I once was told a story by one of my dearest friends. It was not a story that was outstanding good told but there’s something about it that makes me never forget it.

It was about a quite normal girl; her hair was blond and had the length to just above her shoulder. Her eyes was a color between blue and green, they seemed to shift from day to day. She was what you probably should had describe as a petit women if she was rush by you at the street. Most people would have described her as just “pretty”. But it was not the way she look that was extra ordinary about her, it was the thing she was so annoyed about that her friends always had to describe her as when the met new people; “ Oh Becca is super intelligent!”. It wasn’t a bad thing to be introduced with but it still annoyed Becca, it was like she didn’t was anything else than this super intelligent, slightly nerdy girl. My friend told the story about the meeting with this girl like this:

“I met Becca for the first time at a bar I New Zeeland, she was nineteen. I remember exactly what she was wearing, a pair of skin-tight black jeans, a black, perfectly cut crop top, and dark red lips. She was there with three other girls, most people would had said that at least two of the other girls in her company was far more beautiful than Becca, but I couldn’t take my eyes of her. They asked if they could sit down at our table, I probably looked really stupid and couldn’t make a sound. But one of my friends saved me buy saying “of course”, and they sat down. To act like a gentleman (and a opportunity for me to make up for the stupid look I had had when they had joined us) I ask if the liked something to drink, a girl with long black hair (later found out that her name was Hannah) answered first that she would like a beer, the other two preferred a glas of white wine. It was only Becca that hadn’t answer my question, she suddenly looked up and smiled at me when she heard that the table had fallen in silence. It was a nervous smile, she put pulled a bill out of her pocket and said that she would like a beer too. I stood there with my surprised face and look at the bill she tried to hand me. But before I had made my mind up whether or not I should grab the bill, Becca had risen from her chair and said: " Oh I’m sorry, of course you need someone that help you to carry everything back, I go with you" Hannah and the two other girls (that I can't recall the name of) looked as surprised and confused as I felt. But just before I and Becca started heading for the bar Hannah call to Becca "Becca, can you please pay for us too?" And she pointed at the other two girls. Becca nodded, turned around and walked towards the bar, and I stumbled after her.

When we got back to the table the others already had started to chat, and when I and Becca sat down Hannah directly laid her arm around Becca and told us that Becca was like the female version of Einstein, Becca rolled her eyes and look quite annoyed. After about an hour we all had started to feel the effects of the alcohol, and Becca suddenly joined me and Robert in our conversation about particle physics, what surprised me the most was not that Becca after an hour of almost silence and had declared that she not spoke English so well now participated in the conversation without any problem at all. What surprised me was that she didn’t seemed to be an amateur at particle physics like I and Robert was. But I was absolutely sure that the girls had told us that they just had finished high school and now had a gap year. How could a high school girl be such a particle physics pro? It’s was unbelievable. I had by that time been studding physics at the university for 1,5 years, and I had a hard time understand the physics she was talking about. It was true what Hannah told us, Becca’s intelligence was outstanding. I sat beside Becca all night, and if I couldn’t take my eyes of her when I first saw her I now was truly enchanted by her and followed every move she took for the rest of the evening. I just didn’t want her to stop talking!

When the dawn almost had arrived, I felt the slightly sad feeling that Becca was slipping through away. What if I never get the chance to meet her again? Would this enchanting evening just be over? We left the pub when 4,30 am, it was a beautiful night, the stars was shining bright. Becca look up at the sky and said “it’s so strange to look at the starry sky here, the stars are so different from the European”. She took her eyes of the sky and look at me, what I saw was a so pretty smile. I wished nothing else than to have a couple of minutes more with Becca, it would be so wonderful to lay down at the shore with her and stare up at the night sky. Becca was the one who brook the silence that had been for a couple of minutes “ Wouldn’t it be wonderful to lay at the shore and stare up at the sky and then see the sun rise above the sea” I was late to point out that I thought this was a good idea. But no one else in the group seemed to think that this was such a good idea. I didn’t dared to look at Becca so afraid that I would see that she had change her mind due to the others decision, but she surprised me by saying “ John, do you want to join me for a walk down to the shore even if the others don’t want?” My heart definitely skipped a beat and I only succeed nodding as answer. Hannah opened her mouth to protest, but Becca smiled a pleased smile at her, which made her change her mind. I said that I promised to follow Becca back to the hostel after our walk, and I tried to reassure them that nothing would happen to Becca. This made Hannah laugh and she mumbled “Yeah you can try to take care of Becca”.

Becca and I headed of fore the shore, while we were walking down to the shore I asked what Hannah had meant, Becca laugh and said that the worst thing she know was when guys threated her like she couldn’t take care of herself.

We sat there in the sand and look out over the sea when the sun rose, we were quite. Becca’s hair was wet after the swim we had been taken under the sparkling, starry sky. I had her lipstick both on me white shirt and on my neck. And Becca’s head was leaning at my shoulder. After a long silence, and when the morning light had rose over the beach Becca broke the silence and lifted her head from my shoulder and put her clothes back on. “I think I have to go back to the hostel” I followed her back and kiss her good by at the door.

I didn’t forgot her, never. I had a hard time being with any other women for many years after this night, I still have. I compare very one with Becca, and no one even come close to her, especially no one coming close to her mind, it was such a beautiful mind, not just intelligent, beautiful. Now after 30 years it’s not a bleeding scare anymore, but it still a scare that sometimes burns. My mind have stopped wonder about Becca all the time and I was happily married, until the October evening when the radio was on in our kitchen and the house was full of friends and family. I was in the kitchen to get the stew the radio suddenly caught my attention “… the nobel prize winner in physics is Rebecca Swan…” I dropped the stew and there was a bang as it fell to the floor and my wife come rushing in, with a couple of friends that followed her close. “What happened?” she asked. The only sound I could make was a quiet whisper “Becca” and I knew what I had to do…”