How was Carles Rebassa, according to his teacher: "He didn't look for trouble, but if there was any, he found it"

PalmaThe teacher, who was a smoker, left the students in her 4th grade class alone for a moment because she had to go down to speak with the administration. On the table she left a video camera, which she had used on the study trip they had returned from just a few hours earlier. Upon re-entering the classroom, she found the students recording each other, imitating the teachers. "They were imitating me smoking with one hand in the back pocket of my shorts." There was one student who led all the mischief, an adorable leader who was loved wherever he went. Today, he is a recognized novelist and poet. It doesn't surprise her that he has achieved what he has. We are talking about Carles Rabassa (Palma, 1977) with his former teacher, Bàrbara Terrassa.

 They met when Carles was just ten years old. He was in fourth grade at the Pràctiques Annexa school in Palma: "I taught them Catalan, Mathematics, and Natural Sciences; at that time, we teachers did a bit of everything." She says that Carles was physically smaller and shorter than the others back then, and had an "angelic face." But it wasn't just his face: the presence of that little boy was already special when he was just ten years old. "He was a very sweet, very loving child. He was endearing. Besides, he was very bright in class, especially in Catalan. But I remember he also asked questions in Mathematics and Natural Sciences." He was a child with infinite curiosity, always wanting to know more. In fact, he was so participative that sometimes they had to tell him: "Carles, let the others speak!"

Carles spoke about Bàrbara in 2017 in a text titled 'Reading makes you grow up', published in the digital magazine Catorze. He explained the same thing the teacher tells today: "I taught them Catalan on Fridays from 4 pm to 5 pm, after a Physical Education class. They arrived hyperactive, they were ten years old... That was torture for a teacher! So I decided that for the last half hour of class I would read them El zoo d’en Pitus". Bàrbara remembers, still with some surprise, how all the students were curious about the story, especially Carles: "He couldn't wait for the following Friday to know what happened. He was curious, intrepid with all the things around him."

He also remembers that, at the young age of ten, he was a “much more critical” person and, at the same time, “with a sense of justice”: “He expressed the things he liked and gave his opinion whenever he could, in a natural and polite way”. Bàrbara thinks that at home they must have encouraged him a lot, because he was a child who “loved to learn”. He liked things to be clear: if there was a rule and someone didn't follow it, he would ask why. All the teachers found him very amusing and were very fond of him, she says. Likewise, she states clearly that he “was no saint either…”: “He was a leader in the classroom, much loved by his classmates. He didn't look for a fight, but if there was one, he found it. He was mischievous and ran the show”.

Later, Carles went to high school. It wasn't until he arrived at the University of the Balearic Islands that he met Bàrbara again through a mutual friend: Professor Antoni Artigues: “Since we were both friends of Antoni, we would sometimes meet in the bar, and we would chat. It was very heartwarming for me to meet Carles again as an adult”. She thought he had done very well. “Really, I think Carles has managed to do what he wanted to do. He has been very loyal and faithful to what he thought his life would be, and he is a person with many principles. It didn't surprise me that he was so successful; even as a child, you could see a trail, an aura around him, and you thought: This boy will achieve whatever he wants”.