The Spelling Bee

Valentina was eleven years old and lived in San Antonio, Texas, with her parents and her little brother. At home the family spoke Spanish, but at school everything was in English. She had been preparing for the regional spelling bee for six months. Every evening after dinner, her father read words from a long list and she spelled them out loud: "necessary", "rhythm", "accommodate".

"Why do you want to win so much?" her brother asked one night. Valentina thought about it. "Because last year I lost in the second round," she said. "I spelled the word calendar with an e at the end, and I have thought about it every day since then."

The competition took place on a Saturday morning in a large school auditorium. There were forty-two students from all over the region, and their families sat in rows behind them. Valentina's teacher, Ms. Reed, had come to watch. "You have worked harder than anyone," she told her. "Just listen carefully and take your time."

The first rounds were easy. Valentina spelled "library", "receipt" and "embarrassed" without any problems. One by one, the other students made mistakes and left the stage. After two hours, only three competitors were still standing: Valentina, a tall boy called Marcus, and a girl with glasses who never smiled.

Then the judge read a word that Valentina had never heard in her life. "Your word is: chrysanthemum." She stared at the microphone. Her heart was beating so fast that she could hardly hear anything. She had studied thousands of words. How was it possible that this one was not on her list?

"May I have the definition, please?" she asked. "A chrysanthemum is a flower with many small petals," the judge said. "May I have the language of origin?" "It comes from Greek." Valentina closed her eyes. She remembered that Greek words often begin with ch and have a y where you expect an i, like "rhythm" and "chaos". She took a deep breath and began: "C-H-R-Y-S-A-N-T-H-E-M-U-M. Chrysanthemum."

There was a long silence. Then the judge smiled. "That is correct." The audience clapped, and Valentina heard her brother shouting her name. Marcus missed his next word, and the girl with glasses missed hers. Valentina had won.

On the way home, her father asked her how she had known the spelling. "I didn't know it," she admitted. "But I have learned something this year. When you don't know a word, you ask questions. The answers usually tell you more than you think."