Chapter 57: History Repeats Itself, And Very Much Doesn’t

Monday, February 22, 1982

Meg called a brief meeting before class.

“Look, I know y’all are tired of the grind, and it feels like you could easily take Lamar off. And I’m here to tell you — do what works best for you.” That got a lot of surprised looks. “I know, it’s two more weeks in which to get out of practice. That said, it’s just two weeks, and Lamar won’t do that much for your edge. We need to do a lot of practice rounds in class in April. Now, obviously, if you still have an event you want to qualify in, by all means, go! We’ll arrange transportation and all of that. But if you’re good with where you are, then do what works for you.”

There was a round of cheers and thanks. I really hadn’t wanted to do Lamar; I knew many of the others hadn’t either. In a way I felt bad for Bree, who’d have a much smaller cheering section, but most likely two of her fellow freshmen, Doug and Anne, would be there. Gene, Janice, Henry, Callie, May, and Ryan all had reasons to maybe attend. The problem was, most of them were looking for an Extemp qual, and it wasn’t possible for them all to get one. And someone like Gene, for instance, would feel terrible if they edged out Bree, Henry, or Ryan, who weren’t going at all.

Of the three, I was most hopeful for Bree. Ryan was a senior and I had reasons to not be a big fan of his. Henry, I thought, was phoning it in; I doubted he’d be back next year. He hadn’t been on the team my first go-round; of course, neither had Cammie. Nor Angie, obviously. So, who knew?

But I still thought Bree might be special, just like Anne and Megan. Last year we’d taken three freshmen to state; I was really hoping we could manage four this year. Meg’s program looked to be pretty darn strong for the next couple of years at least.

Tuesday, February 23, 1982

Today we launched into a short little History unit that was a favorite memory from the first time. It might have been important, now that I thought of it; it was a social moment from a year in which I hadn’t been that social. Maybe it’d also helped lead to my going into Debate, though I was still giving Ms. Henry’s English II most of the credit there.

Ms. Ryder introduced the unit. We’d just finished the first half of the 1910s and she hadn’t mentioned World War I yet. “We’re doing something different, everyone. We’re combining with Mr. Blair’s first period today and for the next two days. Once we meet up, we’ll form into ten groups of 5 people each. The five of you will elect one leader, who will serve as your president or king or prime minister or whatever your nation needs. You’ll all work with each other’s nations to get what you want and protect yourselves.”

The kids from Mr. Blair’s class came over. That brought over Mel and Emily; we already had Angie, Sue, Mike, Sarah, and Cammie. The teachers assembled groups at random, and I avoided having any of them in mine, which was a good thing. I angled to be elected leader and was. Angie was leader of her group; so were Cammie and Mel. The other leaders were a mix of kids; some I knew, some I didn’t know at all.

Sheets were handed out. Our country had lots of coastline; we were known for agricultural products, wine, cuisine, and tourism. It had a powerful military and a long history. Based on the evidence, I was pretty sure we were France, but no one else seemed to pick up on it, or at least not saying it out loud. For the purposes of class, we were ‘Amecia’, which I didn’t think meant anything in particular. Most people were just doing the exercise, not digging into it — exactly how I remembered it going the first time.

We had things we needed — security, imports, markets, etc. We talked with other nations trying to make deals. Well, I talked; the other 4 were ‘citizens’, and their job was to nag me if I didn’t get done what they wanted, or if I got too friendly with countries they didn’t like. As in the first time through, I and most of the other leaders paid them lip service but didn’t worry about it too much. That made the simulation a bit unrealistic, but not that bad. We had mandatory 5-minute meetings where the citizens talked and the leaders listened. If they all agreed, they could stage a coup and overthrow the leader, who became a citizen, and one of the citizens became the new leader. Peer pressure pushed the leaders towards the viewpoints of the citizens — maybe not all the way, but often enough.

We wrapped up and went on about the day. Thursday was going to be the fun one, if I could make it happen.

Study group was busy but fun. In a couple weeks we’d be in a light point in our classes and it’d probably be pool weather, too. For now, we stayed indoors and tried to stay ahead of the work.

Naps were taken; Jasmine and I did not partake. We made out a fair bit, though.

