Once again, I’m reduced to a level of technology that's barely above
'stone knives and bear skins.'

I would like to thank my dear friends,
Angel O’Hare, Karen Page, Joni W. and Holly Logan
for their kindness, help, support, and input.

Education in the Hills
Chapter 13

By Penny Reed Cardon

My first computer-less day in three weeks and I easily confirmed what I had suspected the evening before. I’m surrounded by a host of friends, all of whom are willing to watch out for me, make sure I'm always on time, and above all ... tell me where to go.

Aaron stopped by bright and early, or so he thought, to make sure I was awake. Fortunately, Mary Beth and I had been up for about half an hour. It might have been a little awkward explaining why we sleep together.

Arriving in the lounge a couple of minutes later than normal, brought forth just a bit more heckling than was customary; along with several promises to wake me earlier the next day. Mary Beth and I quietly made plans to get up even earlier than we normally do; for the rest of the week. We sincerely wanted to avoid the need to come up with an explanation for what some might consider to be an embarrassing situation.

Jenny went over the day’s announcements; she also informed us that our request to make our Saturday morning swimming a regularly scheduled event had been approved. I may have to request some ear plugs for use at future year A meetings. Perhaps just covering the walls with some of that gray egg-carton foam rubber would do the trick. At least that way the sound wouldn't echo off the walls.

The first surprise of the day greeted us as Mary Beth and I entered our French class. Rusty's computer fed LCD projector had been replaced with a whiteboard and markers. On our table were two short stacks of paper.

"Rusty, what's with the whiteboard and all the paper?" Mary Beth asked.

"Up until now everything we've done has been on computer, so you would have access the day’s lesson material, enabling you to do your individual work. Since Matilda can’t use computers for a while we've had to revert to something a little less sophisticated, paper and pencil."

"Why two stacks of paper? I still have my PDA," Mary Beth questioned.

"Yes, but you are study partners, aren't you? You do study together, don't you? It will be easier on both of you if you're treated the same, and have the same study material. Don't you agree?" Rusty explained by asking a series of questions.

Mary Beth, while moving from her wheelchair to a regular chair, looked down at me and giggled, as I was already seated. "You're right; Matilda does help me with my home work. She's been helping me ever since we started school together. If it wasn't for her kindness, I don't think I would have made it out of Kindergarten. At least this way she won't have to break her promise to Mr. Peterson."

I smiled at my partner to show her my thanks.

The class time seemed to fly by. I'm not sure, but I think I took more notes with the paper and pencil than I ever did using my PDA.

'I wonder if there's a way of taking hand written notes and linking them to the computer generated study material. When I'm allowed on computers again, I'll have to check it out. I'm sure that RJ will help me find a way of doing it. I'll check with him later, after I have my privileges restored.'

"Hello RJ," I cheerfully called out, as I entered the computer classroom.

"Good morning, my evil Munchkin," he chuckled.

"Evil? Oh, come now, I wasn't all that bad," I complained.

"From what I've been told, what you did was bad enough to earn yourself a temporary computer suspension."

"Yeah, well ... I guess, but that all depends on your point of view, not to mention your intent."

"Regardless of your intent, Mr. Peterson doesn't like having his afternoon symphony interrupted. Come on, let’s get some work done."

"You know, I never thought of that. I wonder if that's possible. Shoot, I was so eager to get it done I didn't even think about other possibilities," I was mumbling to myself.

"Munchkin, I can see those gears of yours turning at an alarming rate. What are you thinking about?"

"You said Mr. Peterson doesn't like to have his afternoon symphony interrupted. I didn't know that he listened to symphonies in the afternoon, but that's not the point. I was just wondering if the PA system was programmable. I mean, can you pick and choose which speakers to use at any given time? I didn't think about that before; I just sent the music to the whole system."

"Hold it right there, you're suspended from all computers, remember?"

"Yes, but only for a week," I reminded him with a mischievous grin. "I'm sure that someone around here would like to hear our choir in the afternoon, something to help brighten their day."

