By Charles Rein
[Author's Note: My chapters from my story with help from the Grant County Beat, 'The Old Order Falls' are not real. Instead they are 'What If' historical fiction. I hope you'll consider checking them out.]
Part II. Tintinnabulum
— Term popularized in Edgar Allen Poe's 1849 poem "The Bells."
All the heavens, seem to twinkle
With a crystalline delight;
Keeping time, time, time,
In a sort of Runic rhyme,
To the tintinnabulation that so musically wells
From the bells, bells, bells, bells,
Bells, bells, bells—
From the jingling and the tinkling of the bells.
No community it seemed was safe. After Corrales -13 miles north of Albuquerque - had the missing dog incident reported, it resulted in adults barely wanting to talk to each other anymore, let alone to their children. It seemed no one knew what to say, so they preferred to spend time in their own world.
It was a terrible thing that happened—abduction and dismemberment of that little dog. Fido had always walked beside his owner, the mayor, in every 4th of July parade. Some had joked Fido was more patriotic than his owner! The sudden manner the way the dog was discovered made adults cynical and suspicious. But youngsters are resilient and most bounced back.
The children in the Corrales elementary school on Target road got to playfully talking about a dalmatian mascot who would occasionally ride on the local red firetruck. Everybody loved him! The children and adults would wave when he rode by. Luckily nothing happened to this dog.
The children began acting silly as children do and rattling away, one morning in guessing the fire dog's duties.
"They use him to keep crowds back," said one youngster.
"No," said another, "he's just for good luck".
A third child brought the argument to a close. "They use the dogs" she said firmly, " to find the fire hydrant."
While they laughed about it inside, no one knew the mayor's missing dog topic would resurface. A day later came the gruesome discovery. The question, "Whatever happened to the missing parts of Fido?" was answered. Pieces of the beloved dog were found in the elementary school kitchen, floating in a pot of boiling beef stew! The kitchen staff were horrified. The smell of singed dog fur couldn't be washed away. Lunch lady Dorris ended up throwing away the huge silver stockpot, where parts were discovered!
The younger kids started referring to the cafeteria as 'doggie diner.' A few of the teens started snickering like nothing was wrong, but you knew they were really hurting inside. They tried to disguise their feelings with jokes, like
"Hey, whatta call a dog with no arms or legs in the community pool?" Answer? "Nothing, cause it can't come anyway."
More distasteful jokes began circulating; later that same afternoon someone sounding like a disgruntled teen called in a bomb threat to the Corrales International school, which took pleasure in saying they "Prepare Global Leaders for tomorrow."
Was the phone call threat a joke? Erring in the side of 'safe rather than sorry' the old metal schools bells rang for ten solid minutes, reverberating and clanging away. Author John Taylor Gatto once called school bells like these, "weapons of mass instruction." The evacuation announcement was greeted by cheers in both English and Spanish.
Library books were disrespectfully thrown onto the ground and run over by rebelling teenage feet. A fifteen long and four foot wide paper sign created by the leadership class became a casualty of war. It had taken two days for the key words to be decided upon by and proudly painted:
We the students of Corrales International school: Preparing Tomorrow's Global Leaders: Be proud, respectful, honest and kind
The paper sign - originally a sign of honor - was transformed into a joyless torn, symbol. Dismally the ripped paper sign hung until it was quickly set on fire. The black smoke rose upward towards the heavens. Was anyone up up there listening or perhaps no one simply cared. Things had to change and soon.
End of Part Two