Wednesday, February 24, 1982

Both classes met in Ms. Ryder’s room. Tomorrow we would all meet in Mr. Blair’s room. I wasn’t sure why we bothered swapping, but it was fine with me, too. Ms. Ryder and Mr. Blair kept giving us updated instructions, both for the leaders and the citizens. My citizens were told they didn’t like Angie’s, so much, but got along with Mel’s, if with a certain bit of mutual distrust. None of us got on with Cammie’s.

The demands increased; tensions rose. Kids playing along sneered at those whose countries they disliked or shifted to sit further apart. As leaders, we often met a few at a time over in Mr. Blair’s room. I didn’t know some of the other leaders — three of the kids from Mr. Blair’s class were unknowns, though one girl seemed vaguely familiar — but since they’d asked us to address each other by our fictional names, or the names of our countries, it worked out fine. Negotiations got more heated; none of us wanted to be fired by our citizens. The girl I couldn’t quite place nagged at me; she was cute, with brown hair and brown eyes. Not a knockout, but I would’ve thought I’d have remembered her.

In a few cases, I stepped in to help a negotiation; I liked this group of leaders and didn’t want anyone overthrown. I noticed Angie, Cammie, and Mel doing the same, as well as the girl I couldn’t quite place and one guy from the other class. That made six out of the ten of us compromise-minded, which moved things along.

The biggest single issue was a conflict between ‘Brezaro’ and several other nations. Brezaro, which was pretty obviously Switzerland, wanted to be neutral; everyone wanted them to ally. More than once I helped the Brezarian leader, a guy from Mr. Ryder’s class, evade an alliance, even one proposed by Angie and Mel. It wouldn’t work, not yet. Too soon. We needed our options open for tomorrow.

After a somewhat stressful hour, we wrapped up and broke for our next class.

Cammie and Angie confronted me in Debate. “You have a plan for history, right?”

“Would I do that?”

Whap! “Yes!”

Whap! “Uh huh!”

“Okay, so, yes. But let me just tell you tomorrow. They’re already thinking we’re too much of a team and I don’t want a rebellion right now, from either the citizens or the other leaders.”

“Fine,” Angie harrumphed. “We’ll play along.”

“Grudgingly!” Cammie added.

“You’ll like it, trust me.”

“We do, don’t we Cammie?” “Yes. Yes, we do.”

“Good!”

Thursday, February 25, 1982

Things came to a head — as I knew they would — on the last day. Handouts indicated rising tensions; the citizens were told to rabble-rouse more. However, none of the conflicts were, in the view of the leadership, fundamental, but rather from mutual distrust.

Several sets of nations loosely aligned along the lines one would have predicted — Central Powers, Allied Powers, and outsiders (Brezaro, for one). Partly because of my meddling, no one formed any true alliances, though. That would have soured the whole thing.

I called all the leaders together for a meeting.

“Okay, everyone. Look, we’re in a precarious situation right now. Queen Annalise,” — that was Mel, of ‘Slavonia’, or Russia — “you’re allied with me and Anglia,” Britain, of course, “but your neighbors are in a precarious position.” Mel nodded.

“And, Empress Marden of Rhenia,” that would be Germany, and Empress Marden was the girl who I still couldn’t place, “you’re allied with Hantalay, Brynia, and Turasia.”

She nodded.

“Now, suppose the next sheet we get from Mr. Blair or Ms. Ryder concerns some uprising in, oh, the Znabian province of Brynia that affects Hantalay. Empress Marden, you would have to take action. Unfortunately, Queen Annalise would be forced to respond to your action, and, well, you can see where things would go. Some little uprising that means nothing would put us all in a bad position.”

Heads nodded.

“I am proposing a simple fix. Our citizens won’t like it, but in this case, I’m willing to take the risk of being voted out.” I got some curious looks.

“All of us — all ten — form a mutual defensive compact. If, say, some uprising in Brynia affecting Hantalay were to occur, we would all act together to stem the uprising. Instead of going to a war footing, Empress Marden and Queen Annalise — the closest powers — might intervene.”

I got some skeptical looks, but also some nods.

“Now, the teeth in this. Suppose such a thing happens and the uprising remains. The rest of us would not be obligated to join either side. Should Rhenia and Slavonia escalate this to a war, all eight of us would enter the war on the side of the non-aggressing nation.” That got some stunned looks, then more nodding.

Empress Marden smiled. “You’re almost proposing the League Of Nations, at least for our countries, aren’t you?”