself for knowing CCC could stand for chocolate chip cookies and for knowing a pasta dish beyond the mundane spaghetti and meatballs).

Place I've Been: Italy (booyah! The best one so far had been the Grand Canyon)

Famous person: George Bush (Typically the question for boys was "Favorite Sports Star," but I only knew one. I would have preferred the girl's question, "Favorite Movie Star," but didn't want to answer a girl question. GB had just been elected so I thought it was a reasonable move.)

What I want to be: A doctor, artist, actor, lawyer, house-husband, switchboard operator or president. (Further explaining my very unique and intriguing interest in Bush.)

Just one more major question remained - "An Interesting Fact About Me."

Most of those were covered in the answers to previous questions. I.e., I want to be president, I know a lot about food, I have been to Italy. Luckily I had had a striking revelation earlier that morning....

We had been studying numbers. After reaching 100 my teacher explained how it works from there, "and when you get to ten-hundred it's called something different. It's called a thousand!"

My mind had been blown - more than a hundred was simply unbelievable. but with deliberate thought and careful consideration I came up with my interesting fact.

"I can count to ten-thousand!"

This was shear brilliance. No one else in class could do that, and if they could they hadn't figured it out yet. But then, as always, my teacher had to shoot me down for the heavens.

"No you can't," she said with a snicker.

"Of course I can - you taught us how this morning," I quickly replied.

"But you never have," she fired back.

"I've never done a penny-drop from the highbar, but I know I can do that. I've never run around the room with my shirt over my head, but I know I can do that."

Whether it was my simple defiance, or the teacher was still sensitive to the subject because Meredith had been sent to the office earlier in the day for running around the playground with her dress over her head - I ended up in the guidance counselor's office. A room with which I was very familiar.

After talking to Mrs. McKee for a few minutes I returned to the room.

"Now, have you come up with something?"

"Yes. I think it is interesting that no one believes I can't count to 10,000, even though I can," I said confidently. And after quick reflection added, "and I can do a penny-drop from the highbar."