Short Story: The Science Lesson!

- Manjula.S

It was a beautiful Monday morning. The parrots, perched on the huge neem tree inside the school premises, kept chirping. But Rahul was crying. His classmate Kamal had hit him with a ruler. There was a fight - the two boys rolled on each other and called hurtful names.

The girls stopped their chatter and watched the fight bewildered! "Let's call Seema Mam" ... the girls ran out to call Ms. Seema, their science teacher.

Seema Mam walked in with her usual charming smile. "I heard there is a fight going on in your class today...", she began. The next instant, each one in the class had a story to tell about the fight. She gave them all a patient hearing. Then, picking up the chalk, Seema teacher walked to the black board. "Let's learn some science now. I will continue to listen to your stories after the lesson," she said.

"How many cells do you think we have in our body?" she questioned the class.

"A Trillion", Rahul answered.

"Who can show a trillion in numbers?" She looked around the class. Kamal stood up. The teacher gave him the chalk and asked him to write on the board. Kamal wrote the digit 1 and a dozen zeros after the digit.

"Why did these individually intelligent living cells choose to live together?" Seema teacher posed a question. The class went silent.

"To help each other in their challenges." said Seema Mam and continued. "When you fall down and get hurt, all the cells get united and help the damaged cell heal faster. If they stay apart, our body becomes weak and we feel sick. Does anyone want to be sick?"

"No" was the chorus response from the class.

Just then the bell rang. It was break time! Seema teacher left the class. As she walked around, the corridors smelt of cookies, chocolates and juices that the children shared with their friends. At the playground, she saw Kamal and Rahul giving high fives to each other for shooting a ball in the basket. Seema teacher smiled happily.