Soon after I arrived in Motovun, I learned that there were about a hundred pupils at the local elementary school. This number is easy to remember, and so it stuck in my mind. Two or three years later, it dropped to ninety, and I started getting worried. I remember being stunned a couple of years ago to learn that there were only sixty-five pupils left in the school. But I learned today that the number of pupils has plummeted to about fifty since then. To be exact, there are fifty-three of them this year. In short, the number of pupils in the school has been halved in a bit more than a decade. Flabbergasted, I let my feelings rip: “That’s worse than the plague!” One of the people I was talking to just giggled: “That’s white plague for you…” Having calmed down a bit, I also learned that there was no first grade this year. This would require at least a few children six or seven years of age. But I hate to think what will happen in another decade or so. Chances are the elementary school will be history by then. There will be a rusty chain and a padlock on its front door. The few children left will be riding to one of the neighboring towns.