The Inspiration: Part 3

This is part 3 of the story. To catch it from the beginning, please start at part 1.

In college, Jonathan learned to doubt his own existence, or at least the part that had made him special in high school. College has a way of doing that, or at least that's what they always say. The memory of the genie grew foggy with the years and the results of his first two wishes, which were much more concrete in nature, had long since been used up. Only the effects of that third wish remained. Unfortunately, there was no way to be reminded that it really ever worked. Who was he to say that he hadn't just been a member of a very talented graduating class? That sort of thing happens sometimes.

Because Jonathan had never been more than a mediocre football player, he never played in college, and thus never had the opportunity to inspire his fellow players to national championships. Through a steady diet of sloth and collegiate situational alcoholism, Jonathan even gave up much of his token desire to change the world for the better. Instead, he partied his way through school and only squeaked by with a degree in five years. He had opted to go into the real world with a job that kept him in the only life he'd really known. Instead of going out and setting the world on fire like every young person dreams of doing, Jonathan took on the mantle of teacher and returned to teach in the small town where he grew up. He built a house on the farmland that had been in his family for generations and went to school in the mornings and came home in the afternoons and repeated this process for the next five years.

Had Jonathan been wiser at the time of his encounter with that genie, he may have asked for a combination of great motivation and great skill or some metaphorical Midas touch. Instead, his wishes had been so small minded and petty that even he eventually forgot them and he lived the kind of sad life that is often the stereotype of the burned out teacher in Hollywood. His once bright disposition and ready smile had settled into a stoic expression his face no longer received the regular creases from a grin.

That is, until one day Jonathan, now Mr. Kornegay, met a struggling student who somehow captured his attention.

To be continued...