A Machine in the Making

“Where’s Meg? She disappeared in the basement yesterday evening. I looked for her everywhere..”

“Write within the margins,” (of society) - the teacher told her students.

“Draw only along the dotted line that’s been provided.”

“After ‘G’ comes ‘A’?” (Mary loves music)

“No, ‘H’- stand outside!”

“Cross your ‘t’s higher and arch your ‘m’s more”

“Why does ‘knife’ not start with an ‘n’?”

“Zip your little mouths and ask no more.”

 

“Today we will be starting a new chapter in Chemistry.”

“But Ma’am, the only pigment we see is black on white.”

“You mean the ink ingrained into paper?”

“Or like piano keys?”

“What are those?”

“I’ve never used one to open my piggy bank lock.”

 

“Goood mooorninng, Maaa’aam.”

“My answer for question number 2 is five balls plus five balls equals ten balls.”

“Which balls?”

“I once read a story about a witch. But Ms.Anne said there are no witches ..or Santa,” she said gloomily.

“Wait, what? No. Do you like foot-ball or tennis ball or basketball?”

“What are those?”

 

“Our Father who art in heaven, please give us blank sheets of paper and crayons.

Give us unicorns and spaceships and zombies and leprechauns.

And Father, please ask your fairies to swish their magic wands and make tomorrow a Sunday

...forever and ever, Amen.”

She closes her eyes again

“Dear father, I love you.

I hope you still love me and mommy and you would be smoking your cigar with naana in the clouds and...”

“Move, Emily! The prayer is over.”

“Amen, Amen.”

 

“In the basement of the school building, there is a machine.”

“What machine?”

“First they put me inside.

Then they put in my bestest friend Hannah.”

“What?!”

“She went missing and I was so scared I stayed up all night just to look for a shooting star to wish that she come back and forgive me for taking her eraser.

I thought she would not, but..”

“What happened to her?”

“Oh we found her and she was acting all different, and .. oh sugar!

She became just like me!”

 

“Hello, Principal Fernandez. May I come in?”

“Yes.”

“I work at the Quality Education Council.

I want to talk to you about some kind of mysterious machine in your campus basement.”

“Sit down, dear, I’ll clear your query. This is not a campus. This is a cloning factory.

Every year, we manufacture hundreds of machines - perfectly identical, flawless products.

Do you want to know how much profit we made this fiscal year?”

“But..”

“Do you have a child, Sir?”

“Yes, he’s five.”

“Don’t worry, it’s not too late;

We can still convert him.”