The Rise and Fall of New Thebes

Amidst my wanderings, I, Antonius Block, found a history written in chalk on black earth. The testament is the last record of a self-crowned king. The community around this king, upon his devastation, worked tirelessly to erase all record of his wonder. Moments after I scribbled it onto paper, it was obliterated.

Here it reads:

     We called him Alex at first. The girls liked him, but he had no girlfriend. He was taller than me. I think maybe he would have stayed an average kid, but he took World History with Mrs. Polybius.

     Alexander and the rest of her students were taught something different one day. Mrs. Polybius taught them about how one Pharaoh tried to make a giant pyramid for himself, but he messed up. He built it wrong. They call it the bent pyramid. This inspired Alexander to believe in something great. I don’t know why. But I know Alexander’s imagination grew into fact for the rest of us.

     Alexander was good at basketball. Now he needed to be great. He trained everyday. I helped. He also needed everyone to believe that what he did was more important than everything else. He ran and was elected the first sixth grader to be voted president. Hanna Barca told me that she loved Alexander even before then.

     Alexander got them all to vote basketball as the school sport. He did do that. He also wanted to have the school change its name to something Egyptian. He liked Egypt. He wanted to be Egypt. But the school resisted him. I went out with him and we made the sandbox into one big pyramid. All the school came out to see what Alexander had done.

     Alexander was a star when basketball season started. He was impressive on the court. But he was impressiver after the game. He spoke to the crowd. Every time. Somehow he found the microphone. Every time. He said things like, “You saw victory today. Tomorrow, you’ll see more.” You’d believe him too.

     Alexander said the next year would be bigger. He was right. He got the presidency again. The team was unbeatable. We destroyed Carthage at tournament. Alexander was MVP. They made a pyramid statue to honor the perfect season. The PTA paid for it.

     But Alexander wanted too much. He wanted more crowd involvement. This year, he got them all to take pictures of the opposing players crying when they lost. The pictures were blown up and posted across campus. We counted victories by tears. Marcus Anthony was so excited, he spray-painted WELCOME TO NEW THEBES on the walls.

     They blamed Alexander. They said he was breeding hate. I don’t even know what that means. 
     Hanna Barca says it’s unfair. He left Jackson Middle School. I don’t know what happened to him. He wanted to be great, but they wouldn’t let him. I guess because he couldn’t build a really good pyramid, he just left us bent. Just like that one Pharaoh.