The noise level in the room was reaching a point where Maria Morales' nerves started to jangle like

an antique telephone. She said nothing however. Her third graders were excited over the break in the

routine and there was no way to move furniture quietly. The desks had all been moved out into the hall

to make room for the extra chairs now being brought in.

         Mr. Lambert and Mrs. Redden were busy directing their classes in arranging the chairs. They

placed them in rows facing the large TV stand in the front of the room. Elsewhere in the old building,

similar scenes were taking place with other classes.

         “Nice of Mr. Clark to loan us these TVs.” Redden remarked.

          Mr. Clark was on the school board and owned an appliance store in town. His business, along

with many others,  had been hit badly two years ago when the AJC plant had closed it's doors for the last

time. It had moved south taking nearly half of the towns' jobs with it.

        Maria nodded her agreement and thought of Joe Clark. He had been on the school board since

1984, and was now halfway through his third and final year. She wondered briefly if loaning the

televisions wasn't a ploy to lay the groundwork for his re-election this coming September. She quickly

dismissed the thought. Clark's seat on the board was in no danger if he wanted it. He was well liked and

took his board responsibilities seriously.

        One of his biggest accomplishments as a board member had been to convince the rest of the board,

and the town as well, to have every classroom in the school wired for cable TV. The building was old

and the work would be expensive, but he had sold the idea. The reasoning was that once the cable was in

place, the cost of a couple of televisions could be added to the budget each year until there was one in

every classroom. That was before the AJC move however, and the plan had failed as the last two years

had seen the budget turned down by the voters, leaving no option but to run the school on an austerity

plan. Austerity budgets do not allow for luxuries like televisions in classrooms. The AJC move had hit the

town hard, causing much unemployment,  and the taxpayers had struck back  using the only weapon

they had. The budget vote.

        Clark was left in the embarrassing position of being responsible for twenty-four classroom cable

outlets in a school unable to afford TVs with which to use them. The outlets had remained mostly

unused since they had been installed.

        Today was different however. Today was special. Special enough for her to don the bright red skirt

and parrot earrings she usually reserved for the first day of school and the class Christmas party. The

outfit had become something of a trademark with her and she took a lot of kidding about it. Today,

despite the January bleakness outside, she felt festive enough to wear it.

        The three teachers had arranged to put their classes together, sixty-four kids in all, to watch the

lift-off from the Kennedy Space Center this morning. Maria's room was chosen as it was bigger than

either of the other two. She hoped the lit-off would go off on schedule so that they would be done on

time for lunch. For some of the children in the room, lunch at school was their only hot meal of the day.

        As Redden and Lambert moved about helping the last of the excited youngsters get their chairs in

place, Maria moved to the front, near the TV stand, preparing to speak to the group once the noise level

settled down.

        Looking at all the excited faces, she felt something warm grow inside her. So many bright, eager

kids she thought. So much potential. The children chattered excitedly. Jason, Mayra, Benjamin, Carlena,

Felicia, Kaia. Beautiful faces all.

        Her gaze settled on Juan Santana talking animatedly with two other boys. Juan was one of her

favorites, though the thought of favoring any of her kids over the others made her feel guilty. He told her

once, in a private moment, that he hoped to be an astronaut one day. He could do it too, she felt, given

half a chance.

        Juan's father had been one of the many who had lost their jobs when the AJC plant closed down.

His mother's job at K-Mart was only part-time and was currently the family's only source of income.

Maria had tried to help out when she could do so anonymously. She had paid for a few of Juan's lunch

charges at the cafeteria so he wouldn't have to deal with the overdue notices they sent home. Once she

bought a new pair of gym shoes Juan's size. She scuffed and dirtied them a bit to remove the newness

and conspired with the school nurse to get them to Juan with some cover story about unclaimed articles

in lost and found.

        Her thoughts were interrupted when Juan looked up from his conversation, met her gaze, and

smiled. She returned it and hoped that the hard times would not remove that smile. It was hard for her to

think that his ambitions might go unrealized, his dreams go up in smoke. There were still scholarship

possibilities in his future. Her thoughts turned bitter. There were so many Juans around these days, so

many. You can only do what you can, she thought, and hope for the best.

        Maria shook off the gloomy thoughts with an effort. Today was going to be different. Today would

be a special event the children would remember for a long time. She was sure Juan would.

        Mr. Lambert was busy adjusting the TV. The bottom of the screen showed a digital countdown

which read twenty-two minutes, twelve seconds. Cronkite was finishing up a narration of clips of

previous space shots. The network would be cutting to the newsroom for five minutes of national news

briefs, he explained, but would be ready to cut to Kennedy at a moments notice.

        The scene shifted and the New York anchorman began. “Massive shipments of grain from the

Midwest arrived in Russia today as crowds of hungry Moscowvites cheered. The president has promised

that in response to the failed wheat crop in the Ukraine, The United States will stand ready to assist in

every possible - -”

        “Almost ready Maria,” Lambert said. “Hey, have you got a couple of free-lunch passes I can have?

I've got two kids who - -”

        “In my top right-hand drawer,” she replied, nodding in the direction of her desk. “I think I've got

three left.”

        “Thanks Maria. Okay we're all set to begin.”

        Holding her finger to her lips in the gesture teachers everywhere use, she waited while the last

hold-outs were hushed into quiet by their classmates.

        “Good morning boys and girls. I'd like to welcome Mr. Lambert's and Mrs. Redden's classes who

have joined us this morning to watch the lift-off. As many of you might know, this particular mission is

somewhat special because two of the astronauts are women. One of them is a school teacher and

tomorrow she will be teaching the first science lesson taught from space.”

        There were cheers, applause and excited yelps as the children settled back to watch as Challenger

Seven wrote its' name in multi-million dollar flames and smoke across the Florida skies into history.
 

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