Sudoku by Esther

I can't remember how far back this was, neither what the occasion was. I don't remember what day it was, what the weather was like, and I don't even remember why I'm writing this.

What I do remember is that I was sitting in Esther's room in Price George Park, with a sudoku book in front of me.

She was distracting me with one of the puzzles while she was changing. I don't remember where we were supposed to go, only that we weren't in a hurry.

When she finally leaned over my shoulder and peeked at my progress, she gave a little giggle.

She points to the row of numbers next to each blank box on the puzzle, and asks, "What's all this?"

I reply confidently with mild annoyance, "These are the possible numbers that could be in each box. I'm gg to narrow down each box down to a few possibilities, and use probability for each box to see which number has the highest probability of being in the box."

She gives me blank stare. And this is uni student who specializes in mathematics.

"You crazy la," she snaps at me, "That will take forever."

"But every time I try to solve the puzzle," I protest, "I hit a point where I have to guess a number."

She shakes her head and wags her finger at me like a every tuition teacher I've ever known.

"Then you are doing it wrong," she laments in chinese, as she takes the pencil from my hand.

"There is no guessing in sudoku. Everything is certain. It is all there, you just don't see it."

"See what?" I snap.

"This." she proclaims, as she marks a '7' in one of the boxes.

"And because that's a '7', that means this is '5'. And this row is done, which leads to a '4'... and then..."

A few minutes later, she has completed my puzzle. And without making a single guess.

"Impossible," I mutter.

She flashes me a victorious grin and hands me back the pencil.

"Wait a minute, wait a minute," I pull her back, "Do another one, and walk me through it this time."

"Hmm ok, let's start with an EASY one," and she flips to the front of the book. I see bear cartoons and flowers printed - and I feel like a moron.

"Ok, I know that this is a '4'."

"Correct," she says.

"And that means.... this is a '3'."

"Yes."

"And and that over there is definitely a '1', because that's the last one in the box right?"

"Go on."

"And then... and then..."

Yeap, I was STUCK already. She senses it, once again, like a model school teacher. She gently lifts the pencil out of my fingers. From the side, I can see her eyes narrowing through her glasses. She lifts the end of the pencil to her mouth and taps it on her lips, which she always does when she is concentrating.

I can't resist, and I lift my head a little and give her a kiss on the cheek.

As expected she's surprised. But still half-concentrating on the puzzle, she hurriedly scribbles down a '4' in the top right hand corner box and raps me on the head with the pencil.

"LEARN hor," she states flatly with mild embarrassment showing on her face.

"I am, I am..."

She scribbles down a '2', then a '1', and the another '2'. Pause. Then a '5', then a '7', then an '8' and a '4'...

And then she stops.

"What? What's wrong?"

She doesnt say anything, until I examine the puzzle. And there is no denying it, she made a mistake and is now lost. She drops the pencil with fluster and looks for an eraser.

"Where'd we go wrong?"

"Wait wait, I'll check."

We erase number after number, backtracking the wrong steps, until finally, we arrive at the culprit - it's the '4' at the top right hand corner.

She drops her head and sighs in defeat, her hair falling onto my shoulder. I choke back a giggle, and she raps me on the head with the pencil again.

"You wanna try again?"

"No," she replies, irritated, "Too distracted already."

"Then let's go then."

She picks up her keys and heads for the door with me right behind her.

I flash a glance back at the open sudoku book on her desk, with the pencil still rolling slowly over the top page.

* * * * *

Fast forward to today.

As I finish the last number on my latest sudoku puzzle, the vehicle comes to a screeching stop. As usual, the driver almost missed my stop.

I close the puzzle on my phone and slide it smoothly into my pocket, and as I do so, I'm reminded again...

"Everything is certain. It is all there, you just don't see it."

Yeah right, and I'm still looking.