The Adventures of the Dark-Skinned King, Episode 1

The Adventures of the Dark-Skinned King, Episode 1

The dark-skinned king just gave a nice, cute, pretty little girl a hundred bucks last night. She was of no relation to him; he just met her on the street. And as I watched through the entire spectacle (as a silent observer, of course, nothing more), I began to wonder more about the king.

When the girl first approached the king, my heart leapt to my chest. I felt that she was being too aggressive, that she was approaching the royal boy in so quick a manner. At that moment, though, she flashed her sweet smile. My heartbeat returned to normal. I decided this person was safe.

She greeted the dark-skinned king, who, as I knew all too well, did not like being surprised by strangers. The reaction I was waiting for surfaced right away. Upon seeing the smiling lass, the king stepped sideways (almost stepping on the main road itself) and gave himself considerable distance away from the girl. She wasn't deterred by this show of distrust; instead, she stepped closer. And as I knew all too well, the king was not one to shun away persistent folks. So he stopped and listened.

I had some difficulties hearing their conversation, so I was not able to pick up everything that transpired verbally. I saw everything non-verbal as clear as crystal, however. At first, I noticed that the king was just smiling at the girl with that patronizing smirk of his (I've seen him do that lots of times with the subjects long back when). I caught a little of the spiel the girl was saying beforehand, so I knew that she was asking for money in exchange for a cheap-looking pen whose only advantage over other pens was that it had a spring-back calendar attached to its innards. And judging from the smirk on the royal boy's face, he wasn't so sold on the exchange, either.

The patronizing smirk changed almost immediately. The smile became genuine-- the king was even amazed. Replaying the event over in my head, I realized that the girl had said some magic words. Those words were: "Major in Education, Specialty in Math." It must have hit the king really hard. Piecing the bits and pieces together revealed to me that the king had encountered a little girl who only wanted to finish her education and whose only way of paying for strangers' help is a cheap-looking albeit unique pen. The king, sensitive (or gullible, depending whether you're for or against the principles of his kingdom) person that he is, took pity on her and shelved out the hundred bucks for the pen. In my mind, the king was thinking: "I'm trying to show that numbers are not all that I know, but that doesn't mean that I can prevent others from knowing them." Of course, I could be wrong, but I do feel that the king was thinking exactly that.

He can be so predictable sometimes.