Spilled Stones

by Aria von Elbe

November 1, 2004

       I was getting out of the car a couple nights ago and during the drive home from the go club the stones had slid up against the door, so naturally, when I opened it they all fell out, and of course they were the black stones, not white, which in the darkness would have made them much easier to find. My father was astonished and annoyed, but I looked at it calmly, as if it were an everyday thing, because it is. Who can honestly say they've never spilled a bowl of stones? Not very many, if any, that's for sure.

       I picked up the stones up, not counting them, but judging by the weight of the bowl. When I thought I had most of them, I took the bowl inside and started counting the stones and I thought about everything for my high school club is falling into place, just as the stones were now falling into the Ing bowl. Our Youth Grant Application has been approved, I have members who want to play, a rivalry with the President of the Chess Club, and even a treasurer who's

asked me if it would be okay if she wrote a column on go for the school newspaper.

       I was eight stones short, though. Eight missing, out of 180, late at night with just the car's headlights to guide me. Pretty damn good, but not good enough. I grabbed the flashlight and went out to look once more. I mean, I still have things that I need to get sorted out for the club: official meeting times, our application for

boards from the Ing Foundation, not to mention how was I going to teach my club members when I hardly know anything myself? I ended up finding seven of those missing eight, and called it a night. I'd find the last one in the morning.

     I came down for school the next morning, and there it was, the last stone, on my board’s 4-4 point as if waiting for me to play the next move. My dad had found it in the grass when he had gone to get the paper that morning. It made me realize that I shouldn't be afraid of what to teach my club. I'll start with the basics, just as I’ve been taught, and then simply start playing with them. If I don't have all the answers, so what? Sooner or later my sensei from Miami Go Club will show up, and then they'll have their answers.

-16-year-old Aria von Elbe is an 11th grader in Fort Lauderdale, Florida.

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