Evelyn

The beginning of everything

10 times a term, the entire school went for a stroll, including the three masters and all of the boys. It was always a fun outing and everyone looked forward to it. They would walk around until they would reach the tea place, where Mrs Abraham, the principals wife, would wait for them. Then leave and go back to school.

Mr Abraham worked as an old-fashioned preparatory schoolmaster. He didn't care about games or his job, but he made sure the boys were well fed and didn't misbehave. He left the rest to the parents. There is a lot to be said about disinterest in education, and Mr Abraham's boys did well in the long run, eventually becoming parents and sending him their boys.

Mr Ducie, the senior assistant, was an able man, orthodox, but not out of touch with the world, nor capable of seeing both sides of an argument.
He always seemed to have something on his mind, weather it was about job or the boys. In this occasion it was Hall, one of the oldest students, he was thinking of. So as the guys went on with their stroll, Mr Ducie asked Hall to join him for a walk to have a "good talk".

Mr Abraham had said that he had already talked to Hall and that he would prefer to have his last walk with his school-fellows. Mr Ducie on the other hand didn't listen to him and decided to let Hall decide how he would spend his last school walk. So after Hall chose to go with Mr Ducie, Mr Abraham had no choice but to let him.

Hall rushed to Mr Ducie's side, triumphant, but felt too elderly to take his hand. He was a chubby, attractive, young man who didn't stand out in any way. He was resembling his father, who had passed in the parade twenty-five years previously, made his way to a public school, got married had a son and two daughters and died of pneumonia recently. Before they started walking, Mr Ducie had done some research on him.

"So how are you doing, Hall?"

"Everything's alright sir."

The boy looked back, realising that this talk wouldn't end any time soon.

"So I heard Mr Abraham talked to you"

"Yes sir."

He sighed as he realised how wrong he was about choosing to go with Mr Ducie instead of staying with his fellows.

"So what did he say to you?"

"Mr Abraham?"

"Yes"

"He advised me to be like my father"

"Did he say anything else?"

"I should never do anything my mother would be ashamed to see me do. Then everyone will be right about what they say about me. Also,  the public school will be very different from this."

"Did he mention how?"

"All varieties of difficulties - just like the world."

"Did he tell you how the world will be like?"

"No."

"Did you ask him?"

"No sir"

"That wasn't very realistic of you, Hall. Mr Abraham and I are right here to answer all your questions. What do you assume the world of grown-up people is like?"

"I can't tell. I'm just a boy. Is it much different sir?"

Mr Ducie lay down on the sand and lit his pipe.

"You live with your mother Hall?"

"Yes, sir"

"Do you have any elder brothers?"

"No sir - only Ada and Kitty.

"Any uncles?"

"No sir"

"So you don't know many men?"

"Mother keeps a coachman and George in the garden, but of course you mean gentlemen. Mother has three maid-servants to look after the house, but they are so idle that they will not mend Ada's stockings. Ada is my eldest little sister."

"How old are you?"

"Fourteen sir"

"Well, when I was your age my father told me something that was very useful and helped me a good deal."

He was lying. His father had never given him any advice, but he needed a way to start a conversation about what he wanted to say in the first place.

"Did he sir?"

"Do you want to know what he told me?"

"Yes, sir, please tell me."

"I'm going to talk to you for a few moments as if I were your father, Maurice! I should call you by your real name."

Then, very simply and kindly, he approached the mystery of sex. He talked about the male and female, created by God in the beginning, then about how the earth might be peopled, and about the period when the male and female receive their powers.

"You are just becoming a man now, Maurice; this is why I am telling you about this. It is not something your mother can tell you, and you should not mention it to her nor to any lady, and if at your next school boys mention it to you, just shut them up and tell them you know. Have you heard about it before?"

"No sir"

"Not a word?"

"No, sir."

So Mr Ducie and Maurice left and continued their walk with the rest of the school, but I was still on the beach taking a walk with my family, looking at the drawings Mr Ducie had made in the sand.

Drawings about the mystery of sex.