Following the Leeter

It was 2026 when segregation was officially reinstated at Blue Sky Elementary, a modest K-5 preparatory nestled in the foothills of the Appalachian Mountains. At least, segregation was reinstated as officially as possible, given that the new policy was initiated by the fourth-grade class, and it only applied during recess on the playground. Furthermore, none of the students were old enough to know what the word “segregation” meant; nevertheless, during a kickball game on the grass field out behind the swings, it was decided by Leeter, the biggest and most influential of the fourth graders, that from then on, “It would be best if the black kids, and the brown kids, and the yella kids, and the white kids each played by themselves.”
Leeter had only moved to Blue Sky a year earlier, but he quickly became the most popular student in his class, mainly due to winning the genetic lottery, for he was a full head taller than the rest of the boys his age. He also oozed charisma and always knew exactly what to say to get what he wanted in any given situation.
“I sure am sorry, Teacher,” he’d say, with a look of shame that would melt Teacher’s heart like candle wax, “but I didn’t finish my homework last night. I was thinking about whatcha said last week, ya know, about how leaders are readers, so I stayed up late last night reading the Gospel of Saint John. I figured Jesus, he was a pretty good leader, so I should try to learn from him. Anyhow, I was reading until midnight, and I fell asleep before I could do my multiplication tables.”
“That’s quite alright,” Teacher would say, nodding with her hands clasped together over her heart. “Just make sure you turn it in to me next time.” Then in a low whisper, “I’m very proud of you for studying the Good Word.” Once her back was turned, he would snicker and high-five Sheap, who sat behind him and worshiped him. All the girls in the class wanted to
marry him, and all the boys wanted to be his best friend. Consequently, when Leeter decided that segregation was in the best interest of Blue Sky’s fourth-grade class, he received little resistance. It happened during the final inning of a tense kickball game, the score tied at five
thousand runs apiece. Leeter was, as usual, the team captain and pitcher, as well as coach and star kicker for his team. There were two outs, and all Leeter needed was one more to maintain his title as Undefeated Kickball Champion, a title which he had held an entire week. The bases were loaded, and all the players could feel a palpable suspense blowing in the warm air. Leeter yelled to his teammates to be ready and turned to face his next kicker, when he saw Reeson stepping up to the plate.
Reeson was the only Blue Sky Elementary School student close to Leeter’s size. While nowhere near as popular as Leeter, Reeson was generally well-liked and respected among his peers. In the past year, however, Reeson had noticed that as more of his classmates began to gravitate towards Leeter, it seemed that fewer and fewer of them wanted to spend time with him. Reeson wasn’t hurt by this, though. Reeson didn’t care much about what people thought about him.
When Leeter realized that Reeson was next up to kick, he paused and picked up the ball, pulling it into his chest.
“Game’s over!” he yelled, stomping from the mound, still tightly gripping the ball. The remaining players looked around, exchanging confused glances. It could be argued, perhaps, that Leeter felt intimidated by Reeson’s athletic abilities, because, as his own team’s captain, he had single-handedly scored four thousand one-hundred of his team's runs. However, Leeter wouldn’t admit this.
Instead, he called all the fourth-grade students to gather around him, while he climbed the playground slide, careful to maintain his balance, as he crawled up its slick, metal surface. His bravery to mount the slide in this manner, not to mention with no trace of slipping, further cemented the admiration his fellow students felt for him. When he reached the top and turned to face his classmates, an anxious hush fell over the crowd.
“Fellow students,” Leeter began, “for far too long, we have spent our days at recess as one cohesive group, and I’m telling you now that enough is enough!” Sheap cheered at this. Others waited to see how their peers would react.
Leeter continued, “Take a look around! Don’t you see how different we all are from one another?” The Blue Sky fourth graders looked at each other, and for the first time, many of them noticed the ethnic diversity present in their class. “Now, I’m certainly not racist,” Leeter said, “but I’m not so sure it’s a good idea for all of us to be playing together. I think from now on, it may be best if we divide up the playground and stick with the people that are like us.” Leeter pointed at each of the students and mumbled to himself, dividing up the students by color in his head.
After a moment he said, “It seems to me that the best solution would be for the White kids to stay at the kickball field. The Blacks can have the swingset. The Asians can play on the monkey bars, and the Hispanics can play on the merry-go-round. I think this is for the best.”
“You’re so right!” Sheap called out, pumping his fist in the air. “This makes perfect sense!” The other students remained quiet. They weren’t quite sure they agreed with Leeter, but he was the most popular student, and they just loved him so. Plus, he set the trends. Whatever Leeter thought was funny or cool or popular, was. He hadn’t been wrong yet, so maybe he had a
point now. This singular thought, running through the minds of the Blue Sky students was interrupted by the voice of Reeson.
