Trenzalore

The name started as a joke between friends, but the joke stuck once more and more people joined the founding 5. As you walk past the town sign, proudly proclaiming your commune’s new population of 76, you look back on it now fondly, despite hearing many people tell you over the years that they almost didn’t reach out because the name made them think it was a joke. Oh well, you think to yourself. For every person that shied away from the name, you know you’ve found someone just as good because of it.

You still remember the day you purchased the land, a long held dream of yours became reality seemingly overnight. 6 years prior you went from going job to job, trying to be a full time teacher, to building the commune of your dreams with your best friend Clair and mutual friend Clause.

Yes, his name is Clause. You smile as you remember how your playful nickname of Santa slipped out in front of the children one day and the next everyone in town had taken to calling him that. He would always bring it up with you whenever he felt the need to remind you of the burden you’ve placed on him, but it’s not like it was the most creative nickname. Funny enough, the Whovians of the commune find an extra layer of irony in someone being names Santa in a town called Trenzalore.

Regardless, you tell yourself that you wouldn’t trade your life for anything now that a former dream has become reality, and you walk into your classroom ready to do what you love once again.

Your students are diligent and respectful, calling you Mr. Young both in the classroom and outside of it; though you assure them you can simply call you James when you’re not at school. You know that this life isn’t easy on them, with three of the four of them having moved here within the last two years. Being pulled out of a normal high school to go live in a commune with your parent(s) is not something many teens could say they are prepared for.

You do your best to help them, but in all honesty, even as a founder you still find yourself figuring things out as you go. You’re only 28 after all, and most of your formative years were spent in the “normal” world.

You set your stuff down as you wait for your students to arrive, and think over this year’s class. There’s Mr. Hubert Daring, a new 14 year old student who recently moved in with his aunt, who got custody after the passing of his mother. He’s a bright student, but the youngest in the class and still seemingly in shock from how quickly his life changed in the last 8 months. Outside of your role as lead teacher of the school, and town librarian, you also help screen applicants among a committee of residents, and you knew Hubert would be difficult to approach from the start.

Of course then there is the Yin to Hubert’s Yang in Miss Darla Humphries, your most tenured pupil, and who will soon graduate on her 18th birthday. She has a razor sharp mind, but has never fully grasped the material you’ve tried to teach. She’s destined for great things, but she’s more for doing than thinking. She has been counting the days until her 18th birthday since she moved in, as the commune’s barebones legal system states that once a resident reaches 18 years of age they are free to do as they please. Schooling becomes optional, and all residents are encouraged to find a role in the community that calls to them, though work is not required per se.

Though you feel it is improper for you to partake, anyone over the age of 18 are permitted to be nude publicly, something Clair was very persistent about when you started the commune. You are apprehensive to see Darla leave the school, as you realize that means you’ll have to see your former pupil as a sexual being rather than the child you met 5 years ago. Perhaps a dated, prudish apprehension, but one you have none the less.

Finally there are the twins, Powell and Beth Stewart. 16 years old, affectionately referred to as “Luke and Leia” by some, they could not be more complimentary a pair than you could have ever imagined. Powell, a tall, athletic young man who is perhaps the funniest and most kind hearted person you’ve ever known, and Beth a short, demure young woman who is quite frankly smarter than you are and has the patience of a Saint for having to deal with Powell all this years. Your students since they were 14, you can’t wait to see what is in store for them in the future, and love teaching them. Though today, you’re in a bit of a bind.

You don’t know what you should be teaching your students some days, as what good is calculus to students in this environment when things such as agriculture are much more prevalent in their lives? As the twins walk in you think yourself “No. Some things are important not for the practicality, but the impact it can have on the individual.” However, that doesn’t help you decide on specific topics.

Your passion is history, and a broad understanding of the world is important, but what good is teaching Caesar’s conquests to people who think he’s the guy who created salad? Darla sits in her usual seat by the window and you wonder about what she’ll chose to do with her life. The only topic she ever really got into was art, but you are such a dismal teacher of the topic that she’s had to take lessons from Clair and others just to pursue it. You shake your head, “I’m not perfect after all” you tell yourself. “She’ll do fine. It’s Hubert I should start thinking of. What will get him out of his shell?”

You think this over as he walks in, and you notice that Beth give him an apple, to which he goes to deny, and she says “I’ve never seen you eat breakfast. Take it.” You smirk to yourself as you turn to the chalk board and know what today’s lesson is going to be about. You scrawl out in large letters “Communal Love” and turn around with the confidence that is expected from the Teacher