It was a rather ancient poster, from some by-gone age in which its motto might actually had been carried out, in the physical realm if not in the mental.
It bore this inscription: Respect your elders.
But the “re” were overwritten with an “su.”
Much more accurate.
Not that they haven’t given us reasons to suspect them.
Birth control.
Child abuse.
Human experimentation.
One day we will turn into elders.
Would we want the respect that we never gave?
I didn’t figure I would.
I ripped the poster down, and slid it into the trash can. Just because it so accurately represented what was wrong with the world didn’t mean we need it to be shoved in our faces.
And behind it, was a cavity. And inside it was a security camera.
I yanked it out, and tossed it into the trash can as well.
Maria #1 aka Pippin: As they stole around the corner and came into the hall of the school, Sal gestured toward a beat-up poster on the wall. “Looks like someone agrees with you,” she said.
I studied the poster. “That’s not funny.”
She skipped farther down the linoleum floor. “Never said it was.”
Either this school was deserted or its legality was seriously questionable. Nowadays, no one openly doubted the words of the Elder and managed to stay out of prison. Which made me chide myself once again for entertaining illegal thoughts.
“Come on, slowpoke. We don’t have all day.” Sal was rounding the next corner. Her footsteps were so quiet I hadn’t noticed she had been moving. I hurried to catch up to her.
“But, Sal,” I said when I was next to her, out of breath. “What if the Elder was right and I really am the Chosen One?”
“Then we would get out of this alive. Really, Fletcher, you worry too much.”
I didn’t consider it too much, when the fate of the nation rested in my hands. My incompetent hands.
What I wouldn’t give to shove that burden onto my sister…
“Wait. What if we didn’t tell the Elder, and just…pretended it was me?”
She scoffed. “That would never work. You underestimate the prying curiosity of news reporters.”
I thrust my hands into my pockets. “At least I wouldn’t get death threats that way,” I mumbled.
Luke aka Merry: The sign should have read: “Respect your elders”, but the vandalizers painted over S-U over the R and E, making it read: “Suspect your elders”. Clearly the mayor’s “Iron Fist” policy would not let this stand, but when it your brother…your in a very, very difficult spot.
“John, really? You had to stoop that low?”
I snapped a picture of the wall and texted it to my brother with the message: “What did you do? And why?”
I walked away from the site, and waited for a response. I waited for a half hour without a response, then just made my way home and planning to deal with this tomorrow.