Chapter 6: Burt

Grace's suggested punishment put an end to her son's desires to introduce firearms to our uncontaminated world. Maria reminded us that we had mentioned education at the beginning of our discussion and never got around to it.

"I don't see the point of it," Kyle spoke up. "I mean, what good is the history of a world that doesn't exist going to do any of us? Besides, someone might learn that there were such things as guns in the old days and we wouldn't want that."

Vicky beat me to the punch. "Don't be a smartass, Kyle. If you get your head out of your computer games and the TV and take a look around you, you'll realize that our policy of not teaching everyone on this planet how to kill everyone else isn't really so bad. I think we should have some lessons in history. But I think we're the one's who should get them."

"How do you mean?" asked Bev.

"I mean we haven't been here for a whole day yet. We don't know shit about the history of this world."

"Language, Dear," my wife said.

"Oh, language my ... posterior," Vicky shot back. It's a new world, Mom. We're not going to go to hell for thinking evil thoughts or taking the Lord's name in vain. I can see using words in moderation so they don't lose all meaning, but the way I used that particular word expressed exactly what I wanted to say probably better than any word you could come up with. I'm pregnant and part of the ruling class on this world, for God's sake. I don't think using one of the 8 forbidden words has quite the same impact now that most of humanity has been erased."

"I stand corrected," her mother said. "I thought it was 7 words, though."

"It may be. I don't remember and I don't have a computer to look it up."

"What are you two talking about?" asked Christina.

"There was this comedian who did a routine about words you couldn't say on the radio. It was on a record he released and every once in a while some rebellious FM radio station would play it in the middle of the night, daring the FCC to do something about it."

"What's FCC?"

"It was a government agency that was set up to make sure the radio and TV stations served the public."

Val snorted. "They didn't do a very good job of it."

"No," I said. "But as far as government agencies were concerned, there were a lot worse. They were holding their own against the internet giants who wanted to determine which sites you could access and which you couldn't right up till the end."

"All right, all right. That's beside the point," Maria said. "We were talking about whether we want a bunch of illiterate children or not."

"We already teach the children," Rosa, Margarita's sister interrupted. She had been puttering around the kitchen like a mute waitress, serving us, refilling coffee, taking dishes as we finished eating.

"That's interesting," said Grace. "What do you teach them?"

"Oh, many things. How to work, to keep the cows happy and from wandering off, how to grow our food, how to pick it and prepare it and cook it. They already know how to eat it," she laughed.

"What about things not to do with work like reading and mathematics?" Grace asked her.

"Oh, they learn to read early. All the children love being read to, most of them before they can even talk. There are always one or two sitting on the lap of whoever is reading, following along. As they get older, they start picking up the words and then they read out loud to the group. One of the older children or an adult stays to make sure they are doing it right. But this other thing, this math a..."

"Mathematics. It's the study of numbers and how they relate to each other."

"Oh, they know how to count."

"Well, that's an early part of it, but what about putting numbers together. Like one plus one..."

"Oh, they all that makes three."

"No, Rosa, one plus one equals two."

"You will learn soon enough. All the ladies except you and your daughter already have." She reached over Maria's shoulder and put her hand on her stomach.

"She's got you there, Mom," Vicky said to Grace.

"Oh, I'm Mom now? When did that happen?"

"I figure it might as well be. You're going to be Grandma before too long here."

"Oh, God. I knew there was something about this new world I didn't like. I'm too young to be a grandmother."

"Wait till I have a baby, Mom," Christina said.

"Oh, Fuck."

"Tsk, tsk, tsk. Language, Mother."

"Forget it, Christina. Like Vicky said, there's a right word for every sentence and that was the right one here."

"I think these folks have the right idea," I said. We have a lot of books here and the main thing is to teach the young how to read. If something else comes up, either in life or in their reading, then's the time to teach it. Part of the problem with education was that a lot of it didn't have much if anything to do with real life. Letting someone try a couple of different sized hammers when he's hammering in a fence post is going to mean a whole lot more than a lecture about mass and vectors and velocity. He's learning the same data but one way it's practical, something that applies to his life. The other way, it's pretty much information he'll never use."

"What about sex? Are you just going to let them pick it up on their own?" Bev said.

Rosa said, "Oh, we don't hide anything about sex. Why would we want to do that? When they're ready, they ask and we tell them. If a little girl and boy are taking a bath together and ask about the differences, we let them know. As they grow older and the questions get more complicated, we might show them if it's too hard to describe. This is a ranch, you know. You can't walk too far without seeing two animals mating with each other. Or maybe even a couple of the older kids experimenting."

Grace was the one who asked but I think we were all surprised. I don't think Rosa ever did understand what we were talking about. There was no such thing as Spanish. In fact, the concept of naming languages was unknown. It was just the words everybody used. Like the 7 or 8 forbidden words, there were words we thought of as Spanish that meant specific things.

Patron or Patrona were reserved for very few people. For Maria and I, the capital P was always in place. The same with Grace, over at her property. For the rest of our group, the word might be used with a small p. I supposed the literal translation would be 'boss' for the three of us and 'enhanced' for the others with a gender component included.

Señor and Señora were used for adults, mostly by the children. And Niño and Niña were the opposite – used by adults when talking to or about children, having a connotation of affection. The very young were called Mija (me hah).

We talked about everyone's plans for the day and Val and I decided to take a ride to the small village that was supposed to be nearby. From what Dreamer had told us, it was a community of artisans. As soon as we got up from the table, Alfie got up and lazily followed us out the door.

Manuel and his son Juan caught up with us when we went out to the stable. We talked to Manuel while Juan saddled up our horses. Val tried to saddle his own horse but Juan told him in no uncertain terms that it was his job and that Val had other, more important things to do. Rosa had done the same thing when Grace made the mistake of telling Christina to help clean off the table.

Manuel told me that we should both take swords and bows and arrows. He got quite upset when I told him we wouldn't know how to use them if we had them and then he tried to stop us.

"It's too dangerous, Patron. At least let me get someone to ride with you in case there's any trouble."

"Oh, come on, Manuel. Who would try to attack us. It's what? A couple of miles to the village?"

"It is over ten, Patron, and it is not men I am worried about. What would you do if you came across a mountain lion. I know your wolf is very strong, but why risk injury to him when an arrow will do a better job from a distance? Besides, if they come across some wild game, we can have some variety on our dinner table."

I agreed with him and Juan ran off to get a couple of his older 'cousins'.

Ricky and Connie (short for Enrique and Consuela, I later found out) were a couple of fifteen year olds who were also a couple, if you follow my meaning. Manuel notified them that they were there to guard us and make sure that we got to the village and back safely and that if they didn't, they were going to hear about it from him, as well as from their parents.