The secret passage!
She hurried over to the section of the wall where the hidden door was located and scanned the stones to see if she had left any evidence of having opened it. Aside from some dust and a few chunks of grit on the floor, there were no obvious signs that the passage had been discovered, so with her bare feet she did as thorough a job as she could of kicking and sweeping the dirt into a corner where it wouldn’t be noticed. After this was done, she inhaled deeply, forcing herself to calm down, and then went over to the door.
‘You can come in now, Tesla.’
She heard the click of the door being unlocked from the outside – the sound instantly reminding her of the fact that she was a prisoner – and then Sergeant Tesla walked in, bearing a platter laden with exotic-looking fare. Margaret beamed as big a smile as she could manage at the youth.
‘Good morning Tesla. That looks yummy, thank you!’
‘Good morning Dr Gr—’
‘Just call me Margaret, dear,’ she interrupted. ‘Remember we’re friends now, and there’s no need for things to be so formal between friends, right?’
The boy smiled shyly and looked down at the floor, shifting uncomfortably on his feet as he did so.
‘Okay … Margaret.’
‘Are you gonna sit down and eat with me? There’s a lotta food on that there platter. I don’t think I can handle it all myself.’
‘I, I’m supposed to stand guard outside, Doc-, I mean, Margaret,’ he mumbled, keeping his eyes locked on the ground while fidgeting with his fingers.
‘Aw come on, don’t be such a stick in the mud,’ she teased. ‘I’m old enough to be your grandmother, yet you’re the one acting like an old coot.’
Sergeant Tesla cracked one of his rare smiles and looked up at her with boyish mischief twinkling in his dark eyes.
‘Okay,’ he acquiesced. ‘Okay, I’ll sit in here and eat with you. We must keep the door open though so that I can hear if anyone is coming. I, I could um, I could get in big trouble for this.’
Margaret beamed a warm smile at him, but she was smiling inwardly as well: she had a definite ally here, and she was doing her best to subtly win him over, a process that seemed to be moving along at a good clip at the moment.
‘There are two chairs at my desk,’ she said. ‘I’m sure that The General put ‘em there for some reason, don’t you think? If he wanted me to eat alone all the time, there’d just be one chair, wouldn’t there?’
Tesla looked around uneasily, avoiding eye contact with Margaret.
‘Perhaps,’ he conceded, ‘but still,’ he added quickly, ‘we have to keep the door open. I don’t want to get in trouble.’
‘That’s fine, kiddo. Now come on over here and let’s eat.’
They both headed over to the table, where they sat down and started eating, and Margaret was once again pleasantly surprised by the delectable flavours and interesting textures of the strange-looking fare. They both ate in silence for a while, until Tesla unexpectedly piped up while Margaret was in the middle of chewing on a mouthful of succulent vegetables.
‘Dr Gree-, I mean, Margaret, can you tell me what life is like in America?’
Margaret swallowed the mouthful of food and then replied.
‘Well, that’s a bit of a broad question, Tesla. Things are very different for different people in America, depending on where you live and what kind of background you have and such. Why don’t you try think of a more specific thing to ask me about?’
Tesla nodded, furrowing his brow as he chewed on his food and turned over a few questions in his mind. Eventually, he spoke again.
‘I want to know, what is it like for a child to grow up in America? I have heard that they all get to go to school. Is that true?’
Margaret nodded.
‘Sure. Every kid goes to school in America. Even the real poor ones. I mean, sure, there are a ton of problems with the system, but generally every kid, from the richest to the poorest, will get a fair shot at getting an education.’
‘So they don’t have to work in the fields all day? And the children don’t work in mines there?’
Margaret shook her head with dramatic vociferousness.
‘Oh gosh no! No sirree, kids in America do not work at all, not until they’re teenagers and they want to make some extra money for themselves.’
Tesla raise both of his eyebrows, wrinkling the skin of his forehead. He seemed quite surprised at this revelation.
‘Really? There are no children working in mines there?’
‘In America it’s illegal to do that.’
‘And the army will do something about it if someone is forcing children to work?’
Margaret chuckled softly, set her utensils down and clasped her hands together in front of her.
‘Tesla, in America the army isn’t the law like it is here. If someone with a gun tries to force you to do something, well, he’ll be put in prison for a long time even if he is from the army. Kids have it pretty good back home, you know. There are lots of laws that protect them and their freedom. Everybody’s freedom, actually, even if that freedom is tainted in many ways, for many minorities, immigrants and other marginalised groups … but let’s not get into that right now.’
‘What would a child’s life be like for someone my age?’
‘Your age huh? Well, let me see. Why, I’d say that you’d be in grade ten or eleven at senior high. You look like you’ve got the right build to be a great runner, so I’d imagine you’d be on your school’s track team. You seem to be a smart kid too, so right about now I
