Tombstone.
This morning I went over to the school and snuck up behind Pet, tickling her. I greeted her and Poppy and Sabi and Ruby.
“Do you girls look pretty today!” Pet exclaimed.
“I no want to wear dress,” I pouted. “But I only has one outfit with pants.”
“Molly finds a lot of nice dress’s my following the stagecoaches,” Poppy said.
“We met mean ole man Mr Cas yesterday. We went to caves,” I told them.
“Mean?” Sabi asked. “I don’t remember him bein’ mean.”
“Mr. Cas ain’t mean,” Poppy declared.
“Ooooohhh did you enjoy the caves?” Pet asked.
“He said we was trepassing on his land and said that we could go jail for dat,” I told them. “But den Miss Trin said he probably thought we was in mines, not caves. Jimmy and I found a box of bullets!”
“Oh wow now all ya need is the gun!” Poppy exclaimed.
“Did ya find any red candles?” Sabi asked.
“Nope Sabi,” I shook my head.
“Then the lead will fly for sure,” Ruby said.
“Hmm were you near Pearce or Benson?” Pet asked.
“We found bats tho. At those caves where you and I went Miss Pet,” I told her.
“Oooo, sounds like the cave we found the other day,” she nodded. “Benson.”
“If ya find red candles be careful when ya light them,” Poppy advised.
“We was confused cause you said we cud go der den everyone yell at us. But den Miss Trin said Cas probably thot we meant mines,” I told them.
“’dults like ta yell,” Sabi said.
“I said be careful if you go. Oh oh get in line Natalie,” Pet told me.
“You said we cud explore,” I said and then Mr. Finesmith came over so we greeted him and lined up in front of the school.
“Everyone looks very perky and ready for a lesson.. yes?” Mr. Finesmith looked us over.
“Yes sir,” we nodded though I stayed quiet.
“What does perky mean?” Sabi asked.
Mr. Finesmith asked Miss Pet if she was going to join us but she headed off to do her morning prayers so he said, “Let’s all file inside to learn what ‘Perky’ means.”
We walked into the class and I sat on the left side like I always did and I got out my notebook to write notes, since Jimmy and Payton couldn’t be there. Mr. Finesmith rang the bell and then Poppy went to take care of the bird.
“Other side of the room Little on.. This is the boys side,” Mr. Finesmith smiled at me.
“But I always sit over here with Jimmy when he here,” I frowned.
“Did I ever mention that ‘but’ is not ever an excuse with me?” Mr. Finesmith asked and I sighed, going over to the other side since I didn’t know him. “Oh Mr Finesmith? There some writing on the board. We wrote the word bank cos I teaching Jimmy how to read and write. He pick word he see in town and we write it.”
“Learning how to read and write is very very important, and one of the purposes for our being here,” he nodded and I smiled, relieved to not be getting in trouble for writing on the board. “The later classes I teach are studying communication and its value. When we have a work that we do not understand.”
“I hope it okay we use board?” I asked him.
“Well Young lady.. The board is meant to write on. When we have a word we do not understand.. it is very good to repeat it. But what’s more is to see if we can find a word inside the word. Let’s look at ‘perky’. The word PERK KEY... does anyone hear another word inside that one?” he looked around.
“Key!” Poppy said.
“Key is there yes,” Mr. Finesmith said. “Anyone else? Well what’s left?”
“Per!” Sabi said.
“Very good guess indeed.”
“Perk. Like a coffee pot,” Ruby said.
“Yes! Much like a coffee por Perks. That jumping bubbling reaction to the water and heat. So being PERKY is to be bubbling! and Jumping.. or ... anyone? Care to guess?”
“Purring like a kitty?” Sabi guessed.
“Bubbly,” Poppy said.
“Kitten purr..and they sure jump too,” Mr. Finesmith said. “OK- on with the lesson.”
We went over etiquette first and learned phrases like “Yes Sir”, “No Sir”, “Yes Ma’am”, “No Ma’am”, “Yes Miss Angie” (which made me mutter in repeating it and looking down), and how we never said, “No Miss Angie”. Luke came in late and Mr. Finesmith welcomed him and then went on with the lesson.
“My later class is studying communication at the moment. We’ll be there soon. Today.. I will catch you up with another important lesson And that is cooperation. IN another class.. each person created ... their own country! They created a constitution and a purpose of their country.”
“Ooooo Ruby Land!” Ruby remembered.
“Correct. Ruby Land.”
I raised my hand and when Mr. Finesmith called on me I asked, “What constitution?”
“A Constitution is how you feel. Do you feel well? Do you feel unwell?” he asked and I looked at him with confusion.
“When you write a constitution down.. it is a list of items.. that will show what you need to feel well all of the time,” he explained.
“Ohh. Like rules?”
“A Basic constitution would be... sleep .. eat.. work .. play. Well.. hmm. Not like rules. More like guidelines.”
“Oh,” I said simply, understanding a bit better.
