As it turns out, things do not get better, and the Antonelli storm does not blow over. It rages.
Before my next-to-last class with this group, Anton calls a staff meeting. Whatever is coming, it won’t be good.
He calls the meeting to order and announces, “Folks, these are trying times.
“I’ve been trying to accommodate Ms. Antonelli and the board, but ... in a word ... I can’t.” He sighs.
“The changes I’ve passed on to you are just a beginning for the board. Sadly, they mark the end for Child Champs in Brooklyn. Following this class cycle, I will be shutting down this office in Brooklyn and transitioning Child Champs to virtual ... for now. I will be looking for some place I can reestablish a teaching facility in a more technologically tolerant environment.
“Are there any questions?”
On one hand, it is not too big a surprise ... but then it is a big surprise! Personally, I was sure Anton was going to be able to rise above this. He’d risen to all other challenges for the last ten years, hadn’t he?
Nancy, one of the other teachers, raises her hand, “Online? That’s going to kill the image, isn’t it?”
“Indeed,” he chuckles a bit over the irony, “it presents a marketing challenge.
“But there is something else that has influenced my decision, as well. There is an opportunity coming, a completely different opportunity, and it’s a game changer. It’s big. It’s exciting. And I want to present it to you and your students with a bit of flourish.
“So what I will do is meet with each of your classes personally to discuss this new opportunity. Please let them know that the last class will be a special session.”
All of us leave the meeting wondering what is coming up.
After Jaden tells us about the Santa Claus suit settlement, we don’t see him for two class sessions. We all wonder what’s up.
The third session he gives us a call. He is in the Poconos in the Good To Mother Nature Commune, an opt-out commune.
“Come on over for a tour some time,” he invites us over the audio-only channel, “These people have their act totally together.”
We look around at each other. This is sure crazy-sounding.
“We’re happy to hear you’re OK, and having a good time,” says Ben.
“It’s more than a good time. It’s enlightening and fulfilling. You really should come visit,” he says. He sounds a bit distracted.
“We’ll give it some thought here,” Ben answers back diplomatically. “Let us have your number, and we’ll get back in touch.”
“Well, you can’t reach me directly, but here’s the commune number ...” He gives it to us as our eyes widen. No direct phone number? What sort of life is this?
The fourth week he is back, looking thinner and gaunt.
“You’re back!” Jaina says as she bounces in the door.
Jaden nods, but doesn’t say much more until everyone has come in. Even then he starts slowly.
He opens with, “... It’s been quite an experience.”
“I can imagine,” says Ben.
Jaden looks at him. “Not likely.
“I’ve been indoctrinated for four weeks now. I was hoping for a harmonious paradise on Earth. I was promised that! But it’s been a hell instead.
“The people I talked to in the City said this place was a place where humans could be humans. That part sounded real good. I was tired of getting fucked around.
“The problem was these people had only one definition of how to be human. ‘There is a right way, a wrong way, and the Good To Mother Nature way,’ I was told in an indoctrination session about a week after I arrived. At the time I didn’t believe what I was hearing, but it turned out to be true ... so true.”
“What happened?” asks Jaina.
“Well, being a newbie, I was assigned the shit detail, literally. I got to move the ‘night soil’, they called it, from the bed chamber pots and outhouses to the compost piles.”
“What’s an outhouse?”
Jaden gulps a bit, “Look it up.”
Jaina does. “Oh!” and she gulps a bit, too.
“You were that back to Mother Nature, eh?” says Ben.
“Yeah. It was disgusting. And we didn’t have to be doing that! We were living in an abandoned resort. They had actually pulled toilets out of the rooms. There were lots of empty rooms but we newbs were bunked six to a room in the old servants quarters.
“But I would have put up with it if I thought I would get some reward for doing so. ... Some spiritual reward, that is. I’m not after material reward!”
“Who is?” says Adrian rhetorically.
Jaden looks sharply at Adrian. At first he doesn’t like hearing that, but he thinks a bit more, then goes on, “What grated me more and more was this attitude that this was not about just being a non-creation-using place, it was about ‘there is only one right way’, and that way was decided by the commune leader, a guy named Mr. Harmony. Those people around him worshipped him! What he said went, just because he said it. Those guys around him made sure of that. The rest of the people there just lived with that.
“A couple of days ago, I got fed up and started arguing about some of the choices. For instance, I found out that while we plebs had to live with outhouses, Mr. Harmony and the top boys had kept their running water toilets. When I mentioned that, I was told in no uncertain terms to get with the program or get out. By then they had really pissed me off. I chose to get out ... and here I am.”
“Sounds like you brushed into a for-real closed cult,” says Ben. “Those places can get quite spooky. I’m glad you found that out quickly.”
“... Yeah. I found out I didn’t like that one. ... But I wonder if there’s one around I can like? I ... I ... don’t think I can go back to teaching. Those people fucked me over too badly, too.”
“You’re certainly at a difficult point in life. Have you tried some counseling?” asks Ben.
Jaden laughs, “I don’t lack for advice! I get much more than I want all the time now. That’s partly why I tried the commune.”
