Yew || Variable two

When the fish had finally won the battle and slipped away from Yew’s hands, the boy looked around in search of his friend, who wasn’t anywhere in sight. When his eyes scanned the riverbank, he realized that Mpingo’s clothes were also gone. He figured out that Mpingo must have headed home, so he quickly got out of the water, snatched his own clothes and shoes, and ran after Mpingo.

Barefoot, he dashed through the forest path, which led out to a dirt road. It was the only road, which led to the village of Catriddle, so any plant, which tried to grow on it, was sooner or later trampled by carriage wheels and animal hooves.

Yew kept running up the hill on the winding road, with the forest as his only companion, until he spotted his friend in the distance. He gathered all his remaining energy, and sped up in order to catch up to Mpingo, who stopped and looked back only when Yew was within a hand’s reach.

Yew, who was already out of breath, fell to the ground and let go of the clothes and shoes, which he carried. He panted a lot as he tried to catch some air in order to speak.

Mpingo stood next to him with a perplexed look on his face, waiting for his friend to recover his energy.

Several moments later, still gasping, Yew spoke, "you… could’have… told… me."

"I did," Mpingo responded.

"Sorry, I…. didn’t hear…" Yew stood up, and dressed in his pants before putting on his shoes.

Mpingo felt guilty to hear Yew apologize. He didn’t like that his friend so easily felt remorse for things, which he certainly wasn’t responsible for. He also felt that it should have been him to apologize to Yew, but he knew that even if he did, Yew wouldn’t understand.

"Yew," Mpingo started.

Yew wrapped his shirt into a bundle upon deciding that it was too hot to wear it. When Mpingo called his name, Yew looked at him and waited quietly for the continuation. From Mpingo’s tone of voice, Yew already guessed that he was trying to tell him something important.

"I’m a failure," Mpingo declared.

Feeling a surge of anger, Yew spit out, "what? No way! Who told you that?!"

"Calm down. Nobody told me that." Mpingo looked away as he explained, "my parents had sent applications to every school and all the schools had rejected my application. The last response came yesterday – another no, so I have no choice but to go to Hestia."

The school of Hestia was synonymous with failure. The school wasn’t known for anything other than the fact that it would accept any student. Its teachers and students were rather average in every aspect, and for most kids, this school was always the last option.

"Well, but Hestia isn’t that bad. Come on, Mpingo, cheer up! It’s still a good school compared to some others. For example, if you had evil parents, you would end up attending Hades. Wouldn’t that be the worst?" Yew tried to cheer up his friend, although he understood how Mpingo felt.

Just uttering the name of the school of Hades brought apprehension and disgust upon faces of all law-abiding citizens. It was the only school avoided by everyone except those with a criminal record. It was situated on a mountain in a remote desert, where access was difficult and the weather extreme. Throughout the year, it was painfully hot during the day and unbearably cold during the night. Hades was a school, where most criminals sent their children in order to teach them the skills necessary to stay alive in the underworld.

"Someone like me would fail even Hades," Mpingo responded and began walking up the road.

Yew followed next to him. "Well, if you’re so worried about Hestia, how about I also go to Hestia?"

Mpingo stopped, and faced Yew with a countenance of shock and disbelief. "Why would you want to destroy your future like that?" he raised his voice, although not enough to shout. "You’re so much more talented than me! You should go to a better school!"

Yew stared at him for a long moment in bewilderment, then he began walking ahead. "Nah, I don’t care that much about it."

"Stop joking," Mpingo reproached as he strode up to him.

Yew kept walking and Mpingo kept up with his pace.

"Your mama went to Athena! Your sister also got accepted there!" Mpingo shouted at his friend.

The school of Athena was the most renowned school in the whole world. It accepted only the most intelligent students. Graduating from Athena was a sure method to get a high-paid position among the most intelligent people, often working directly under the Emperor. To most parents, having a child accepted into Athena, was an honor and joy beyond words.

"And your papa went to Hermes!" Mpingo added.

If there was a word to describe the school of Hermes, it would be "money". The school revolved around money, business, market, and trade. In any given century, the top ten richest people worldwide were always the graduates of Hermes. It was a school, which was easy to get accepted into, but hard to graduate from.

"But in the end, he couldn’t finish it," Yew remarked, noting his father’s unsuccessful attempt to graduate from the school of Hermes.

"So what? He graduated from Ares!" Mpingo pointed out.

