***Some of this conversation is imagined, some of it was had with a 4 year old and some with an 11 year old, so we’ll just pretend that averages out to a five year old***

“I want a story-read this one.”
“The frog the blue truck? We’ve read this one a thousand times.”
“Do the voices.”
“Why don’t we read this one instead? ‘Beyond the Eagle’s Shadow. Sounds exciting, right?”
“Is it about animals?”
“Not really, no.”
“I want animals.”
“Okay, can I tell you about it?”
“Are there frogs?”
“No. But I can do voices.”
“Okay. Don’t make it scary though.”
“So. There’s these this place way far away, in the Caribbean…”
“With pirates?!”
“No. Well… no, just let me finish. In the Caribbean, things are different. Very different from how we live here. And long ago, there was something called the Cold War.”
“Was there snow?”
“No. But there was a lot of fighting. But instead of countries going to war, the United States tried to make their friends in other countries do things for them.”
“But where is the eagle?”
“The eagle is the United States. You know when an eagle flies, how you can see it’s shadow on the ground?”
“Yeah.”
“Well that’s like the United States during the Cold War, casting a big shadow over everything, because it was the biggest animal. But this made it afraid to lose the power of being so important, so it started making other people do things for it.”
“So there was no war?”
“There were a lot of smaller wars but they took place in other countries, the United States would just support or try to stop wars from far away. Or they would train people or give them money to fight. But now when we look back at this time, we sometimes forget that there are more stories than just the story of the eagle trying to keep power. We forget about all the other countries and the people in them who were fighting against all kinds of different things.”
“So where is the Cold War?”
“The Cold War is happening everywhere because the eagle, the United States, is afraid of the other big animal… the… bear.”
“Why were they afraid of the bear?”
“Well, because the United States was afraid other countries would no longer be their friend if they were being friends with the bear instead. They had many friends a long time ago but they weren’t always nice to their friends. Especially their friends in the Caribbean.”
“Why weren’t they nice to their friends?”
“Because they wanted things. They wanted their friends to do what they wanted and to take things from them. And because the United States was afraid of other people trying to take things from the Caribbean too, they tried to make sure that every country had a leader who would be friendly to them.”
“Even though they were a bad friend?”
“Even though they were a bad friend. But when we look back at this time, we sometimes only look at the United States, we forget to look at ordinary people. Sometimes we just look at leaders, very powerful people, and we ignore what else is happening. Because ordinary people, like students and farmers, were organizing and getting angry that their leaders weren’t being very good to them. Leaders were taking bribes and not allowing neighborhoods to organize, so people got very upset. This happened in many different countries, and for different reasons. For some, it was about being able to access land, to use it for what they wanted. For others, it was because the leaders in the villages and towns weren’t doing their jobs and just taking a lot of things for themselves. But the United States would see these neighborhoods, these ordinary people, and think that they were organizing against them.”
“But they weren’t being good friends.”
“No, but in a lot of the countries, people had their own things to worry about, not what the United States was worried about. And when we tell this story, and we look at all the little details, all the reasons why people organized and got angry, then the United States and what it was worried about, begins to fade into the background. We almost can’t see it anymore. But it is still there.”
“Like the sun.”
“What?”
“The sun is still there at night, it’s just on the other side of the world. But it doesn’t go away.”
“Sure. I guess you’re right.”

——–

“I have one more story, ‘In From the Cold.'”
“Is it about bad guys?”
“No, it’s about labour rights.”
“Mommy was in labour…”
“No, not like a having a baby, although Castro might have used that metaphor… this story is about workers.”
“Like truck drivers.”
“Sure. Like truck drivers. People who go to work and have problems with how they are treated. And sometimes people stay in their country to work, but sometimes they have to go a long way, like to the USA to work.”
“Like in Disneyland?”
“Yeah, sometimes in Disneyland. But also at stores, farms, all kinds if places. But let’s go back to the king of all the land.”
“The king was bad in the first story.”
“Well the king was very afraid. The king was afraid because all of the people who worked for the kingdom wanted to make a living for themselves but not for the king.”
“But why did they live near the king then.?”
“They didn’t, they lived far far away.”
“How come they didn’t ignore the king?”
“Because even if you lived in a very, very small village, very far away, the king would come and find you. And he would be very angry that you and all the other farmers, or your neighbors, were making a new club. A club that didn’t include the king.”
“But the king was very far away. Why would he be invited to the new club. Maybe it wasn’t for him.”
“Umm. Well the king still cared. He wanted to be in control.”
“Why? He was so far away. Did he even know what was going on?”
“Not really, but he was afraid of what could be going on. He was afraid that the big red dragon was trying to turn all of the villagers against him.”
“What dragon?!”
“Exactly. There was no dragon. But sometimes we believe in things that may not be real but can be very scary. So every time anybody, even students got together and said ‘Hey! We want to do things differently!” the king got very upset.”
“Why? He was so far away? Why not just leave them alone?”
“Well the king was very scared because a lot of tiny villages all together makes a big, big village that has a lot of power.”
“How do farmers have more power than the king?”
“Each farmer, or each teacher, or student, there were many people involved, by themselves didn’t have much power. But together, even if they didn’t talk to each other, or know about each other, were very powerful and dangerous all together.”
“So who wins?”
“Well… nobody wins. The king gets more power by frightening the farmers, teachers, and ordinary people.”
“But why were they afraid?”
“Okay, it wasn’t always the king, it was local interests, it was other kings in those villages who kept people afraid.”
“So it wasn’t the king?”
“The king helped keep people afraid but maybe only a little bit. Maybe not at all. Maybe the king was just shivering in his palace all alone while the villagers tried to live their lives.”
“Did they know about the king? How did they know, if he was so far away?”
“Some of them knew, but in truth, the story says that they were doing their own thing. They were busy. They did not like their neighborhood, that is why they were angry. But to the king, every sign of anger, or unhappiness, was because of him. So ‘In From the Cold’ is about how sometimes there are two stories happening at the same time. One story is what one person thinks is happening, the other story is what the other person thinks is happening. Both can sometimes be true.”
“This story is a lot like the other story.”
“Yes, it is.”
“There were a lot of voices.”