Episode 6
The scene--the Average Mospheiran living room. Mr. and Mrs. Mospheiran are watching television.
Television Narrator: "Next on The Bitter Truth--are humans in danger of losing our humanity? Is atevi influence responsible for the shocking wave of crime sweeping our island? Stay tuned. We’ll reveal The Bitter Truth right after these messages."
Ttelevision warbles SunDrink jingle.
Mr. Mospheiran: "What shocking wave of crime would that be?"
Mrs. Mospheiran: "Danny Hanks, I think. Oh, and I heard there were some kids up on the North Shore somewhere who tried to set up an Assassins’ Guild."
Mr. Mospheiran: "Did they kill anybody?"
Mrs. Mospheiran: "No, but they did slash a lit teacher’s tires. She wouldn’t give one of them an A on a paper."
Television: "Welcome back to The Bitter Truth. You see them every day, on the street, on the bus, at the mall--happy, smiling teens, laughing and chatting with their friends, flirting, catching up on the latest gossip. Except for the fact that fashions have changed, the kids you see every day could be the teenagers of a hundred years ago. --Or could they?"
(Cut to Dr. Noah Random.)
Dr. Random: "With the opening up of the station, the contact between atevi and human societies is closer than it ever has been since before the War of the Landing. We share this world with the atevi--to that extent, their concerns are our concerns. It’s quite natural that we should be fascinated with them."
Television Narrator: "But is that fascination harmless? Dr. Noah Random, professor of Psychology, believes so."
Dr. Random: "Adolescence is a time when teens try on roles, test out who they’ll be, what it’s like to be an adult. It’s a time for experimentation. This sort of role-playing is a perfectly natural part of being a teenager. It can be bewildering, to people who grew up more isolated from the culture on the mainland, to see their children aping atevi fashions and manners, but these kids are just doing what kids have always done. They’re trying on different roles, different ideas. It’s normal, and most kids eventually settle into a healthy adult identity. "
Cut to Officer 1.
Officer 1: "I can not believe that this influence on our children is harmless."
Television Narrator: "Officer 1 is a veteran of the Jackson police force. He has seen crime skyrocket dramatically in the last several months--ever since Jackson teens became enamored of all things atevi."
Officer 1: "I’ve talked to residents who are afraid to take walks at night, they’re so frightened of the kids out there. Kids who are playing at being atevi. This is not harmless. This is serious business."
Mr. Mospheiran: "Yep, that’s Danny Hanks."
Television Narrator: "The eminent S. Gaylord Hanks agrees."
Cut to Gaylord Hanks.
Hanks: "Atevi are not human. Humans are not atevi. Humans are unique. We have a responsibility, a sacred trust, to preserve our humanness. We can not afford to let atevi ideas and atevi culture displace and destroy our own. We cannot afford to let our children adopt attitudes and practices that are morally repugnant to right-thinking human beings. Can anyone doubt how dangerous it is, with crime at an all-time high in Jackson? With violence erupting on the North Shore, violence perpetrated by teens trying to be like atevi? Popular figures have a responsibility to stand up for what’s right, what’s decent, instead of condoning or even participating in immorality and the corruption of human culture. Parents have a responsibility to stand up for what’s right, and not allow their children to engage in this sort of thing. "
Mr. Mospheiran gets up, turns the television off, and returns to the couch.
Mr. Mospheiran: "Where does he get off telling me how to raise my children? He should be looking out for his own. And I don’t exactly approve of the paidhi’s personal life, but it’s none of my business. Or Gaylord Hanks’, either."
Mrs. Mospheiran: "Why are they even asking him? He’s hardly what I’d call an expert on adolescent development. And you’d think they wouldn’t let him on the air these days, especially with comments like that."
Mr. Mospheiran: "Maybe they couldn’t find anybody else to get all worked up about a few slashed tires and teenage boys with long hair."
Mrs. Mospheiran: "He should be getting worked up about his own son."
Enter Miss Mospheiran through the front door.
Mrs. Mospheiran: "Hi, sweetheart, how was work?"
Miss Mospheiran sits down.
Miss Mospheiran: "It was great! Well, most of the afternoon I just chopped onions, but the kitchen crew is really fun, and those knives! They’re sooo sharp. And the chef let me plate up some desserts. He watched me the whole time, like I was going to mess up putting sauce on a plate somehow, or get germs all over the cheesecakes. But I guess it doesn’t hurt to make sure. Especially since the berry puree and the tomato sauce are practically the same color."
Mr. Mospheiran: "That would be quite a mistake, putting tomato sauce on cheesecake."
Miss Mospheiran: "Dad, you are soooo out of it. The whole reason anyone eats at this place is to have the cheesecake with tomato sauce."
Mr. Mospheiran: "Very funny."
Miss Mospheiran: "No, really. They pay a lot for it, too."
Mr. Mospheiran: "That’s the most ridiculous thing I ever heard."
Miss Mospheiran: "Everybody who comes in there is rich. And a lot of them are famous. President Tyers ate there once, and Gaylord Hanks is there practically every week."
Mrs. Mospheiran: "Well now, there’s a coincidence. Guess who was on TV tonight?"
Miss Mospheiran: "Really? Gaylord Hanks? That is a coincidence." (rises from her seat) "Well, I’d better turn in. I’m meeting Angie at the firing range tomorrow morning."
Mr. and Mrs. Mospheiran: "Goodnight."
Miss Mospheiran: "Goodnight."
Miss Mospheiran kisses her parents and exits. Mr. and Mrs. Mospheiran are silent for a few moments.
Mrs. Mospheiran: "She’s a good girl."
Mr. Mospheiran: "Yes, she is."
Mrs. Mospheiran: "I wish someone would do something about that Danny Hanks."
Mr. Mospheiran: "Small chance of that, I’m afraid. Well, we should turn in ourselves."
Mr. and Mrs. Mospheiran rise and exit, leaving the empty living room behind them.