“Wait, Aaron, I haven't
had my third go yet.”
“Hey, someone's coming!” I
yelled, noticing an approaching figure.. “Get rid of it! Quickly!”
Joe dropped the cigarette
and we scampered off to class, unwittingly leaving it to smoulder quietly in
the bushes.
The fire alarm went off as
we were sitting in science class.
Someone at the window shouted, “Look, the bicycle shed!” causing the
whole class to leap up as one and rush
to the window, while Mr Spithlewait tried in vain to restore order and arrange
an evacuation. Joe looked at me, then at
the blazing inferno, which fortunately for the school, was quickly isolated and
put out with the help of the fire brigade.
We never found out who had
seen us smoking, but somebody did rat on us, because the next day we were
summoned to the head’s office. We
headed, hangdog towards the receptionist’s desk.
“He’s waiting for you,”
she said with a stern voice. “Go
straight in.”
Joe opened the door. Headmaster Jones was sitting behind a large
mahogany desk; the walls at either side of it were lined with books. I looked at the collection with wonder – I’d
not been in the office before. Joe
however, stared at his feet, knowing, I guess from experience, what was coming.
“Joseph Albright. And I see this time you’ve roped young Aaron
into your unfortunate schemes.”
Joe was about to reply
when the headmaster raised his voice.
“No. I’m not listening to you
anymore. No more excuses. This is your final warning. If I see you one more time in this office,
you will be expelled. Do you
understand?”
Joe nodded glumly.
“And as for you,Aaron.
Your father will not be very pleased with this, will he?” I shook my head. My father and the headmaster were close
friends.
Mr Jones stood up from his
desk and walked around it slowly, looking sternly at us. “No, he most certainly won’t.” He then
stepped towards a tall cupboard, opened the door, and took out a long, black
leather cane... “No. These things need
to be nipped in the bud.” He stood in front of us, flexing the cane with a
wicked flourish.
“Joe, you two have already
met, but Aaron, I’d like to introduce you to Hermes. He was the messenger of the gods, did you
know? No? Oh well, it matters not.
Now, who would like to go
first?”
Tags: reflections of grace, book, biography, comedy, download, drama, family, fiction, friendship, love, novel, romance, story, book, novel
