Happy Hour in the Forest of Wonderland

CHORUS OF BIRD CALLS FILLS THE AIR, reaching out over the entire city.All across Wonderland, from every place of learning, there is a gasp of delight.All eyes turn towards the forest at the heart of the city.High above the forest, birds of every size, form, and colour move in a circling, flowing dance that spreads over the city.It's the moment they love best in the school day-Happy Hour!Each day, a different invitation at a different time.Today, it is this song-and-dance from the birds."Come on, come on!"J shouts to their classmates who are hypnotised by the bird choreography.J, age eight, is always eager to be outside doing and discovering.Somehow, this ends up getting them into trouble a lot.Today, during indoor learning, they have been invited to sit in quiet at the edge of the room and reflect on this.Why do they have to learn inside a room anyway, J wonders.There's a whole world of interesting things outside.They abandon their reflection in a flash when the birds call."Let's go!" J urges the others.They leave their things behind and dash outside.It's the same scene everywhere-children pouring from every type of learning space across the city: indoor, outdoor, built, or nature-made.From toddling two-year-olds to sauntering eighteen-year-olds, Happy Hour is for everyone.J races ahead with their gang.They know the rule: nothing starts until everyone has arrived at the meeting place.Still, they want to get there before anyone else.They zoom past older kids, who are moving slowly.Cool kids.M, H, and U especiallyseventeen, eighteen, into their last years of high school.They exchange grins and winks and eyebrow waggles.Juniors who want to be like them try to copy their sly smiles.The seniors bask in the attention; they play their role to the full, and that means not hurrying to Happy Hour, even if they secretly want to.They hide their excitement like they hide other things, like how much they put into being edgy and a little transgressive, excelling, outshining, challenging.Or how some days they don't feel so cool; it gets exhausting, and they just want to be invisible.D, Q, and their friends swarm past in a noisy group of ten-to twelve-year-olds.They are too caught up in anticipating today's Happy Hour and reliving past ones to notice anyone else.Their chatter is like an improv session.Each one flings lines into a story that gets longer and longer: "Yes, and then remember when Yes, and then" K walks alone.Eyes are far away; they're smiling a tiny smile.Always a daydreamer, always teased for it.But inside their bubble, they're free to be as they choose in any world they A