A Contest

“Did you see it?”

“See what?”

“The flyer on the board.” Maria flicked her head towards the board, it was break and she was more than comfortable. Stretched out collapsed in the blue plastic chair the school was so generous to make sure they had enough. She had her favorite Coffee mug in hand as if it were mittens warming her soul.

Lorenzo Got up from his seat and started reading the poster.

It Read;

20,000

Requirement

All students in your class pass with a 3.7 or higher

Criterion

All work must be shown,

prove they know something!

No giving grades on a hunch or extra credit.

Reward

20,000 USD

He came back to the table, as Maria predicted Lorenzo was euphoric. Maria and Lorenzo had been friends for a really long time and had taught together ever since she got him the job three years ago. This is what Lorenzo did. He would accept odd jobs, like standing out in the artic weather making sure the polar bears got enough to eat until he had frostbite and was taken to the nearest hospital. He would enter into crazy contests like the one in Italy last year; him and three others were on display as “art” Lorenzo lasted an excruciating 87.4 hours before he endured partial paralysis and had to be taken to the nearest hospital yet again. He would do whatever it took to get a little bit of cash, often over doing it.

“I’m going to do it, Maria”

She shook her head in annoyed acceptance. “I know Lorenzo.”

“I’m going to win Maria” and with that he was already running out the door, papers fluttering to the ground. Maria followed grabbing the papers while shaking her head, Maria had seen this before many times. Lorenzo got carried away too many times in the past and it hit him hard the very last time. Maria didn’t know if she had the energy to deal with it again.

That following morning Lorenzo walked into his LIT97 class. A lecture on Figurative Language, with several totes in hand.

“Good Morning students, I don’t know if I am supposed to tell you this or if I am not supposed to tell you, I’m going to anyway!” He looked down at the totes and started taking out the contents. He looked up at his 236 students.

“Im going to win 20,000 dollars, you guys just have to pass this class!” A rumble came over the hall as the students settled back into their seats, they started taking out their laptops, some already had phones in hand. They were used to Lorenzo and his antics. This was old news, they carried on as usual.

“Students please dispose of your phones in this trash can.” he pointed to the waste basket that sat at the edge of the oversized projector screen.

“And no need to bring your laptops to class anymore!, Please come and get a notebook and return to your seats.” Lorenzo had carried in 237 notebooks, one for each of them and one for himself. “From now on you will write everything down in your notebook. No electronic devices are allowed in this room,” he turned to the projector “Except this, I have asked, and they will not part with it.”

As the day ended Lorenzo caught up with Maria in the parking lot, both headed to their cars. “How was your day?” Lorenzo asked in a super giddy childish manner.

“Lorenzo, my day was fine and you’re gonna get yourself all stressed out about this dang contest, please guy just go home.” She didn’t whittle his spirts a bit, he was just as excited as all the other times, filled with forever hope.

Throughout the semester you could hear the whispers and the rise of tension as it got closer to grades closing. The contest seemed stagnant, if you listened closely you could hear that it wasn’t. Lorenzo updated Maria on every little last detail of gossip, as to assure her he was winning. “Did you hear about Marissa? Her class had a huge hiccup, all the outlets shorted out, class lost half their notes! There’s this kid in Mr, Maliks Lecture, he actually did some research while in the class, he showed me.” Lorenzo pointed too hard to a paper out of his little black book on the stack of unbalanced books he was trying to carry. “Kids in this class, who have access to all their electronic devices are distracted a good percent more than kids that don’t have their phones at their disposal. Maria I have a good feeling about this, my kids are all doing great, well except my Italian exchange student Arrigo.” Lorenzo puts his hand on his head, scratching intently.

“ah, well, He will come around.” Lorenzo steadied his books and stuffed his notebook in his jacket pocket. “Ill see you later Lorenzo!” Maria watched as Lorenzo walked toward the library, his gait got happier and happier. She shook her head again, but this time it was with a smirk. Maria was starting to believe Lorenzo. He might just win, this time.

As the Semester came to an end, all teachers that were vying for this 20,000 were asked to the presidents office with all notes of the previous semester. Lorenzo got there, to his surprise there were only four others in the office. He had been following this very closely, he looked around. Where was Marissa? Mr. Malik was also missing.

“Lorenzo, your notes please!” a stern voice beckoned. Lorenzo lifted the totes with 236 notebooks in them. He looked around at the others, a small stack of papers in one hand and a couple flash drives for the others. The president looked at Lorenzo.

“What is this?” He asked.

“Sir, I did not allow electronic devices in my classroom this semester. They are a distraction, I’m guessing that’s why Mr. Malik didn’t show and I didn’t want to risk anything with silly malfunctions.” Lorenzo looked around the room as if to show he did not already know Marissa was not in attendance.

“That will be all folks” The president dismissed everyone.

It took the President a lot longer than he had imagined it would to go over the notes that each and every student had in fact earned their grade. He didn’t think he would have to go through all the little black notebooks Lorenzo dropped off. He divided his time between flash drives and notebooks. As he put in the last flash drive of the three he was handed, all it read on the screen was; this file has been corrupt and cannot be loaded. He tried again and this time it shut his computer off. The President sighed in disbelief.

“Maybe Lorenzo has an idea.” He mumbled to himself, as he opened the drawer and looked at the $20,000.

“Hey Lorenzo, you got a minute?” Arrigo came running up to Lorenzo as he was walking to the cafeteria.

“Hey, man, dude you almost cost me 20,000 bucks, thanks for getting your work done and catching up so quickly.” Lorenzo kept walking.

“Look, I was actually coming up with this really neat idea, I think you’d like it, you know with your obsession with notebooks.” Arrigo chuckled.

Lorenzo looked over at his sketch, which was in another little black notebook. Arrigo locked eyes with Lorenzo and asked;

“Have you EVER thought of a smart notebook?