The school of Ares was the school for real men, or so it was described by its students and teachers. Anyone who ever dreamed of being a warrior had to graduate from Ares. History textbooks were filled with the names of amazing colonels, glorious generals, outstanding marshals, and many other revered military personnel, all of whom were graduates of Ares.

"Your parents went to amazing schools! You cannot waste such an opportunity!" Mpingo scolded Yew.

"I’ll think about it," Yew responded with a sigh. He really didn’t care which school he would go to, but seeing that it was such an important thing to Mpingo, he just couldn’t argue any further.

Yew knew about his talents, but he wasn’t impressed with any of them. Instead, he often wondered why there were so many differences between people in the first place. If Yew could, he would have certainly given some of his talents to Mpingo.

However, he was painfully aware that this wasn’t possible. As an alternative, he resolved to seal his countless talents in order to make himself average like others, and as a consequence, more similar to Mpingo, who had nothing to show. In Yew’s opinion, it was a good thing to do, yet Mpingo consistently called him a fool and labelled his actions as crazy.

Surprisingly, the matter of talents had never harmed their friendship.

Quite on the contrary, they got closer as they bickered over this. Yew insisted that talents were nothing important, and he kept his talents away and out of his life. Whereas Mpingo emphasized the significance of talents and unceasingly kept trying to make Yew use his talents.

Mpingo’s standpoint always annoyed Yew. So one day, in the spur of a moment, Yew promised his best friend that he would unseal his talents in the future. Obviously, he had no such plans. He said it in order to stop Mpingo from nagging him like some lousy mother.

Luckily, he didn’t mention any date, so he wouldn’t break his promise, even if he didn’t unseal his talents for another fifty years.

The promise had pleased Mpingo, who stopped claiming that Yew was wasting his life by sealing his talents, and Yew was pleased to never hear another word about it.

Yew had strongly disagreed with the notion that talents were good. He believed the contrary to be true. Once he had abandoned his talents, the adults, who were always expecting great things from him, left him alone, and he finally became free to choose his own future.

The awareness, that nobody had any expectations from him, gave him a pleasure and a sense of peace, which he hadn’t felt before. That alone made him certain, that keeping his talents out of his life was the right choice.

While deep in their own thoughts, the two boys walked toward Mpingo’s house, where they had lunch together with Mpingo’s family. Afterward, they played in the nearby woods until it was time for dinner.

After seeing Mpingo off at the door, Yew walked away. In less than ten minutes, he arrived at his own home, then climbed up the staircase in order to reach the front door.

He left his outdoor shoes in the entry room of the house, and used the shirt in his hand to wipe off any excess dirt from his feet. As silently as possible he opened the interior door, and listened.

He heard noises in the kitchen, so he knew where his mother was. She surely would get mad at him for coming back so dirty, and he didn’t like her nagging, so he quickly tiptoed through the living room, via the hallway into the bathroom.

He threw all his dirty clothes into the basket under the sink, and cleaned himself with a wet towel. Before leaving the bathroom, he wrapped himself with a dry towel, and sneaked a peek outside.

Thankfully, his mother was still in the kitchen, preparing dinner.

He quickly leapt out into the hallway, and a second later slithered into his bedroom through a barely opened doorway.

Yew’s bedroom had a desk and a shelfcase on one side. His bed and a wardrobe were on the other side, and a dresser stood next to the door. An elaborate painting of a ruby dragon sleeping among snow-covered trees hung above the dresser, and right in the center, a blue oriental rug stretched on the wooden floor like waves on an ocean.

Yew moved about the room, quickly putting on clean clothes while trying not to imagine what his mother was going to say about the muddy ones, which he had left in the bathroom.

Afterward, he slowly opened the door and looked at the hallway, toward the living room.

Although the summer sun was still up, it was already late. His mother would surely want him to stay home. However, he still wanted to play outside.

He tiptoed into the living room. With his back on the wall, he looked toward the exit with the kitchen’s entrance between him and his goal. He swiftly and silently crossed the distance. As he was opening the interior door, he heard his mother’s voice.

"Yew?"

Of course, she had to notice him. His mediocre luck could never allow him to bypass the kitchen unnoticed twice.

"Why are you barefoot?" she asked and put her fists on her hips.

Yew was barefoot for the simplest of reasons. He was sneaking around the house, and it would have been so much more difficult to be fast and nimble in slippers.

He knew that no matter his response, he was going to get scolded. Thus he froze in place, hoping that time would resolve the situation and calm his mother’s anger.