“Just look at how beautiful it is!”” cried the taller stranger.
“It is not every day that you get to see such vibrant colours! What a heavenly shade of deep blue that petal is!” Exclaimed the other man.
“And the other one, the one that goes from crimson red to bright purple! Leonardo himself never painted more beautiful colours!” the first man continued.
Oakes stared at the plant, gawped at it, the pain of not being able to see anything on it was almost physical. Not one flower, not even a tiny petal. He was confused: was he really that stupid? He could not admit it, of course, so in a faltering voice he said, “Yes… it’s really beautiful… a bit like… that…”
“Like a giant hydrangea, but so much more colourful!” chipped in the taller stranger, helpfully.
“That’s right, that’s right… Well, thank you for your effort, it’s really… really… impressive,” he kept staring at the fern, not wanting to believe he couldn’t see the flower. ‘I hope you’ll come to the unveiling tomorrow,” he turned to the two strangers, but they were nowhere to be seen, having quietly sloped off into the gathering darkness of the dimly lit street.” “Johnny woke up late on the morning of the unveiling but hurried to get there on time: He wouldn’t have admitted it to Noel, but he was actually very curious about the fern flower. The headmaster had already assigned the whole school to the botanical garden, and many TV channels, photographers, journalists and enthusiastic botanists would be there. There were even rumours that a reporter from CNN would be coming. As Johnny rushed down the stairs, his mother’s voice stopped him in his tracks.
“Johnny, we have a problem! I forgot that you have an appointment at the dentist today at 8… I even meant to text you about it, I just forgot, sorry!”
“Oh no!”” thought Johnny, but consoled himself with the thought that if he got to the dentist early, he might still make it to the ceremony by 9. After all, he had to see this sensation for himself!
While the dentist was drilling Johnny’s teeth, an enormous crowd gathered at the botanical gardens for the unveiling.
Cameras flashed, TV reporters and photographers scrambled to find the best places to capture the unveiling.
Principal Oakes was terribly nervous, sweating and shaking as he mumbled through the speech he had prepared for the big event.” ““A very warm welcome to all of you at this very… special event. I’ve been thinking a lot about what to say about this wonderful plant, which is standing here on this table, covered for the moment. It is a very delicate matter to talk about, for the peculiarity of this fern is something that may disappoint many… for its huge, hydrangea-like but much more colourful flower is completely invisible to people of low intelligence. So, when I unveil this fantastic plant in a few minutes, … the truth will be revealed to all present,”” said the director emphatically, wiping a fat drop of sweat from his brow. Around the stage set up in the botanical gardens, the tension was building. When Oakes stepped up to the plant to pull the shroud off, the crowd gasped.
“Here’s the most extraordinary flower in the world!” the director exclaimed triumphantly, and then with a theatrical gesture lifted the thin veil that covered the fern.” “There was a sudden silence. Everyone stared at the fern, then looked at each other in puzzlement. One or two of the braver students even chuckled.
Nobody saw anything at all. There was a simple, slightly wilting fern on an ornate table, one of its leaves was visibly withering, but no flower could be found, even with a magnifying glass.
It was a long time before one of the reporters, dared to ask a question, barely audible in his shock:
“And tell me, above what IQ can you see this… obviously exceptionally beautiful flower?
Oakes bit the corner of his mouth.
“”One hundred and ten,”” he said, “”The measurements show that to those with an IQ above one hundred and ten it becomes visible.
The crowd started to fidget, someone shouted, “Wow! It’s so beautiful!”
Some loudly praised the beautiful flower, others shook their heads in disbelief. The cameras clicked. In all the commotion, no one noticed Johnny, who arrived in a rush, his left cheek still a little swollen from his dental treatment. He wormed his way through the crowds of people to the table where the fern stood. He stared at the plant, coolly.” ““But there aren’t any flowers on it at all!”
His high-pitched comment made everyone turn their heads. There was an intense silence. Director Oakes stared at Johnny, stunned, trying to think of a way to salvage the situation.
“If you had been here on time, young man, you would have heard that the flower is only visible to those with an intelligence quotient above one hundred and thirty.”
“You said it was one hundred and ten earlier!” shouted Noel, who had meanwhile waded through the crowd to Johnny’s side.
“That’s right! He did say one hundred and ten!” Confirmed one reporter.
There was a huge commotion. The students were chortling loudly, but all the teachers’ shoulders were also shaking, despite them trying to conceal their unbridled mirth.
The director stood on stage in his fern shirt with a desperate look on his face.
“Please, let’s keep our wits about us…”” he said, but his voice was lost in the increasingly voluminous hilarity of the crowd.
One of the cheeky senior students shouted, “Director, don’t you have any talking parlour palms to show us?” To which an even wilder laugh erupted.
Chastened, Oakes realised that the only thing he would be asked in front of the cameras was how it was that he had been fooled.