Perfect Circles

I can make perfect circles on the white board. 

Really, it’s my secret talent. 

It comes in handy when I teach phases of the moon, seasons, use venn diagrams etc.

I don’t know how to teach anyone to draw perfect circles, it’s just the way my shoulder works.

I suppose I’ve had this unique ability for my entire life but It went unrecognized until high school. 

One day, I was sitting in Mr. Borigine’s trigonometry class and I was making snarky comments about his inability to draw a circle (of course, the word “snarky” had yet to be invented, but that’s what my comments were - snarky). Even when he used a giant compass, his circles came out egg-shaped. 

I was feeling pretty full of myself. I was editor of the school newspaper, had recently founded the school astronomy club and was coming off a year of geometry where my average was a cool 104 (I almost always got the bonus question on the tests).

So here I was, sitting in the back row of math, feeling very confident and making fun of my teacher’s egg-like circles when he suddenly stands upright and slowly extends his arm towards me. He was holding a piece of chalk (white boards had also yet to be invented). “If you think you can do better, Mr. McKellar, please come draw us a circle,” he said with a sneer in his voice and a tilt of his head. 

Uh-oh, busted. 

Now I’ve got to draw an eggy circle and everyone, especially, Mr. Borigine, will laugh at me. 

Slowly, I rose from my seat, hoping the bell would save me from my impending doom.

No such luck. 

I took the chalk from his hand, as if it were kryptonite, and in a single swing of my arm and shoulder, drew a perfect circle on the board. 

There was dead silence in the room. Especially from me, because I was expecting to have completely humiliated my snarky self at that point. 

I had drawn a perfect circle on the blackboard. 

I was stunned, to say the least.

Mr. Borigine was stunned even more than I was. 

Finally, after a long pause, he said “Okay, McKellar draws the circles from now on.” 

And so it came to pass. When Mr. B needed a circle, he’d call on me. My magic shoulder and I would draw him a circle…and they were always perfect.