"MATILDA! Are you trying to see how much trouble you can get into?"

"Trouble? Me? Of course not! I didn't send the music over the PA to get into trouble. I did it so the people who never get to hear the choir, could."

"Hold it ... would you say that again."

"I said, I sent the music over the PA so that all the other people who work here, the ones we never see, and who never get to see or hear the choir sing, could."

"I'm sorry, I misunderstood. I thought you were showing off or something. I guess that's why Mr. Peterson was lenient with you."

"Lenient? A weeks computer suspension is lenient? What would he have done if he weren't being lenient?"

"Actually, yes, he was lenient. I know how upset he was yesterday, before he talked with you. The last time he was that upset with a student, they spent a week peeling potatoes."

"Peeling potatoes? That doesn't sound so bad."

"Until you consider how many potatoes are consumed here each day."

Nervously I asked, "Umm, just how many potatoes are we talking about?"

"Now, you understand I'm not speaking from personal experience. However, I've heard that when the kitchen staff has someone else to do the peeling, they tend to use a few more potatoes than normal. According to the grape vine some of their, umm, volunteer help have had to peel between one-hundred-fifty and two-hundred pounds of potatoes, each day."

"Two hundred pounds?" I gasped. "It would take me all day to peel that many."

"You do realize that there is a sure fire way to avoid having that … shall we say, privilege. You do understand what I'm saying, don't you?" I looked at RJ with golf ball eyes, slowly nodding. He confirmed what I was thinking, "Don't get into any more trouble ... and don't upset Mr. Peterson." I quickly changed the direction my head was moving, agreeing with RJ that I wouldn't want to upset Mr. Peterson.

When RJ and I were finished for the day, I had another stack of paper, covered with notes.

The rest of the day went by rather quickly, almost too quickly. Before I knew it, choir practice was over and it was once again time to visit with Mr. Peterson. Mary Beth insisted on going with me. The door to Mr. Peterson's office was open when we arrived. Not wanting to intrude, and definitely not wanting to upset him, I knocked on the doorframe.

"Matilda, right on time, and I see that Mary Beth came with you. Please come in."

"Both of us?" Mary Beth nervously inquired.

"Mary Beth, you may wait in the hall or you may accompany Matilda. Either way I'm certain you will know what we discuss."

I looked at Mary Beth, as she looked at me. I could tell that making this simple decision wasn't easy.

"Well?" I questioned.

"Best friends stand by one another. I’ll go with you." She seemed a little reluctant as she announced her decision.

I smiled as I pushed her wheelchair through, and closed the door. Outwardly I was happy that Mary Beth had decided to go in with me, inside I was heartbroken.

'Best friends - I suppose that answers the question I couldn't ask last night. Just … best friends, I guess I'll have to live with that, at least for now. I wonder if I should tell her how I feel. … No, I don't think so, at least not for a while. After all, I wouldn't want to jeopardize our friendship over something as silly as love.'

Being that Mr. Peterson was again seated behind his desk, I parked Mary Beth’s wheelchair next to the chair I'd occupied the day before. As before, paying attention to the details, I gracefully smoothed out my skirt as I sat down. Sitting up straight and with a smile, I made eye contact with Mr. Peterson.

Once I was seated, Mr. Peterson began. "So Matilda, how is life without computers?"

‘That's an odd opening question,’ I thought. "Oh, about the same as before we came here, I guess."

"Yes. Well, during our discussion yesterday you brought up an issue that I hadn't considered. That's why I asked you to see me today. I needed some time to check out the validity of your claim."

"My claim?" I questioned, being just a bit puzzled.

Mr. Peterson changed his tone, sternly he continued, "Yes Matilda, indirectly you made the claim that ‘I’ and this administration don't care about the feelings of certain individuals."

"But I don't remember saying ..."

"Matilda, did you or did you not tell me that your reason for sending the choir's rehearsal over the PA system was for the benefit of those who, under normal circumstances, would never hear our choir perform?"

"Not in those exact words, but, yes."

