Survival School [alternate history] (Turn-of-the-Century Toughs)

Chapter Nine

From the Superintendent of the House of Transformation toComrade Benjamin Carruthers:

Through the efforts of our Visiting Agent, suitable homes with good citizens – mostly farmers – have been found for those of our inmates who have given evidence of a desire to improve their condition and pursue an honest and industrious life. There are always numerous applications on file for apprentices from this Institution. We are pleased to report that a large majority of those paroled to service are giving general satisfaction to their employers, and manifest their appreciation of the training received under the restraining influence of this Institution. Should they violate the conditions of their parole, and get into bad habits or company, they are again apprehended and returned to this Institution.

From the Superintendent of the House of Transformation to Servant Lucy:

I am sorry to report that I cannot provide you with the information you have requested, namely the current address of your son Emmanuel. We have found that it is bad for boys who have been placed out to work in local farms to come in contact with their people. These people visit them, give them gifts which they do not need, correspond with them, and in general get the boys dissatisfied with their surroundings, no matter how good they may be, with the result, in every case, that the boys run away, causing much trouble and expense to recapture them.

o—o—o

The road lay south of the transformatory. Bat made his way down the lane and under the gate-sign across the lane that said "House of Transformation." There were no guards to stop him – just a gate that had already been opened to allow through the horse-truck from the nearby farm that delivered fresh milk daily. The Superintendent wanted the transformatory to buy milk cows once it had the funding, but in the meantime, a portion of the House's tiny funds went to buy milk. Some of that milk even made its way to the boys' dining room.

The road was empty; the faintest light could only just be seen on the eastern horizon. Bat began to walk down the road, very aware of the cottage he had left behind.

Joe had insisted on coming with him, at least as far as the porch. "I want to sit alone on the porch and watch the sun rise," he had told Bat. "These days, there's always someone with me. No offense, pal, but I feel like I have a ball-and-chain around my ankle."

Bat could understand that, so he'd carried Joe down the stairs; then, at the younger boy's request, he'd gone back and fetched Joe's crutches from where they were usually kept, next to Joe's bed. The rest of the boys were asleep. If Trusty heard Bat taking Joe downstairs, he didn't emerge from his room to object. It was close enough to rising time for the boys, and Joe could do his work in the broom manufactory well enough with an hour's less sleep. When Bat left Joe on the porch, the boy was lighting up a cigarette.

Bat turned off the road, walking toward death.

o—o—o

"I can't find my shoe!"

Joe had been frantic that day, Bat remembered. They all knew the penalty for a lost shoe. With funds short for leather, a fifth of the apprentices had no shoes to wear at all and had to be confined to the cottages during bad weather.

"Why'd you take your shoe off in this weather?" That was Emmanuel, forever in a bad mood since he'd been returned to the transformatory after he attempted to escape home from the farm where he'd been placed out. He'd be at the House of Transformation till he'd regained the merit-grades he'd lost.

"It's freezing," agreed Mordecai, shivering as he stood in the snow. It was their play-hour; all six of the boys from the Little Dorm were together during the daytime, a rare occurrence these days.