Twice Removed | 6 | Break
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“Excuse me, everyone, but please stop what you are doing and listen carefully,” said the speaker. The room grew quiet as some instantly stopped what they were doing, while others emulated their friends, squinting with skepticism. The odd tone and worry in the speaker’s voice was enough to convey a break in the normal routine. Several watched the speaker, anxiously awaiting the words that would follow.
The speaker clicked back on, and their principal’s distressed voice crackled through the speakers. After clearing his throat, he continued, “Thank you. Please provide your undivided attention and listen carefully. As you all know, we have been experiencing a record heatwave since February, and it has persisted until now. The one-month algorithm forecasts suggest that we will finally experience some relief in a few short weeks. While that is undoubtedly good news, we must face the reality that in the past few years, our school has not operated at its full potential due to absences of both students and faculty. Although individual reasons abound, they are all rooted in the same problem. In an attempt to address this issue, we are announcing that Spring Break will begin at the end of this week. That’s right, Spring Break will begin this coming Monday and last through the normally scheduled spring break three weeks later!”
The speaker clicked off, and cheers could be heard throughout the school. After several seconds, the speaker clicked on again, “Ok, ok, now that you got that out of your system, let me tell you why we are making this choice. While there is no official recognition of this problem from our government, it is quite evident that fluctuations are occurring in our atmosphere that are posing new problems we haven’t faced before. These include fluctuations in temperature, precipitation, humidity, and even the levels of oxygen, if the recent allegations in the news are to be believed. In these uncertain times, I find strength in our school’s motto: ‘You have power over your mind, not outside events. Realize this, and you will find strength.’ We have no power over these events. However, we do have power over how we respond to them.”
“In the past few years, experts working to understand this phenomenon have already created new forecast modeling AI that allows us to predict air quality for up to two months with 99% accuracy and six months with up to 95% accuracy. These same modeling programs are working to solve this problem and reverse it as we speak, constantly learning and getting closer to a solution, just as they have with some of the larger problems of the previous century.”
“The intrepid people creating these solutions didn’t cower to outside events; rather, they stood up to the challenge and threw their all into finding a solution.” He cleared his throat and audibly shuffled a few papers around before continuing.
“Now, here at Mountain View School, we don’t have the capacity to work directly on these problems, but that isn’t our function. We are here to help you become the best version of yourself so that one day you can go out and solve these or other problems in the world. To do that, we need to ensure that this is the best possible environment for you to grow. That’s why our board and I have decided to have our school outfitted with an environmental control system that allows us to create an indoor environment completely independent of outside fluctuations. That means recess will no longer be cancelled due to air quality, and, more importantly, we should experience a significant reduction in absences.”
“This is an expensive system that will certainly strain our budget, but we believe the benefits will be well worth it. To accomplish this, we had to make some emergency changes to our budget. Now, I want everyone to consider this from our point of view: we want students and staff to be able to come here and stay here. This wasn’t a particularly delightful decision, but in order to afford the improvements to our school, we have decided to suspend our athletics program for the next two years. We have seen dropping rates of participation for years now and have already had to forfeit entire seasons for select sports. Therefore, this decision should not come as a massive shock to anyone. By making this choice, we will not only be able to afford this incredible improvement to our school, but we will also be able to spend the next two years discussing, sharing, and hearing everyone’s ideas about the resumption of our athletics program three years from now.”
The cheers that had spread through the halls of the school just moments earlier were now absent.
“Your parents have all been notified, and I’m sure some of them have let this information slip to you in the past few days,” said the speaker. “Not only was our board interested in this option, but our entire community agrees with this decision. With that, I want to thank you all for listening carefully and for your understanding as we move forward during these positive changes for Mountain View School.”
The speaker clicked off, and several students sat quietly with their mouths hanging open, looking at one another. Isaac looked at his friend, who had a huge smile piercing through his gaping mouth. His friend seemed to come to life, “Dude! Three weeks! Are you thinking what I’m thinking?” He continued without waiting for a response, “I’m going to bliss out until my eyes bleed! At least now the whole break won’t be taken up with skiing up in Qaanaaq. Ugh, it’s so boring up there.”
Isaac shook his head. “Man, if I were in your place, I would be asking to go early! Three weeks of skiing! Can you imagine that? You would come back a different person!”