"And by so doing you indirectly made the claim that I have, possibly, been insensitive to the feelings and desires of those individuals," he continued.

"I never meant to imply that you were ..."

"And you would be correct, at least on one point," he again interrupted, this time with a smile.

'I didn't mean to say that ... Wait a second, what did you say?"

"You were right when you said that there are a lot of people who work here, 'Behind the scenes', I believe is how you put it. Most of them have never heard our choir perform. After taking a quick survey of the support staff, over ninety percent indicated they would enjoy hearing the choir on a semi regular basis."

"You mean that ... Over ninety percent? Soooo, does this mean that ...?"

"Yes Matilda, your idea was a good one and I believe you're intent was sincere. However, your implementation lacked the proper forethought for something of this magnitude. Now, lets move on to the next matter. According to RJ there have been no unauthorized intrusions through any computer on campus over the last twenty-four hours. I'm pleased by this report. You're obviously a girl who keeps her word and can be trusted, but then, I think I knew that already. Therefore, taking everything into consideration, I'm willing to reduce the disciplinary action that I imposed yesterday, from a one week computer suspension to a one day suspension."

I looked from Mr. Peterson to Mary Beth, who was grinning like a Cheshire Cat, then back to Mr. Peterson. After my brain started working again, I enquired, "Does that mean?"

"Yes Matilda, it means that your suspension is suspended," Mr. Peterson said, while opening a desk drawer. "Never let it be said that Gregory Peterson isn't a fair man." He removed something from the open drawer which he placed in front of me ... my PDA.

Gently, I picked up my PDA, "Oh, Mr. Peterson, thank you. I … I never expected this ... Umm, Sir, I’m confused. Why didn't you say something yesterday? I mean why suspend my computer access yesterday, if you were going to give it back today?"

"Honestly? When you told me the reason for what you did, you took me by surprise. It wasn’t what I expected and I needed time to think about what you'd said. Also, I needed time to take and evaluate a survey. I really didn't know which way the survey would turn out. Let's just chalk this one up to an education … for both of us."

"Sounds good to me," I agreed, grinning broadly. Turning towards Mary Beth, "We need to have a party." Realizing that there really isn't any way to have a party, I added, "I wonder what's for dinner?"

"I don't know Munchkin, let's head over there and find out."

"Should we invite?" I asked Mary Beth, nodding towards Mr. Peterson.

"Sure, why not."

Turning back I politely asked, "Would you like to join us for a small celebration in the cafeteria. I don't know what's on the menu, but I haven't been disappointed yet."

"Why thank you for such a kind invitation, considering I'm the principal," he exclaimed with a chuckle and a smile. "However, I'm schedule to be with the upper years this evening. But, I'll pass your compliments on to the kitchen staff. I'm sure they'll appreciate it. Good evening ladies."

We took his last statement as an invitation to leave. We could still hear him chuckling as we went down the hall, to the elevator.

"Would you mind if we make a little detour," I asked, just before we entered the elevator.

"You're not going to get into trouble again, are you?"

"I don't think so. I just want to talk with RJ for a minute or two. I'm pretty sure that won't cause any trouble."

"You're right; talking with RJ won't cause any trouble. It's what you'll do after you talk with him that has me worried." The little scowl on Mary Beth's face told me she was being cautious. The grin that broke out moments later was what I wanted to see. "All, right, Munchkin, we may as well get it over with. Let's go see RJ."

Assuming Mr. Peterson would have informed RJ, I sent RJ a note requesting a few minutes of his time.

A few moments later, my PDA started beeping and vibrating, which of course startled me. Mary Beth thought it was some kind of alarm and that I was in trouble once more. After two cycles of beeping and vibration, I remembered that my PDA had a built in phone. It took me a few more seconds to figure out how to answer it.

The screen indicated that it was RJ calling. "Hello RJ. Sorry it took so long to answer. I'd forgotten that this was also a phone."

"Matilda, if you're not going to administer a proper field test, that is, test all of the PDA's capabilities, perhaps I should find someone who will," came his sharp reply.

