The Whizz Kid

Tom ran to reach the school before the bell rang, but as usual, he was late. As soon as he entered the classroom, everyone started laughing at him. The teacher, Mr. Lionel had to hit the stick on the table to make the classroom quiet. There was pin-drop silence. Tom closed his eyes and pursed his lips bringing his right arm forward. Mr. Lionel flipped his arm so that he could hit Tom right on his palm. Thud, came 5 hits as Tom was late to school by 5 minutes. He walked towards his bench holding his right hand in the left, with his face showing visible pain.

After school, he went back home and completed his homework and slept early in order to avoid the beatings from his teacher.

The next day, Tom didn't even care about his appearance and ran towards the school, but alas! he was late by 2 minutes. He walked into the classroom with a sad face, only to be welcomed by huge laughter from his friends. He was badly dressed in torn pants and shirts with unpolished shoes. His teacher was enraged by this sight. He looked at his watch and hit him harder than he could twice and pushed him to his bench. Tom was happy that he made it to only 2 hits from his teacher and thought of cutting it to even shorter the next day.

The next day, Tom ran as fast as he could to reach school on time. Thank God, he did make it. With a beaming smile on his face, he entered the classroom and gave a surprise to all his friends. He was neatly dressed in full uniform and polished shoes too. Some of them even offered him their seats.

Tom was in for a surprise when

Mr. Lionel entered the classroom a bit late, to be precise exactly 5 minutes late, but no one dares tell him that. Mr. Lionel went straight to Tom's desk and gave him the stick and told him to hit him 5 times since he was late by 5 minutes. Tom didn't know how to react. He threw the stick down. Mr. Lionel then picked it up and asked him to hit harder with all his might. Tom refused to do it. Mr. Lionel's shrieky voice made Tom shiver and he started crying. Mr. Lionel broke the stick into two and hugged Tom tightly.

"I am sorry Tom.". There was pin-drop silence everywhere. None of the students had seen the softer side of their teacher. He wiped his tears and carried Tom in his arms.

After pausing for a while, Mr. Lionel started talking. He told them how Tom used to go back home and sell flowers in the evening in order to help his mom. Mr. Lionel broke into tears when he told them about how Tom took care of his father on the death bed in the morning. He used to give him a bath every morning and used to take him to church for the morning prayers.

There was a knock at the door, and Tom ran towards the door. His father was in a wheelchair along with his mother who had bought him a cake as it was his birthday. Tom had the greatest surprise on his birthday and he cut the cake happily. He could hear the loudest happy birthday song from his teacher, of course, Mr. Lionel.......who thanked Tom's mother immensely for making her son's birthday the most memorable one for him...Tom, you surely will become a Whizz Kid, whispered Mr. Lionel in Tom's ears...