Bones in the Sand, Julie Steimle [best books to read for students .TXT] 📗

- Zormna thought to herself over and over so that she wouldn't go mad. It was a made up theory. It was a made up theory. It was a....ooh... Mr. Zeigler's voice is so irritating!

"...Evidence proves that from this stage, man began to use stone axes and adzes and arrowheads..."

It is just a made up theory.... I really need to find and burn Mr. Zeigler's textbook.

"...The next major stage of the evolution of man is.... Anyone? Can anyone tell me?" the teacher asked, looking across the room.

His eyes rested on Zormna whom he had observed was not as enthusiastic about this stage of evolution as she had been about splitting paramecium. "Zormna, can you tell us the next evolutionary stage?"

Jennifer McLenna, who was sitting next to her, immediately covered her head in her hands. She had been dreading this moment. Knowing Zormna's temper, she could only guess at what would come.

Zormna scowled.

The entire classroom full of eyes turned on her. Zormna had remained silent - rather unusual for a smug know-it-all. It had been entirely unusual that she had not offered any insight that entire month. She had been too busy biting her tongue from all the nasty tirades that flooded through her mind when they started discussing evolution in the first place.

"Zormna? We're waiting." Mr. Zeigler stood with folded arms, standing near a chart that already showed the evolutionary path he wanted to teach.

She gritted her teeth. Zormna didn't want to say anything, yet he was provoking her.

Jennifer peeked toward her, the color draining from her face in dread. Zormna looked set to respond in the most negative way. Jennifer closed her eyes and waited for the onslaught.

"Well," Zormna started, "According to your chart there, they claim the next evolutionary stage of that mannish thing to be Homo Sapiens Neanderthalis."

Mr. Zeigler nodded.

Jennifer let out a sigh of relief. Zormna was going to play nice. But, of course, she had to by her own law.

"Yes, also known as Neanderthal man," Mr. Zeigler continued, confident in his teaching. "As you can see, this man has a low forehead still, and he is larger and walks more upright, not quite as erect as Homo Sapiens Sapiens, but still a great advancement where...."

"And a load of garbage," Zormna muttered under her breath. Those around them peeked at her, surprised. Most people had thought Zormna was of a more 'scientific mind'.

Jennifer looked up to see if Mr. Zeigler heard it, but he didn't seem to. She shook her head and turned back to her notes, glad there had not been a great blow-up.

 

The class let out, and after that long lecture, which strangely had taken the entire class period, all the students were relieved to go. They had all learned that evolution was Mr. Zeigler's pet project. They had created the huge time line, and the science fair was that Saturday. Luckily for Zormna, she only had to do parts of the early stages of evolution or Jennifer was sure she would have thrown a fit. It was that fit Jennifer was waiting for...and thankfully had averted.

They stood to leave to their next class.

Mr. Zeigler was waiting by the door when Jennifer and Zormna passed by. His expression was one of disappointment.

"Zormna, can I have a word with you?" he said.

Jennifer winced.

Zormna turned to her and said with mercy, "You go on."

Shrugging, but hesitant to go, Jennifer walked backwards, watching them. She hoped the confrontation would remain private. Zormna didn't need more trouble, even though her temper made most of it.

"What is it, Mr. Zeigler? I have to hurry to Chemistry." Zormna's voice went tetchy.

"Really, Zormna," her teacher replied, shaking his head. "Your attitude lately has been appalling. What happened during Christmas? Did you lose your scientific objectivity?"

Zormna blinked at him. "What?"

Wearily, Mr. Zeigler shook his head. "You know what I am talking about. Why are you making derisive remarks in my class? I have been ignoring it up until now. But today your behavior was unacceptable."

Zormna blinked at him again. Then she choked on a laugh, comprehending him. She shook her head. "Oh. You mean that stuff you've been teaching."

Mr. Zeigler frowned deeper.

She shrugged nonchalantly, or tried to. "I just don't agree with you."

His jaw dropped. "I would have thought a girl with a scientific mind such as yours would appreciate the dynamics of this chapter. I am sorely disappointed in you."

"It's a load of rubbish," Zormna snapped back, taking a step from him. Her ears were burning, and she could feel her heart pounding.

Her teacher clamped his mouth shut, biting back criticism. When opened it again, he said, "It is science. Fact. I do not teach fiction here in this school. Nor theology."

Zormna laughed. "Fact? Mr. Zeigler, evolution is a theory. A theory. Which means it is not one hundred percent proven. And though lots of mathematics and conjecture was used to come up and support this theory, in the end it is still fallible. For that matter, so many theories that people have been so sure of in the past have been disproven - and they also had a heap of proof and mathematics to support them."

The teacher's mouth opened. "It just so happens - "

"The fact of the matter is, evolution is a vile a theory that has been used to justify racism and eugenic propensities of various people over the course of history," Zormna snapped through her teeth, "which has been supported mostly under political agendas of people desiring power and land, murdering different societies while making incorrect value judgements based off of so-called superiority and inferiority of race. It is used to dehumanize and reduce all human kind into nothing more than savage animals. All of this I object to. Religious views aside, you may not agree with those that believe differently than you, but I happen to know that your theory is NOT fact."

"Now see here, Miss Clendar!" he protested.

