A French student was pleased when his teacher provided an opportunity to earn extra credit. The teacher told him that if he read Orson Scott Card’s Enders Game he would receive 500 funny money francs exchangeable at the end of the quarter for points toward improving his grade. He further stated that Card’s book Speaker for the Dead would earn an additional 500 francs. Being above average in intelligence and after making a quick calculation the student concluded he could make an A with no further work. He would simply use the thousand francs he would earn by reading. So read he did, and let his daily class work slide. Nothing to worry about he thought.
At the end of the quarter he presented the thousand francs to the teacher with a wry smile. The teacher, who by now had realized his mistake, and wasn’t about to let a student get an unearned A. So he took the thousand francs keeping the 500 francs for Enders Game and returning 500 francs, informed the student that he had earned a C- , no discussion.
The student was very angry and appeared at the teachers home that same evening. The teacher arriving at the door and seeing the student with a gun said, “Please, don’t shoot, where did you get the gun?” The student paused, smiled, and said, “What did you expect me to do with my extra 500 francs, and put a bullet in his head. Is the story true, were the bullets real, I can’t say, you see, I’m no Speaker for the Dead.