Past Curfew

Chapter 2: A History Lesson

The next day was Monday. Wren awoke from her slumber to find everyone dashing around in a mad rush. On Mondays, everyone had places to go. Alec, who was 17 and out of school, went to his job at the factory. It produced everything the country needed, so it took up almost half of the village. Miranda, who was 16, went to work in the Gardens. Honey stayed at home. Children with disabilities were not allowed to come to school and take up resources. Instead, she would work in their little home garden, where she kept some rabbits. Wren and her brother Salamander, went to school.

"Wren! Get up! Eat this porridge and get to school! Sal's almost done, and you need to go together!" Miranda yanked Wren from her comfortable quilt and up to the table. The whole family was scarfing down their breakfast. Wren started shoving the tasteless oats into her mouth. She was ravenously hungry, having not eaten dinner the night before.

"Come on!" yelled Salamander. Wren quickly ran to the closet to change into her blue school uniform. She grabbed her bag. Apart from being comforting, the useful bag also held her school supplies. Sal and Wren rushed out the door, followed by their older siblings.

"Have a good day!" said Honey, waving them off.

"We're going to be late. Again," said Sal, as they started down the dirt road.

"Why didn't you wake me up? I'm just as fast as you!"

"Miranda said to let you be. She said you looked 'so peaceful' and 'like a little resting angel,'" he said, in a bad impression of his older sister.

"Ha!" said Wren, playfully punching her brother in the arm. "Bet I can beat you to school!"

"No way!" They raced the rest of the way to school, kicking up the dust behind them.

"You're almost late!" cried a voice when they reached the school building. "Get inside!" A rough hand grabbed the children and pulled them inside. The bells outside began to toll six. A tall man stood in front of them, looking them over. "And dirty! I will have to speak to your teachers about this! Especially you, Mr. Hamilton. You should know better."

"Yes, Mr. Arado," said the children, rushing away from the Principal to their seeparate classrooms. Wren almost tripped on her way in.

"Wren! Are you all right?" called a soft, pleasant voice from inside the classroom.

"I'm fine," said Wren, gasping for breath. She stumbled to her seat.

"You're sure?"

"Yes, Mrs. Lemo."

"Good," said the teacher. "Then get out your paper, please. History will be first this morning." Wren lifted some paper out of her bag. It was old and pulpy, having been recycled several times. No one could afford to make new paper. Except the Government, but they could do almost anything. Wren dug in her bag for her stub of a pencil.

"Who can tell me what happened in the beginning? Bradley?"

"So there were a bunch of people like us, right? But then they had this whole big war, with bombs and gas and stuff. Yeah."

"You're almost there. In the beginning, there were people like us," began Mrs. Lemo. "They had such terrific knowledge, and seemed to be the most powerful beings ever. It seemed like their massive civilizations would last forever. But all empires come to an end. There was a terrible war known as World War IIII, for there had already been three wars like it before. But this time was different. For now they had a terrible weapon. Who can tell me what that was?"

"A really big gun?" asked Amelia.

"No, can someone help Amelia?"

"A bomb?"