My First Mate For Sharing One Desk In the late 1970's, my 1st grade of the elementary school started. Thosedays, there was a smart, efficient way for a pair to share one desk with each other. That was to mate one, from the first, with the other, from the last, in the order of their marks. By this smart method, my first mate, named 'JR', was put into my life by my teacher, to a large degree, by destiny. He had such an impressive character that I couldn't forget him for a long while, even now. His clothes had never been changed until the season swifted and his ever-closed mouth made him as silent as a monk. Oneday, my teacher gave the order to memorize the multiplication table, which was very tricky for seven year-old children. Then he added if one mate haden't learned it by heart, both partners should have to stay in class for supplementary lessons. Unfortunately, my mate had no interest in those simple mutiple sttuffs. I thought that he would rather meditate than memorize something like a parrot, though. For this reason, I hadn't gone back home with my village friends for almost one month. Instead, I had to accompany him, not saying a word for one hour or so during the way home. This unpleasant burden for a little girl had gone when the teacher gave up urging him to memorize it. Apparenly, he was not a parrot but a monk who enjoed being in his own world, regardless of how dirty his chlothes were.