The Happiest Days by Jonah
This is a story about love - real love - at work in the lives of good people. It follows on from "Halls of Academia," but the story really began many, many moons ago with "A Letter from America". There are no real people herein so, if you think one of the characters is based on you, or on somebody you know, have another think and come up with a different answer. Having said that, I didn't invent every character. A couple of them were originally crafted by another author. I have to (well, actually, it is my pleasure to) thank Jacob Lion, in the USA for his permission to use his characters in my stories.
I hope you will enjoy this story, and I'm grateful to Nifty for enabling me to bring it to you. Nifty does not charge either me or you for doing so, but it does cost money to do it. Please consider donating to Nifty at https://donate.nifty.org/ to help keep this site going.
Chapter 3, Bitter sweet.
Thursday morning started with the usual showering, breakfasting and getting ready for school. It wasn't quite as usual, of course. We had an extra boy, for a start. He was the one trying to be as little trouble as possible while Lloyd no longer saw any reason to conceal his excitement. I collared the little imp.
"You're excited aren't you?" I began.
The vigorous nodding of the head was risky, considering that the broad grin was already threatening to cause his face to fall in half.
"OK," I said earnestly, "well, just you remember that Philip is a little upset at the moment. Keep an eye on him and, if there's anything you think Miss Hutchins needs to know, she'll be expecting you to tell her."
The grin had gone.
"OK!" he whispered."
I hugged him to me.
"Good boy," I told him. "We're proud of you, you know. Now it's time to get in the car. Dad's ready to go."
As the boys left the room, Garret stopped for a quick kiss.
"See ya later lover" he whispered, and was gone.
Normally, after Garret's departure, I would take five minutes to compose myself before setting off for the city myself. Today, I wanted to be early.
Drawing into the staff car park of the City Technology College, I secured the car and headed for the principal's office.
Grev Kennedy was in his fifties and was an "old school" headmaster. Secretly he resented the government calling his school a CTC, as much as he resented us calling him the Principal. Whatever we called him, he took his job seriously and cared about his staff and pupils. If he was surprised by my request for a word with him before school started, he didn't show it. He sat me down and listened politely, and sympathetically, to what I had to tell him.
"Thanks for telling me that Simon," he said when I had finished. "Do you believe the boy will be alright in school this morning?"
"I really couldn't say," I replied. "I hope so."
"Either way, " he responded, "this is important so, if he needs you, we'll get the job covered. We're short-handed but, there are supply teachers we can ask and, if push comes to shove, I can teach as well."
I thanked him and headed for the metalwork workshop, ready for my first lesson.
I was fifteen minutes into the lesson with 2LBB when the principal walked into the workshop.
"I'll take over here Simon," he told me quietly. "There's a phone call for you in my office - a Miss Knight."
"Thank you Sir..." I whispered.
"GO! " he said firmly. "No need to hurry back."
I rushed to the office.
"Linda?" I said, nervously into the phone.
"Hello Simon," she said. "It's not good news I'm afraid. Philip's mother didn't make it through the night. The hospital say they didn't expect her to. The haemhorage was too massive and her heart couldn't stand it. Is Garret with Philip?"
"Lloyd is," I replied. "Garret is there in school. Philip's class teacher knows the situation. Do you want me to go down there and see how they want to handle it?"
"i think it's best," she replied. "They'll have no way of keeping him in school once he knows."
"Nor Lloyd," I remarked. "The two of them have gotten pretty close."
"Do what you need to do, " she replied. "I'll have a word with our director and see how we mean to proceed. We'll be in touch before the day's out. I appreciate that you need to know."
I headed back to the workshop and passed the news to the principal.
"Off you go then," he responded. "We'll cover your classes today and tomorrow. If you need us to cover them next week as well, give us a shout."
Driving across the city to the primary school was no easy task. They expect you to concentrate when you're driving and I wasn't up to that. I headed straight for the office of Claire Blossom, who was headmistress there. I quickly laid the whole story before her.
"I'd like to know what he's doing in school at all under those circumstances." she observed.
"Well, thank you for telling me what you'd like," I responded calmly, "though that isn't your job. Your job is to tell me what we're going to do next."
"Well obviously he needs to be out of the school as quickly as possible, before he upsets the other children."
"So the fact that he is upset is of no concern to you."
"Of course it is, but that's your responsibility. You'll have to take him home."
I was feeling calm now - albeit a calm bred from anger.
"Wrong," I told her quietly. "Garret will have to take him home."
"I can't spare Garret," she snapped.
"Wrong again," I returned. "You can't spare ME, because I don't work for you. You can spare Garret because he does work for you."
Since she had rubbed me up the wrong way, I was not going to tell her that Grev Kennedy had released me. You could get a dozen silly cows like this for a decent, human headmaster like Grev. Curiously, it never occurred to her to wonder how I had the leisure to be standing there in her office.
