L.if.E (BoyxBoy)

Guilt, Remorse and Retribution - Part 2

Miss Swift sat alongside Mr Whittaker, the headmaster, behind his imposing oak desk. I stared at the beautifully intricate swirls that had been carved into the imposing front legs, or were they the back legs. I wasn't sure whether they were front or back to be honest, just that they were the ones nearest to us three, and now that I think about it I suppose technically they were at the back of the desk. This is how my mind works when I am nervous, I start to notice the little things, like the carved swirls and the fact that they must have been hand carved because of the unevenness of the pattern, surely machined swirls would be identical every time.

I held my head down in supplication to Mr Whittaker's obvious dominance and import; he was a very impressive and stern looking man in his early forties, a look that belied his mischievous and caring nature. He had a distinguished aristocratic look, which was youthful in appearance, and I actually hoped I would look as good as him when I was in my forties. He wasn't actually slim but he carried himself in such a way that at first glance you assumed he was. The only odd thing about his appearance was his hair, which covered his ears and was mid length, somewhat alien to the rest of his looks, though it was extremely well groomed and had a peppering of grey hairs. It was a style that gave you the impression he was definitely an academic and not a city gent, which is how he dressed. In my five years at the school, I had never seen him dressed in anything other than a chain of well-fitted pinstriped suits.

Mr Whittaker was the sort of man that demanded respect just by how he looked and acted, and if this had been any other time I would have sat admiring his style and confidence. But today I was to learn my fate and to be brutally honest I didn't have the nerve to look at him. For the last ten minutes, he had had the look of an authoritative but kindly father who was deeply disappointed in a trio of erring but well-loved sons, but worse of all I felt we had let him down and it was that that weighed heavily on me.

We had been in his office, after being returned from the camp that morning, for around two hours, as he listened to Miss Swift explain what had allegedly happened. Then to Tim Hunt, who by now had expanded the detail to be more fiction than truth, hoping to ingratiate himself to Mr Whittaker. He had then listened to our each of our versions separately, until finally we were marshalled into his room together to listen to his verdict.

I appreciate that this sounds so regimented, but this was how it was done in English schools at the time, the headmaster was God, Judge, Jury and Executioner and some relished it whilst others tried to be more even handed about it. Outside his office, Mr Whittaker gave all the outward signs that he was the former type of Head, whilst in reality he tended, when sitting quietly within it, to be the latter. However, the issue before him now had, as far as we knew, never arisen before and his views, opinions and believes were unknown.

Miss Swift had supported us in every way possible without compromising her own position, and I felt indebted to her for this, as did Pete and Stuart. She had once called us her “Three Caballeros” after a Disney film of the same name, a film that I had yet to see, as to be honest, I had never even heard of it. However, no matter what she called us, I knew she had a soft spot for us; in fact, I think it was really a soft spot for Pete but let’s not go there, and I knew she would be as helpful as she could be.

“Boys!”, I jumped back into reality and suddenly my eyes smarted and started to well up at Mr Whittaker’s sudden loud exclamation and his hands slapping down onto his knees, “I find myself in a quandary, Hunt has explained what he saw and, unfortunately, before he could be stopped he had disseminated his accusations and observations amongst your peers. This in turn spread through both camps and eventually was taken up by certain less discreet members of staff, a matter which I will deal with later, but for now my apologies for that.”

“Miss Swift has explained a more factual based opinion on the reasons for your so-called transgressions and explained to me the background to you all being located in a staff chalet.”