quietly giggle.
Jacqueline flips her hair dramatically mocking Caroline, links arms with me and makes a bunch of random chatting noises in my ear. I laugh much louder than I intend to and immediately cover my mouth. The line stops moving as Ms. Kay finds her way to the back where we are standing, now with our eyes adverted to the ground. I can see the shadow of her short ragged curly gray hair as she stands in front of me and I have to bite my lip from laughing again.
She clears her throat, “Is there something funny, girls?”
The four of us all shake our heads no in unison. Today is not the day to miss out on.
“I expect that I will not hear another peep from any of you for the rest of the day unless you’re called on to speak.”
We all nod our heads. Ms. Kay swiftly turns around, marching back to the front of the line. After a minute or so, the line continues to move and our commute resumes.
We walk in silence until we get to one of four digging grounds in Impetus. Ironically it is the same one I visited yesterday and I can still see the faint lines of my scribbles in the dirt. This one is the largest and gets less light than any of the other locations. The last time we were here for a dig was for the Level 7 one. It is very dark and sometimes hard to see the details of our Digs.
Apparently in the community of The Before that used to stand in place of Impetus, there were several warehouses with underground layers that were located where now each of the digging grounds are. In an effort to salvage as many items as the people of The Before could, tons of random objects were thrown in the warehouses to be stored in hopes that the buildings would protect them over the years and that history would ultimately be preserved. During the final wars, all of the buildings were burned down but since there were so many underground layers to each warehouse, many of the stored items were never ruined.
Each Level is allowed one Dig a year in place of asking all of the questions that we are forbidden to ask. If a student slips by asking two prohibited questions a year, they are banned from taking part in the Dig. Since it’s every student’s favorite activity, it’s an easy incentive to keep us obedient. We all want to be the first ones to see something that possibly no one else in our time has seen. It’s as though it makes us a little bit smarter than those that haven’t yet seen it, heard about it, or had any clue that it ever existed.
Ms. Kay then collects the most interesting of all the items we find and will display them in the Community Museum. It is fascinating to see all of the possessions people in The Before had that no longer exist. Every time we do this dig or take a field trip through the Museum to see what other Levels have discovered, it’s always highlighted how The Before was saturated by a multitude of items that were continually being replaced by newer models or different versions.
“They just couldn’t keep up.” Our Level 12 teacher had noted during one field trip. “Everyone else had something bigger or better on the horizon. Then mixed with the emotions that existed, they all felt the need to compete with and ultimately destroy each other over all these things that were complete rubbish. I mean, what could you possibly want this for? It’s just pure laziness.” He said, pointing to a display with a card underneath labeled “Radio”.
Ms. Kay stands by the maintenance building, handing out shovels to each of us as we take turns grabbing them. Then she goes through the usual rules about if we find something, it is not ours but property of Impetus and if we take anything that is not documented, it is punishable by law. Of course when someone finds an item, it is required for everyone to stop digging long enough for the student to describe what the object is and their theory on why it played an important part in The Before. For anyone who can correct a person on their theory with their
Jacqueline flips her hair dramatically mocking Caroline, links arms with me and makes a bunch of random chatting noises in my ear. I laugh much louder than I intend to and immediately cover my mouth. The line stops moving as Ms. Kay finds her way to the back where we are standing, now with our eyes adverted to the ground. I can see the shadow of her short ragged curly gray hair as she stands in front of me and I have to bite my lip from laughing again.
She clears her throat, “Is there something funny, girls?”
The four of us all shake our heads no in unison. Today is not the day to miss out on.
“I expect that I will not hear another peep from any of you for the rest of the day unless you’re called on to speak.”
We all nod our heads. Ms. Kay swiftly turns around, marching back to the front of the line. After a minute or so, the line continues to move and our commute resumes.
We walk in silence until we get to one of four digging grounds in Impetus. Ironically it is the same one I visited yesterday and I can still see the faint lines of my scribbles in the dirt. This one is the largest and gets less light than any of the other locations. The last time we were here for a dig was for the Level 7 one. It is very dark and sometimes hard to see the details of our Digs.
Apparently in the community of The Before that used to stand in place of Impetus, there were several warehouses with underground layers that were located where now each of the digging grounds are. In an effort to salvage as many items as the people of The Before could, tons of random objects were thrown in the warehouses to be stored in hopes that the buildings would protect them over the years and that history would ultimately be preserved. During the final wars, all of the buildings were burned down but since there were so many underground layers to each warehouse, many of the stored items were never ruined.
Each Level is allowed one Dig a year in place of asking all of the questions that we are forbidden to ask. If a student slips by asking two prohibited questions a year, they are banned from taking part in the Dig. Since it’s every student’s favorite activity, it’s an easy incentive to keep us obedient. We all want to be the first ones to see something that possibly no one else in our time has seen. It’s as though it makes us a little bit smarter than those that haven’t yet seen it, heard about it, or had any clue that it ever existed.
Ms. Kay then collects the most interesting of all the items we find and will display them in the Community Museum. It is fascinating to see all of the possessions people in The Before had that no longer exist. Every time we do this dig or take a field trip through the Museum to see what other Levels have discovered, it’s always highlighted how The Before was saturated by a multitude of items that were continually being replaced by newer models or different versions.
“They just couldn’t keep up.” Our Level 12 teacher had noted during one field trip. “Everyone else had something bigger or better on the horizon. Then mixed with the emotions that existed, they all felt the need to compete with and ultimately destroy each other over all these things that were complete rubbish. I mean, what could you possibly want this for? It’s just pure laziness.” He said, pointing to a display with a card underneath labeled “Radio”.
Ms. Kay stands by the maintenance building, handing out shovels to each of us as we take turns grabbing them. Then she goes through the usual rules about if we find something, it is not ours but property of Impetus and if we take anything that is not documented, it is punishable by law. Of course when someone finds an item, it is required for everyone to stop digging long enough for the student to describe what the object is and their theory on why it played an important part in The Before. For anyone who can correct a person on their theory with their
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