The newspaper headline proclaimed, in big bold capitals, ‘Punch in head turns man into maths genius’. The article told how a college dropout who’d suffered a brain injury in a mugging had emerged from a coma to find himself transformed into an academic egghead.
Debates raged.
Cynics pooh-poohed the report. Theologians discussed miracles. Neurologists explored theories about brain re-wiring. Prison reformers considered the possibilities of the baton as a method of rehabilitation. Lexicographers devised another three letter acronym… ASS – acquired savant syndrome.
Thugs, on the other hand, invented a new threat. ‘Hey pal, do you want to be Einstein?’
Author’s note. There have been about 40 proven cases of Acquired Savant Syndrome in the world.
Read the next drabble – The Seasick Seagull