I didn't know what to say after that. I started sputtering bits and pieces of what I thought was an apology.

After a couple of seconds I heard RJ laughing, "Slow down Matilda, take it easy! I'm only teasing you. Obviously the phone setup is working. It's the rest of the features that need to be tested. What was it you wanted to see me about?"

"Well, I just wanted to ask if I should still stay away from government systems?"

"That's correct. Remember, officially I have to remind you that if I discover someone hacking into any system, outside of a classroom assignment, I have to report that activity."

"I remember. Is there a chance we could get together tomorrow morning, just to go over some things?"

"Did you have any particular time in mind?

"I'm free from 10:00 until 2:00, if I skip lunch."

"Well, we wouldn't want you to starve to death by skipping lunch. But I can see you tomorrow at ten. I'll meet you in the lab."

"Thank you RJ, I'll be there."

"You're welcome. Bye now."

"Bye, RJ."

"So how long have you known that the PDA's are phones?" Mary Beth exclaimed, verbally accosting me.

"Not all the PDA's, just the new prototypes."

"Oh ... I'm sorry. For a minute it sounded like you were ..."

"... keeping secrets from you. That would be impossible, you know me too well." I finished her statement before it became a question.

‘Oh please dear Lord, that's one question I don't want her to think about ... or to have her ask.’

"Yes, I'm sorry. Forgive me?"

"Of course, I forgive you. I'm getting hungry, let's go get some dinner."

'Before you start asking questions I can't answer.'

"You should be hungry; you hardly ate anything for lunch. Hey, I thought you wanted to see RJ?"

"I have the information I need," I replied. As we made our way to the cafeteria, I told her everything that RJ and I had discussed, including how he teased me at the beginning.

"So why did you want to know that?" Mary Beth asked, referring to the question I’d asked RJ.

"Because, it's time I started putting together the pieces of the Black Bart puzzle. The history of the Roberts family has been churning around in my mind for several days. I think I have an idea why the pieces don't appear to fit together, but I need some more information before I can start putting the pieces together."

"And after you have the puzzle put together ..."

"Then you and I will sit down and decided on our next move," I finished.

"Now that Miss Holmes … is the right answer. Let's eat."

Year A was already in the cafeteria when we arrived.

"Where did you disappear to?" Misa asked as we sat down.

"We were invited for a little chat," I replied.

"A chat?" Morgan inquired.

"With who?" George asked.

"That would be 'With whom?'," Tina corrected.

"All right, with whom?" SueAnn asked.

"With Mr. Peterson." Mary Beth giggled.

"Mr. Peterson!" George exclaimed, a little loudly. Everyone at the table looked at me. "Is you in trouble again? You trying to bust my record?"

"Trust me George, your record remains unchallenged. This was just a little bit more of yesterday's chat," I replied calmly, not wanting to cause a lot of commotion.

"But, yesterday's visit to Mr. Peterson's office left you in tears and banned from all the computers." Misa reminded everyone of the previous days events.

By this time several of our classmates from the other year A table, hearing parts of our conversation, had turned to listen. This caught the attention of the rest of the year.

"True, true, everything you've said is true, but he still wanted to see her today." Mary Beth laid it on pretty thick, as she started an explanation.

"He’s never wanted ta see me two days in a row," George pointed out. "Why'd he want ta talk with you again?"

"I guess he likes my smile. Or maybe it's the way I make him laugh," I teasingly replied.

All of our year was now gathered around our table, along with several from years B and C, hanging on every word.

"Matilda, I know you do not like being the center of attention. If you would please answer the question simply and directly, we can all get back to our dinners. Why did Mr. Peterson wish to see you today?" Jenny pleaded.

"Mr. Peterson wanted to talk some more above my unauthorized use of the PA system. After a brief discussion he said that yesterday was educational, for both of us. Oh, there is one other thing, I will no longer require the services of any of you, my friends, to tell me where to go," I giggled.

