THIS MUST BE NATURE
“These were called headstones,” Teacher says, pointing at one of the funny looking stumps coming out of the ground. “And areas full of headstones were called cemetery or graveyard. Earth was once covered in these.”
“Did the humans store their heads in them?” one of the students asks.
“No,” Teacher laughs, “headstones told Humans which body was buried beneath them.” Another student pipes up:
“I thought Humans lived on the surface.”
“You’re right; Humans did mostly live on the surface,” she encourages. “Does anyone know what I mean when I say that their bodies were buried?” She pauses for a moment before repeating herself. “The Humans’ bodies… were buried… beneath headstones… Andrew?”
“You mean like— you mean that they had dead?”
“Very good! Now— which one of you can tell me what dead means?” Teacher looks around at all of her students. “Now, I know that dead— excuse me —death is one of our tougher vocab terms from this chapter, so let’s go ahead and re-read the definition that our textbook gives us on page 178. Andrew, would you care to do the honors?” Andrew shifts around uncomfortably in his seat to let Teacher know how much he hates her for making him read aloud.
“Death was once one of Evolution’s most influential and unique byproducts. Often mentioned alongside Life in Human mythology, Death was thought by Humans to be the inevitable conclusion of time, and it was associated with the biological cessation of consciousness.”
“Thank you, Andrew. So, just like the book says, Death and Life were both important concepts in Human mythology— I would definitely put that somewhere in your notes if I were you— because that might be on your quiz. Anyway, does that definition of Death make sense to everybody?”
“Can you maybe reword that, please?”A student raises his hand mid-question. Teacher huffs at him.
“Death,” she begins slowly, paraphrasing as she goes, “happened when Humans’ consciousnesses stopped functioning.”
“What does that even mean?” Andrew hears himself ask. “How could they just… stop functioning?”
“I know it’s difficult to imagine, but all you really need to know for the quiz is that it happened to Humans, and that Death and Life were integral to their mythology,” Teacher assures us.
“Is Dead still a thing anywhere? Can I try it?”
“From what I understand, it wasn’t especially desirable— and most of the time, it wasn’t reversible, either. Oh— and by the way; this is a note for the whole class: Dead is the adjective; Death is the noun. So, if a human had Death, it was Dead— not the other way around.”
“Is that going to be on the quiz, too?” someone asks.
“Well, not specifically, but I expect you to be able to use the two words correctly on a short answer question, if need be.”
“Will you take points off if we don’t?” A brief pause, followed by a heavy sigh.
“No— but I might give you extra credit if you do.”