To A 7-Year-Old

"What do you mean?"

Truman grimaced, he wasn't sure how to explain the subject to the kid, he was only seven! He couldn't understand a subject like that. In fact, now that he thought about it, Truman couldn't even remember how they got to talking about it. "Alright Billy," Truman said, "a long time ago-"

"How long ago?"
"It doesn't matter."
"With the dinosaurs?"
"No, not that long ago."
"Longer?"

"No, just listen." Truman said. He breathed, "Alright," and continued "A long time ago there were people who lived in the desert?"

"Why?" Billy asked.
"What do you mean why?"
"In the desert. Why?"

Truman just stared at Billy for a few moments. "I - I don't know actually." He thought for a second more and, to save face, just said, "They were all born there."

"But why didn't they just leave?"

Truman got a little frustrated "They couldn't leave."

"Why not?"
"Well, some of them didn't even want to. See, there were two types of people in the desert."

"What desert?" Billy asked.
"Doesn't matter."
"Promise?"
"I promise."
"Okay."

A pause. Truman closed his eyes, let air out through his nostrils, and then continued, "So the two types were the owners and the slaves."

"What's that?"

"Well..." Truman looked around the room. He found a Transformers toy and picked it up. "So, who does this," he said pointing to the toy, "belong to?"

"My mom." Billy replied.
"It's not yours?"
"No, my mom bought it."
"And then she gave it to you?"
"Yep."
"Right, so it's yours."

"Oh." Billy paused, trying to understand how that made any sense at all. "Okay," he finished, unconvinced.

Truman frowned but pressed on. "So the slaves were like the Transformers."

Billy grew wide-eyed, "They were robots!?"
"No. That's not what I -"
"Could they fly?"
"No, but that's beca-"
"So how are they transformers!"

"They're not!" Truman said, as he threw his one empty hand forward, exasperated. Billy just looked at Truman confused.

"But you said they are."

"Well they are," Truman held his hand to Billy's face before Billy could interrupt again, "But they're not robots. They belong to their owners," Truman said, making air quotes with his fingers as he said the word 'owners,' "just like the Transformer belongs to you."

Billy looked at Truman blankly.

"Does that make sense?" Truman asked hopefully.

"So, I'm the owner."
"Yep."
"And, Bumblebee is my slave?."
"Who?"
"Bumblebee."

Now Truman was confused. Billy pointed to the yellow transformer Truman was holding. "Bumblebee," Billy said.

"Yeah, I guess." Truman replied, handing the transformer to Billy.

"But why?"
"Why what?"
"Why did the slaves belong to the owner?"
"Because they didn't have a choice."
"How?"

Truman looked at Billy, confused.

"I mean why didn't they just leave?"
"They couldn't."
"Why not?"
"Because the owners had weapons."

Billy beamed at something he recognized, "Like guns!?" he asked.

"No, like spears and swords."
"Why didn't they use guns?"
"They didn't have them."
"Couldn't they just buy them?"
"They weren't invented."
"What do you mean?"
"They didn't exist."
"I don't understand."
"Well, somebody had to create guns, right?"
"I guess."
"So he just wasn't born yet."
"Oh, okay."

"So the owners used the weapons to make the slaves do work." Truman said, feeling proud; he was making progress.

"So did the slaves have weapons"
"No."
"Why not?"
"The owners didn't let them."
"How?"

Truman paused and considered his answer, "Well, sometimes they did get them but if they did they couldn't fight the owners could there were too many of them."

"What do you mean?"
"Why are you confused?"
"Well, there's just one of me."
"And?"
"I have six Transformers."

Truman realized why Billy was confused, "Yeah but see the owner had people who weren't slaves who worked for them."

"But you said there were only two."
"Two what?"
"Two types of people."
"Okay, I guess there were three!"
"All right then."

Truman racked his mind trying to remember what they had and hadn't talked about already. "And the slaves didn't get paid for the work they did."

"Huh?"
"Like chores, but without the quarters."
"That's not fair!"
"I know."

Billy frowned.

"So slavery's not good?"
"No."
"That sucks."
"Why?"

"I was going to have Optimus do my homework."