The children gradually took their places at the tables. Theodore, too, became more crowded. A girl was seated opposite him and two boys to his right. He had not yet remembered their exact names. A canteen worker approached each of the children in turn and helped them open the boxes of food. Even stronger, the smell of food wafted in. Barely perceptible clouds of vapour drifting from the dishes rushed towards the ceiling, mixing together in the air to form the aroma of the canteen. Inside the box, Theodore found baked fish with sour cream sauce on top and boiled rice mixed with eggs.
The children sitting at the same table with him began to look at each other's food, trying to assess the contents of the neighbouring boxes. Ted, on the other hand, sat curled up over his container, showing little interest in the other's food. Finally, armed with their spoons, they began dynamically munching away at the food that smelled so appetising, leaving no chance to refuse it.
The boy sitting next door was the fastest to finish his treat and impatiently started looking around for something interesting to occupy himself. When he noticed his neighbour eating leisurely, he decided to help him by shoving his spoon into his food container. Theodore was a little taken aback by this insolence, and in response to the boy's actions, he snatched the spoon from his hand and threw it far away from him. It flew a few metres, then landed with a distinctive sound on the floor and disappeared under one of the chairs of another group of children, who were a year older than Theodore's classmates. The little boy straightened up, stretched his neck and turned his head in the direction of the flying cutlery, trying to spot it. Then he waved his arms and wailed with all his might: ‘Ah-ah-ah-ah! Sp-o-o-o-o-n! My sp-o-o-o-o-o-n!’
The dining room had been noisy enough up to that point. But when the boy shouted his short phrase to the whole floor and began to scandalise, shouting unintelligible sounds, the group of children seemed to revolt. His little tantrum became like a call to action for the rest of the kids. Some started throwing food scraps at each other, others started shouting loudly, others started running around the tables and hiding under them. However, for the tutor and the canteen workers, who were used to working in similar conditions, these antics of the new pupils were not something out of bounds and unexpected. They began to pacify the overexcited group, putting them back in their seats, playfully suggesting that they finish their meal and wait for the others. Finally, when the children had settled down and most of the food had been eaten, Mrs Donova led everyone in an orderly fashion to the common room to prepare the children for sleep and restore their previously spent energy.
The children lined up in front of the escalator in rows of two. Some of them held each other's hands. The carer pressed a button on the side of the escalator to change its direction. Unlike similar mobile structures in shopping centres, this one had the slowest speed for safety reasons.
When they reached the first floor, the group made their way to the door, which had a sticker of a crescent moon with a sleeping baby on it. Theodore was one of the last to enter, along with the girl who had sat at the same dinner table with him earlier. Of course, none of the children were planning on falling asleep. They all wanted to play and have fun. And when they saw their cots, they decided that this room was just part of another entertaining game, like the one the boy who had thrown a tantrum in the dining room not long ago had started playing. His name was Eric, and he seemed to have forgotten all about the unpleasant incident. The boy chose a cot for himself, confidently climbed on it and began to jump as if on a trampoline. This boy was a peculiar leader of the group. Not afraid of anything, brave and self-confident. Once again, he came up with an idea for fun that the other children were eager to support when they saw it in practice.
In an instant, the silence that had hitherto reigned in the recreation room, supplemented by the peaceful music of nature, was filled with children's delighted shouts and the clatter of beds hitting the floor under the impact of jumping. Like the lifeguards that they partly were, Mrs Donova's assistants flew into the room. They were mostly young female students on teaching practice. They began to help the teacher to quiet the crowd of children, who were overflowing with activity and demanding fun and amusement.
Much to the children's dismay, their cots had already been determined in advance and their names were signed on each one. Therefore, they were deprived of the possibility to choose on this issue. All the babies were redistributed to their cots. More often than not, the beds were much larger than the size of an average three-year-old, as they were assigned to older children up to the age of six, who were already taller and larger than the younger preschoolers. The sounds of nature intensified, attracting the attention of the babies, the main light in the room went out, and the ceiling was transformed into a dark blue sky with stars sparkling on it, which from time to time went out and then appeared in a new place. The cots vibrated, tuning the children's hearts to the rhythm of their upcoming sleep. Some were still on their feet, leaning against the wooden barriers of the cot, others lay down, feeling tired.
Theodore sat on his knees with his legs tucked under him, looking up at the stars twinkling in the artificial sky. The music slowly began to fade until it was barely audible. The children's eyes began to close and they gradually began to fall into a deep sleep, full of colourful and unique visions filled with adventures. Mrs Donova quietly and subtly took a seat on a small stool near the entrance, guarding the dreams of her children. She pressed a small switch on the inside of the door and the sticker of a crescent moon with a baby hanging from it began to shimmer. The baby's mouth began to move and the letter ‘Z’ began to appear from time to time, slowly moving upwards. The crescent moon itself turned a bright yellow colour and tiny craters were clearly visible on it. This meant that this room was occupied at that particular moment. Please do not enter or disturb the others.
The Theodore group's afternoon nap lasted only 45 minutes. Another 15 minutes were allowed to lull the babies to sleep. After the allotted nap time, the ceiling began to change into a clear and blue morning sky. Yellow silhouettes of birds began to pass by now and then, chirping loudly and calling the sleeping babies to wake up. The sounds of the singing birds gradually grew stronger until there were no more slumbering children in the common room. Ted woke up almost as soon as the extraneous sounds came. In addition, with the help of the floodlights emitting artificial sunlight, the room grew brighter and brighter by the second until there was not a single dark corner left at all.
The children began to yawn, rising lazily to their feet. After a few seconds, the playpens of the cots began to slowly open, pushing aside like a folding accordion. The way was open. Not fully understanding why they had been awakened, the half-asleep kids headed towards the teacher who was waiting for them near the exit. Having organised the group into one slender line of two, the woman opened the door and led her pupils to the sports classes.
The gym was located on the ground floor. It had an elongated rectangular shape with a marked area in the middle. The sports ground was outlined with a white line. At the ends stood children's small football goals, and in the centre was a giant red circle for martial arts. That is, the hall was simultaneously designed to teach all the available sports that existed in the world. The floor of the hall was covered with soft rubber to prevent injuries during sports. Along the walls were large gymnastic balls, jump ropes, cones and other ancillary equipment.
Mrs Donova's group entered the gym. The assistants, who were already waiting for them inside, began to undress the kids so that they would not get their shoes dirty on the clean pavement. The boys, who saw the mountain of footballs, immediately rushed to them. Most of the girls stood around wondering what all the boys were so excited about, and what could possibly be so interesting about this room. No wonder! It was often rare for girls to become athletes. The adult women's football league was small, consisting of only ten teams. And the fairer half of the sex went into battle even less often, for obvious reasons.
Of course, the children's physical education