“Good point,” says Ben and he thinks some more, “Well ... if this was fifty years ago, I’d advise what you needed right now was a good woman.” He laughs and we all join him. “These days, I guess you’ll have to get by with a good creation.
“Let me give this some more thought, Jaden, and see if we can get you on a more successful path. Promise me you’ll take at least a week before you join another commune.”
Jaden grins, “I can do that. That won’t be hard to keep.”
With that, we begin the class.
As class ends I remind everyone, “Don’t forget that next class is the last one, and it’s going to be special. Anton Noidtal, the director, will be giving us a special presentation.”
“On what?” asks Ruby.
“On an opportunity coming to us that’s beyond just baby making and baby raising. I’ll let him give you the details next week. I understand it’s really something special.”
D --
Headed back. Lunch Thursday next week?
-- A
A --
Looking forward to it!
-- D
Andy is coming out. What a relief! Sure he had all the modern protections. Well, all you can get in a place that doesn’t have avatars. Sheesh! How much can that be? I am so relieved and so looking forward to seeing him again.
He’s been blogging about his adventure, but as his adventure has deepened, his communications have gotten sketchier and sketchier -- part was bandwidth issues and part was the nature of his adventure, talking too much is either violating company policy or dangerous.
We have lunch at Salucci’s again, and boy! he seems to be relishing it. As he comes in, he is constantly looking around and just plain enjoying.
“Good to be home, eh?”
“Oh my, is it!”
We order and he talks.
“We made the final leg of the journey on amphibians. We flew in to an eco-observation refuge thirty kilometers away on a jungle cargo plane. That was quite a thrill in and of itself. This plane was STOL -- short take off and landing -- and that dirt runway was really short! I looked at the prop after we landed and I didn’t say anything, but I swear I saw fresh sap on it! Umm...
“We freshened up and organized at the refuge for a day, then hopped into quietized amphibians. Those were a sight! They were legged. They would swim through the swamps and muck, then walk over what was too solid to swim through.
“This place we were headed was not easy to get to. That’s why it is still relatively pristine. But ... boy! Not easy to get to is right! God! Miles and miles of muck! Complete with hot and cold running crocs and snakes and dragonflies so big you’d swear they could take off a finger if they had a mind to!
“We wanted to be low profile. The goal of this was to make friends and build trust. Not that these people haven’t seen planes and helicopters by now. But this was at the heart of an area where the regional authorities are working on regrowing the biodiversity. That’s why we were there, too. This group I’m working for wanted to check, once again, if there was anything genetically useful in this chunk of jungle.
“Again?”
“Oh yeah. I did some research. This idea that the jungle is chock-full of mysterious and wonderful cures gets strong enough for people to put money behind it every couple of decades. Some young hotshot at a drug company announces they are spending bucks to send out collectors. Some other companies get wind and their young hotshots “me too”, then documentarians follow them around for a while and get their rocks off when a collector gets the hot idea to consult a local shaman. One or two things are found, but not enough to warrant the expense, and the idea gets quietly dropped. This time is no different, except expedition costs are cheaper, and we have updated analytical tools to use, and genes are now a lot cheaper to work with than seeds used to be, so ... maybe this time.”
“Any luck?”
He grins, “You get the decades-old answer: ‘We won’t know for a while.’”
“But we did go through all the steps: We made friends with the locals -- your T-Shirts were a fabulous hit, by the way, thanks again -- then did some preliminary searching, then shaman consulting with a documentarian watching, then some more searching. It went smoothly.
“And, my part went well enough that my contractors asked if I was interested in doing more work for them if this project continues. They are looking for a company-mayor liaison.”
“Nice!”
It sounds good, but Andy doesn’t look happy.
“What’s up?” I ask.
“Well ... like I said, this has been done before. This is one of the remotest places left on the planet ... and we’re doing a rerun.” He sighs.
“If anything comes of our find, and the project gets a greenlight, they’ll have avatar towers installed down there in six months, and the place will be effectively as far away as Long Beach is from Hollywood.”
He looks at me, “I want to be doing something new. Not reboots of Jungle Jim episodes.”
My heart goes out to him. This is why I love him so and why I broke up with him. He wants to be on the edge, and not in some silly adrenaline-rush sense. He wants to be on the edge in helping humanity. He wants to be an Einstein or an Edison, but creations are covering both of those niches pretty well these days.
“What will you do next?” I ask.
“I’m not sure. This job is done, no matter what the results of our searching.
“I suppose I could apply for that company-mayor liaison if they decide to invest there. If they do, some kind of town will spring up there, and someone will have to keep the peace. Could be interesting in a Wild West sort of way ... if there’s a greenlight ... but that’s still a rerun, and these days there’s a whole lot of regulations to follow in developing indigenous places. With all that recipe-following, it’ll be more like being a chef than a sheriff.” He sighs again.
We finish lunch without much more of interest said, but I enjoy it anyway. And then I think, “Oh my! Andy has a special place in my mind again! LOL!”
Maybe I should be checking if I have some pills leftover ... and maybe not.