Previous Challenge Entry (Level 4 – Masters)
Topic: Brainiac (01/02/25)
-
TITLE: Sweeter Pi | Previous Challenge Entry
By Jack Taylor
01/05/25 -
LEAVE COMMENT ON ARTICLE
SEND A PRIVATE COMMENT
ADD TO MY FAVORITES
Now Chesapeake didn’t look like much. Neither did his house. He wasn’t much thicker than a scarecrow forgotten in a field. His thick white beard and mustache framed a face as black as coal. His eyes looked right through you as if he was dreaming of a time before time began. The wrinkles on his forehead reminded us kids of a prune. We never did see his snowy mane because of the old Tilly hat glued in place. He always wore the same old rust-colored suit coat and his gnarled fingers wrapped around a cane as if a long-lost treasure. I think the big black-framed glasses perched on his nose made him look so smart.
Most kids nodded out of respect and kept moving by old Chesapeake. “He was sitting in that same place on his porch when I was your age,” my daddy said. “The paint had peeled; the shutters had pulled away from those old clapboards, and the windows had lost most of the putty holding them in place. That tin roof struggled as much to hold off the rain as I imagine it still does.”
I reckon Jimmy Pete and I might have been the first kids since the ark to move within spitting distance of old Chesapeake. Mr. Hawkins had gobsmacked us all in arithmetic class by talking about something called Pi. He brought us pieces of apple pie and then reamed off a dozen numbers to show how smart he was. “If you were smarter than old King Solomon you could go on for a million or more numbers and not come to the end of it all.”
That Friday afternoon, Jimmy Pete and I decided to test Chesapeake. He was right where he always was, clutching his cane and holding his Bible, smiling as if the Lord was on his way to take him home. I’d copied the numbers for Pi up to twenty. “Some Japanese man named Akira Haraguchi, can quote over 100,000 digits of Pi,” Mr. Hawkins said. I don’t imagine his kids had much fun at their parties listening to him quoting all those numbers. But we weren’t here for someone, elsewhere. We were here to see if old Chesapeake was the smartest man we knew.
“Afternoon boys,” he greeted, nodding and smiling. “I can see your minds swirling a mile away. What’s the biggest thought a mind can hold?”
Jimmy Pete’s eyes got wide real quick. Ms. Hanson blew our minds last week by saying that there were over a hundred thousand million stars in the Milky Way and millions of galaxies bigger than that. That was bigger than anything we could imagine. “The universe,” Jimmy Pete said.
“Bigger than that,” Chesapeake urged, holding his cane and Bible out wide.
I took the hint from his Bible and said “God?”
Old Chesapeake nodded and seemed to fade away. “Ain’t nothing bigger to think about than God,” he said.
Testing him on Pi seemed insignificant after that. But we’d been dared. Johnny Dean and Daisy May had sidled up after class and bet us all our best marbles that we wouldn’t dare test the old man on what he knew about Pi.
When Chesapeake got us focused on God right away, I knew there could be no cheating.
“Now, I know you came here for something more,” Old Chesapeake said. “What did you want to ask?”
I stepped closer and looked over my shoulder. Johnny Dean and Daisy May were nowhere in sight. “How much do you know about Pi?” I asked
He furrowed his brow. “You talking about kidney, shepherd’s, apple, blackberry, or cherry?”
I could see Jimmy Dean sag as much as I did. It was like the air rushing out of a balloon. “Math,” I said.
“Oh that?” Old Chesapeake said. “Is Mr. Hawkins at it again? I never could get him to go past twelve digits when I taught him. I’ll give you the first twenty-one. pi = 3.1415926535 8979323846"
Jimmy Pete and I high-fived right on the spot. As far as we knew, we’d met the smartest man alive. To this day, I remember two things. God is the biggest thought my mind can entertain and pi is at least 60 numbers. Every year I add another few. Both of them focus me on eternity. And that's all my mind can handle.
The opinions expressed by authors may not necessarily reflect the opinion of FaithWriters.com.
Accept Jesus as Your Lord and Savior Right Now - CLICK HERE
JOIN US at FaithWriters for Free. Grow as a Writer and Spread the Gospel.