“What are you talking about?” He yelled up at Leeter from the foot of the slide. “Nothing you just said makes any sense! We’ve been playing together as a class the whole school year, and there’s never been a problem. Plus, you didn’t even give a reason why it’s a bad idea for us to play together.”
“I think Reeson’s got a point,” said Plyant, a small Asian girl who rarely spoke. “Besides, I can’t even use the monkey bars. I don’t really know ho-”
Plyant was interrupted by Leeter, his voice increasing in volume. “I’ll tell you a reason why we shouldn’t all be playing together! My daddy told me that a long time ago, in the nineteen hundreds, there were some Germans that tore down this massive wall. That sounds violent and dangerous to me. I don’t know what a German looks like, but I know that I’m certainly not one of them. For all I know, any one of you could be a German, and that’s dangerous.”
Sheap yelled, “You’re so right!”
Plyant said, “Oh, that is scary, I guess. I don’t know if I’m a German or not. Maybe we would be safer playing with people that look like us.” Slowly, the fourth-grade students of Blue Sky Elementary began to nod in agreement with Plyant. One by one, they left the slide and made their way to the designated area for their ethnicity. When everyone except Reeson had left the base of the slide, Leeter slid to the bottom and headed towards the kickball field.
“This is stupid, and you know it,” Reeson said. Leeter glared at him and hit him with his shoulder, as he passed.
He turned back around and said, “I’d be careful, if I were you, Reeson. I’ve heard some rumors that you yourself might be a German. You’d better watch your back.”
Recess the following days was gloomy, as students remained confined to their ethnicity-specific areas on the playground. A few children played, but most of them stood in tight clusters, throwing furtive glances across the playground at other groups and whispering to each other about who might be a German. Leeter quite enjoyed the segregation, because it made the kickball teams much smaller. So much smaller, in fact, that it was decided that he would become the team captain for both teams. He would pitch until he no longer felt like it, and then he would walk to the other side of the field and insert himself at the front of the kicking line.
The only student who refused to stay within his assigned boundary was Reeson. When Leeter became distracted by the kickball games, he would make discreet trips across the borders to try and convince other students of the incredulity of the whole situation. He almost succeeded with Plyant.
“Plyant, you have to see how ridiculous this is,” he said. “Leeter can’t just tell you what to do or where to go. And forget about all this talk about Germans. The only dangerous person here is Leeter!”
“Well, I do really miss getting to go on the merry-go-round,” she said, her eyebrows raised.
“And who is Leeter to tell you that you can’t go there anymore?” Reeson replied.
“You’re right,” Plyant said, a look of stony determination on her face. She began to yell and charged the merry-go-round. Onlookers gasped at the sound of her yell and the sight of her sprinting outside of her area. Leeter put his finger and thumb between his lips and let out a shrill whistle. Instantly, Jack and John Copper, a pair of identical twin brothers, paused the game of chase they had been playing with each other and looked up at Leeter.
“Coppers! Go get her!” Leeter motioned towards Plyant. With no questions asked, the brothers raced towards Plyant side by side, and, when they came to her, each grabbed one of her arms and lifted her off the ground. Slowly, with all eyes on them, the Coppers walked Plyant back to the monkey bars, her legs flailing and tears running down her reddened cheeks. They placed her on the ground, and there she sat, crying the rest of recess.
Plyant didn’t show up to school the following day.
“I heard she was a German,” one student whispered.
“Does that mean all the Asian students are Germans?” another asked.
Tensions were high at recess. It cannot be said for sure who did it, but one unnamed
student hurled a rock towards the monkey bars. No one was hit, but this began an all-out war on the playground. Students wrestled their former best friends to the ground. One girl punched the boy she’d had a crush on since the second grade. Reeson could take it no longer. He charged to the top of the metal slide, screaming.
“ENOUGH!” he shouted. “Why are we doing this? Every part of this playground is for everyone, and that’s how it’s meant to be. Nobody here is German, and even if they were, Germans aren’t evil. Leeter has tricked you into following him blindly.”
The students were silent. Reeson saw their faces processing what he’d told them. For a moment, he thought he’d gotten through to them, but Leeter yelled, “I think we’ve found the real German!” Instantly, all the students rushed the slide and began to climb. Students of all colors and backgrounds worked together to seize Reeson, and they marched him to the chain link fence delineating the playground. They hurled him over, and nobody saw Reeson again. Each of the students hurried back to their own separate corners of the playground.
In the coming weeks, even the students of like ethnic groups discovered differences that caused them to fracture into even smaller groups, until at last, every student stood alone, staring angrily at the other students. One cloudy day during recess, Teacher looked out the window at the students standing by themselves and said, “How nice."