“Since none of you have a constitution for your country yet… let’s being with basics. I have a basket for each of you. In each of your baskets you have two items needed to keep your Country healthy. Both items will never spoil. Both items you need to survive. Now I need you to think for a moment.. as if you were the leader of your country.. which you are. Sooner or later.. what you have may run out.. and you will need more. What will you do then? Any ideas?”
“Find more,” Poppy suggested.
“Find more. Excellent. Now look around the class,” he instructed. “Do you see more?”
“Yes!” Poppy said.
Ruby raised her hand and then said, “We have to share or trade our baskets.”
“Yeahhh I could just make Poppy give me hers by sayin I will be mean ta her if she don’t!” Sabi said defiantly.
“And Sabi.. that often happens too,” Mr. Finesmith nodded.
“Yeah and Poppy could smack ya too,” Poppy giggled.
“So.. Class… We will begin to adventure into raising and protecting our countries by starting off with our baskets.”
“I’d like to see that,” Ruby stated.
“Oh so thats why dults are alwyas shooten each other,” Poppy figured out.
“Fer picnic baskets!” Sabi exclaimed.
“Unfortunately Poppy, that is sadly true,” Mr. Finesmith nodded. “Luke.. what will your country be named? While he thinks about that.. Are we staying with Ruby Land?”
“Yes sir!” Ruby nodded.
“Very good. Sabi?”
“Yes sir?” Sabi asked.
“What will your county be called?”
“Uhm... The Empire of tha Sabi!” she exclaimed.
“Excellent. Very formidable. Poppy?”
“Freedom?” Luke guessed.
“Okay Luke… Freedom,” Mr. Finesmith nodded.
“Poppyopolis!” Poppy decided.
“Baskerville!” I started. “Or wait. Um… Bakerstreet!” I said, thinking of Sherlock Holmes.
“Poppyoplis.. Very greek. Excellent,” Mr. Finesmith smiled.
“Is it Baskerville sir?” I asked him then.
“Your Country will be Bakerstreet?” Mr. Finesmith asked.
“The town where Mr. Sherlock is? Is that right?”
“Ahh Baskerville. Mr. Holmes lives in London.”
“But the town not called Baskerville?”
“Hmm.. 221 B Bakerstreet is in London. As far as I know.”
“Oh. Bakerstreet then.”
“Now… You all have a moment to think of a Fruit or a vegetable that you would like to add to your basket,” Mr. Finesmith said.
“Oh, and it’s not separated yet,” Luke said proudly. “No states yet.”
“Apple!” I exclaimed in Mr. Finesmith’s question.
“Corn!” Ruby said.
“Termater!” Sabi said.
“Bakerstreet has ONE Apple, “Mr. Finesmith summarized.
“Peaches,” Poppy said.
“Empire of Sabi has ONE Tomatoe,” Mr. Finesmith said.
“Oh a peach pie!” Luke said.
“Poppyopolis has ONE Peach,” Mr. Finesmith said. “And RUBY LAND has one Ear of Corn. Luke?”
“That has a lot of peaches in it,” Luke said.
“Only one for the lesson today. What will it be lad?”
“Aw okay. Orange.”
“What fruit or vegetable .. ah.. ok FREEDOM has one ORANGE. And FINESMITH COMMONWEALTH has a BEAN.”
“A magic bean?” I chuckled.
“Now .. I hope you were paying attention to who has what!”
“I wrote it down Mister!” I nodded, showing him my notes.
“Excellent. You’re homework this evening will be… find ONE other object for your Basket .... JUST ONE and it MUST fit into your basket. It can be anything at all. Is that clear?” he asked. I grinned, thinking that I could put a notebook in it. “OK… Before we end class… I will allow you all to Try and trade .. or barter .. or switch what you have with each other or myself.”
Sabi raised her hand and asked, “Can we errr.... convince others ta just give us their stuff?”
“Go right ahead... and I have a feeling you will be enjoying my Debate classes. Although I warn you… Molly is undefeated.”
“Oh I know what I can put into my basket,” Luke said. “I’m not sayin’.”
“TRADING FLOOR is OPEN NOW... please refer to each other properly.. as the name of your countryMr. Finesmith said.
“Hey Sabi want to join our countrys into the Emper of lollies and have twice as much stuff?” Poppy asked her.
“Empire of Lolliopolis,” Rubby said.
“Yeah. You in, Ruby?”
“Yeah! Ruby can too! Then we have even more!!” Sabi exclaimed.
I walked over to Luke and asked, “You lonely. Want to have one apple and I can have one peach? Or we could cut em in half.”
“FREEDOM has one ORANGE wants to trade,” Luke said.
“Ohhh. I has an idea. Luke cut your orange in half, I cut my apple in half…”
“I have it in my basket,” Luke said.
“Good form!” Mr. Finesmith nodded approvingly.
“Den we give each other half. So we each get half an apple AND half a orange.”
“Aww I can’t cut mine in half,” Luke said and I frowned.
“But then we’ll have more than the others.”
“The object I put in my basket is a snake,” Luke told me and I jumped back.
“We need a shovel to dig,” Ruby said.
“Yeah! And since there is three of us we can make Nat do the planting for us!” Sabi exclaimed and I frowned.