There was silence, except for Mary Beth's giggles. Watching their expressions was fun. From his changing expression, Aaron was the first to figure out what I'd said. He took about five seconds to figure it out. Misa, Jenny, and Tina were about two seconds behind Aaron. The rest followed shortly thereafter, with one exception, George.

I suspected that everyone was thinking the same thing, as confirmation I fished my PDA out of its customary pocket, placing it on the table for all to see. Word spread quickly throughout the cafeteria; even the psychiatrists who were in attendance were surprised.

George still hadn't figured it out. In shock, he asked, "You snuck into his office and swiped your PDA?"

"No George, Mr. Peterson gave it back to me."

"But that can't be. It would mean that he’d have ta admit he made a mistake. No school principal would ever admit ta being wrong, even if they knew they was wrong. Nobody would be afraid of them if they did that."

"Oh come on George, you've been here longer than I have. Haven't you figured out that this school isn't like any other school? Mr. Peterson doesn't want us to be afraid of him; he wants us to respect him, and respect isn't something you get just because you have a title. Respect is something that we give to those who deserve it, and it isn't given easily. Respect is something each of us earns by being honest and fair, and by giving respect to others. Mr. Peterson changed his mind about banning me from the computers after he had time to think about why I did what I did. That's why he asked me to see him today; it gave him a day to think about the whole situation."

"That was a very profound statement, Matilda. Is that your own or did you hear it somewhere?" Kathy Ray, our table’s visiting psychiatrist, asked.

"Really, Matilda was profound?" Wally teased.

"Uhh, which part?" I quickly asked before the heckling got out of hand.

"The part about earning respect," Kathy Ray clarified.

"Well, actually ... I probably heard it somewhere. Although, right now I'm not sure where I heard it," I confessed.

"Probably Star Trek," Barb teased.

"Must have been, most of her quotes come from Star Trek," Em added, which left me a little embarrassed, as everyone else giggled and nodded in agreement.

With the excitement over, at least for the moment, everyone that was standing around went back to their meals. We continued ours without any more profound statements, quotes, or interruptions.

With my exciting news, everyone forgot to tell Mary Beth or me that the additional ornament catalogs had arrived. We didn’t discover that little detail until we arrived in the lounge, after dinner. As we went through the new catalogs, both Mary Beth and I found just the right ornaments. As it turned out, about half of year A changed their requests after seeing the new selections.

The rest of the day turned out to be somewhat routine. No surprises for me, and more important, I didn't cause any. The only difference was I spent every free moment chasing down leads that might reveal the secret of Bart's past. There was a lot of information, but most of it hadn't made sense. Being that RJ requested that I avoid any government system, I concentrated on national and local news services, along with the local schools, hospitals, and banks. As it turned out, Bart's parents were loaded. They had accounts in eight local banks, with over a million dollars in each one. This made me think about national and international banks as well. I decided to check them out later. As for Bart, he only had two bank accounts. Together they totaled just over ten thousand, not bad for ten-year-old monster. As I was telling Mary Beth about what I'd found, I was tempted to tell her about Joshua ...

'Mr. Peterson didn't make me promise not to say anything. Then again, he did say that I could be trusted, “a girl who keeps her word,” he said. And if I told Mary Beth now after, what's it been, only three hours since I told her I wasn't keeping any secrets from her, what will she think of me. What would Mr. Peterson say ... a girl who can be trusted, yeah, right! I'm beginning to hate this school and all of its secrets.'

... but reluctantly, I sighed and continued keeping that secret deep inside.

* * * * *

The next morning, I arranged to start with RJ at nine instead of ten. I cut my visit with Rachael short; promising to make it up to her on Sunday. To my surprise, RJ had arranged for lunch to be delivered. I wondered if the kitchen had prepared pizza for everyone that day, or was it just a special treat requested by RJ.

As we were finishing up for the day, RJ looked at me and shook his head.

"What have I done wrong this time?" I wanted to know.

"Nothing … that's the problem."

"Doing nothing wrong is a problem?"

