The Infinite Mind

©1996 Zhan Huan Zhou

"Uh-oh," I thought to myself. "Maybe I should have looked this over."

The exam was scarcely an hour old. The only sounds echoing throughout the gymnasium were those of pen on paper and the faint click of calculator buttons being pressed. Aimlessly exploring the gym, my eyes suddenly came into contact with the abhorrent Mr. Giantri, the six and a half foot, 280 pound phys. ed. teacher. Startled, I quickly snapped my eyes back to the examination paper.

I had no clue what the question was asking. After taking one final futile attempt at the problem, I thoroughly erased it from my page.

Continuing, I finished the remainder of the exam with little difficulty. With fifteen minutes to spare, it gave me a chance to check my work. I scanned through my exam page by page. Everything looked satisfactory. Suddenly, something caught my attention. My heart momentarily stopped! I was staring at a page filled with emptiness. Panic engulfed me like a child in the ocean. It was the question I was unable to answer earlier.

I lifted my head to take a quick peep to see how the other students were doing. Jon finished early and was relaxing, as I expected, but most of the others were still working furiously.

My body temperature rose and I could feel the heat permeating through me. I was sweating. I could feel my heart pounding faster and harder in my chest. Every beat echoed through the gymnasium. I took a quick glance at my fingernails and thought better of it. More nervous than a wreck, my right foot started bouncing rapidly against the floor. Worst of all, I was fidgeting with my pen. I never fidget.

Realizing that panic would get me nowhere, I put down my pen, took a deep breath to calm myself down, and stretched out my body. I read the question again ever so slowly, the clock ticking indifferently. The entire semester raced through my mind as I struggled to find a solution. I pushed my thoughts and memories deeper through my jumbled brain until my head nearly imploded.

For an infinitesimal fraction of a second, my brain opened itself to another plane of existence. I could see the answer from angles I never imagined possible. Completely immersed in the question, my pen wrote as if it was answering for me. Nothing else mattered. My eyes were fixed intently on the paper and my arm was moving effortlessly. I heard and felt nothing but the answer coming to me. The final result was so perfect that I knew it was right. I had just applied the finishing strokes when the deep thunderous voice of Mr. Giantri snapped me back to this reality.

"Time's up," he bellowed.

Quite pleased, I gathered all of my sheets and folded them in half, writing my name on the outside. Smiling, I walked to the front and handed in my exam. Today, I experienced the awesome power of the infinite mind.