Leonardo de Vinci

"Twenty-four. And I had two children. I married at 16," she answered in a whispered voice.

"Wow! You married young! I couldn't imagine getting married at that age. Maybe in my 20s, but I wouldn't want to be married during my teenage years. So, you didn't have much time to be a kid, did you?" Kate asked.

"Do you have much time to be a kid," asked Mona Lisa, looking up at the teacher who was still talking. She was right. Even though Kate felt she didn't fit in, here, she enjoyed learning new things. But, sometimes, school was boring, like now. Kate thought that some of the mandatory tests drained the joy out of the teachers like Mr. Lunn, her third grade teacher who started counting his days to retirement three years before he retired.

Luckily, Kate was good at taking tests, so she didn't worry much about them. School wasn't supposed to be perfect though, and the tests were part of school life, so everyone just listened and prepared. And, they all survived this yearly ritual.

Of course, school was just a small part of her daily life.

"We still get a lot of time to be a kid. I am sure our fun stuff is a lot different than what you did as a kid back then.," Kate said. She took a good look at Mona Lisa. There was so much she should ask. But, when looking at her face to face, she wished she could think of more questions, so she could learn.