“Whatever. It’s cold and it hurts. The only good thing is that by the time we go back to our cabin, my parents are wiped out, and I just get to bliss out. Is your family planning on going anyway for the holiday?”
Isaac’s demeanor changed. “Nah, my brother is a little sick right now, so we were just having a ‘staycation,’ as mom put it. We never get to go anywhere that isn’t some stupid bullshit my dad wants to take us to, but that is never more than a few hours away and boring.”
Isaac exhaled deeply, “All they ever want to do is bliss out and not move.”
“UGH! I wish my family was like yours! Sucks for you, I guess. Hey! Why don’t you come with us? My uncle can’t come, and they said they couldn’t get their money back for the ticket. Everything is already arranged, and we have everything you would need at the cabin!”
Isaac’s eyes lit up, and he shouted, “Hell yeah!” just as the bell rang. They ran out of the room together, crafting their message to come across just right to their parents.
“He’s up in his room, not feeling too well,” their mother said. She pouted, “Poor baby. That habitat control system will help him out. You know they got one of those things put in at Brenda’s daughter’s school and it worked wonders. It was either that or start to seriously consider putting some of them on tanks…”
Isaac’s bouncing ushered her along, “Alright, alright, alright. We decided that since you have been such a big help lately and are a little more adventurous than we are, that it might be time for you to take a trip that is more up your alley.”
His father interrupted, “Any chance you get, you are either playing sports, hiking, or asking to go camping… We decided it was time for you to get out and, well, experience the natural world. We want you to go and experience the outdoors the way that,” he choked up for a second and bit through his teeth, “the way your brother can’t.”
She rubbed his back and moved him aside. Isaac bit his jumping tongue and forced out a weak, “I… I’m no different from him. I don’t need a special trip.”
She rolled her lips between her teeth as she shared the wound her husband wore on his face. She started flatly but mustered a smile, “Now, now. There won’t be any of that talk.” She coughed, “Did he tell you how to dress?”
He nodded, “He said I needed a jacket.”
She smirked and wiped away a tear, “That’s right, you’re going to need one. Tomorrow you’re going to Teller, Alaska for three weeks of rowing, hiking, and camping in the mountains.”
Isaac was astonished and almost choked on his breathing, “Teller? What? Are you kidding me?”
Chip let out a tiny whimper on the stairs but caught himself as his dad wiped the tears from his eyes, “She’s right. You need to go and experience a taste of the world. Go and see the world through a new lens!”
She looked distastefully at her husband’s flat, wide smile. “I don’t know what to say! Thank you! I love you so much!” He was shaking as he ran over and hugged them.
Chip sat in silence on the stairs, tears streaming down his cheeks, watching the happy family below. He fought to stay composed until his heartbeat filled his ears. He turned and walked up to his room in a deafened, silent sorrow. He sat on his bed and cried himself to sleep.
Despite his best efforts to stay quiet, the zippers on his duffel bag screamed in the silent room and stirred his brother. Chip pressed himself up on one elbow and watched as Isaac placed the remaining stacks of clothes in his bag. They caught eyes and Chip let out weakly, “It wasn’t a dream. You’re leaving me alone all break. At least you get something for having to put up with me.” His eyes welled up again and he headed toward the door. Isaac pleaded for him to stay, but to no avail. He decided it was futile and would only make matters worse to pursue.
Chip stumbled his way through his tears down the stairs to his special hiding place, a large cabinet in his mother’s worship room with just enough space for him to crawl in and sit comfortably on a throne of blankets. He crawled in and held his knees while he rocked back and forth. His self-pity was interrupted when he heard his parents enter the room, talking in low voices. He could only make out some of the words when they let their voices get a little too loud.
“You don’t know what it feels like to -”
“I don’t know how it feels? Quit that divisive shit right now.”
His dad moved in closer to whisper but his emotions kept his voice just loud enough for Chip to hear, “Well what next? Huh? Tell me what next? I’m not an idiot. I’ve seen the reports. He isn’t going to just go back in 3 weeks and be normal.”
“Honey, these people have devoted their whole lives to studying this. Integration is always awkward, but that’s why they do it now when it is easier. We’ve made it this far. We will not mess up the final installment.”
“You don’t think he’s standing out, you know, in a negative way do you? I don’t know how to answer some of those questions.”
“We just provide our-” a crashing sound of Isaac moving heavy luggage down the stairs interrupted him, “Let’s go. We’ll talk later.”