DIRECTIONS: Read the following introduction, then decide which direction to take the story by selecting from the choices below.
You are a young person from the glorious city of Rome. You climb up the concrete stairway to your family’s small apartment. You are rather tired from a long day of school, plus a hard day’s labor, working on the tall aqueducts. Even though you are young, your family has allowed you to work, in order to help pay the high cost of living in this opulent city. As you ascend the steps, you smell bread baking in the clay oven. Your mouth is watering. You see your mother’s smiling face peering through the window. “Dinner’s ready!” she calls down to you. You enter the little apartment. Your father is seated at the table. He too is weary from a long day of work. Your father is a soldier in the imperial army. Fortunately, there is a time of peace called the Pax Romana, and your father is not needed in battle. As a military family, your family belongs to the “more humble” class. You are not considered to be as important as the “elite” class, but you are definitely not as lowly as the slaves. Your little sister looks at you and laughs. “You’re dirty! Don’t touch me!” You roll your eyes and sit at the humble dinner table. “Your hands are filthy.” your father says. “Go down one floor and use the water pipe to rinse them off.” “Do I have to?” you argue. “I feel so tired.” “Of course.” he says calmly. “You’re a Roman, not a barbarian.” You grudgingly stomp down the steps to the next floor. A water pipe protrudes from the concrete walls. You wash your hands and return to dinner. After a full meal, you are ready for bed. You pull your blanket over your head and quickly fall asleep. That night you dream that Mercury, the god of messengers, comes to you and tells you that the gods have chosen you for a great adventure. But the dawning sun soon pours through the windows of your small apartment, and dreams of glory fade. Your mother awakens you with a start! “Hurry, you’re late for school!”
Do you?
B) Eat breakfast firstcopyright Jay D'Ambrosio 2000