The Hidden Path (WINNER OF THE BEAUTY AWARD for Spiritual)

Stories

The only person you are destined to become is the person you decide to be.
- Ralph Waldo Emerson

The next day, Easter Monday, was still a holiday. Therefore, no open drug-stores for me! Which had me occasionally wondering, whether I was still on my own. . .

I had briefly cosidered the morality of taking this kind of drug, but since all it did was to prevent an egg from taking root. . . it was not as if I was killing an actual living being. Besides, Berni was probably right and nothing had happened, anyway. The chances were actually really slim.

Sofi had assured me that the morning-after-pill would still work if taken three days later, but at the same time, she had impressed upon me the necessity of really not delaying it any further.

Which I had no intention of doing, believe me! However scatterbrained I had a tendency to be, there was absolutely no chance of me forgetting this particular task!

Not even if it meant coming late to school.

Fortunately, we had a pharmacy quite close, so nobody (except for Sofi, who knew) noticed a thing on Tuesday morning.

Having locked the door to my bathroom-stall, I quickly scanned the instructions in the small package that I had purchased from some disapproving looking sales-person a few minutes earlier. Finding the 'how to take the pill' section of the information took longer than I would have liked, leaving me with just enough time to swallow the pill and hurry to the classroom for our first lesson: psychology.

As soon as I had taken my seat, Prof Földesi entered.

"Good morning. . .  sit down!"

"Psst, Mia, did you get it?" Sofi whispered, concerned.

"Yes! I have already taken it," I nodded.

"Good!" Sofi voiced her approval at the same time as our teacher, who closed the attendance-book with a snap. I really liked him and his passion for his subject, which I absolutely shared.

"Today we are going to hear about an experiment that was conducted with babies, in order to discover the original language of human kind," Prof Földesi introduced that day's class, getting up from the teacher's seat to stand in front of the huge, green blackboard.

I softly groaned, putting my head into my hands. Babies! Of all the psychological topics on this vast earth, today of all days he had chosen to talk about babies!

Sofi threw me a knowing, but also slightly amused look, which made me roll my eyes.

"All through the middle ages, there had been various theories about the original language of human beings and how it had developed into all the different languages known at that time." Our young teacher explained, his voice serious.

"Some scholars believed that if babies were left to their own devices and not influenced at all while developing, they would be forced to eventually start talking in the original language." With a quick jerk of his head he readjusted his fringe that had fallen over his left eye.

Wow. That idea has definitely never crossed my mind before... I thought, listening to our teacher with rapt attention. As usual.

"The medieval monarch Frederick II ordered quite a few newborn babies to be put in a big room, where they were well taken care of. Physically speaking. The caretakers were, however, forbidden to interact with or touch the babies more than was strictly necessary for feeding or changing their diapers."

Our tall, blond teacher took a dramatic pause, his piercing blue eyes sweeping over each one of us.

"So," Soni blurted out, raising her hand impatiently, "what is the original language? Did they find out?"