When Jonatha entered his history class, he was surprised to find a substitute teacher. His schedule said Ms. Watford taught the class, but a young woman, Ms. Slade, sat at the desk instead.
When the bell rang and everyone filed in, Jonatha was relieved to see Jade again. Around them were several students he strained to recognize. One of them, in fairly heavy makeup, seemed like he might have been Biff Meadows, but his skin tone seemed far too dark for it to be him. Another, a tall, thin girl who exuded confidence, reminded him of Tiffany Sanders, and nearby was a girl with glasses whose name he couldn’t quite place.
“So today, Ms. Watford is out sick, so we’re going to fill some time by having a bit of a discussion about democracy. We’re going to be talking in groups of four or five all class about this topic. Put your names on it so that I can count you all for attendance.” Ms. Slade handed one of the girls a sheet, and the group seemed to form almost instantly even if nobody quite had decided on it: Jonatha, Jade, and the three others.
“I’m gonna pass this around, so put your names on it,” she instructed. Jonatha was the last person to see the sheet, and it was helpful, because it allowed him (and Jade, for that matter) to learn the group members’ names; Buffie Meadows-Ikechukwu (that sort of explains things, Jonatha thought), Tiff Sanders and Ambrose Levine. After that, he passed the sheet back to Tiff.
“First question, gals. Should men have a right to participate in democracy beyond voting?” Jonatha seemed to jump back a bit at that question.
“W...well...we’re… We’re people like you are, and that means we should—”
Ambrose, who seemed stiff and awkward just looking at two cheerleaders, jumped right back in and cut him off. “Yeah, you are people, but does that mean you have the skills to be entrusted with these important duties in our nation? Men don’t fight in the army. Men are emotional and many of them stay at home. There’s a reason women can vote at 18, but men can’t vote until they’re 21 unless they are married. History tells us we have the superior capacity to run a democracy.”
Tiff jumped in, almost like an extra animal on a kill smelling blood. “Do you know that there’s never been a boy in student government at our school? Ever? I constantly find, as student body president, that girls care more than boys do. If that’s true here at this school, it’s true in this country.”
Jade timidly looked around and tried to reply. “Y...yet we do important things, like caring for the sick, caring for children, being devoted parts of our families and communities... Is there… Is there no space for us?” He was simultaneously attempting to make a sincere point and figure out what people in this world were even on about.
“How can we trust men, who have periods every three weeks and can be real emotional wrecks when they’re pregnant, with the institutions our Founding Mothers gave us? I can’t see it,” Tiff replied in her low voice. That still sounds like a guy’s voice to me, Jonatha thought to himself.
“The second question on here is, ‘As you know, there have been men in Congress for nearly a decade now. Are men cut out to be involved in politics?’ Well, I’ll tell you this. Goddess ordained that only women could be priests. She did not entrust men with that responsibility, and neither can we entrust men with representing us in the nation’s capital.”
Jonatha looked around, not sure how to respond. It was a cue Buffie almost took as a sign for help.
“Well, do you have to be a priest to be important in Goddess’s eyes? No. She created women and men in her own image, remember? Boys… Boys matter, too.” Despite the fact he jumped into the fray, his voice reflected a certain shyness that the pre-wish Biff would never have had.
“Wake me up when there’s a man in the White House, or as many men’s sports in school as there are women’s.” Ambrose scoffed. “Who wants to watch men play football? Not many people, I’ll tell you that.” Jonatha leaned over to Jade and whispered in his ear, Well, that explains a lot about this world.
“Whatcha whisperin’ about, boys?” Tiff sneered.
“N...nothing,” Jade mustered.
“Gossip, I bet. See what I mean?” Jonatha put his head in his palms, knowing that a scant few hours ago, Tiff would have been the one dishing out gossip, not the one labeled “Most Likely to be President” in the yearbook.
Luckily for Jonatha and Jade, all the side conversation had sidetracked the group enough to have Ms. Slade announce to the class that it was time to turn in those sheets with a few minutes left. Tiff handed it in, and everyone waited for a brief few seconds for the bell to ring and people to get out and on with their days.
“Hey, Jade, what class do you have next?”
“Music.”
“Oh drat, I have art. I guess I’ll see you later, then.”
Jonatha walked out alone, a bit scared, until he saw Buffie walking next to him. “Something wrong, Jonatha?”
