Hidden Talents

By Rachel Sokol/Greenwich Village Gazette

So, the other day, I was thinking (and, yeah, it hurt) what am I really good at? Do I have any hidden talents or impressive actions that would just floor people if they found out? I can't sing. I can't dance. I can't juggle or do a handspring or bake a to-die-for pineapple cake. I quit piano lessons. I quit my flute lessons. I still count on my fingers. I never win lotto scratch-offs. I mean, really, the only "talents" I can remotely pride myself on are my abilities to blow giant bubble-gum bubbles and remember theme songs to 80s shows. And that's pretty sad. I've never even won anything in my life.

No, I take that back. I once won a jug of Pantene shampoo from a YM magazine contest when I was thirteen. Otherwise, the luck pendulum never swings my way. So, really, I'm pretty talentless, thus, I am boring and predictable.

But today I had an epiphany and discovered that I DO have a talent-it may not really be a physical talent, or one that's going to land me in The Guinness Book of Records, but it's something I'm a great strategist and a great, "gamer." Let me explain.

I love a good mystery. I've been reading mystery novels since grammar school.

My bookshelves were full of young adults novels by Christopher Pike and RL Stine, while everyone else was reading, "Sweet Valley High" and "Choose Your Own Adventure." I dreamed I was teen detective Nancy Drew and watched, "Murder, She Wrote" on Friday nights instead of "Full House." I even asked my sixth grade teacher if I could borrow her Agatha Christie movie collection, and I knew every word Christie's film, "Murder on the Orient Express," before I entered Jr. High. And I always-always-win a good game of CLUE because I pay close attention to the game and develop a strategy find the 'murderer." (Mr. Green in the Study with the Rope). When we were 16, one rainy, lazy afternoon, my best friend Shena swore she'd never play CLUE with me again.

"You always win. Forget it," she cried, tossing her cards on to the board. I can't help it if I love mysteries and solving puzzles. I may not be able to hit a volleyball for my life, but I can call the killer in an episode of, "Law and Order," within 10 minutes. Last time I watched, "The Practice" with my mother, she threw me out of the room for solving scenario just minutes into the show. "You're so annoying!" she cried. 'Let the rest of us guess."

To me, everything's obvious. I guess I have tendency to see what others don't, because I'm quite a skeptic. When North Carolina newsmaker Susan Smith opened her mouth on TV years ago, and cried that her sons were kidnapped, I shook and my head and immediately said, "No way. She killed them and she's lying." Horrified, my friend Carrie turned to me and asked, 'How can you say that when she said her kids were kidnapped on the road?!?" Hello? I thought.

You could tell. I mean, I could tell. I explained my intuition (which I try not to ignore) to Carrie. "She's wearing a pink bow in her hair on the news and that's how I can tell." Carrie gave me a crazy look. "She wants the publicity. A mother whose kid was kidnapped won't wear a hot-pink ponytail in her hair for a news conference," I explain to Carrie. It made sense to me.

And I got Carrie to admit, "Okay, you were right," when Smith was arrested for murder weeks later. Most newsworthy cases such as Smith's concluded the way I thought it would all along. I have a knack for mystery, what can I say.

I'm the kid who solved those silly, "Two Minute Mystery" books in middle school. I'm the one who's rarely surprised at the ending of suspense films, and who bites my tongue because I am just dyyyying to tug my movie buddy and say, "Can't you see? He's the killer, she's his accomplice, and this whole thing's one big dream." But I don't want to be an annoying mystery spoiled, so I keep my mouth shut and think, "I knew it! I called it!" after the mystery is solved. I had all the Scream films penned immediately, as cheesey as they were. I become obsessed with TV trial and real-life unsolved mysteries.

So, that's my hidden talent. I can solve mysteries and am honestly rarely wrong. I just pay close attention to detail and listen to my gut instincts. I'll always wish I could ride a unicycle, ice-skate like Sarah Hughes or hike the K-2 mountain, but for now I'll just accept that I'm a great strategist.

Besides, it's physically safer this way. I don't think I could be a detective, though. I couldn't handle the rejection and devastation if I was wrong.

Got something to say? Contact Rachel at: Rachel@nycny.net

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