Fencing Bear at Prayer

You all know the parable ( Matthew 25:14-30 ).  There's this man, see, who was going on a journey, but before he left, he called three of his servants to him and entrusted them with his goods.  "And to one he gave five talents, and to another two, and to another one, to every one according to his proper ability: and immediately he took his journey."  While he was away, the servant to whom he gave five talents used the money in trade and raised five more talents; and the servant to whom he gave two talents did likewise, raising two.  But the third took his one talent and buried it in the earth.  Guess who gets the kudos when the master returns?  Not the one who buried his talent to keep it safe, oh, no!  Rather, the other two who took the lord's money and made more of it.  And so the master took the one talent from the servant who buried it and gave it to the servant who had doubled his five, so that the one who had had five talents now had eleven,...

I wish I had some. You know, like every self-respecting fictional character worth the paper she is printed on. Secret talents that none of the other characters expect her (or, indeed, him) to have that are revealed when necessary to help the plot along. Languages spoken fluently; artistic abilities honed to perfection but only reluctantly displayed; athletic or scientific or business acumen to be unsheathed unexpectedly to exquisite effect. Instead, I have hidden shallows. "Oh, yes, I was on the high school swimming team." "Oh, were you any good?" "Of course not. The best I ever did was to make the alternate for the women's relay team to State. I got to go to the meet, but I didn't get to swim." Or: "I used to like to draw a lot." "Oh, did you get anything printed?" "No. I tried once or twice to submit a drawing for one of our college posters or t-shirts, but nobody ever liked any of my designs. I painted a tra...