Episode 5: The School Rumor Epidemic

Rumors are tedious.

This one is particularly uninspired.

“I heard she married someone way younger—”

“I heard he never leaves the house—”

“I heard she’s, like… not normal—”

Correct.

But irrelevant.

I trace it back in a day.

Three students.

One instigator.

Two amplifiers.

All equally unremarkable.

I address the class.

“Let’s discuss narrative reliability.”

They stiffen.

Good.

“You,” I say, pointing to one. “What have you heard?”

They hesitate.

“Just… things.”

“Specify.”

“Well—about you—”

“Excellent,” I say. “Primary source?”

“…People?”

“Names.”

Silence.

I move to the next.

“And you? Verification?”

“I mean—it’s everywhere—”

“Cite it.”

They cannot.

Of course they cannot.

I smile.

Cold.

Measured.

“What you have demonstrated,” I say, “is not curiosity. It is intellectual laziness.”

No one breathes.

“You repeat. You distort. You embellish.”

A pause.

“Without evidence.”

I lean slightly forward.

“Tell me—if your thoughts are not your own, what exactly are you offering?”

Silence.

Then—

Nothing.

Because there is nothing.

By lunch, the rumor is dead.

By afternoon, so is their confidence.

By tomorrow—

They will think more carefully.

Or they will be pruned.