7 Brian Wong

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BRIAN WONG, WHO WAS NEVER, EVER Wrong MANY YEARS AGO there lived a boy named Brian Wong. Wong was a total and utter swot. Not only was he the swottiest swot who ever swotted, he had to be right about EVERYTHING. "Brian Wong is never, ever wrong!" he would exclaim, much to the annoyance of everyone around him.

The boy's favourite subject was mathematics. His favourite pastime was working out what looked like impossible sums and equations. Even if he didn't have any maths homework to do, Wong would set himself some. These he did with ease. All Wong's evenings, weekends and holidays would be spent working out hundreds of answers to incredibly complicated equations. Equations that would leave even his cleverest teachers scratching their heads. As a result of all this maths, maths, maths and yet more maths, Brian rarely saw daylight and was a rather pale child. And working out equations until long into the night had weakened his eyesight, so he wore wire-framed glasses with lenses so thick that they magnified his eyes to the size of tennis balls.

So as you can see, Wong prided himself on being a, mathematical genius and cleverer than everyone around him. Every single answer Wong would get right. Despite this, what the boy most feared was the thought that one day he might be proved wrong. This is the story of THAT DAY. It was a Monday morning and Brian was at school in his favourite lesson, maths.

As he stood at the front of the classroom, the old maths teacher, Mr Shrewdly, addressed his pupils. "One thing you must always remember, boys and girls, is that numbers are INFINITE." "What does 'infinite' mean, sir?" asked a girl at the back. Brian Wong, who was sitting right at the front of the class, tutted loudly. "Tut, tut, tut." The boy tutted anyone he considered not as clever as him, which was everyone. "That is a good question," replied the teacher, giving Wong a stern sideways glance. "Because you can always add one to any number, they go on forever. They are therefore INFINITE." The children all looked around at each other, attempting to grasp this idea. "Now, I want you to think of the biggest number you can," continued the teacher. Lots of eager little hands shot up.

"A million!" said one boy. "A billion!" shouted another- Nitin Singh. "A trillion!" called out Kenneth Chan. "A trillion trillion trillion!" announced Francis Françoise behind him, in a triumphant tone. Surely no one could think of a bigger number than that. The teacher was most amused by his pupils' efforts. "Ha ha! Very good, children. Very good. But can anyone top a trillion trillion trillion?" Wong thought for a moment. "A trillion trillion trillion and ONE."