I was hanging around at my university with two girls who are also first year mathematicians, and the mother of one of them. The three of us were in the same predicament: it was nearing the end of term, we were taking the course "The Tale" and we each had to hand in an essay about a story in a certain book. None of us had read any of the book, much less started our essays. I decided to read the shortest story, but as I turned to it, I noticed another that looked familiar, so decided to write about that instead.
I was supposed to go to Belgium to get some passport photos. I didn't know how long it would take to get there or when I'd find time to do so.