“It’s just a garden snake,” Luke assured me.
“I put a knife in my basket,” Poppy said.
“FREEDOM now has a snkae in his basket!” Mr. Finesmith declared. “Poppyolpois .. a knife!”
“We can stab the dirt,” Popppy said.
“And we can sit back and go ‘mwa ha ha ha ha,’” Sabi said.
“I has a shovel,” I declared. “To dig up stuff like gold and stuff.”
“Okay a knife will fit,” Ruby looked at me.
“Two more minutes of Open trade…” Mr. Finesmith stated.
“Hey where’d the snake go?” Luke asked, looking in his basket.
“Luke you no wanna cut apple and orange in half?” I asked him.
“And we can make stuff with our knife,” Poppy said.
“My object is gonna be a pencil!” Sabi said.
“Why a pencil?” Ruby asked.
“PoppyEmpireRuby Land is now crafting textiles!” Mr. Finesmith said. “One more minute!”
“Mr Finesmith, Luke more worried bout his snake then trading,” I frowned.
“Cause then we write down promises to others to make deals!” Sabi said.
“I think you should be worried about a snake,” Mr. Finesmith said.
“You wanna cut bean in half and I’ll cut apple in half and we each give half, Mr Finesmith?” I asked him.
“And use em to collect their stuff later!” Sabi said.
“Either protecting his land .. or eating his food!” Mr. Finesmith smiled and I used my shovel to kill the snake as it got closer.
“I’m adding a jar, so we can collect water,” Ruby announced.
“You want to join the empier of Lolliopolis Nat?” Poppy asked me then.
“I will not cut my bean in half,” Mr. Finesmith shook his head and I frowned, going to sit down. “A Jar has been added!”
“Yeah Nat! Us red heads gotta stick together!” Sabi exclaimed.
“Ohhhhh it went into my shirt!” Luke giggled about his snake.
“You just want me to do all your hard work,” I frowned.
“Ahh the snake is found!” Mr. Finesmith grinned.
“I killed it with my shovel Mr. Finesmith,” I told him.
“And... TRADING is NOW closed! Well done everyone! I am very pleased. Good ideas.. good negotiation.. and good form,” Mr. Finesmith said and I glared at the board, not thrilled with how the morning had gone. “Now Ladies.. Let me warn you if one of the three of you do not attend class because you combined… You have given the right of decision to the person in attendance! Keep that in mind. I want to tell you all how very proud I am of you all This was not an easy task .. and you all did amazingly well. When next we meet .. I will give you all and your countries a VERY BIG challenge! And don’ forget .. I still have a full basket too! CLASS IS DISMISSED! WELL DONE!”
We jumped for joy and started to run out but then Mr. Finesmith shouted, “EXTRA CREDIT! MAKE A FLAG OF YOUR COUNTRY!”
I walked down the street towards the hotel and called for Miss Pet. She wasn’t there so I went back into the school and put my basket on the desk since Mr. Finesmith was still there. “Mr. Finesmith?” I looked up at him.
“Yes miss?”
“I sorry I no good in school today. No one wanted to share. Sabi and them just wanted me to do der hard work.”
“T’was about Sharing. Twas about the survival of your Country.”
“Well den I didn’t survive,” I frowned.
“Let us look at what your learned today.”
“I learned people is mean. I tried to kill the snake and no one listened.”
“You have all of your items… I have all of mine.”
“I guess I do,” I nodded.
“Oooh, I’m sorry,” Luke said then from his desk where he still was. “You kill it now.”
“Which is a great advantage to our countries,” Mr. Finesmith said.
“It is? Cos we more.. um.... independent?” I looked at him.
“And not only that.. you learned something about your neighbouring countries.”
“Dey mean.”
“You will understand the more we create and Fastenated to I think,” he smiled.
“So you not mad at me?”
“I beg your pardon?”
“I thought cos I couldn’t trade.. I done something wrong.”
“I didn’t trade either.”
“I didn’t trade either.”
“I spose. I was trying to be nice and share. But no one wanted to be nice.”
“You had stated that yes.”
“Den I guess I did ok”
“Well.. Next week will be very exciting!”
“See on the board Mr finesmith? Jimmy and I wrote the word ‘bank’. He gonna tell me a new word every day and I teach him how to spell. Den we write it from the letters over der. He never learned how.”
“Now design your flag if you wish. We will be getting out Tablets soon to practice our Letters. Millard is learning his letters currently. Anyway..is a good way.”
“Maybe I be teacher like you some day.”
“That will be wonderful!”
I went to the board and took some chalk. I drew a circle with a book inside it and then a square around the circle. “Der! Dat my flag!”
“You will especially love my invention classes. Excellent flag!”
“Yay! I finished homework!”
“Now put a copy into paper… then you will have finished.”
I found some paper and drew the flag on the piece of paper, handing it to him. “Here sir! I done!”
“I think we need to work on your diction,” Mr. Finesmith said, looking at my flag. “Yes, perfect. Be sure to hand that in next week.”
“Tank you sir!”
“Very welcome,” he said and I took my basket and headed home, feeling much better.
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