Discovering Me Prologue
Breathe.
I peek around
the curtain to see into the house of the auditorium, scanning the crowd. I find
Athena, Leo, and Albie in the second row a little off to the right, but no him.
Where is he? Leo spots me peeking,
smiles, and gives me a double thumbs up as he nudges Athena, who begins waving
spastically. Albie, who I can see chuckling at the other two even from back
stage, gives me a simple one sweep wave with a small smile on his face. He’ll be here. Breathe.
“Good afternoon,
ladies and gentlemen,” Curie Kingsley, Albie’s mom and one of the city’s liaisons,
addresses the audience taking center stage. “As you are all aware for a member
of the Elite Caste to graduate from their studies and begin work in their area
of choice, the Elite member must present to the city their first significant
discovery which must be approved by a committee of qualified Elites.” Breathe. I should have just read the paper
to him there and then, or given him a copy at least.
“Today
we have one of our most promising up and coming Elites presenting.” Curie
smiles over at me in the wings. She
thinks she’s being comforting. Ha! “Her areas of study are more numerous
and broad than most, covering primarily psychology, psychiatry, sociology,
archeology, anthropology, and a little neurology. I know. She never was good at
making decisions.” The audience laughs. If only I thought it was funny. Breathe.
“Now
without further ado, I am proud to welcome Antigone Lace to the stage for her
graduation discovery presentation.” Applause roars through the auditorium.
Curie exits as I head towards the podium center stage where she had been.
Breathe. One foot in front of the
other. Look up! Smile! Breathe. Begin.
“What
would you do if you knew you could not fail?” This. I’d do this. Look up! Stronger. Louder. “What would you do if
you knew you could not fail? A question originally posed by famous American Pastor
Robert H. Schuller. Later the question would inspire Sophia Randolph to create
the Randoplh Aptitute Dectecting Scanner, or the RAD Scan.” Breathe. “Over a century ago, it changed
our world forever. The RAD Scan can determine as early as the first day of a
person’s life what said person could be guaranteed to achieve, the maximum of
their potential if correctly applied.” There
are so many eyes. All staring at me!
“The country in an attempt to improve both efficiency and level of achievement
began using this device to separate each child into a group of those with
similar capabilities called castes. Each city was divided into a series of
sectors, one for each caste. The children are nurtured in whatever manner is
required to make the most of the talents that the RAD Scan guaranteed.” Twenty-four seats per row. Thirty rows. Twenty in the balcony. “Since
switching to this way of life, the country has produced more philosophers like
Aristotle, more scientists like Isaac Newton, more artists like Picasso, and
more saints like Mother Teresa than have existed across the entire span of
history.” 1,200 people. Approximately
fifteen people standing. 1,215 people. Two eyes each assumedly. “While
separating the castes has cause some distance between the groups, there is no
tension.” 2,430 eyes. “Only great
peace has existed since the systems implementation.” All on me! Where the hell is he?! Breathe. “What would you do if you knew you could not fail? It’s an
expression meant to free the world’s possibilities. That is what it did for
Sophia Randolph. That is what Sophia Randolph meant to do with the RAD Scan.
But…” Dark blue eyes. There he is. I said
smile not goofy grin. Deep breath. “But the expression, this way of life,
has slowly become a cage, a limitation on our dreams…”
Here goes nothing.
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