"Just get that boy out of my school," she said brusquely.
"It's not your school at all," I said quietly. "It belongs to the board of govenors whose chairman I am just about to go and see. If, when I get back, I discover that you have been anywhere near Miss Hutchins' classroom, I will have you out of that job with enough publicity to make you unemployable.
I stepped outside her door and, taking my mobile phone from my pocket, tapped in the number for social srvices. I explained to Linda what the problem was.
"I'm on my way," she said. "She wouldn't dare leave her office with a social services case worker in there. She'd be worried what I was poking into while she was gone."
Next I phoned Jimmy Colbert, who was chairman of the primary school's board of governors. He was also on the board of the CTC and we had been mates for years.
"On my way Simon," he told me. "With that attitude, she isn't someone we want running a school."
It was breaktime when we finished our call so, instead of returning to the office, I headed for the staffroom. I told Garret the news.
"Does that mean we've got to take him home?" he muttered.
"Let's see what Annabel thinks," I suggested.
"Just a minute," he said. "Jean...."
Jean Moffat, the deputy headmistress turned around.
"Can we have a word?" Garret asked.
Jean listened attentively to what we had to tell her.
"We'd best consult Annabel," she said. "The danger is that,if we delay telling him too long, he'll never forgive us once he discovers that's what we did."
Annabel listened.
"No, I don't think there's a danger of that, " she said when we had explained what had happened. "He's shell shocked and letting us determine all the things that children usually like to determine for themselves. He can't concentrate on the lessons but at least Lloyd and I have been able to stop him from completely withdrawing into himself."
We decided that it was best for him to stay where he was. Garret and I could explain to him about his mother once we got him home.
I returned to the office. Linda had brought her director with her. The two women had berated Ms. Blossom on the inhuman way she was prepared to treat a recently bereaved pupil. The headmistress was incandescent. The school secretary was shocked to hear such language, but Jimmy Colbert had the last word.
Arriving as the tirade was in full flow, he cut across it.
"That's enough Claire," he told her. "There is no way that that attitude is acceptable in somebody in charge of a school. You've got till dinnertime to clear out your desk. You should be off the premises by one pm. We'll be paying you three weeks salary in lieu of notice, and that's generous. A full meeting of the Board might have decided not to pay you at all."
That was it. Philip was allowed to remain in ignorance for the rest of the day. Linda was round to see me in the afternoon.
"I take it Philip is still at school, and you're not telling him till later?"
"We've talked to the school staff, and they think it's best."
"They're probably right. I've had a chat with my director. They're saying that the funeral will be a fortnight tomorrow. The director and I think it would be helpful if he could stay with you, at least till then. If you decide you want to adopt, we'll get custody granted until it goes through."
"Wait a minute, Nobody has said anything about adoption. Garret and I haven't even discussed it."
"We're aware of that Simon. Personally, I think it would be the best thing for the boy, and the director agrees, but we know that the final decision needs to be yours."
When she left I went shopping. I knew it was my turn to cook, and I had elected to prepare bangers and mash with peas. I purchased a trifle for dessert. I was back ten minutes before Garret appeared with the boys.
"Dinner's nearly ready," I told Garret. "When we've eaten, do you want to stay with Lloyd while I have a word with Philip?"
"Are you sure you don't want us to do it together?"
"He could be in your class next year. Best if I do it. It's up to you how much you tell Lloyd."
So that was decided upon.
It was a very subdued Philip who followed me up to Lloyd's bedroom after dinner. We both sat on the bed. I couldn't tell if he had guessed what I wanted to talk to him about. He certainly looked as if he might have done, but I couldn't go guessing at that.
"I need to talk to you Philip, and it isn't good news."
He was looking at me expectantly. Not a sound, not a word or a wimper. Not a tremble of the bottom lip nor a tear in the eye.
"Philip, your mother didn't make it through the night," I told him. "She died in hospital."
Still not a sound. Instead he pulled his socks off of his feet and, leaning back on his elbows, placed his bare feet in my lap.
Ordinarily I'd have hesitated to touch his cute little feet, but compassion dictated that I soothe him. Still not a word. The talking had to come from me.
"I'm afraid your father is likely to be sentenced for murder,"
Still not a word.
"Your mum's funeral will be in about a fortnight. Do you want to stay with us till then?"
I realised how crass that sounded. Not only had I tried to force him to speak by asking a question, but I'd as good as threatened to throw him out in a fortnight.
"You don't have to answer that Philip, and you can really stay here as long as you like."
If I was going to keep saying things that might upset him, I'd do better to shut up.
I fell silent and concentrated on massaging his cute little feet. He seemed happier when I did that. Come to think of it, so did I. I was still there doing it at bedtime. Philip had fallen asleep.