“Hey, Bark you gonna get the stick?” I glared resentfully at the fair-haired older boy approaching to torment me. “What makes you ask that?” I whispered, glancing around to make sure others wouldn’t overhear. James grinned saucily and spoke loudly. “Heard you got your third demerit in a week — the third one’s the charm, […]
Sarahs Mother, Scene 7
My brain whirred: four o’clock finish school plus forty-five minutes detention plus collect coat, satchel, have a pee plus three miles cycle ride home—Sarah should be here any moment! And right on cue, I heard her wheel her bike round to the shed. Sarah came apprehensively through the back door. She was wearing a green, […]
Sarahs Mother Scene 8
My brain whirred: four o’clock finish school plus forty-five minutes detention plus collect coat, satchel, have a pee plus three miles cycle ride home—Sarah should be here any moment! And right on cue, I heard her wheel her bike round to the shed. Sarah came apprehensively through the back door. She was wearing a green, […]
Sarahs Mother, Scene 7
The holidays ended and Sarah and I went back to school. Each weekday I caught the bus to the nearest town of Wenford where I went to the boy’s grammar school, and Sarah cycled the three miles to her girls’ private school at Farleigh Manor, which was in the opposite direction. We saw less of […]
Sarahs Mother, Scene 5
The next day, Sylvia and Yvonne called round for me. They could hardly have been nicer and more attentive. Clearly, Sylvia’s mother had sent them out with instructions, for I was under no illusions about what their real feelings towards me might be. But we stayed together and played together without problems. Of course, this […]
Sarahs Mother, Scene 4
Once again, I felt inhibited from visiting Sylvia’s house after seeing her punished, but this time the days passed without Sylvia appearing at my door. I began to have a horrible suspicion that now our friendship—if so it could be called—was really over. My mother, tired of me hanging around the house, urged me to […]
Sarahs Mother, Scene 3: A Brush with the Hairbrush
I did not like to call round for Sarah after what had happened. I felt guilty and embarrassed, though with typical self-centredness, on my behalf, not hers. But some days after the incident it was Sarah who arrived at our back door. I suppose being bored with her own company, she had decided to put […]