Luz: book i: comings and goings (Troubled Times 1) by Luis Gonzalez Page A

and we go all the way through calculus, both differential and integral.”
    Perfect
, they thought—
absolutely perfect!
Local leaders had no clue as to what Rigo had just said, but it appeared they could keep utilizing his talents. They revealed the contents of the mysterious cable and this new project that had received the blessings of officials from key ministries in the capital: a grassroots calculus program for students all across the country, including those in the most remote regions of the island. They wanted no child left behind and meant it. Strangely, it was not calculus for accelerated high schoolers oruniversity students who had already gone through geometry, advanced algebra, and trigonometry, but calculus for fifth graders who barely understood decimals and fractions.
    “It’s called Early Exposure,” they told Rigo.
    Cuban researchers had recently concluded there was only one way to produce a truly competent society: by ensuring that everyone thoroughly understood calculus. But the calculus had to be instilled before the other branches of math that preceded it. Years of data showed that those exposed to calculus before geometry, algebra, and trigonometry grasped and retained the calculus all the more when they were finally ready for it later on. Data also showed that subjects were less interested in change as a result, now that change had been dissected and demystified for them. The Revolution planned on leading the way with math, science, and technology into the twenty-first century, and this, they determined, was the optimal way to do it. Personally, Rigo thought the whole thing absurd and slightly insane, but he’d grown tired of battling all the elements conspiring against him.
    “Fine,” he said. “I’ll do it. I’ll go ahead and teach the calculus.”
    They were thrilled! Ecstatic! Normally, those who hailed from the outer provinces had to petition Havana vigorously for any request, no matter how minor. But local leaders from Rio Piedras decided to sidestep all that. They were taking no chances on losing the likes of Rigo. Everything in the capital always got mired in red tape and miscommunication, but Rio Piedras leaders took their own initiative, wiring a cable back to ministry officials and respectfully notifying them that they had located the perfect candidate for teaching all this calculus stuff. Best of all, he could start right away. Residents from the cattle co-op expected a long and protracted battle, but much to their surprise, the response came back quietly approved.
    It was settled. Rigo would start teaching these math classes immediately. But his new adopted family from Rio Piedras hoped Rigo could help with one more pending matter. It had nothing to do with architecture and nothing to do withcalculus, but they sensed that, with his talents, Rigo might be just the man for the job. They also hoped that being so devout a workaholic, Rigo wouldn’t mind devoting his free time to this pet project.
    The province of Camagüey certainly did not possess the glamour or glitter of Havana, but it remained a vital province of the republic regardless. It even had a more impressive history when it came to academics, and Camagüey was the first province in all of Cuba to erect a library. It housed more libraries per square inch than the rest of the country. Just one problem: Camagüeyans had not devised an indexing or cataloging system in keeping with the complexities of computerized collections or the databases of the twentieth century. They hadn’t even devised a system in keeping with the indexing of the nineteenth century. But they longed desperately to be brought up to date. Camagüeyans wanted their libraries to be ranked among the best in the world, especially the central one in their provincial capital. One day a minor delegation from Ciudad Camagüey showed up at the cattle co-op in Rio Piedras to pay Rigo a visit. Officials could barely contain themselves from excitement over the new