Back to School

Roger sat on his bed and admired his most prized possession, the Galaxy. It was the most intricate and dazzling glass marble he ever laid eyes on, a black sphere housing a white spiral swirl with tiny luminous dots. It was the envy of everyone in school. Roger could stare and get lost in its beauty for hours.

Alas, he had mere minutes before he had to prepare for the first day back to school after the holidays. The dreaded day when his debts would come due in the form of holiday assignments. Roger’s teachers made it abundantly clear his excuses and begging would no longer work, completed assignments were the only currency they accepted. Failure would result in a note to his parents, which in turn meant he would be grounded for a month.

Roger however was confident that would not be his fate. He got dressed and headed to school earlier than usual to harvest the fruits of his labour. A few weeks ago, Roger spent a better part of a day negotiating with various schoolmates to settle on the price for his various homework. 12 marbles for English, 18 marbles for Maths, Roger thought he overpaid a little for that, and so on. Roger did not actually have all the marbles he promised, so he borrowed from the resident banker, Paul, or as he was affectionally known, “The Hulk.” A loan from the Hulk was neither cheap nor advisable, but Roger was unconcerned. He could always earn more marbles after school by playing other kids for it.

Roger knew the only thing that would derail his plan was if he got grounded, which meant he could not earn the marbles to repay the Hulk. Hence, he came earlier to line up the homework he purchased and make sure everything was in order. One by one his schoolmates handed him the completed assignment and he paid them their marbles. Even his best friend, Ruby, grudgingly agreed his plan seemed to be working.

Roger collected all his homework, except for the last one, which unfortunately was one due to a particularly unyielding teacher. It was still early but Roger decided to text the schoolmate.

Roger: “Dude, where are you?”

George: “Not in school today, sick.”

Roger: “What the heck, what about my work?”

George: “2 days medical leave, sorry.”

Roger started to sweat. To emphasize how crucial that assignment was, Roger had prepaid George the marbles for it. Even if he did manage to convince another schoolmate to part with their assignment for him, Roger did not have any marbles to pay for it. The Hulk was expecting payment of the marbles he borrowed later that day, asking for more instead was practically inviting a pummeling.

“You are so screwed, buddy.” Ruby said.

“No. Not yet, I still have some time. I can find another student for the work.” Roger reasoned.

“And how do you plan to pay that person? Borrow more from the Hulk?”

“Can’t, already owe him 70 marbles.”

“70 marbles? Roger, I don’t think there are even enough marbles in the whole school for that!”

“Relax, I’m going to the pit.” Roger said, trying to sound as optimistic as he could.

“The Pit,” was the sand grounds next to the playground in the school. It was where the kids go to play others for marbles, in a modified version of the “ring taw” or “ringer” game. The contestants would deposit collateral, which would then be the prize, of equal value to enter the game. 12 marbles, 6 red and 5 blue, would be placed in a pile in the center of a ring. After choosing their colors, contestants would take turns to flick a marble at the pile, hitting them out of the ring. The first to knock out all the marbles of the opponent’s color wins the prize.

Roger was first introduced to the game at a playground near his home, which kindled his obsession of the game and marble collecting. He found a sack of 8 marbles in the attic, a remnant of his parents, and quickly turn it into a fortune of almost 60 marbles. Roger would have stayed the richest kid in school if not for his propensity for risk taking, which saw his wealth go through wild fluctuations.

But Roger was nonchalant about how much his wealth of marbles fluctuated, for he possessed a unique advantage in the game. Roger mastered a highly risky maneuver where he would flick a marble as hard as he could into the pile, knocking out as many marbles as possible. While that meant some of his own colored marbles were knocked out too, he knew it did not matter so long as 1 or 2 of his colored marbles remained in the ring, something he somehow managed to achieve every time. He succeeded enough to annoy practically every opponent, who were robbed of even a fighting chance when Roger went first.

Ruby highlighted the obvious flaw in Roger’s plan; he had no marbles to put up as collateral. Roger reached into his pocket and retrieved the magnificent glass marble to the awestruck crowd at the pit, he was putting the Galaxy in play. The Galaxy was easily worth 20 to 30 glass marbles, Roger had no lack of opponents to challenge. A kid stepped into the pit and offered 15 marbles as collateral.

Roger widened his eyes, “You are joking, right? The Galaxy is worth twice that much.”

The kid smirked, “Put up 15 normal marbles instead then.”

Roger clenched his teeth but decided it did not matter; he was certain he would not lose. Ruby could not tell if Roger was at all afraid of putting up his most prized possession, but he remained annoyingly victorious yet again.

Roger was about to go another round before recalling he had an assignment to buy. He packed up his winnings in a sack and was about to leave when he saw the Hulk approaching him. Roger was far from ready to repay his loan, and if he saw his current winnings, he was likely to take them first. Roger decided to try and make a run for it, a terrible decision for the Hulk caught him before the chase barely begun. Roger signaled to the Hulk for a moment to collect his stash of marbles to repay him. He walked to a corner, filled a small sack with rocks at the bottom, and the rest of the marbles he just won on the top.

A horrified Ruby had to cover her mouth to keep from screaming when Roger told her about his latest ruse. Yet far from folding, Roger simply continued to sketch out his next plan. Broke once again, Roger decided he would have to complete the last piece of homework himself. But he needed a safe place to do so after his classes; The Hulk was sure to scour the school for him. Ruby knew Roger was referring to the only sanctuary possible, the school prefects’ room.

The prefects’ room served both as a recreational room and office for the school prefects, who were seniors in their last year of school. No one except the prefects, and of course teachers, were allowed inside. Not the Hulk and not Roger, but Roger thought perhaps he could convince them with his last trump card, The Galaxy. It would be a most painful thing to part with but perhaps he could win it back in the future.

Roger mentally sorted through the prefects he thought would be more receptible to his proposal. He had encountered them over the years for various infractions and knew some prefects were more amenable to negotiations than others. Roger settled upon the prefect in charge of locking the gate and rounding up the latecomers.

“You want to what? This is more than just letting you pass for being a few minutes late, Roger.”

“30 minutes top, you can bring me in and say you are detaining me or something. I’ll even pay, 30 minutes and you get this.”

The prefect held up and examined the black glass sphere, “What is this?”

“That’s the Galaxy, the most valuable marble in the world!” Roger exclaimed.

The prefect chortled, “Oh yes it must be worth a fortune! Look kid, I might be able to get you in, but I expect to be paid. Really paid.” The prefect said and rubbed his thumb against his fingers.

Roger had watched adults do it to understand the gesture, the prefect wanted cash. Roger rarely thought about cash, his parents usually gave him just enough for his lunch. Roger nodded and asked how much, the prefect showed thirty with his fingers.

“Fine, I’ll be back.” Roger responded.

Roger thought he would sell the Galaxy, pay off the prefect and use some of the leftovers and treat himself to a bigger meal, it had been quite a day! As expected, there were no lack of bidders for the Galaxy, but the offers were horrendous, barely enough to pay off the prefect. The best bid was from the same kid he played earlier in the pit; it was a fraction of what the Galaxy would have fetched in marbles.

“Well, you’re not asking for payment in marbles now, are you?” The kid cheekily retorted.

Roger reluctantly handed over the Galaxy for the money. The only consolation he got was the prefect kept his word and gave him the 30 minutes he needed in the prefect’s room. Roger was rushing the assignment when he received a text from Ruby.

Ruby: “I can’t believe you actually got in.”

Roger: “sigh, at a great cost my friend.”

Ruby: “you can’t hide from the hulk forever.”

Roger: “Let’s just get through today. I really hate the first day back to school.”