Children of the Fleet (Fleet School #1)(4)

Even when the rumor flew through the school that the great Hyrum Graff was visiting, the man who had been put on trial for his supposed crimes in the way he educated Ender Wiggin in Battle School, Dabeet meant to change his routine not a whit.

Sure enough, the stout man rumored to be Graff himself was brought into the classroom, ostensibly because it was a “typical example” of a Conn classroom; but instead of counting across and down the rows, Graff’s eyes went immediately to Dabeet.

It was too late to pretend that he had not seen that he was seen. So Dabeet flashed the Graffish man his best Indo-Malay smile, and only then ducked his head modestly and then focused again on the teacher.

Even as he did these things, Dabeet thought: This is a not a man who needs to see me as unthreatening. This is a man who needs to see me as the most dangerous creature in the state of Indiana. I should have met his gaze, smiled, and then frozen the smile and stared at him unblinking, the smile unwavering, until he left.

I did as I did, he told himself. Let Graff—if it was Graff—make of it whatever he wants.





2

Student Name: Dabeet Ochoa

Assignment: Fable in Your Own Words

Teacher Response: An interesting response to the Italian story of Pinocchio (Pine-eyes), with the Baby Jesus as the puppet. However, the fable seems incomplete to me. Was that the ending you intended? Or is there more to the story? Ending the story where you do, it sounds as if the purpose of this secret puppet was entirely fulfilled by its achievement of speech. Doesn’t it matter what else the Baby-Jesus puppet might have to say? Is the puppet capable of independent thought? Does it think like a baby, or like a wooden puppet, or like a god-made-flesh?

Student Response: Here is the rest of the story:

The nun Geppetto attached strings and made the fully articulated Baby Jesus crawl and then walk and then run and then dance. The Baby Jesus laughed with joy at each new movement, even as Geppetto exhausted herself with learning the intricate hand movements that allowed the Baby Jesus to carry out his lifelike activities.

Because this Baby Jesus was not part of the play, and no one was quite aware of what Geppetto had been carving, there were no scheduled rehearsals and he was never on a stage. So the Baby Jesus did not seem to understand the reason for limitations. “Why did you not come to me when the sun was shining?” asked the Baby Jesus. “Why do you not take me out into the courtyard? Why can’t I go down to the village?”

“I had to work in the garden while the sun shone.”

“It’s winter and nothing is growing.”

“The turnips and carrots are in the ground, and I must prepare the soil for next year’s seeds. Also, the geese are gleaning the field so we and the poor who eat at our table can get all the food value from the fallen grain when we roast the geese at Christmas.”

“Then take me into the garden with you,” said Baby Jesus.

“How can I do my work while my hands are making you walk and run and dance? Or how can I make you move while my hands are busy with my work?”

“Take me down into the village, then. I hear laughter from the children there, even over the walls of this nunnery.”

“I am not one of the sisters who is allowed to go into the village.”

“Then send me with one of the sisters who is allowed.”

“They must not know that you exist, because I did not have permission to make you.”

“But now that I exist, why should I be forbidden to play among the other children?” asked the Baby Jesus.

“The children would watch you in a show,” said Geppetto, “but they can’t play with you. They’d tangle your strings and pull on your limbs and break or bend your hinges so you didn’t work right anymore. Children can be rough and brutal, and you wouldn’t like how they treated you.”

“I love the sound of their laughter,” said Baby Jesus, “and I need to be one of them.”

“That is not in my power.”

“Then as long as I belong to you, and you keep me secret solely in order to protect yourself, I am not free.”

To Geppetto this was a terrible accusation because she knew that it was true. She had made this puppet to satisfy her own vanity, but she had pretended that she made it to honor God. She begged for it to have the power of speech, but for her own sake, not for the sake of the puppet. Did I create this in order to keep it as my prisoner? As my slave?

What should I do with this pretended Baby Jesus? she prayed to God.

But the only answer she heard in her heart was, How can you call it a pretended Baby Jesus, when it speaks to you like a real child?

“Cut my strings,” said Baby Jesus whenever she took him from his hiding place. “Set me free among the children.”

“Without your strings you cannot move at all,” said Geppetto.

“Without my strings I cannot move under your control,” said Baby Jesus. “It is your control that you don’t want to lose. My freedom means nothing to you.”

“There is no freedom if you can’t act on your own decisions,” said Geppetto.

“There’s no freedom when you hold my strings,” said Baby Jesus.

Then came the day when the Boss Nun found the hiding place of the Baby Jesus. Naturally the Baby Jesus said nothing to the Boss Nun, or if he did, she could not hear. When Geppetto came in from the garden, the Boss Nun showed her the puppet and said, “I do not remember this puppet in the Christmas play.”