Primary School was hard. Ben was too aware of his own thoughts to make it easy. He seemed to stand outside of himself at all times. Where other kids went running around the playground enjoying themselves, Ben was scrutinising a leaf on the ground, and entertaining a thousand thoughts. He was like the bowler, all showmanship and swagger, aiming for the strike. The execution looked and felt good in the moment, but then that circular object would veer off with startling inevitability, and a mere pin would fall. He sought to find the quiet, but the more he struggled, the further out of reach it seemed to be. Trying not to think about elephants, he naturally thought of elephants.

Today they were going swimming. Their teachers had marched them to the local leisure centre straight after lunch. The walk was quiet, not that he noticed. It was one of those rare, blissful moments when Ben wasn’t thinking about thinking. He was in another room, but the bowl had found its mark. Strikkkkkeeeeeee! At the centre, the boys were quickly ushered into a changing room. A warm and damp place. Finding a dry spot Ben quickly peeled off his clothes and made for the pool. Outside, the the girls were lined up against one wall, while the boys milled about. When the girls saw him, they started to smile, and gesture in his direction. Laughter soon ensued. Too late he realised that he was still wearing his vest. Red with embarrassment, he turned and ran for the locker room. Sometimes it paid to be always thinking, or so he thought. The snake continued to eat its tail.