Age 10.
A classroom.
Fourth period.
Moral Education.
The teacher opened her textbook.
"Today we're reading The Tortoise and the Hare."
A few students looked up.
"I know that one."
The teacher smiled.
"I'm sure some of you do.
But some of you may not."
She looked around the room.
"A hare and a tortoise decided to race to the top of a mountain.
The hare could run faster than anyone.
The tortoise could barely keep a steady pace.
Certain he couldn't lose, the hare lay down beneath a tree and fell asleep.
The tortoise never stopped.
Step by step, he kept climbing.
By the time the hare woke up, the race was already over."
She turned to the blackboard.
In neat letters, she wrote:
The Tortoise and the Hare
Then she faced the class.
"What do you think this story is trying to teach us?"
Hands went up.
"Never give up."
"Work hard."
"Don't get careless."
The teacher nodded after each answer.
From the back of the room, one hand remained raised.
"But..."
A boy stood.
"If the hare hadn't gone to sleep, he would've won."
The room burst into laughter.
The teacher laughed too.
"That's one way to see it."
The bell rang.
Chairs scraped across the floor.
Books snapped shut.
Fourth period was over.
Thirty years later.
He was forty.
He worked in a sales office in Tokyo.
A wife.
Two children.
Eighteen years left on the mortgage.
Every morning, he boarded the same train.
He arrived a little early.
Read through yesterday's emails.
Checked every report twice before sending it.
One afternoon, his manager stopped beside his desk.
"You missed something here."
He looked at the document.
"You're right.
That was my mistake.
I'll make sure it doesn't happen again."
After his children went to bed, he sometimes sat alone at the kitchen table.
A study guide lay open beside a cup of cold coffee.
Every year, another exam.
The certificates stayed in a drawer at home.
No one at work had ever asked to see them.
Still, he kept taking the exams.
Year after year.
Gradually, people began bringing him more difficult work.
Younger employees stopped by his desk.
"What do you think about this?"
His manager said,
"I don't worry when it's on your desk."
His coworker was different.
Numbers were wrong.
Deadlines slipped.
He mixed up clients' names.
The same mistakes happened again and again.
The manager sighed more than once.
"Again?"
"I'm sorry."
His coworker bowed his head.
The next morning, it was as if none of it had happened.
He was already laughing with someone in the hallway.
Talking with people from other departments.
Remembering birthdays.
Asking about someone's sick child.
By lunchtime, someone was always inviting him to lunch.
Someone waved from another department.
Someone called his name from across the office.
If he made a mistake, he carried it home.
He replayed the conversation on the train.
Thought about it while brushing his teeth.
Sometimes he woke up remembering it in the middle of the night.
His coworker never seemed to.
He had corrected his coworker's work more times than he could remember.
"The number here is wrong."
"This attachment didn't go out."
"You should read it one more time before you send it."
"If the client asks, I'll explain it."
His coworker would grin.
"You saved me again."
He always answered the same way.
"Just be more careful next time."
Spring came.
The promotion announcement was posted on the company intranet.
His coworker had been promoted to manager.
Applause spread across the office.
He clapped too.
His coworker scratched the back of his head, looking almost embarrassed.
Around noon, they crossed paths beside the copy machine.
"Things are going to get busy for you,"
he said.
"I guess they will."
His coworker laughed.
For a moment, neither of them spoke.
Then his coworker looked at him.
"I'm glad you're here.
I can always count on you."
He nodded.
The lunch bell echoed through the office.
Someone called his coworker's name from down the hall.
He waved, then disappeared around the corner.
He returned to his desk.
Tomorrow's report was still open on the screen.
He started again from the first page.
The office printer began humming again.