But the late bell rang.

"I'm going to be late!" Zormna gasped. Without listening to another word from her teacher, she slung her book bag onto her shoulder dashed down the hall.

Mr. Zeigler glowered after her.

Zormna fumed to herself, much like the chemical solution in their beaker she and Darren had been working on. She could not get Mr. Zeigler's words out of her head.

A fact - he said. Nonsense. It was a historical fact that all humans came from Arras. It was in every history book Zormna had ever read before she came to Earth. In fact, her people had history and myths that were collected from before any humans were on Earth. And racial values were starkly different back Home in the past than they were here in the present on this world. The whole black/white dichotomy had not even existed back Home anciently. Her people had more issues with mixed races. There was a lot of cruelty towards mixed-race people - like Jeff and his friend Dzhon. The entire American political frenzy over cultural appropriation and argument about race made her ill, but for different reasons than most people. Zormna hated divisiveness. It was like the caste system all over again.

She growled, eyes fixed on the beaker.

"Zormna, are you even going to help?" Darren's voice broke into her thoughts.

She looked up, blinking at him. "Oh, sorry, Darren. Where were we?"

She tried to be more helpful, but Zeigler's argument pounded in to her brain like a heavy mallet that wanted to beat her down.

"Get the newspaper and roll it up into a tube." Darren was wearing goggles that made him sound nasal when he spoke.

Zormna nodded and grabbed a thick stack.

"Not that many. Jeez, Zormna, you've been spacey lately. What's with you?" he asked.

Zormna set the newspapers on the table and sighed.

"Mr. Zeigler." She groaned.

"What about him?" Darren took the top sheet of the newspapers and rolled it in a tube, motioning for her to do the same. She mimicked him, but not really focusing on the papers.

"He's a moron." She handed Darren her first tube and starting on another one.

"Next we put the three tubes in the chemical beaker, touching the bottom," he said, reading the sheet his instructor had handed them. "Why is he a moron? What did he do?"

"It's what he said." Zormna shoved her tube way into the beaker until it was halfway down.

"Well, what did he say?" Darren asked, shoving the other two tubes into the beaker.

"What's next?" Zormna glanced at the sheet.

"And that's what made you mad?" He glanced at her sideways.

"No, stupid. I was asking what we do next." She glared at him.

"Oh, we dump in each of the three powders into the center of the tubes, so they don't mix, but they do go into the solution." He opened up one of the white plastic containers and handed her a metal measuring scoop. "You know, I'm going to nag you until you tell me what happened, so you've just better give now before I nag you during lunch and every day until you do tell."

Zormna scowled at him, scooping out the first powder, knowing he would do it. "You know, you're as bad as Jennifer."

"And you are avoiding the question," Darren replied, opening the next container with a peek at their instructions.

Shaking her head, she scooped out the second powder and placed it in the next tube in the beaker.

"Alright! Scrapes, you're irritating. He just said that evolution was fact, and I got mad. That's all." She scooped the last powder out of its container and dumped it into its cone.

"Now we write down our observations about what is happening in each tube." He pulled out his pencil and peered into the first tube nearest to him. Darren glanced at Zormna, who was still red in the face but busy putting down her notes. "So, Mr. Zeigler is a moron for believing in evolution? Is that it?"

Zormna glanced at him then nodded tiredly.

Darren chuckled and shook his head. He nearly laughed. "Honestly, Zormna, what did you expect? He's a Biology teacher."

She scowled at him. "I expected him to at least teach it as a theory, and not all this nonsense sort of stuff as fact. The man's a moron."

"Keep the conversation down to a minimum, please," their teacher, Mr. Zimmer, said, looking over at them with raised eyebrows.

"Sorry, Mr. Zimmer," Zormna said, blushing. Half the class's eyes were on them. Some students whispered to each other, shaking their heads.

After their teacher had gone out of earshot, Darren whispered, "Well. It's not like you can tell Mr. Zeigler the truth." He mimicked her voice, his Irish-like accent overly cliché. "But man didn't come from Earth creatures. Don't you know all people are actually from Mars?"

She glared at him again. "If you keep this up, Darren, I'm going to dump our experiment on your head."

He chuckled to himself. Yet watching Zormna glare at her beaker, he could see she was blushing because he was right.

"What next?" she asked, still flushed.

He looked at the paper. "We pull the tubes out and observe the reactions and mark the results."

She nodded. "Ok."

At the count of three, they jerked the newspaper tubes out of the beaker and watched the three solutions in the chemical react. The solution in the beaker immediately began to respond by fuming and bubbling. It changed a sharp purple before sending up a disgusting smelling cloud.

"I think you used too much sulfur," Mr. Zimmer remarked.

Zormna and Darren glanced at it and nodded.

Looking at him, she said, "I'll clean this up. You dump the newspapers."

Darren nodded, waving the smoking stench out of his eyes.

Zormna came into the bustling cafeteria alone. Darren had gotten distracted with the newspapers when the bell had rung, and he had knocked them onto the floor. He urged her to go ahead while he cleaned up, so she did. When she arrived at their usual table with lunch, Jeff was staring into his sandwich like he had been doing for the past three weeks, clenching it in his fingers as if he was keeping it from escaping while