The number 2 has many different meanings, to me it is like the king of all numbers; ask a group of elementary child you will get a tsunami wave of giggles. Younger children’s minds immediately shoot to the sordid version of this innocent number; going to the bathroom. If you tell Sean that he was number two in the 600 meter run, it would be just as equivalent as if a rusty nail went through his big toe. Everyone who has ever been in a contest dreads to here that the number… two. That means that they were one spot off from being the best. A famous race car driver named, Ricky Bobby, once said,”If you ain’t first, you’re last.” This is why the number 2 gets a bad reputation among the number community. But I do not want to diminish the number two’s dignity any further than I have, I want to praise it.

I want to tell you how the number 2 has brought me great luck and fortunes. It all started when I was in fifth grade right after basketball practice. My practice ended around 8:30 and my dad talked and talked for another 30 minutes afterwards.

So me and my friend, Harry Walsh who was also a son of a the other coach, explored the monumental Middle School like we were Christopher Columbus looking at new land. We were very anxious for the three years that would followed in this monstrous and intimidating school. Although Harry ended up not being able to handle the school’s might; he left in 7th grade.

So after practice me and my dad drove home around 9 o’clock and my stomach growled so loud from loss of food that the car shook. But on this particular day it was different, I never ate a snack before practice so I have not eaten since 12pm that day. That was the absolute worst mistake I’ve ever made. In the car it felt like my stomach was twisted into a tiny knot.

My dad pulled into the driveway at exactly 9:08, I stumbled over past the threshold of my door like a marathon runner crossing the finish line looking for food. And there it was, on the table there was: fortune cookies, Chinese rice, teriyaki on a stick, and other fantastic Chinese food. The table looked like it was glowing bright yellow like the sun.

I dove into the chair and started shoveling food down my mouth. Warmth traveled throughout my body and I was very fulfilled. After my whole family ate we were allowed to eat my favorite part of the Chinese; fortune cookies. There was one problem though, two fortune cookies for my brother, sister, and myself. Since there is no sharing in the Surette household, we were pitted against each other in the fight to the death. Or it is whoever can grab the cookies first. My sister had the quickest reflexes so she got her fortune cookie first. There was just one left, it was just me and my brother. He was 5 years older than me and he was doubled my weight and it felt like he was triple my size, but little did he know I was willing to risk everything.

I remembered learning about the David and Goliath story and I decided I was going to reenact the moment. So I took a spoon from my back pocket and chucked it at his head. He fell over with the chair glued to him. I grabbed the fortune cooking and sprinted upstairs, I never saw him hit the ground but the whole house shook when I ran away. My heart was pumping out of my chest.

I hid behind the door and cracked open the fortune cookie very slowly trying to savor this moment. And I took out the piece of paper out of its shell but there was nothing written there. There was no fortune, it only had a single number. Right there in the center of the paper was the number two, and from this day on I have dedicated every victory I have ever had to the best number in the world. Number two.