A Week of History

One Week of History

     “Settle down everyone.” Kaliai, the instructor, started pounding on her desk. And it got louder and louder by the second. Her thirty Learners were just getting back into their chairs. But they were still chatting amongst themselves.

     “Playtime is over everyone. Time to get back to learning. What did I tell you we were going to be learning next?” Kaliai leaned back against the front of her desk as she addressed her Learners.

     “You said you was going to talk to us about our planet of Portha compared to all the other planets in the universe.” Kaliai wasn’t sure who said that. But it sounded like eleven-year-old Helaie.

     “That’s right, Helaie.” Kaliai paused for a re-action. But no one contradicted her.

     “As you all know Portha is just like every other planet in the universe. We may be more advance than some. And some might be more advanced than us. Some could be just started out in life. While some are about to die. It doesn’t really matter where Portha is compared to everyone else. Whatever happens on this planet is going to happen on every other planet.” Kaliai took a breath or two.

     “It doesn’t happen the same way on every other planet – or at the same time. But it does happen. It’s may not be called the same thing as what we call it either. That goes with things as well as events. Those built-in Data Monitors on your desk might be called something else on other planets. They might not even be built-in. It’s possible they could be stand-alones or portables too. It all depends on now advanced they are.” Kaliai had started walking around her Learners. Every word she said she had thirty eyes watching her.

     “The same is true about the planet themselves too. We call our large populated areas Land Masses. But on other worlds they are called something different. Whether it’s large or small within those Land Masses there are Regions. And within those Regions there are Communities. That’s all something that we have on this planet that they might not have on other worlds.” Kaliai had returned to her desk. She sat behind it.

     “It’s also true what it looks like within those Communities. All planets have buildings, houses, businesses etc. within them. But they might have different names for what they do – especially when it comes to businesses. The same is true when it comes to pathways. We call them pathways. But that’s not what they are called on other planets. And it’s not just in Communities. It’s in-between them too. What we call a Mountain Ridge on might be called a Mississippi Delta on another planet.” Kaliai was once again leaning back against her desk.

     Ten-year-old Greagion pushed a red button next to his Data Monitor. Which meant he had a question. “What is a delta – and a Mississippi? I’ve never heard of them.”

     “Neither have I. I just made it up.” Kaliai smiled. She liked it when her Learners asked questions.

     Four the next couple of hours the speech went on – until a loud booming alarm sounded. “Learners you may leave for today.” The Learners started getting up, getting their things, and leaving. “But before you go I don’t have everyone’s okay to go to on our History Trip in a couple of days - yet.

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     Every year for a week all Learners eight and over got to go on a History Trip. And each day was a different part of history. The first day for Kaliai and her Learners wasn’t that long ago. Only a couple of hundred years.

     Kaliai counted off her Learners to make sure everyone was still there. “let’s stick together. No wondering off. And no troublemaking. These ‘Displays of History’ are very delicate. It won’t take much to hurt them. I don’t want to. But if I have to I will punish you. And you don’t want me to punish you in front of your fellow Learners do you?”

     “What’s that?” Eleven-year-old WeaJain pointed at a display.

     “Those are wagons with food in them. A long time ago Growers and Breeders would bring their food into the Communities to share with everyone else.” Kaliai looked it up in the Tour Book she got when they first started their History Trip.

     For the next hour or so nothing much happened. Then they came to another moving display. And that one scared the Learners. It scared Kaliai a little bit too. It was a mountain cat leaping off a ledge toward them.

     “That’s the biggest one I have ever seen. And I have seen a lot of them.” Kaliai jumped back even further than her Learners.

     “You must have been here a million times.” That was ten-year-old Brileai who said that with a big smile on her face.

     “I have seen a lot. But not that many.” Kaliai smiled back.

     The rest of that day’s history lesson went without a problem – until toward the end of it when eleven-year-old Teimoen and ten-year-old Fliavoic got into a fight. Kaliai separated them quickly. But the damage had been done. One of the displays was completely destroyed.

     “Didn’t I warn you before we started this History Trip what would happen if there was any trouble? And this is huge trouble.” Kaliai looked very mad. And she was.

     “Both of you have a bad temper. And both of you are going to have to pay for that ruined display equally. The boys tried to tell her what happened. But she wasn’t listening. “I don’t care how it started. Or what it was about. You were both fighting and you will both pay for it.

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     A couple of weeks later Kaliai stood before her Learners. “I finished Scoring your Papers last night on our History Trip. And all of you did very good with them. Good job everyone.”