Page 43 of Shelter for Morgan

“Okay.” Morgan brought it back to the exercise. “What are the consequences of this rule?”

A whole bunch of answers came flying at her and she jotted down a couple.

PEOPLE GET HURT

DETENTION

“Anything else?”

“No, Miss.” “That’s it.” "Can't think of anything else.'

She swept the room with her gaze. “Nothing more?”

Heads shook back and forth.

“Why are we only talking about negative consequences?”

The class went silent.

Students looked at each other or down at their desks.

Maribel lifted her hand. “Are there good consequences?”

“Good question, Maribel.” She looked at the class. “What happens when students follow this rule?”

The students sat up in their chairs and some of them even started to smile.

Tomas put his hand up and Morgan felt a little thrill. He was always the first one to crack a joke but so far, he hadn’t participated in any real discussions.

“Tomas?”

“Well,” he leaned forward, his forearms on the desk, “if people didn’t run around in the halls, fewer people would get hurt.”

“Great answer!” Morgan watched it as students all over the room caught on.

Maribel laughed. “All of our lives we’ve been told the rules and what happens if we break them. I don’t think we’ve ever heard about good consequences.”

Morgan grinned at her. “Crazy, huh? Welcome to the awesomeness of civics! Okay, group up. Groups of four. Answer the consequences of the law and talk about what it means to think about good consequences. Five minutes.”

Morgan moved to stand back near her desk. She watched as the class broke up into groups and barely managed not to get a headache as the scratch of their chair legs against the linoleum floor reached her ears.

She noticed movement out of the corner of her eye and saw that it was Benji coming over to her desk.

“Hey, Benji. You, okay?”

His shoulders tensed and he lifted his hand up so she could see that he had his pencil in his hand. “Just need the sharpener.”

She moved to the side to give him a bunch of room. “Go ahead.”

She had an ear on the room, listening to make sure that the groups were staying on topic, but part of her attention was on Benji as he bent over the sharpener.

She leaned toward him. “Thanks for your contribution to the discussion today. I’m glad that you spoke up.”

He turned his head slightly and she was able to see an eye through his hair. “Sure.”

She went back to looking at the room as a whole.

It wasn’t until Benji was back in his group, discussing the subject, that she noticed a folded paper by the pencil sharpener.

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