The Pueblo Part V

A Person of Intelligence & Wisdom

After everyone has finished eating breakfast, the table is cleared and the dishes are washed. The children are sent outside to collect kindling, fetch water from the sea and to keep an eye out for cougars. The instructor closes her book and approaches the women who seem to be making preparations to leave the Pueblo.

“Greetings! My name is Zoe.”

Zoe offers her hand for a handshake but none of the women offer theirs in return. Beth is searching in her purse for something she can't find, Anna has put on a small backpack, presumably intended for a child, Jeanine is just outside the front door hunched over the dirt and Jenny heads toward the front door carrying a small book.

Just then, Andre runs into the school house yelling at the women.

“Hey! You can't leave! We were promised a school and our education!”

Andre sees Zoe in the middle of the room. “Who are you?”

Zoe responds, “I'm the instructor. No need to worry. Just give me a minute and we'll get things straightened out.”

Andre turns to the fireplace and begins preparing it with kindling and wood for the evening. The four women eventually return to the schoolhouse room reluctantly and sit in one corner with Zoe where there is a small group of larger chairs with a few moldy pillows.

“I am here for educational purposes, as indicated in the letters left by the High Priestess. It is my understanding that both you and your children are in need of instruction. Did you finish the book that was sent?”

Jeanine responds first, “We're not here to discuss the problems of a bygone era.”

“Why are we here?” Zoe was curious.

Beth was irritated. “I had volunteered to teach the kids how to read, but we don't have any teaching materials.”

Jenny explained that she had received the book but hadn't read it yet, and Anna had given her copy to a friend that was stuck someplace else naked from the waist down, with her leg up.

Zoe looked thoughtful. “I have an idea. Beth, why don't you take a few clay flower pots from the store room, dig up a few of the flowers that grow on the outskirts of the Pueblo, plant them in the pots and place them on the front porches and wall ledges around town so we have some colorful decor. There are gardening gloves and a trowel in the store room with the clay pots.”

Beth looks hesitant, but gets up and heads toward the store room. A few hours later Zoe sends the children to check on Beth, but they only find one flower pot on a wall ledge and Beth is nowhere in sight.