Making Friends

The moment Durkas uttered those derogatory words, the atmosphere turned cold. The boy noticed Guy's incisive gaze and shrunk his neck timidly.

"Why did you call Kano an idiot, Durkas?" Guy enunciated clearly.

In response, the boy squirmed in place and muttered in a low voice, "It's because... because he can't read."

Guy nodded contemplatively and retorted, "I know that your grandmother doesn't know how to read. Would you call her an idiot too?"

Durkas vehemently shook his head and said, "No!"

"Then?" Guy shot back.

"Well... everyone his age in this village can read, but he still struggles with it," Durkas reasoned.

Guy once again nodded in agreement, but diverted the discussion, "I heard from your parents that you're raising a little finch. Is that true?"

Durkas' eyes opened up with excitement and he nodded with a smile.

"Apparently, that baby finch of yours failed to make it out of its nest when its mother pushed it off, is that right?"

Once Durkas affirmed the supposition, Guy immediately followed up, "I guess that bird's an idiot, right?"

Durkas immediately flared with indignation and exclaimed, "No she's not-"

But before Durkas could explain himself, Guy added, "But all the other finches her age can already fly successfully. She still struggles, shouldn't that mean that she's an idiot too?"

Durkas was left speechless. He had become trapped within his own reasoning. Being a child, he wasn't well versed in the art of debate like Guy. In fact, his opinions on Kano weren't borne from his own mind, they were a result of his environment. Kids are naturally impressionable. It is inherent biological programming ingrained into the DNA of primate offsprings - "monkey see, monkey do".

Kids become the way they are by observing the adults in their environment. A child doesn't know what is good or bad, they are essentially born a clean slate. This slate is gradually filled with the information the child sees in its surroundings. Some parts get rewritten, while others get added upon until they reach their teen years, at which point all the markings on the slate become permanent.

This begged the obvious question, are all humans born good, and is it their environment that turns them evil. To that, Guy would ask what is good and what is evil? Some acts can be readily dumped into the evil category, such as murder and maiming. Others can be just as easily dumped into the good category, such as helping those in need and treating others respectfully. But a large portion isn't so easily categorised.

Some believe that being selfish is evil. But Guy wouldn't agree so readily! Selfishness is essential for survival. For instance, when travelling in aeroplanes, the safety instructions reinforce the fact that during times of depressurisation one must first secure their own oxygen mask before helping those around them. Sure, others would praise you were you to act selflessly and go around helping others before yourself, but what are the chances that you would be alive to receive that praise? What use are goodwill and admiration if you're dead?

Back to the point about a human's nature at birth, the reason why humans are even able to categorise acts into good and evil is that they are born with a conscience - a voice at the back of their mind that judges their every move. But what if a child was born without the capacity to judge their own actions? What would good and evil mean to them?

Considering these anomalies, Guy established early in his career that it was imperative to inculcate a strong sense of morality in his students from an early age. To those with the ability to moderate their actions, these moral grounds would bolster their growth and turn them into stable adults, given other conditions remain the same. For those without the ability to moderate their actions, these moral grounds would help them evaluate their actions symbolically, through association.

Durkas wasn't a heartless lad, he was only misinformed. The fact that he was willing to take care of a fallen bird was evidence of that matter. Thus, Guy introduced an equation through deductive reasoning in the boy's mind.

"The finch you're taking care of is just slower than others. She is destined to fly, like her brothers and sisters. However, it just isn't her time yet," Guy said.

Durkas thought about it for a while and nodded approvingly.

"Everybody has their own pace. Life isn't a race, it's a marathon-"

"What's a marathon, teacher?" A girl in the group interrupted while simultaneously raising her hand.

"Umm, it's like a regular race, except the goal, is to run the entire distance," Guy clarified.

"What's the point of that?" The girl asked again while simultaneously darting her hand upwards.

"It's to test your endurance and conviction."

The entire group hummed together in acknowledgement. Guy coughed to draw their attention and resumed, "As I was saying. Life isn't a race, it is a marathon. Some people get a quick sprint early to rush ahead of the group, others are slower and jog at a measured pace. But all that matters, in the end, is who actually crosses the finish line," Guy concluded as he looked directly at the Durkas.

