Maniu T's Arc

Chapter 8 of 9

By Monday the room was too full to teach in. Word had spread that Maniu's school was worth defying the landowner for, and more children came than the bench could hold. Mark's group needed quiet to work ahead. The returning beginners needed him up front, sounding out letters. Both groups sat crammed on one bench, elbow to elbow. Every time Maniu started a lesson for one group, the other lost the thread. Slates knocked together. Chalk snapped. Nothing stuck. "They can't share one room," Maniu said. "I keep stopping one to help the other. Nobody finishes anything." The door opened and the old wizard stepped in, his staff flame bright against the gray morning. Mr. Learning had come back on his own, the way he always did. He looked at the packed bench and the frustrated faces. "You don't need a bigger room," he said. "You need a second one." "I have one room," Maniu said. Mr. Learning walked to the window and pointed. Past the gate stood the old grain shed, empty since spring. "Walls and a roof. That's all a classroom is. Move Mark's group there. Give the beginners this room and your full attention." Maniu weighed it. The shed sat close enough to watch, far enough for quiet. He gathered Mark and the three others who worked ahead. "You'll learn in the shed now," he told Mark. "One hour teaching the beginners here, the rest of the day on your own words. Can you do that without me standing over you?" Mark held up the blue wooden B he carried everywhere. "I taught the sound already. I can do the rest." They cleaned the shed together. Maniu swept the floor while the children dragged in a plank for a bench. Mr. Learning set a bold pink letter C against the wall so the advanced group had something to read on. By afternoon the split worked. In the schoolhouse, the beginners had Maniu to themselves, and the letters finally landed. In the shed, Mark's group read whole words without waiting. The stalling stopped. Mr. Learning watched from the doorway, pleased. "Two rooms," he said. "Now every child moves at his own speed." Then the ground shook. A red bird with a flame-crest shot up from the shed roof, screeching. Maniu ran out. The empty grain shed had a shadow across it now. A huge purple figure stood at the ridge, staring down at the new second classroom. The Mad man had returned, exactly as he'd promised, without warning. He'd come the moment the school grew too big to ignore. Maniu stood between the shed and the schoolhouse. He had finally split his lessons. He had solved the crowding. But in doing it, he'd built a bigger school, and a bigger school was a bigger target. The giant took one step down the ridge toward the children.