Cheater, Cheater

My senior year of high school, my teacher gave us a dream assignment:  write a fable.

At the time, I wrote fables for fun.  I woke up thinking about them and went to sleep thinking about them. 

Unfortunately, the assignment came at a busy time . . . so rather than writing something new, I just pulled something out of the drawer that I had previously written.  It would suffice.

The day before the assignment was due coincided with the last night of the regional fair.  I LOVED the fair.  I really wanted to go.  I called a friend to convince her to go with me.

"I can't," she said.  "I haven't written my story yet." 

"That's easy!"  I told her.  "I'll help you!"  I then proceeded to spout out one of the stories I had been thinking about for a few weeks.

We went to the fair.  I think we had fun, but - to be honest - I don't really remember.

What I do remember is what happened a few weeks later.  My teacher had finished grading the fables.  She said there were two that really stood out.

She read my fable to the class first.  It was okay, but it wasn't really great.

She then proceeded to read the second fable, the one I had given away, noting that it was "her favorite."

My friend beamed.  She should have.  She did a great job of writing the idea that I had developed. 

I felt like I had given away my first child.

It was the best lesson on cheating that I could have received.