“When I was crying in the yard, my brother came and told me about how to keep them from being thrown away. He told me that I should arrange them neatly and put a name tag on them. That way, other people would know that I wanted to keep it because it was rare. Then he gave me a cupboard to keep the stones in and a mineralogy book.”
I see!
It was said that looks account for 90% of a person’s appearance, but if an object was displayed with care, it would appear to be valuable as well. Grandfather, you were so smart even as a child.
But to be able to give a cupboard to his younger brother, it was so expensive and big, it was something only a celebrity could do.
“That was when I was seven years old. But even then, I still couldn’t read. My tutor was teaching me, but I didn’t understand. I thought I could understand better by going outside and listening to the sky, the trees, and above all, the sound of stones, rather than trying to read the meaning from the letters. So, I was told I was a bad kid.”
Great Uncle Isaac continued.
“But a picture book has many pictures, so you can compare the picture and the stone and find the same thing. If you find a picture that is the same as a stone, write down the name of the stone. It will help you learn how to write. My brother told me. The mineralogy book was very interesting, and I was surprised to find that every stone I had ever picked up had a name that someone had given to it. So, I got hooked and looked at it all night, and the next morning I could read it all.”
Really?
“I could also write most of the technical terms for minerals. It was an illustrated book for adults, so I learned a lot.”
The great-uncle who said that with a smile on his face had many misconceptions. So much so that I raised the white flag that I could no longer give a tsukkomi.
…I guess he really learned to read and write overnight! Genius!
I suddenly made eye contact with Aaron-san, and he nodded deeply. Yes, his beloved Professor Isaac was really a remarkable person. Please write a biography one of these days.
…He might have already written it.
“But I was still happy with the cupboards. As my brother said, I put name tags on them and put them in the cupboard, and the maid, who had always been angry with me, was impressed. “I didn’t know stones had names”, she said. I feel like my whole world changed after that.”
Isaac continued.
“When the cupboard I got was full of stones with name tags, I showed it to my brother, and he was amazed and praised me so much. Then he gave me a new cupboard. Since then, he has always supported my research. He helped me arrange a place to store the cupboards that were full, got me permission to go to other territories and places where I normally couldn’t go to collect, and did many other things for me. They did that all the way to the end.”
Isaac recounted his memories with sincerity. Perhaps the cupboard was a symbol to him of the bond he had with his brother Sergei.
“Since my brother…passed away, Alexei did the same thing for me. I’m always impressed with how smart and admirable that boy is, even though he’s still so young. And you did the same thing for me. My brother always listened to me with a look of excitement on his face, just like you are now.”
Isaac chuckled.
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