In the staff room, Palmer made himself a cup of coffee and sat down at a table with three other teachers. He opened his lunch box and proceeded to eat his sandwiches. As he munched, he related his confrontation with Jesse Solomani. At the conclusion of it Janet Winter said:
"I have always found Jesse to be a quiet but clever boy. As a matter of fact I would be pushed to recall him ever answering back to anyone, let alone me."
"I would have to agree," nodded Peter Jones. "Most unusual! I wonder of everything is all right at home? You never know what goes on behind closed doors."
"Do you think you might have been a bit hard on him," asked Brad Dudley? "He appears to be quite a sensitive child you know."
"You can never be too hard Brad," retorted Palmer. "Once you let them get the upper hand you are done for. Anyway, at the end of the day, we teach evolution, and evolution is what they will be examined upon. Christ, what doubt is there. Pun intended. Science has proved evolution. Let us face it, did the universe and the galaxies get there as a result of The Big Bang, or did some unknown ‘thing’ reach out its hand and put them there? Come on now."
"There is some opposition to evolution these days Joe’" pointed out Janet Winter. "Intelligent Design, or a Young Earth, has its supporters."
"Absolute rubbish," countered Palmer. "It is you ‘Goody Two Shoes’ who are ruining the world. A fact is a fact. Christ, next you will be saying that Noah’s flood was worldwide and not just a local event. Come on, let us be real."
Janet turned back to Peter Jones.
"You have been known to go to Church. Do you believe God made everything?"
"Well it is more Diane than me," pointed out Jones referring to his wife. "While I know there are a few die-hards who believe the Bible's every word is sacred and direct from God, I think the majority of Church-goers have a different view. Let us face it, the Bible, particularly the early books like Genesis, come from an oral tradition. You can only imagine how many mistakes were made reducing oral to written. On top of that, you have got all the copying and translations that have occurred over the years. God would have had to be a busy man, or woman, to keep correcting everybody’s bias and mistakes.
"No, I think most Church-goers these days believe that the Bible was inspired by God, but that would be as close as they would go. Research indicates that most Church-goers believe in evolution and that the seven days referred to in the Genesis version of creation probably relates to a period of thousands of years, or even millions of years."
"Still rubbish," grumbled Palmer. "Show me the proof, that is what I say, show me the proof. Science is the new religion. It is something you can rely on. It has a solid foundation."
The end of lunch bell rang and the teachers washed their cups, put them back on their pegs, and headed out to do battle with their students.