Ms, Reynolds Dilemma

Ms. Reynolds wasn’t actually one of the leaders of Ferndale; not officially, she left that to Frendral and Kerma. Ms. Reynolds was one of the teachers of the school who had been sent to take over control of Ferndale when the adult control over the school had been tightened. It hadn’t been recommended that they allow the children to continue to govern themselves; after all they had gotten into all sorts of trouble on their own, even war, though a bloodless one. Ms. Reynolds had quickly decided that it would be an unwise decision to try to gain control over Ferndale, they weren’t like the other cities, they would be likely to throw her out if she tried even though she was a government official. They were the only city of the school that firmly believed that they were a true city, not just a part of a school; they saw no reason to listen to the teachers.

Just because she had decided not to take over the governing of the city didn’t mean that she wasn’t involved in the working of Ferndale still. Frendral and Kerma both would admit, if really pressed, that an adult brought a new and useful prospective to the running of the city. She wasn’t allowed to take over but she was allowed to help. She was just as impressed with the children under her charge as they were with her; modern theory said that children weren’t able to make informed decisions until they were at least twenty-five. Ms. Reynolds was starting to question that theory while observing the teenagers around her, children could come up with some very ingenious things when it became necessity.

Ms. Reynolds wasn’t the only adult in the city; there were farmers, a doctor, and family of the students, who had all joined the bustle of the streets. Ms. Reynolds was the only one of them however who had gained any amount of power; the children guarded their power jealously and made it very clear to any visitors that they didn’t like being interfered with by outsiders.

Now Ms. Reynolds found herself torn, she had received a letter by the mail and she was sure that the doctor had gotten one just like it. The school was being closed and her employers wanted to recall her while they evacuated the school. Ms. Reynolds had worked hard on the school, not as hard as the children, but she had still invested a couple of years now in Ferndale’s future. After her hard work Ms. Reynolds wasn’t happy with the order to just give up everything and leave because the underground cities were about to start another war and wanted the man power of the children in the school. The desert might be harsh but not as harsh a battlefield and the thought of the children she had grown to love marching into war gave her a chill. On the other hand she was a member of the government, a teacher of their school, and she had promised to follow orders when she had joined the army. She had already disobeyed them many times but not in anything that they would care about, they would care a lot if she didn’t provide the troops she was supposed to. There was a knock on the door and Ms. Reynolds went to answer it.

“Did you get, oh I see you did,” the doctor said, walking in and noticing the paper on her table in mid question.

“What do you think?” Ms. Reynolds asked. The doctor was less attached to the school then she was and might make a less emotion based decision.

“I think we have a choice to make, treason to the students or treason to the school,” the doctor said. “I had heard from my cousin, the one in the army, that this might happen but I had dismissed it. I never though it would actually happen.”

“Do we tell the students that they’re going to have to leave the school in a few months? You know that their reaction will be even if we do tell them. They will never leave this city. Too much has gone into it.”

“We live in a city of peaceful people who have no experience of bloodshed, it would be slaughter to send them to the army anyway,” the doctor added. “They haven’t been raised in the underground cities, surrounded by constant war. The school has sheltered them and they are too soft to send to the slaughter now,” the doctor added and Ms. Reynolds knew he didn’t want to see children he knew die either. There were soldiers as young as twelve in the underground armies but somehow the fifteen and sixteen year olds around them seemed too young yet.

“Sam might be useful in a real army, he’s a great tactician,” Ms. Reynolds said, grasping for straws that wouldn’t have them betray their employers.

“He would never survive training, he is weak and the officers would make him miserable because of his stutter. Sam makes a good officer in an army like here in the school because he doesn’t have to be a basic soldier first,” the doctor said dismissively.

“What about Frendral? He’s vicious enough to do well in the army,” Ms. Reynolds asked.

“He’s too used to being the one in charge, I don’t know if anyone has given him orders since he came to the school. The minute someone ordered Frendral to do something menial he would try to kill them. Not a good idea.”

“Larlarn?” asked Ms. Reynolds with desperation.

“We were talking about people who didn’t take orders well, she’s worse then Frendral, and ruder about it.” Ms. Reynolds had a mental image of the surely spy who was always fighting with her boss Tom and had to agree.

