The Answer

I was a child. Then I developed into a girl. And now I’m that girl. Im just a girl.

I still remember when I was in 8th grade. Our coaching teacher asked a question: what do you want to be?

Silly me used to think school was the place where I had to answer formally, and coaching was the place where I could say whatever I wanted informally.

It’s a normal question. Our teacher asked everyone. I was sitting on the last bench, thinking about what I would say when my time came.

“I wanna be an engineer,” said a boy from the middle bench.
“I wanna be a lawyer,” said a girl from the second-to-last bench.
One girl, even quieter than me, said she wanted to be a good human first and that she hadn’t decided about her career yet.

She shocked me, that was the moment I realized I could be who I am when I’m talking about myself. Silly, but beautiful. At least I got to know.

I was more like a machine. My classmates used to call me a robot who was arrogant. How was I one? They never answered.

Well, it was her turn, the girl beside me.
“I wanna be a doctor.” The teacher asked her about her dream. Good students are always teachers’ favorites.

Then my turn came. I wasn’t waiting for it. I wasn’t ready.  I wanted to be all the amazing things in the world, but now the question was specific. I had to answer specifically as well.

“A woman,” I said.

The next moment the full class was laughing at me.
“Is she crazy? She forgot what she is.”

I heard the jokes. I remained silent and still, a robot as ever.
I was the teacher’s favorite not because of studies. but he used to like my answers and was always waiting for me to say something different. 

Guess I got attention for being me.
He asked, “What do you mean?”

“I’m a girl. It isn’t obvious that I will become a woman. Not every girl can be a woman.”
The teacher asked, “Who is a woman?”

“A woman is a grown girl,” I said.
He laughed.

Who will tell him that he laughed because he didn’t get it?

Just Brilliantly Numb.