“Order! Order, Honorable Educators!” The lights and devices flashed again, as the power was cut and restored in rapid succession to bring the room back into a productive discussion mode. The screaming and arguing had gone on for at least two minutes now — unacceptable, life-light dimming behavior.

“The school hasn’t had a perfect child in over two decades,” Educator 1 said. “This is our chance to regain our standing in the World School Rankings.”

“Be careful, Educator 1, envy is punishable by bedimming,” said Administrator. This was the second reminder during this session alone. Some teachers were sure to have their life-lights bedimmed before this incident was over.

“Twenty-three years!” said Educator 2. “I wasn’t even a teacher at the school back then.”

“It’s unfortunate that the latest generations are not as bright as they were during our own time,” said Administrator, gently rubbing her own life-light still at nearly 75% after all these years. “But the question stands — do we accept Addam’s account of the incident and allow the dimming of his life-light? Or do we reject it as a bias story, told to save a friend from becoming a darkling?”

“I understand Addam’s desire to save his friend,” said Educator 3. “But as his teachers, isn’t it our job…no, our duty to save him from making such a life-altering decision? If he is permitted to testify his version of the incident, then Addam would be deemed average.”

“He is too young to make such a serious decision,” said Educator 1.

“And his mother is a drone parent — she has him followed every single moment of the day. She would know that the school screwed up–”

“The school did not screw up, Educator 2,” Administrator said. “Please leave the school’s role out of this. This is between Addam and Lavithan. Leave it at that.”

“Of course, Administrator. I humbly apologize.”

“Not to mention Addam’s parents are big donors to the school. Their ire over our handling of this incident would create a devastating shortfall in our budget,” Administrator said. “So why don’t we review the drone video again so we could all truly understand what really happened this morning.”

The lights dimmed and Addam’s mother’s hi-def drone footage of the playground incident played on the walls and ceiling of the school’s circular conference room.

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