“So they would be horrible in the army, they probably wouldn’t survive, but it’s still a big move to decide not to listen to a government order. We have been ordered to tell our students they have to leave the school in a few months.”

“We could decide they will find out about it by themselves so we don’t have to,” the doctor suggested. It was obvious he was at his wits end as well. “They have the spies after all, who will find out about the evacuation of the school soon enough.”

“Dodging responsibility,” Ms. Reynolds said dismissively.

“Well what ever you decide I’ll go along with, take your time and decide, don’t rush anything,” the doctor said, clapping her on the back and heading for the door.

“You’re leaving this all in my hands,” wailed Ms. Reynolds.

“You are technically my boss,” the doctor said with a shrug. “It’s your call.”

“Only when it’s convenient for you,” Ms. Reynolds complained but she didn’t stop the doctor from leaving. He was a busy man, the only man with medical knowledge in all of Ferndale, and the citizens of Ferndale were accident prone. They worked with axes, they explored, they climbed, they dealt with animals, hunted, and all of those activities could result in horrible injuries when something went wrong. Ms. Reynolds had heard that very few people had died before the doctor had arrived, though there were plenty of people with scars or limps, but she couldn’t imagine how they had managed without someone to take care of them.

After a few hours of pacing around her living room Ms. Reynolds decided that she wasn’t getting anywhere. She had been trying to decide what her students would do if she told them the news and what they would do if she didn’t and waited for them to find out on their own. The problem was it was all speculation; she had nothing to back up any of her theories. The only way that she would know for sure was if it happened, or of course if she asked them though she would have to be subtle about it. At least then she could make an educated decision.

The first people Ms. Reynolds found who were in positions to answer her questions realistically were Frendral and Kerma. Everyone knew the two of them were dating, even though they themselves denied it hotly. It was obvious that the rulers thought that it would damage their authority if people thought that they were human, human enough to date for instance. Ms. Reynolds had once saw the couple kiss, in an alley where they had thought no one was watching, but she hadn’t said anything. She didn’t think it was very smart of Ferndale and Kerma to date for reasons other then political. The first reason she thought it was a bad idea was because Kerma was two years younger then Frendral, and that was a big age difference in teenagers, though not if they had been older. The second problem was that if they then broke up they would still have to rule together which would be potentially very awkward. Ms. Reynolds couldn’t see anyway to tell them her feelings on the matter however; neither would like it if she cut into their personal affairs. It wasn’t her place.

“I’ve been hearing some people talk about breaking off from the school again,” Ms. Reynolds told them when they had exchanged greetings. A roundabout approach was better she had decided, rather then getting straight to the point.

“People talk, it doesn’t mean anything,” Frendral said dismissively.

“Kerma told me when we first met that she thought that Ferndale should be independent from the school, I haven’t heard you say anything about it Frendral,” Ms. Reynolds said. If the mood of the rulers was that they shouldn’t be a part of the school she figured there was a good chance that they would break off if when the school was closed down. It was as good a line of questioning as any.

“We’re not part of the school,” Frendral said shortly and Ms. Reynolds knew what he meant. Ferndale was so far separated and contained people so much older then the rest of the school that it was completely different. That wouldn’t make a difference to the underground cities though, as desperate as they were for troops for this new war. A war Ms. Reynolds had to admit, Ferndale had nothing to do with. She was appalled to find that she was thinking more and more like someone who lived in Ferndale, she was supposed to be separate from the city, an outside advisor, not a citizen.

“What if you were told that you had to leave Ferndale, by the school or something,” Ms. Reynolds asked, finally getting to the point. She figured that she had led up to it enough that it was a natural question to ask, with the way the conversation had been going.

“Well I’d say we should ignore them, half of the time they don’t even know if we exist,” Kerma laughed scornfully. “They probably wouldn’t even remember us.”

“If they did, declare independence,” Frendral added, giving voice to Ms. Reynolds worst fears. If they declared independence the underground cities wouldn’t let it go, there would be a war. She walked away from the rulers in deep thought; of course they weren’t the city’s only leaders and if they were out voted they might change their minds. Tom was out of town but there was Sam she could ask, and John, Tom’s second in command.

To be continued...