The intenovella continued

Mary had never had any pretentions as a young girl. No starry eyed thougts of becoming an actress or a model, although she hoped that she would be able to write a book one day. For now though it was a question of going to school and learning how to write and read using correct English grammer, in the correct way. Maths bored her, although she coped, but as well as English the subjects that she relished were history and geography.
She loved learning about the history of her nation, though she often wondered why her teachers never talked about the history of other nations. And, surely her nation had once had native Americans. Why were they never discussed as part of the history of her nation? Later she was to learn that the native Americans had almost been wiped out by the European settlers and that genocide was an uncomfortable subject for the new Americans who in many instance were fleeing from persecution and genocide in their native nations.

At least in geography they had a globe and atlases and she could wonder what it was like in places like Spain and Australia and Africa. She once asked her geography teacher what Africa was like. "Ah my dear child", he had replied looking at her over the top of his rimless spectacles, his grey locks descending to the nape of his neck. "Africa consists of ten's of thousands of nations each with its own language and culture. If I were to talk to you about Africa then I would not know where to begin, or stop". This puzzled her and she decided, to hell with it, if they wouldn't tell her about Africa and native Americans then she would find out for herself. Indeed one day she might even meet one or become friends with one or even marry one - therfore she needed to know.