And Brenda Married Me

Chapter 9
Chapter 9

The stage looked huge, with all those lights, and the crowd looked large still. Sold out from day one, I still couldn’t believe it.

"How are you holding up, Tiger?" Roger said and held onto my shoulder.

"I’ve been rehearsing for weeks with the orchestra, and I’m ready but...."

"You’re the biggest -- well -- smallest thing in music in this country, you know."

"I know," I said with a sigh.

They let me pick my own clothes, a simple sports shirt and slacks, no tie. and I ran on stage as the announcer called out my name. The applause thundered around the hall. I bowed a few times, then held up my mike as people started to quiet down. The orchestra played the first note, when a group of people, three or four, stood up and booed. They looked like teenagers.

After a moment, I called out. "Hey, guys, didn’t you know it was my show when you bought your tickets? I haven’t even sung the first number."

They kept booing."

"Okay, no refund if they didn’t like the show."

One of the guys stood up. "Hey, you’re just a little kid."

I looked down at myself, and back up. "Gee, you’re right. How long did it take for you to figure that out?"

"We didn’t come here to mess with a kid," he said and stared at an older man sitting a few seats down. "That guy paid us, and paid for our tickets so we could boo you right off the stage."

"Oh, yeah? No refund for him, either."

He stood up. "I’m from the Department of Education, and we do not like what you are doing. This is a spontaneous demonstration against your music."

"Maybe you should look up the word ’spontaneous’ in the dictionary." Everyone in the audience laughed.

He looked around. "Your songs are horrible, all about home and family and...."

"You mean that if I sing about American values it’s un-American?"

"No, your songs make people think of the old days, not the way things are now."

"Oh, I thought I was just singing songs about things that mattered to me. Man, I’m being banned by the government, and I’m not even eleven. But, Mr. Bureaucrat, there is still such a things a freedom of speech, so if you don’t like my songs, you can leave. Or here...."

I cleared my throat, and sang. "My country tis of thee, sweet land of Liberty, where have you gone? Land of the Pilgrims pride, land where my fathers died, it’s all been sold to China. Let Freedom ring. Oh, we are so sorry, the word ’freedom’ is no longer permitted under the glorious American cultural revolution."

Everyone cheered.

"Oh, say can you see, by the dawn’s early light, if our flag is still there.... If it is, it is simply an oversight on the part of your government who would never willingly offend or intimidate any foreign national who might see the American Flag waving in America."

At that, I got a long and loud standing ovation. I bowed a few times, and gave my best grin the government man. "Looks like you’re outvoted."

"What school do you go to?" he demanded as the noise died down.

"I’m home schooled, just ask my Uncle Roger."

"Not for long," he said. "We are going to make that illegal because we can’t control it.

"I was kicked out of Public School. I’m the kid that found out that public schools no longer teach reading." I looked over the audience and pointed at a kid, who looked about my age.

"What’s your name?’

"Me," he asked. "I’m Billy, from Laurel, Md."

"What grade are you in?"

"I’m in the sixth, and my brother is in the eighth."

"Do you know how to read?"

He looked at a lady I took to be his Mom, and shook his head. "No. They said we would learn in the first grade, and then in the fifth. They’re telling us now we might learn in the eighth grade, but Taylor isn’t but they did say we would learn before the twelfth grade."

"Do your parents know?"

"I thought so, but -- they do now."

"What’s going on?" someone asked.

"I live in Virginia, and it’s probably the same anywhere. There are no certified reading teachers at all in the public school system. The rules are such that no one else can teach the kids to read, and the teachers that can are all in Private Schools."

"But both of my kids have passed their tests."

"Yes, but that’s why I was kicked out of Public School. I found out that those tests were government frauds. You can’t fail them no matter what answers you put down. If you gave a kid in the first grade the test to graduate High School, he would pass it. The only thing that twelve years of Public School would do for your kids is to teach them how to make marks on paper. They can’t read, and they can’t write, and judging from the math teachers I’ve had, they can’t add. Isn’t that right, Mr. Bureaucrat?"

The man turned bright red. "So? The best experts in education have set the system up. You can’t blame me, it’s the teachers’ fault."

I ran over to Uncle Roger, and grabbed his guitar. "Get another one and follow me."

I ran back to center stage, and played a loud dischord. I played another one. "Hey, Uncle Roger, what’s that building over there? Kids are walking in, but, robots are marching out."

"That’s a public school, but don’t worry, my boy, you’re home schooled so you will never go to one."

I started playing a few chords. "What’s that they’re saying? Those kids in Public School?" I sang out in my best robot voice. "We can’t read, and we can’t think. You’ve turned us into robots, and we think it stinks. We can’t read, and we can’t think, all we can do is to say this refrain. Yes, Master, yes Master, yes, Master, yes Master." I danced as a robot for a moment as Roger started playing. "But I can read, and I can think. I think that education stinks. But if that guy is right, and they make home schooling illegal, I’ll have to go to Private School, and spend a fortune to keep my brain from rotting.

"Yes, Master, yes, Master, yes, Master, yes Master. We can’t read, and we can’t think. Why are we in school?"

