Home from the Navy (海军), I started school at Greenville College in my hometown of Illinois. I’d been out of high school for four years, but my high school headmaster, Mr. Gardner, invited me to a Valentine’s Day dance party at school. The thought of seeing my former teachers was exciting. So I agreed.

When Friday came, I cleaned up, dressed up and drove to the high school gym. I chatted with my teachers and thanked Mr Gardner before leaving. Just then, the band started playing and a young girl stood up to sing. One look at and I was crazy—I had never seen such a beautiful girl!

I asked Mr. Gardner who she was, and he answered, “That’s Marilyn Riley, Cut Riley’s daughter. ” I was shocked to say the least. They lived just around the corner from me. I walked across the gym floor to introduce myself, “Hi, I’m Jack Joseph. ”

“I know who you are, ” was her not-too-friendly response.

“Would you like to dance?” I asked. “No! I’m working, ” she shot back.

“Can I call you next week for a movie date?” I asked. “No, ” was her response.

For the next month I phoned, trying to set up a date. She always had the same answer: No. Then one rainy afternoon in March as I was driving home after basketball practice, I saw Marilyn, walking with no umbrella, no raincoat, no hat. I pulled alongside her and asked if she needed a ride, half expecting her to say no. Instead, she stepped over the roadside and sat down on the seat next to me. It was only a few blocks to her house, but after pulling into her driveway we talked for 45minutes. It was magic from then on.

The brush pen, one of the “Four Treasures of the Study”, was invented thousands of years ago. However, the oldest pen was just a stick or a piece of bamboo. It was difficult for people to write well on thin silk.

It is said that Meng Tian, a general of the Kingdom (王国) Qin, improved the pen. When Meng was leading an army to fight against the Kingdom of Chu, he had to report the situation to his king in time. But his pen was too hard and caused him much trouble, so he was thinking of ways to improve it.

One day after hunting (狩猎), Meng made his way home with some wild rabbits on the horse back. Fat and heavy, one rabbit’s tail left a long trail (痕迹) on the ground when they moved on. Suddenly a good idea came to his mind when he saw it, “If I tie the rabbit’s hair to a stick, would it be easy to write with?”

On arriving home, he tied the rabbit’s hair to a stick and tried writing with it. But the rabbit’s hair was too smooth to write well and wasted a lot of silk. Meng was so disappointed that he threw away his “invention” into a stone hole in the yard.

However, Meng never gave up and kept trying all the time. A few rainy days later, he happened to find his “invention” fatter in a stone hole. He picked it up with hope. The brush worked beautifully on silk. It turned out that the special water had cleaned the oil from the hair. Meng succeeded at last.

Thanks to Meng, the brush pen is playing a key role in Chinese culture. Today, students are taught to use the brush pens in school. It makes their life more colorful and helps them better understand Chinese culture.