By: Irving Zhan

Ace Anderson always wanted to be an athlete. However, his parents wanted him to be a schoolteacher. “A good education is always important, and teachers give good educations, so teachers are important,” they would say.

“I don’t care!” Ace always responded. His parents would send him to his room, which had sharks on the blue wallpaper. And he would sulk in his room. “I don’t understand what is wrong with these people” he would mumble until either dinnertime or lunchtime. Then, at dinnertime or lunchtime, Ace’s parents would yell and scream at him.

One day, Ace was surprised when his parents didn’t send him to his room. Instead, they asked “What kind of athlete do you want to be when you grow up?”

“A baseball player.” Ace answered.

“All right, you want to be a baseball player. You won’t know how many players you have if you don’t learn math,” his parents said.

“Oh. I get it now,” Ace said. “I will do my best.”