In the year 2155, two children, Tommy and Margie, find a book tucked away in Tommy's attic. The book is unusual to them: Tommy and Margie live in a world dominated by electronic books, called telebooks, whereas this book is printed on paper rather than on a screen.
The book is about school, but Margie is skeptical: she hates school. Tommy explains that school in their great-grandparents' era took place in a communal building separate to their homes. All the children learned together, taught by a human teacher. Margie's school, in contrast, is taught by a mechanical teacher, which Margie hates. Her mother enforces the timing of her lessons, but otherwise Margie is all alone with the robot during school. Sometimes, the teacher even breaks down.
Margie's mother calls Margie to school, and she starts her lesson. Bored by the lessons of the mechanical teacher, Margie's mind wanders off to fantasize about the past when children had fun at school together.
