Teacher Yepark was holding the microphone when Bori came over with a hand out for it.
She did not hand it over. She lifted it and spoke into it.
“Could Bori have the microphone, please?”
The hand came out again, further this time.
Then it got handed over, and it went straight up to a mouth.
“Aaaaah.”
“Listen to that. Well done, Bori.”
One look up to check who had said it. Then back to the microphone, and more sound into it, for a while.
Bori had the microphone and was working through the buttons on it, one after another.
Nothing came out of it.
So it got carried over to Teacher Yepark and held up.
She pressed the one on the side, and gave it back, and it went up to a mouth.
“Ah.”
Then a smile, and then the microphone went back into Teacher Yepark's hands — which was not what it looked like, because the next thing was a request.
She sang the bear song. Bori swayed to it, still watching.
Then the dancing song came on out of the speaker, and Bori got up, microphone in one hand and a shaker in the other, and shook everything at once.
Two more got up after that, and went and found shakers of their own.
Chaewon had been building with the magnetic tiles, and what got built came straight over and went up to Teacher Yubok's mouth.
“It's a microphone!”
“Reporter!” said Teacher Yubok. “What's the weather like today?”
The microphone went back, and there was a grin behind it, and then a voice that had not been there a second before.
“This is your reporter speaking!”
A look out of the window first.
“And today's weather is cloudy.”
“So today it's overcast, with a lot of cloud?” said Teacher Yubok.
“Yes! That's right!”
After that the others built microphones too, and stood with their backs to the window, one at a time.
“Today it's chilly out.”
“The weather's nice.”
What kept it going The block had already been called a microphone. What turned it into one was being asked for the weather.
The snail song had come from somewhere else that morning, and it went on again in the room, and they sang along with it.
Then Teacher Yepark started humming it too.
Bori went off to the magnetic tiles, built something, brought it back, sat down against the wall with it and sang into it.
After that the others went to the tiles.
What came back was a long one, a round one, a square one — no two of them alike, and every one of them a microphone. They lined up along the wall, backs against it, and sang.
“Again. Again!”
It got put on again. One of them stood up for that go, one stayed sitting and concentrated on getting the words right, and one just swayed.
The straws had come out alongside the art sticks, and Chaewon took one and stuck it to a cheek, running it round towards the mouth.
“This is a microphone, this is.”
“How did that turn into a microphone? Where did you see one like that?” said Teacher Yubok.
“On the telly.”
Three others wanted one on their face after that, and got helped with the sticking.
Then the four of them sang, with their hands free and the microphones staying put.
The one who had been joining art sticks end to end all this time held up what had been made.
“Mine's this.”
Chaewon was looking over the art materials, deciding.
“I'm going to make a pink microphone.”
“Then I really want to see what sort of microphone that turns out to be,” said Teacher Yubok.
The pink paper started going on. The one sitting alongside had a different plan.
“I'm going to color mine white.”
Chaewon looked over at it.
“White is a snowman, though.”
They both laughed, and then the one alongside had a name for it.
“Then shall we call it a snowman microphone?”
“Yes — snowman microphone, la la la la~”
The singing started right there at the table. The one alongside watched Chaewon and smiled.
The broadcasting station had been going since the day before, so this time there were materials for making the microphones.
“Mine's got loads of eyes on it.”
“Mine's a rainbow microphone.”
They held them up to show each other. Then one of them thought of something to do with them.
“Let's make those quiet sounds, like on YouTube.”
“I'll do it. Everybody be quiet.”
Hands went over ears, the filming started, and the sounds went into the microphone.
After that there were headsets, and a corner of the room to do it in.
A picture of a concert hall went up on the wall, and after that the blocks came out for building a stage.
The cross blocks went first. They slid. The stage came apart under its own weight, and got built again, and slid again.
So the cross blocks went back and the heavy bricks came out instead, and once the stage was up it got taped down so it could not move at all.
Then they got on it.
One of them sang from up there. One went and fetched a microphone and sang into that. One tied a scarf round their head first, and then sang.
Yesterday's microphones were still in the room, and the first thing that happened to one of them was that it went into a mouth like an ice cream.
“The microphone has turned into an ice cream,” said Teacher Yepark, and sang the one about eating everything up.
Later there was a box with holes in it. “There's a hole here. What's this hole for?” A microphone went into it to show. They posted them in for a while and then stopped, so the box got covered in glue and colored paper instead, and then the posting started up again.
Then the mirror ball went on.
“Oh.”
“Wow.”
Teacher Yepark held out the blocks and said they could build a stage.
They touched the blocks. Then they went up the slide and sang from the top of it.
So the mirror ball got lowered to where they were, and the music went on, and sunglasses came out — on, off, on again — and the singing carried on from up there.
“I'm going to be a pop star!”
“Me too!”
“I like dancing, so I'm going to be a ballerina.”
One of them had said nothing so far, and now got up.
“Then I'll build you a stage.”
The stage came out of foam bricks. Once it was standing, colored paper went onto their mouths.
“This is a microphone.”
Stickers from the art room went onto their faces. And then the one who had said “me too” found something still missing.
“Pop stars wear pretty skirts, though.”
So another one knotted lengths of fabric and scarves together.
“I made a pretty skirt.”
And handed them round.
Stage, microphones, faces, skirts. They climbed up.
“Let's do our song!”
The karaoke had been going a while, and there was one microphone between them.
“You said I could go first.”
“One song each, then swap.”
They had it settled before Teacher Yubok got there — whose turn, how many songs.
Then a speaker came out, and a second microphone, and the sound got a lot bigger.
“It's like a real karaoke place.”
Two microphones, and instead of both singing they split into singers and an audience. The audience clapped.
“It's your friend's turn next.”
And when a song finished there was a verdict on it.
“That was good.”
“Let's do this one next.”
A microphone went out with a line written on it: I'll tell you about me.
Whoever picked it up got interviewed — by Teacher Yubok and by everybody else.
“What's your name?”
“How old are you?”
“What color do you like?”
“I like the fairy ones.”
“I like Joker and Batman.”
“I like my mom and my dad and my big sister.”
Then one of them picked it up and could not get any words out at all.
“Tell us next time, then.”
And the microphone moved on.
What kept it going "Tell us next time" was the whole of it. The microphone kept moving, and the turn stayed open.
There was a news backdrop up in the room when they came in, and nothing else.
“What is this?”
The microphones they fetched themselves. The chairs too, and when the chairs ran out, big square blocks became chairs.
“Here is today's news.”
“There was a fire at a house.”
“So the firefighters came.”
A phone went up on a tripod and filmed it. Then music came on. The microphone stopped being a news one and became a singing one, and the dancing started.
And when the footage went up on the big screen, there they were.
“I want to film it again.”
The Earth outlines were for coloring in. Then one of them gave the Earth a hat, and after that they all had something added — a lolly-stick handle here, arms and legs there — until the Earths were puppets.
“Let's do a puppet show.”
They went up on a chair, and one of them picked up a microphone.
“The puppet show is now beginning.”
People started coming over.
“The lights have to go off.”
The lights went off. Then the rules, one at a time, into the microphone.
“Phones off.”
“No talking.”
“Lots of clapping.”
Then the title. It was called The Earth's Day.
“Whoosh.”
“Eeee.”