Reflection of a Lie
Facing away from the window behind him, Ethan concentrated on his video game. “Come on. Cover ADC. Go, go, go. We need the dragon buff.”
“Ethan, what’s the answer for this question?” called Ms. Davis, the online math teacher.
“AFK,” Ethan whispered to his teammates and reluctantly unmuted himself.
“Ahh, hmm,” mumbled Ethan, “Sorry, Ms. Davis, I don’t know the answer.”
“Pay attention, Ethan! I have just explained this question.”
“Yes, Ms. Davis, ” Ethan replied hesitantly.
Ethan leaned back on his chair. The rich smell of curry chicken his mom was cooking for dinner wafted from the kitchen.
At this moment, Ethan heard his father approaching his room. Ethan straightened, hastily closed the game tab, and placed his notebook in front of himself.
“How’s work, Ethan? Everything all right?” asked his dad, watching him taking notes diligently.
“Yeah,” said Ethan,“ I just answered a tricky question that my classmates were all struggling with.”
His dad smiled, “That’s my boy.” He looked at the window behind Ethan for a few seconds and then sat down across from Ethan and picked up the novel that Ethan had been assigned.
“Why is he still sitting there? Come on. I haven’t finished my game,” thought Ethan. “Maybe I can watch some youtube videos until he leaves; he can’t see my screen anyway!” Ethan clicked on his favourite comedy, pretending to be absorbed by the lesson.
There seemed to be something outside the window that deeply attracted Ethan’s dad. He sat there quietly, looking at the window every now and then.
After a few moments, Ethan felt his dad staring at him. He raised his eyes and stole a quick peek at his father.
When their eyes met, his father said, “You must be very interested in math.”
“Yes, dad! It is my favourite subject,” said Ethan, trying to sound convincing.
“It was mine, too,” said his dad. “Dinner is ready! Come join us when your class is over.”
“Sure,” exclaimed Ethan, “It’ll be over in ten minutes.”
His dad put down the novel and got up. When he was halfway out the door, he turned around and said, “I love the view from your chair; you can see the CN tower and a lot more.”
Ethan was surprised. He didn’t have a view of the CN tower. In fact, his window was facing north! “Silly joke!” he thought to himself.
The class was over soon, and Ethan got up to leave. As he was walking out the door, just out of curiosity, he turned around to look out the window. Ethan was right; there wasn’t any view of the CN tower. But as he was looking in the distance to confirm his observation, something else caught his attention, something that suddenly caused a pang of embarrassment to shoot up his spine! He froze for a moment. He could not believe what his eyes were staring at! In the foreground, as bright as the screen, he could see a clear reflection of his screen on the window!