The Nocturne

The Blues

      As previously stated I was no stranger to being summoned to Old Bulwarks' office. And once inside the fabled gates of his office door. Mr Bulwark would state thus, "I have called you here today Mr Rossini to have a quite word with you in private" Which I knew in reality, would actually consist of him shouting at me so loudly that the windows rattled and everyone on campus would be able to hear him hollering and cursing at me. i also knew that the sound would travel far into the neighbouring village. Old Bulwark was not someone who knew the meaning of the word subtle. The end of our meetings would normally require me to make a promise.

    "No more pranks, Mr Rossini. Enough now" Old Bulwark would say shaking his bristled head at me while looking fatigued after his tirade. And I would only be allowed to leave the office, a free man, once I had agreed to this pact. As I walked back out blinking into the sunlight I heard Mrs Lansdown quip behind me. "I will see you next week then Mr Edgar. To which I would nod my head and smile "Yes, Mrs Lansdown, I'll see you soon" She was one very smart and sassy lady, was Mrs Lansdown.

    And as predicted and on form. Week after week I was back there, back to drinking tea with Mrs Lansdown, almost like clockwork over the next two years. But I remember the first time, very clearly. The first time I got the summons to Old Bulwark's office. I was still in my first year then, which was after my very first prank. Actually, I think that prank is the wrong word after all because it was in reality my first protest. This was the protest that started the ball rolling as they say and made me infamous, well talked about on campus at least. It was one of my most particularly successful and popular (with the other students) stunt. One that I had initiated and planned myself. A stunt that I like to call 'The Toad to Damascus' where I liberated and released  all of the toads set for dissection from the science faculty into the University water fountain in a protest at using live animals for research. Note, there were toads spotted hopping about the place for weeks afterwards, and they even got into the student dining hall which is close by. Which even two years later is still nicknamed 'Toad Hall' by us students. That first time, I got the call to Old Bulwark's office, I waited in Mrs Lansdown's sanctuary with trepidation. Luckily for me this first time Old Bulwark only gave me a metaphorical slap on the wrist. As far as I am aware he did not even call my father. Not that time. 

    The second stunt was also my own work too. This was when I changed all of the light bulbs in the lampposts in the university quadrant to multi-coloured LED party lights that depicted a rainbow on the paved square and at night projected the planets and constellations of stars into the night sky. I hired a large sound system and speakers, hired Will Blakemoore my roommate and one of my best friends on campus to act as a DJ and we and my fellow students danced the night away under the stars. And yes I got in trouble for doing this, of course I did, but it was worth it because I did not do it for selfish reasons. I did not do it for myself or really even for the other students on campus. The real reason that I did this, the actual reason I did this, was for Ellie. Eliot Bronte Rossini my twin sister.  

     Ellie and I are really close and we speak on social media every day and I knew that she was studying for some very difficult exams at that moment and was feeling a little depressed. Add to that being miles away from home, and so I had decided to record and send her videos of my courtyard disco to help cheer her up. I was getting worried because for a few days I had been trying to contact Ellie, with no luck. My laptop had not been working well and I could not pick up a signal from Ellie's side. In the end I had to ask to borrow Will's computer and only after bit  of resistance from him, and bribery from me,  did he finally agree to lend it to me. 

    It was eight o'clock in the morning and we had both just got up. I was in my track suit bottoms and t-shirt which I always wore as pyjamas. Will was already showered and dressed and was over by his desk, standing by the window getting his things ready for his morning classes. I was still sitting on my bed. Our conversation that day, like many of our conversations went like this.