"No, doing nothing wrong is a good thing. However, with how quickly you've learned all of this new information, adding that to your natural talents and abilities, I can see there'll be no stopping you. You'll definitely be an asset to the team. The problem is that there's no way for me to keep track of where you're going or where you've been, let alone what systems you've gotten into. Matilda, will you promise me something? Promise me that you'll never use your gifts with computers for personal reasons, only for the benefit of others?"

"But isn't going after Bart, personal?"

"Well, the way you explained it the other day, you're not going after Bart just because of what he did to you, Rachael, and Mary Beth. If I remember correctly, you're trying to protect the other kids at your old school. Is that still why you're doing this?"

"Yes! With me here, instead of being there, Bart will go after a lot of the other kids."

"So what you're telling me is that when you were there, Bart picked on you more, leaving the other kids alone?"

"Yeah, that's pretty much how it was," I agreed sadly, remembering how Bart treated me.

"So in a way, you were protecting the other kids while you were there, even if you didn't realize that's what you were doing. Now that you're here, you're trying to find a different way of protecting them, is that correct?"

"You know, I never thought of it that way, but I guess you're right."

"So, as long as what you are doing, or you're trying to do, will protect, or in some way help someone else; your actions would be benefiting others. If you were only looking for revenge, or if you were to hack into a bank system or manipulate the stock market for your own benefit, that would be personal. Do you understand?"

I nodded in reply. Everything he'd explained was very clear and made a lot of sense.

"So, will you promise me, never for personal reasons?"

"Well, I'm going to have to think about this for a little while, and talk with Mary Beth about it. I sort of made a promise to her the other day not to jump in with both feet, at least not without talking to her first."

"That's an honest answer, thank you. Is there anything else you want to talk about today?"

"Actually, there are a couple of things; first, I'd like permission to set up a secured directory on one of the servers. I've almost filled the internal memory of my PDA and need someplace to store the information I'm collecting."

"Umm, yes, that would be all right. You've really filled the two-fifty-six meg of internal memory?" I responded by slowly nodding. "I'm not going to ask to see your data; I'm assuming it has to do with Bart. However, I reserve the right to examine it sometime in the future. What else may I help you with?"

"Mr. Peterson told me that sending the choir's singing over the PA wasn't a bad thing, just done the wrong way. So I want to find the right way to share the choir's music. I don't know who to talk to about it. Also, like I was thinking yesterday, can the PA system be selectively programmed?"

"Looking at the time; I think we should save this discussion until Monday."

"Okay RJ, I'll see you Monday," I replied with a smile.

Other than choir practice and dinner, I spent the rest of Saturday in my room working back and forth between my computer and PDA. My PDA would do everything I needed, but I'm faster with a full keyboard. Mary Beth stayed close by, which was nice, although somewhat distracting. I think she was listening to French music most of the time.

Sunday was pretty much the same, although there were a few exceptions. The things that pulled me out of my room were the need for food, going to church, choir practice, and seeing Rachael. Oddly, six or eight of the upper year students who normally portray a male gender, showed up to the afternoon choir practice as their female selves.

Between dinner and evening choir practice I started screaming; Mary Beth thought I was having some sort of breakdown. After I settled down she realized I was just excited. I had discovered the Roberts family secret! I had pieced together the puzzle and now I had the whole picture, well, at least ninety percent of it. The question still to be answered was what do we do next? What could we do? We talked for a while, but didn't come up with anything.

When we arrived for evening choir practice, we noticed a lot of new faces. That is, in the older year study partnerships. The study partners that were normally mixed gender, one or the other had changed their portrayed gender, to match that of their study partner. At the time I thought it was a little odd, considering it was Sunday, not Freaky Friday.

As I was drifting off to sleep, a thought crawled out of the dark forgotten recesses of my mind to become an almost contuse thought. It was a piece of information I'd found during one of my early visits to Joshua, the S. P. A. I hadn't paid any attention to the reference when I found it, but I'd started reevaluating much of the information that I'd previously dismissed. Because I still hadn't determined a course of action, I thought that just possibly, someone from the agency might be able to offer some suggestions.

* * * To Be Continued * * *

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