CHAPTER 8
The Historian stood before the boy with the wall at his back and began to speak as if he was in a lecture hall, only this professor was even stranger than the most eclectic of those in the universities back there.
“Here is the first lesson. Perhaps it is quite different than your other teachers. I will pose a scenario. It is up to you to ask the right questions to reach the right conclusion. However, your questions can only be answered with a yes or a no, nothing else, so phrase your questions rightly. Remember, the right questions lead you to the right conclusion but only if you trust the answers. A man reads and is imprisoned.”
It’s true that Josiah had never been taught by such a method, but it didn’t seem strange to him. He found the method quite intriguing, but he still felt cautious and wary of his teacher.
“A man reads and is imprisoned.” Josiah repeated it back. The scenario seemed illogical, but perhaps that was the man’s game. He felt unsure and hesitant about his first question. “Is reading illegal?”
The Historian quoted a quick “no” and leaned against the wall behind him, steadily watching the boy as he thought it through.
“So he’s not imprisoned for reading?”
“No, he is not imprisoned for reading.”
“Okay. So did he know why he was imprisoned?”
“Yes.”
“Was the reason part of the known law?”
The Historian abruptly stood to attention. Josiah distinctly heard the word “impressive” come through the man’s quick mutter, then he answered back. “Yes and no.”
“Yes and no?” Josiah thought that his reply was a bit unfair.
“Yes and no, Josiah. Begin to dissect.”
“Does what he was reading have anything to do with his arrest and imprisonment?”
“Yes.” The Historian was hiding his excitement, but Josiah’s face shined with curiosity and the lesson was no longer the simple school lesson he imagined it to be. Instead it had become something so intriguing that he felt he had to know the full answer.
“Was he told why he was imprisoned?”
“Yes.”
“Okay. Was he imprisoned by the lawkeepers?”
“Yes.” The Historian’s face showed a strange trace of gloom.
“Were they just in their arrest and imprisonment? I mean, did he deserve it?”
“Yes and no.”
“Well, did he commit a crime?” The boy didn’t know why he wanted the man to be innocent, but he did.
“Yes. Yes, he did.”
Josiah’s heart sank a bit. He sat quietly for a moment, then his eyes lit up as he had a new hope.
“Did the punishment fit the crime?”
The Historian gave the boy a genuine smile. “No. No, he did not deserve the punishment that he was given.”
“Okay, so what was the crime? You said that it was part of the known law. Was it forbidden by one of the neighbor laws?”
“Yes.”
“Did he hurt someone?” He asked, afraid of the answer.
“No.”
Relieved, he asked another. “Did he steal something?”
“Yes.”
“Did he steal a book?”
“Yes, Josiah! Very good.”
Everything seemed to be coming together in his mind like a puzzle. He began to visualize the answers that he had and what was missing. The problem was solvable.
“So the man stole a book, was justly arrested for stealing property but was unjustly imprisoned for it?”
“Yes.”
“Well, what kind of book was it?”
“Yes or no, only, my boy. We’re not quite done yet.”
“Was the book a book of government records?” It was the only thing that Josiah could think of that would be so secretive and hold such a burdensome punishment.
“No.”
“Was it a book for education?”
“No.”
“A book of hospital records?” He was grasping at questions.
“No.”
Josiah once again sat quietly, trying to think of something, of anything.
“Keep going, Josiah. Try another track.”
“Okay.” He sat for another moment, thinking and twiddling his thumbs. “Did the book contain valuable information?”
“More than you can know, my boy. Absolutely.”
“Did it contain information about the people?”
“Yes. You’re doing splendid, Josiah. Keep going.”
“Did it contain information about the current people?”
“No.”
“So it contained information about people in the past?”
“Yes.”
The answer surprised him. He didn’t quite know why, but history was never a subject taught deeply in school. They had two history books that were used in school, but that number paled in comparison to the multitudes devoted to the other subjects, to the sciences and maths. The history that they did have and were taught was a shallow and falsified past that was used merely to teach how life in the colony worked. The bronze wall held the only reliable history of the colony, and there were many names on it that he didn’t know about and would never know about.
“So where are we now, Josiah?”
“So we have a book that contains valuable information about the people of the past which the government wrote and that book was stolen for whatever reason.”
