Regenesis

Katie - before morning break

The room seemed quite large for the desks which had been arranged in two perfectly aligned rows of five, each separated uniformly and giving an appearance of complete order and discipline. Windows were situated high on one wall and light streamed in over the other walls upon which were pinboards with colourful but slightly old fashioned posters and charts showing points of English grammar, definitions of nouns, adjectives and verbs. Times tables and shapes covered another board and French verbs another. At the back of the room, was an area clearly designed as a changing area with a padded table and shelves, one with a uniformly stacked pile of lily white nappies and another of plastic pants. Boxes of latex gloves, wipes and creams lay in a row, conveniently located nearby. Katie wondered how many of the girls still suffered the indignity of having to be wear those hated under things. She was about to find out as nine identically dressed schoolgirls, who had previously been seated at old fashioned wooden desks arranged in two rows of five, stood in unison, their seats rising up on their hinges and each took a step to her right. The skirts of at last half the girls showed the unnatural bulge which could only have come from the old fashioned nappies they had been forced to wear. This was further confirmed as each girl took a pleat of her skirt in each hand and performed a curtsy with the tell-tale crackle from those same girls. After rising, each girl remained in position her hands at her sides. Miss Willoughby smiled and intoned "Good Morning, Girls" "Good Morning, Miss Willoughby." came the reply in perfect unison, although some girls seemed to mumble a little. Miss Willoughby left Katie standing in front of the class while she walked in front of each girl, inspecting her from tip to toe. Occasionally she would adjust a ribbon, or point to a sock to be straightened. When she had resumed her place at the front of the class she smiled once more. "You may sit." She waited while the girls resumed their seats and folded their hands demurely in their laps below the desk. "We have a new member of our class today. Girls, this is Katie, newly arrived from Nursery. I want you to welcome her to the class, help to explain how we do things here, what the rules are and some of the routines. I want you all to remember how you all felt when you first arrived: Katie may be a little shy at first, just like most of you were, but you all settled in with help from your new friends." Katie tried to smile at the girls arranged in the two rows, but felt so nervous. One of the girls smiled back, a slightly awkward smile, her teeth encased in ugly metal braces which seemed to engulf her whole mouth, top and bottom. She looked away slightly embarrassed and before she could react any further, Miss Willoughby took her arm and guided her to the only desk still free. "This will be your place for all lessons from now on. There is no talking in class. If you wish to ask a question, you raise your hand and wait to be acknowledged. You do not leave your desk unless invited to do so. As a new girl, you are still in nappies, like most of the girls in this class. You will be changed at morning break, when you line up at the back of the class. Our first lesson is always calligraphy. Miranda, would you please fetch the handwriting books and distribute them. Helena, please hand out the calligraphy pens." Two girls rose and did as they were told, efficiently handing out the books and pens. They were evidently more senior as the lack of crackle from beneath their uniforms attested. Katie was given a new book and she opened it to see what might be expected. Each page was devoted the correct formation of each letter, with a space beneath each letter for the pupil to practice her calligraphy. As the pages turned the work built up through various groups of joined up letters to passages of full words and sentences. Katie looked around her and saw girls either side of her turning to different pages depending on their progress. Each page had been carefully marked with corrections in green ink and comments from Miss Willoughby, naturally in perfect cursive script.

"Right Katie, you will start at the beginning of the book and work your way through like the rest have already done. Work carefully and with great accuracy or you will have to repeat each page on a new sheet. Once you have finished a page come up to me to have it marked. Only then may you go on to the next exercise. Is that clear?"