A boy came home from school one afternoon looking completely defeated.

He dropped his backpack by the door, sat down at the kitchen table and sighed dramatically.

His mother immediately noticed.

“What happened?”

“I got a zero on my geography exam.”

“A zero?” she asked. “How?”

“The teacher gave me a zero because I couldn’t answer a question on Portugal,” he said.

His mother frowned.

“What was the question?”

“Where’s Portugal.”

She stared at him for a moment, then became furious.

“The idiot teacher, I’m going to call the principal’s office. In the meantime we’re going to find where Portugal is.”

She marched over to a drawer and pulled out a map.

First, she checked a map of the state.

Nothing.

Then she got a map of the region.

Still nothing.

Now she was getting irritated.

She unfolded a map of the city and began carefully studying every street, neighborhood and surrounding area.

Her son watched quietly as she traced roads with her finger.

“No Portugal here either,” she muttered.

She turned the map sideways.

Then upside down.

Still nothing.

Finally, she threw up her hands and shook her head.

“I swear Portugal can’t be far.

The maid is from Portugal and she comes here to work everyday on her bicycle.”