“No. Not everything you just said was accurate. Be very careful here, Josiah. Go over your last statement and ask it in pieces.”
“Okay, let’s see. The book does contain valuable information, yes?”
“Yes.”
“The information is about the people of the past, yes?”
“Yes.”
“And the book was written by the government, yes?”
“No.”
“No?”
“No, it was not.”
The idea was incredible to Josiah. For him, it was a natural assumption that the Historian couldn’t hold against him. No one else wrote books.
“Then who?”
“Yes or no, Josiah.”
“Did the doctors write it?”
“No.”
“The scientists?”
“No. Keep going, Josiah. You’re getting there. Only calm down and think.”
“Did the teachers write it?”
“No.”
“But if the government didn’t write it, and if the doctors, scientists, and teachers didn’t, then there’s no one else to write it. The only people left are the citizens.”
“Exactly, Josiah! That is exactly it!” The odd, old man was absolutely beaming with excitement. The boy was brilliant.
“You mean to say that the book that was stolen was written by a citizen?”
“Yes. That is exactly what I mean.”
“But citizens don’t write books. They never have.”
“Oh, but they have, Josiah. They used to write and they used to write a lot. However, the riddle isn’t solved just yet. Keep going.”
Josiah tried to continue the best he could, but his mind had just been thrown about by the incredible news, and he wasn’t so sure he could accept the idea. He had promised to hear out his teacher, and so he obeyed and continued.
“Alright. So we need to find out what the book was about. I think that may be the key.”
“Very good. Ask your questions.”
“Was the book about the government?”
“No.
“The hospital?”
“No.”
“The schools?”
“No.”
“Well, was it any kind of education material at all?”
“Yes, but not in the way that you are thinking.”
“I don’t understand. If it isn’t these things then what is it?”
“Think about who wrote it, Josiah. What would they write?”
The boy took another moment. He sifted through the possibilities and only came to one, a rather foolish one.
&n
bsp; “They didn’t write about themselves, did they?”
“Yes.”
“What? Why would that be important? No one’s life is important enough to be written about.”
“You might think so but only because you have known nothing else. There is something much bigger than everything you know right now. It’s not your fault by any means but -”
“Are you saying that the scenario is true then?”
“Smart boy. Yes.” He bent down to level with Josiah, looked him in the eyes, and continued to speak. “I read a book and was imprisoned. It’s true. I did steal it. Well, to be honest, I stole many. To me, though, the worse crime would have been if I had not stolen them.” He slowly stood back up. “As far as imprisonment goes, yes it was unjust and still is, but my cell is perhaps the most fulfilling cell in the history of our time.” The phrase struck Josiah as odd. “I will show it to you if you would like.”
“Really!”
“But that must come later. Now you know that I am a criminal, but allow me to explain myself. I was once an important person in the midst of other important people. While doing my work one day, I came across a storage room and saw the most amazing thing, a room filled entirely with books. It came as a surprise to me because I thought that I knew everything there was to know about everything, but apparently some of the others had their secrets, and these secrets were on the darker side, or at least I think so. For quite a long time, no one knew that I had found what they were hiding. I went back to the room occasionally to sift through the books and was just as shocked as you to discover what they were and even more shocked at what they contained inside. I began to take the books a few at a time to an empty room on an unused hallway. I knew that it was only a matter of time before I was caught, but I had to try to find out as much as I could about them, and so I continued with a sort of false hope. I was always so careful and cunning about how I handled the process of moving the books, but I was eventually caught. However, what they knew and what they kept hidden for who knows how long was such a complex issue that my crime against their secret naturally could not be publicly announced or punished. The lawkeepers knew only to arrest me and to deliver me to my new prison on special request by those in higher power. And here, as you might have guessed by now, is my prison cell, but it is for another day. If you wish to come back, come only at the times that are given.”
He handed Josiah another encoded message on the same tarnished paper.
“I have spent countless quiet time in this place. It would be only natural for me to know all the patterns of my keepers’ comings and goings. After all, to them I am just a lazy old hermit.”
“What do they write about?”
“Excuse me?” His concentration had shifted to his imprisonment.
“What was in the books you found? What were they hiding?”
“Have you not guessed? It is the very reason I have brought you here. You see, my boy, these books, they mention something that we are both searching for. Josiah, they talk about the sun.”
Josiah the Reformer Page 8
