The End—but Not the End
2Through the windows of The Big House the soft ocean wind swam, bringing smells of salt and sea things. Mixed in was the balsam smell of the pine trees. The same wind lifted the drooping American flag and stretched it proudly away from the top of the flagpole. On the other side of the island, the wind blew through the bare bones of the large model of a tensegrity dome.
3 In the living room with the great stone fireplace, the children of Bear Island were gathered. Some were Bucky’s great-nephews and nieces; others were the children of Captain Hardie, the Island caretaker; a few were the children of the guests of the moment. It was early afternoon; the adults were still taking their after-dinner siestas. Only the children were there —the children and Uncle Bucky.
4 The seventy-year-old face turned to the faces that had not yet seen ten years pass. Behind the thick glasses, his eyes, turned owlish by the lenses, gleamed.
5 He knew that the world of men was at that moment in a sorry state. He had seen his country pass through two world-devastating wars. And those had not served to bar
6 war from the earth. There had been a serious conflict in the country of Korea. At that very moment, a new death struggle was going on in the jungles of Vietnam. The United Nations Organization had not united the peoples of the earth.
7 He knew that because there had been no advance planning the cities of his country were in a state of decay. He knew that the poor of the slums and the poor of the fields were beginning to strike out openly for the right, not just to survive, but to enjoy the best that life had to offer.
8 And he knew that he had opened the way for that right to come true for everyone in the world.
9 ‘‘Children,’’ he said. ‘‘Children, let’s begin.’’
10 The chattering stopped; they all knew the signal. Learning with Uncle Bucky was almost as good as play. It was fun.
11 ‘‘This afternoon, we’ll have a lesson about boxes. Now look at these soft, red plastic straws I have here. They fit into the holes in these flexible rubber connectors. First, let’s make a house like the ones we see everywhere. It’s a square box that we call a cube. What happens when I put the cube on the floor?’’
12 Everyone saw at once. ‘‘It falls down, Uncle Bucky!’’
13 ‘‘Yes, you all saw —a cube made of flexible parts cannot stand by itself! But now, I’ll reshape that box into a triangle shape called a tetrahedron. Let’s say that word together: tet-ra-hed-ron!’’
14 They called it out together, the littlest ones stumbling over the syllables as best they could.
15 ‘‘Now, I am going to place the tetrahedron on the floor. Does it behave like the cube? What’s the difference?’’
16 He watched the young faces light up with delight. They knew what the difference would be. He could teach them to see and understand what too many people in the world could not.
17 Bucky Fuller smiled and nodded his head.
18 He was talking to the future.