Characters

ANNA: Seven years old, poor student
Mr. Cedar:  Elementary Math Teacher

Setting
Late afternoon in a classroom at the end of the hallway
(A fragrant red desk stands in the left hand corner of a small room.  23 student desks are lined in rows.  The is bare except for a few faded posters of dull color.  In the second row, four desks down, a young girl twirls her pencil as she gazes thoughtfully at the flickering light panel above her.  The bell rings for recess, and the children leap from their seats.)

MR. CEDAR:  Ms. Terran, would you meet me at my desk for a moment?

ANNA:  Sure! 
(The girl mentioned lunges over the front row of desks.)

MR. CEDAR:  Take a seat.
(She pulls up a chair slowly.)
Your grade has dropped remarkably in the past few weeks.  You haven’t been doing your homework or paying attention in class or anything really.  Except, maybe, looking off into space.

ANNA:  That is exactly what I have been doing.

MR. CEDAR:  Looking off into space?

ANNA:  Yes

MR. CEDAR: (confused) Why do that instead of your work?

ANNA:  Because it is so much more productive.

MR.  CEDAR:  More productive?  (scoffs) But you want good grades, don’t you?

ANNA:  Not really.  (shrugging)

MR. CEDAR:  Why not?

ANNA:  Grades aren’t imperative to my success.

MR. CEDAR:  Don’t be silly.

ANNA: (smirking) I tell no lie.  What can grades get you?

MR. CEDAR:  A scholarship to college, a good job like an accountant.  You’ve got to see the bigger picture!

ANNA: (she laughs) The bigger picture?  No, Mr. Cedar, you have to see the bigger picture.  I have no intention of spending the rest of my life handling other people’s taxes, dwelling on mere symbols used to maintain order.  I don’t think so.  Counting all of those items, things, along with everyone else, that will be gone in a matter of moments.

MR. CEDAR:  A matter of moments?  My dear, you have a long time to live.  You’re so young.

ANNA:  Maybe 70, 80 years?  What is that compared to the vast endlessness of the universe?  That is hundreds of thousands of years and billions of people, not to mention that the Earth is only a speck in a much bigger system.  Comparatively, I am simply a flash of a camera, a leaf on a breeze.  Nugatory!  Meaningless!  Absolutely otiose!  Even more meaningless is spending every day for the next ten years memorizing vocabulary words and practicing test strategies. (she gags)

MR. CEDAR:  Well –

ANNA: (ferociously) No.  I won’t do it!
(pause)
I will be solving the world’s problems, discovering what we should really be doing.

(to herself) I won’t be a lawyer or a construction worker or even a teacher.  Brainwashing little kids into “carrying the one…”  Oh, Mr. Cedar, I am so sorry.  I am sorry you have wasted your time on some seven-year olds… I am sorry you have stopped searching for the truth.

MR. CEDAR:  Like in a true or false question?

ANNA: (emphatically) No, no sir.  Like THE truth.

MR. CEDAR: THE truth?

ANNA:  Yes!  The truth of everything.  Of all existence.

MR. CEDAR: (dumbstruck)

ANNA:  I hope you will consider this when you enter my grade for today.  (She stands and heads to the door to the playground, a smile on her face)