"It’s not fair, to deny those kids the right to read, How will they get anywhere? I learned before first grade, but if we ask the teachers, what do they say? It’s not our fault, you can’t blame us, they make it impossible to teach kids to read. All we can do is follow the orders of the School Board.

"Yes, Master, yes, Master, yes, Master, yes, Master." A lof of kids joined in with me. I motioned them up on the stage. Some actually did get up to do their own robot dance with me. "We can’t read, and we can’t think, you turned us into robots and we think it stinks.

"The teachers blame the school board, and they blame the district, the district blames the state. Isn’t there anyone that can help fix this? The State blames the Feds, and now we’re right back where we started. What do you say, Mr. Bureaucrat? Do we blame you? Oh no, we blame the experts. They told the government what to do.

"Yes, Master, yes, Master, yes Master, yes, Master. You’ve taken away any skills that we could learn. We can’t go to work, we can’t just starve so now what do we do? I know we wait and listen to you, you know what we should do. Go sing your refrain. "Yes, Master," everyone in the hall shouted. "Yes, Master, yes master, yes master. We can’t read, and we can’t think You turned us into robots and we think it stinks.

"So, Mr. Bureaucrat, you’d better watch your back. Some day it could be me that will fire you. One day and soon, we just might take it back. Once upon a time we built a nation with government by the people, of the people, and for the people, but we let it perish from the Earth.

"Now we have a government of the politicians, by the politicians and for the experts that tell them what to do. We know, you told us, it was for the higher good, the common good, but if something isn’t good for you, and it’s not good for me, who is it for? What are we sacrificing these kids for? The experts, that’s who. That’s who the common good is for.

"Yes, Master, yes, Master, yes, Master, YES MASTER. We can’t read, and we can’t think and we did it all for you. Now tell us what we have to do.

"Now, Mr. Bureacrat, you think I don’t know the score? I know what those twelve years are for. You teach us nothing but all of us agree, we can make marks on paper for everyone to see. Those tests mean nothing, they’re sill fakes. We’ve learned that answers don’t matter, we pass anyway.

"But after school, after we turn eighteen, we’ll have other tests, every year in November. They’ll give us more papers to fill out, just like before. You can’t read the names, you don’t know who or what you’re voting for? It doesn’t matter, just like those tests, you’ll see. Everything will turn out all right, for you and me. We made our marks, who cares who wins. We voted for new laws, but we couldn’t read them. It doesn’t matter only a lawyer could understand them.

"Yes, Master, yes, Master, yes, Master, yes, Master, we made those marks, just like you’ve trained us. We know that the election will go as planned. The good guys will win, and the new laws won’t matter.

"What’s that you say? We’ve voted in a one party system? The other guys were no good, they wanted us all to starve. Now all of us in power are here for life, you know. When someone dies, well we will replace him. Elections are too hard, too many choices. You chose us, and you don’t have to worry about it again.

"Yes, Master, yes Master, yes Master, YES MASTER. We can’t read, and we can’t think, having so many choices really stinks."

"But what about the experts, the guys that started this mess. Where are they? Over here, kid, we’re right here, and you got it right, you know. We don’t want kids to read, so we took it away. Reading leads to ideas, and ideas make you think, and thinking -- thinking is what we think stinks.

"It’s really true, what everyone’s been told. A man who can think, can’t be controlled. Control is what we’re after, and it always has been. Home schooling is no good, your parents are crazy to try it. We can’t control what they teach you, and that’s not for the higher good.

"Go ahead, shake your head, what is that sound I hear? Your brain is gone, your soul is dead all that’s left is a rattle. You aren’t robots, no indeed, you’re no more than cattle. We’re the experts, and we have control. Sit down, shut up and do what you’re told.

"Yes, Master, yes Master, yes Master, yes Master. You’re the experts, you know what to do? What’s to become of us? We’re waiting on you.

"Don’t worry about a thing young man, the government will care for you. From the cradle to the grave, all your wants will be met, all we ask in return is that you learn how to behave. No go on, go out to those fields, and do it now. Someone will be along directly, to attach a plow.

’What’s happier than a cow, out there in a field. You have no worries, only a little work to do. Happy and contented, that’s the life for you.

"But I can read, and I can think, and I don’t want to be a cow. What’s that you say, I’ll be a steer? Is that a type of deer?"

"No kid, it isn’t it’s a special type of boy cow, and it won’t hurt a bit, so you wait your turn, while we find a plow that will fit. While you’re waiting, eat some grass, or smoke it, it doesn’t matter. It will only help to make your change happen so much faster.

"Yes, Master, yes, Master, yes, Master, yes, Master. Life is good, when you’re only a cow. You chew your cud, and drag a plow. We’re happy and contented, thinking is way too hard. Yes, Master, yes, Mast.... Moo? Moooooo. Moo?"

I played the first couple of discords again, and then I bowed.

The kids on stage started cheering, and clapping, as the rest of the audience brought the house down. I had never heard so much noise in my life. Other people were grabbing me, hugging me, and kissing me. I didn’t care who.

At least, the noise died down, and everyone took their seats. I scanned the crowed. "Hey, Mr Bureaucrat, what do you think? Oh, look, he’s gone and took his cronies with him. Now, let’s get this concert started."

 

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