Guy smiled as he observed the expressions on the child's faces. He saw an apologetic and uncomfortable expression wash over, as the boy looked at Kano.

With a low mutter, Durkas spoke, "I... I'm sorry for calling you an idiot... Do you want to partner up?"

Guy nudged Kano forward. Kano looked back and saw Guy push his chin out encouragingly. Although he was a little apprehensive, Kano decided to believe his teacher and said, "Sure."

And with that established, the group moved on with the game. Guy settled the excited children and explained the rules.

"As you can see, I've written ordered numbers on the stairs leading to the orphanage. Right at the midpoint is number 0, and as you go higher, you will see positive numbers, and lower are the negative numbers. In this container in my hands -" he said while shaking a wooden container with a lid, "are numbers ranging from -20 up to +20. One member from each group has to dip in and pick up five cards, and line them up face-down in the order they are picked. The picker must then open the first card. Your partner then must go up to that step and await further instructions. Once everyone is on their steps, I will say start and then the picker can open up the remaining cards. Then, your job is to scream out the numbers, and your partner must rise or descend depending on what the number on the card says. So if you read -7, then your partner must go down by 7 steps. Alternatively, you can call out all the numbers and your partner can directly run the calculations and move to the step that corresponds to the total sum. Once your partner settles on the final steps, you need to scream out the sum of all the numbers in your stack. If your answer matches the step your partner is on, then you win a point. If there is a mismatch, then you lose."

The kids nodded their heads as they listened to Guy's explanation, and excitedly dispersed.

"Kano listen... Why don't you be the one who walks up and down the steps? I'll play as the picker, because... you know?" Durkas explained to his teammate.

Kano sighed half-heartedly. He was really looking forward to peacock his newfound reading prowess. Guy had his ears trained in their direction and heard this exchange. So he decided to add another detail at the last minute, "Oh, almost forgot! We will be switching roles after every two rounds. It would only be fair that way, otherwise, it's going to be just one person running up and down, tiring themselves."

Durkas exhaled loudly and dropped his shoulders.

And just like that, the game began. Durkas walked up and grabbed five cards and laid them on the floor in a line. He opened the first, to reveal "+4". Just as he was about to shout out the number, he saw Kano rushing up the steps and standing on the step marked "+4".

When everyone was ready, the pickers all flipped their cards and shouted off their numbers. Thankfully, the steps were wide enough to accommodate multiple children moving around side-by-side.

Durkas was dismayed as he beheld his selections, '+11,+8,-10,-15'. It was unfortunate as it would require Kano to move up and down by a lot. As Kano observed Durkas's expression he said, "Say out all the numbers at once!" To which Durkas complied.

While the other kids started to follow the numbers sequentially and navigated the steps, Kano was swifter and more efficient. He moved directly to the step which was the total sum, -2 as if he were a robot receiving programmed instructions. While others were panting, Kano barely broke a sweat.

Kano superiority in this game was for two main reasons. First, as a resident of the orphanage, he had to regularly move up and down the steps. This repetition had unwittingly raised his stamina and endurance. On top of that, Kano would often play a game of counting the steps while moving around. He had done that so many times, it turned into a subconscious calculation that occurred at the back of his mind. This meant that the abstract idea of addition was easily emulated into a physical operation - climbing stairs. This made sense to Kano, thus raising his efficiency and accuracy in calculating the sum.

Durkas was sceptical about Kano's confidence and began calculating the sum in his head. He raised and lowered his fingers until after half a minute, he screamed "-2!". To his shock, Kano screamed the same number.

"Yaay! We won!" Durkas exclaimed and hopped around excitedly. "You're so good at this, Kano!" He added, causing the recipient to blush.

Guy grinned as he observed this. Although it was too soon to celebrate, Guy was confident that things would turn out for the better following this game.

When it was Kano's turn to pick cards, he was not as efficient in his calculations. However, neither was Durkas. So while the boy moved up and down the steps, Kano had plenty of time to determine the final sum.

As the day ended, Durkas bid Kano farewell, leaving the once timid boy with a smile so bright it could blind the sun.

"Let's go, Kano!" Guy said.

"Yes, Teacher!" Kano replied and skipped up the steps with a jovial spring.