I just looked out of the window and saw a boy of about 13 sitting in the back of a car, looking out of the window at shops and people as he passed by, and he had a completed Rubik's Cube held carefully on his lap, yellow side up.
That fleeting glimpse of the lad produced almost instantaneous conjecture which could be right or wrong, but for what it's worth, this is it.
I haven't seen a child with a Rubik's Cube for longer than I can remember - certainly since long before that boy was born. I rarely see children in the presence of their parents who are not absorbed in a smart phone these days. You have to give a phone your complete attention. They demand it.
Kids used to show off by twiddling with Rubik's Cubes behind their back. It was probably easier to line up the colours when not looking at it, let alone not thinking about it. This may be wrong, but I always thought that the most successful Rubik's Cube solvers were probably nerdy to the point of being somewhere on the autistic spectrum.
This blonde haired, dreamy boy in a grey track suit top had his solved cube in his left hand, lying on his lap. Either he was very good at solving it and had become bored with it for a moment, or he was not so good and did not want to scramble it up for a while to begin the whole process over again immediately.
Maybe he wanted to bask in the glory of having completed it for the first time. Maybe he was being driven to his grandparents so he could show them the six faces of pure colour as proof. I suggest 'grandparents' because none of his contemporaries would be in the slightest bit interested in it now and, even if they were, all he would have to do is photograph it on his phone and paste the picture on Instagram.
I remember being driven around in the back of my parent's car and I remember staring out of the window of it, letting the passing scenery effortlessly alter the subject matter of my reverie, like watching a film in which nothing particular happens.
I remember being on the inside looking out.
I remember my sister and I being driven by our parents and I either had an I Spy book or, if it was s long journey, an RAC Itinery, so we were always looking out for something ..... or, we would play Pub cricket.
ReplyDeleteMaybe the boy had only just got his Rubik’s Cube and didn’t have a clue how to do it ? I like the fact that he had one though and wasn’t just looking at a screen. XXXX
Ah, but you had your sister for company. I hadn't thought about the cube being new and fresh out of the box, although everyone knows that the first thing you do with a new cube is scramble it up.
DeleteMy grandchildren are still playing with the Hungarian cube (that's what we call it here), I think one of them was looking for the solution on YouTube.
ReplyDeleteOh. So in Israel they are still popular? Maybe they are returning here and I have only just noticed.
DeleteI have just read that a Tel Aviv team have produced an online version of the cube called GoCube.
DeleteAnd that there are 43,252,003,274,489,856,000 different possible positions to put the colours into...
DeleteI shall look for it, i am very bad with it.
DeleteOr he was from another time, the ghost that stole the bra.
ReplyDeleteI like the idea of a 13 year-old, bra-stealing ghost driving past with a Rubik's Cube. That's the sort of explanation I try to come up with.
DeleteThe bookstore where I used to work started selling Rubik's cubes in the section with board games about 5 years ago. I don't recall anyone ever buying one, though.
ReplyDeleteI think the idea of the 13 year old bra stealing ghost is wonderful and would make a great story.
It would make a sensational court case too.
DeleteI really should know better, reading Tom’s post let alone the comments first thing in the morning and before coffee.
DeleteI was about to ask when you got out of bed but then I realised you are in Portland, Oregon.
DeleteWhen my daughters were growing up, a little boy from across the street was at our house from breakfast to bedtime. He was today's nerd. Undersized, scrawny, never quit talking, close to an authority on most subjects. I think in today's world he would be somewhere on the Asperger scale.
ReplyDeleteMy mother passed out Rubik's to all the grandchildren one weekend. Marc dashed home and got his and attempted to show my mother's assembled grandchildren the solution. They were involved, and frustrated for several hours. Including Marc, who could not make them understand. Then they all reassembled, with solved cubes! Marc had demonstrated his final solution. Take it apart and reassemble it.
Did I mention I loved this kid. After my girls were gone he still showed up, to perform his skit, to take the seasonal decorations from the attic and put them up, then take them down. Until I moved away, when he was a teenager, we went out for a meal at least once a week.
DeleteThat would be my solution. Practicality like that is highly valued in the commercial world. Bullshit beats brains every time.
DeleteAs a child, I wore a wee Rubik's cube on a chain around my neck. My older brother could solve the cube, if I remember correctly, but I could only get two sides, alas.
ReplyDeleteTwo out of six isn't bad... is it?
DeleteI've just scored 2 over on yours.
DeleteI used to be an avid Chess player, but those cubes never appealed. However, I always thought their invention was pure genius.
ReplyDeleteThey were for children.
DeleteUntil I was allowed in the front seats the only thing I used to do in the back seat was to be car sick.
ReplyDeleteWe also played Pub Cricket, the batsman always declared after The Fox & Hounds.
The Cricketers was the one I looked out for 🏏 XXXX
DeleteThe motorway police play Motorway Snooker. The two coppers take it in turn to pull over cars in certain colour sequences, then at the end of the day they stop a black one and go home.
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