If Smiles could Kill

Attention Please

I have a nonexistent sense of direction. Or maybe it exist. It just maybe is the worst sense of direction in human history. A half hour ago the principal- I mean the headmaster said this. ”You should tour the campus boy. Familiarize yourself, a lot of adapting to do. I’ll just call someone to be your guide.”

“No thanks. I’ll go on my own”

He coughed. “Sir…I am a sir. It would do you good to remember that boy.”

Since I haven’t got anything better to do anyway I walked along out of that building. Not through the front door where the car was just parked. My mother had surely left. The thought caught in my mind as I pulled double doors to the outside world.

Lush green grass was everywhere except the walkways. The trails were with cobbled stones and winded to different buildings. The buildings themselves had high turrets and multiple levels. The architecture was old looking yet everything was painted white. It was odd to step idly and not have a destination. I was now in an unfamiliar school.

It must have been almost five minutes till I saw actual students. They were in uniform. A guy and girl sat on a bench holding hands and chatting. A really cheesy couple.  I couldn’t believe it. They were in uniform. How can the principal-I’ve got to get used to headmaster- even forget to tell a transferee he needed a uniform. This was entirely annoying. Seriously?

I decided I had enough of ‘touring’ and searched for the dormitory I was assigned to. If I remember correctly I was supposed to be in the one with the bird seal. Was it a seagull? Or an eagle? No way of knowing now what kind of bird it was. Probably irrelevant too.

I yawned and scoured the landscape. In the middle of the evenly grassed grounds was a roofed clearing. It was far off so had to walk over. A map of the whole campus was posted and encased in glass. The red dot with the words ‘You are Here’ under them in the lower portion. The rest in the upper part featured a connection of buildings that formed an H. And on every end point stood a dormitory house. Farther up north of the map settled two considerably good sized barns. The only other landmarks were the field and auditorium which were to the left and right of the H.

I looked at those houses for some time, stepped back and forth, and realized that the crest on them were embossed in four different kinds of metal. It seemed like bronze, steel, tin and gold to me. Which one was I assigned to? The one with a bird in it. The bronze had some kind of lizard. The one made of steel a horse. In the third one a tin fish. And the last a golden sparrow.

I am perfectly sure that is a sparrow. Can’t be wrong. When I was a kid a mother bird built a nest just outside my window. That was the only spring that I kept that window closed. I was so afraid that the nest would fall with the little eggs in it. I liked that little family. Days passed when I sat on the window seat cushions. Cluttered with sandwich crumbs, ketchup stains, chocolate smudges. I just sat there and sketched the mother bird who was also sitting on her eggs.

Her mate would bring a leaf or a twig to add to the nest. I sketched the father bird too. Although I rarely saw him. I enjoyed and tried really hard to draw its figure. Of course the day came when the eggs hatched and the little sparrows were noisy and asked for food. He brought them actual worms and I stayed away during their eating time.

That memory was in the back of an old history notebook, in a box above my closet. I was so sure my mother would clean up the room and throw away all my old stuff. The anger and spite resurfaced from the pit of my stomach. Or so I thought.

Just in time I managed to run to a bush and throw up there. I retched until nothing else would come out. Puked until my mouth was so acidic. The former contents of my stomach tasted horrible! What the hell was in that breakfast! For chrissake how did my mom manage to screw up bacon and eggs. I cursed and cursed in my head. Because I couldn’t talk while retching. I felt another wave of half digested cereal and bread when I bent over and coughed and spat away the bad taste. A hand patted my back. Someone talked and said “Just hang in there. Let it out.”

With no time to turn to the one who talked another batch of disgusting vomit followed. Wiping my mouth with the back of my hand, I turned and looked at the person who spoke. He was in full Conrad uniform and wore a blue neck tie with one diagonal stripe. His hair was fully blonde. A diamond face and green eyes. “You all right there? I’ll bring you to the infirmary. Nurse Joy will know what to do with you.”

A checkered blue handkerchief was handed to me. “Cover your mouth.” For what? I did not know. But I was in no position to argue. Did my vomit smell that bad?

I was half pulled half walking. After a while we reached what seemed to be the massive H structure and walked in through the connecting middle line. A long corridor’s walk later was the infirmary.

A middle aged woman greeted us with a smile. “Anthony nice to see you. And you’ve brought a friend with you!” She sounded so happy to see him that I thought it was just an act.

“You too nurse Joy. Well my friend here has the yellow reaction. Can you help him?” The nurse gave me a one over and saw that I was not in uniform. ”Oh he’s new? Right. Well then this way please.” I was pushed down on a sick bed. ‘While you are sitting please tell me if you have been having fevers lately. Or perhaps colds? What did you eat this morning?”

I removed the handkerchief from my mouth. “Uhm can I wash my mouth first?...please?”

‘Of course dear! The washroom is right there” I walked to it and closed the door behind me. My hands clung to the edge of the sink. Cold water rinsed my mouth and most of the awful taste was gone. I badly needed mouth wash. But at least water did fine too. I pulled the bathroom door shut then heard them talking.

“I found him puking over the bushes right by the gazeebo. You see I was just about to go to the auditorium. Wanted to go through the front door.”

“Anthony you’re such a kind boy! Helping him and all.”

“Not at all nurse Joy. Anyone would have done it.”

The lock clicked and they turned their attention to me.