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A little girl called Matilda Wormwood who was about 6 year-old suddenly came to our class 2C and studied for a week. I knew her by reading a book named ‘Matilda’. At first we were so surprised as we didn’t know how such a little girl could study with us.
She always took with her a book which was about 5 cm thick and it was different every day. Once it was ‘The Secret Garden’, but another day it was ‘Great Expectations’. This fantastic girl told us that she finished 14 adult books within six months. It shocked everyone in the class. Our mouths opened and couldn’t say a word. Someone asked her whether she could remember the names of all the books she read, and she really recited them non-stop! After 5 minutes she was still reciting the book titles and our mouths opened more widely. She stopped until our class teacher Mr. Tang told her to do so.
‘But that is only half of the books which I had already finished reading!’ She said innocently. I didn’t think it was a way to show off, though.
The first lesson was Mathematics. We were learning inequalities and Matilda knew all about that. She was a genius at that and could answer all the questions which we couldn’t solve. We felt embarrassed and our faces all turned red because we were so inferior when compared to this splendid girl. We were 2 times older than her! Mr. Tang then asked her more equations that we had to learn when we were in F.3, F.4, F.5 and F.6, but after a minute, the blackboard was full of numbers. Poor Daniel was the student on duty that day and he was just crying at that moment. We asked her how she could calculate so fast, and she answered, ‘I didn’t find it very difficult to solve such equations.’
Then the next day we had an English quiz. It was a bit difficult as it was a quiz for F.3 students and its purpose was to improve our English. Mrs. Chan gave us 30 minutes to do and we couldn’t finish it. However, Matilda only used 20 minutes to finish all questions. We felt self-abased as many of us failed this test but clever Matilda got full marks. We were much more curious about the knowledge stored in her amazing brain.
We accepted this wonderful girl day by day, slowly though. However, the girl had another miraculous power that we didn’t know. That was superbly cool!
I didn’t know why the boys like untying others’ shoelaces. Anyway, it usually happened, about twice to triple a day. They would ‘beleaguered’ one boy by pressing him on the floor or chasing after him, and the purpose was the same—to untie his shoelaces and throw the shoes to the dustbin. On the third day pathetic Perry was being bullied by mischievous Jason and playful Daniel at lunchtime, and Perry’s shoes were put in the rubbish bin. Perry wanted to get back his shoes but other boys were stopping him. Suddenly, the boys were being taken up to the ceiling and Perry could get back his shoes easily and peacefully, without any obstruction. When he finished tying his shoes, the boys fell to the floor. Everyone was surprised and no one knew who did it.
On the fourth day we had Chinese lesson. However, Icy lost her book but she remembered having brought it to school as she saw it just a few minutes before. Something mystical happened again. Her neighbour Perry took her book out from his drawer and he was just like being controlled by someone. I was fairly sure that he did not really want to give the book back from his reluctant face, but there must be a power forcing him to do so.
Then we had Geography lesson on the fifth day. Jason was so talkative, so our teacher Mrs. Yuen was angry. She told Jason to be quiet and not to talk anymore as he was really annoying. However, Jason still couldn’t help talking. A supernatural power made Jason mute although his lips were moving. Mrs. Yuen was so happy that our progress was faster than other classes’. Jason’s voice was heard abruptly, and all of us didn’t know what was going on. On the other hand, Matilda fainted. We brought her to the school office for resting.
When she felt better, she suddenly apologized to us, ‘Sorry for concealing the truth,’ she said, ‘the magical things that happened before were done by me.’
There was silence.
‘How could you do that?’ someone asked seriously.
‘I have a magical power that can move something without touching it but just use my eyes,’ Matilda continued, ‘but I will feel dizzy if I overuse it. I only want others to be blissful, so I did it. Please forgive me. I didn’t mean to make you unhappy!’ I saw her tears twirling in her eyes.
‘We won’t be unhappy or angry,’ I comforted her, ‘I don’t think you did something wrong. That’s good to stand up against injustice, and you are really mature, when compared to the children of your age as you try your best to make others happy.’
We all gave her a warm smile and she smiled too.
We made friends and got along well with her after that. This week passed quickly and all of us were sad about her leaving. We took a photo with her for commemorating our encounter and she drew us a picture which included all of us.
The whole class studied hard before the coming Uniform Test. We learnt much from Matilda. It was a real shame if a 6 year-old girl was smarter than F.2 students. Anyway, it’s good that she’s back to the book.
What else have I learnt from her? Yes. We should try our best to help others who suffer from difficulties and problems. We would then be both happy as it is more blessed to give than to receive.
Cherry Lam Cheuk Wing
2C 2014-15