Aaron Connor (18 page)

We arrived at the end of the
street where the Moped was parked. By the bike were all of the
young actors, who all looked terrified. They had seen my bike and
just hoped that I would come back. All of them looked at us with
fear in their eyes, on the verge of panic.

“
Is everyone
alright?” I asked.

From the actors came a mixture
of “yes” and “no”. Most of them were so scared that they were
beyond the ability to reply. They just shook with fright. I didn’t
blame them, after what Joe made them do. I no longer had any
grudges against them, for the rude way they’d been acting to me and
Lizzie, I just wanted to make sure that they were all safe.

Lizzie went among them and
checked that they were all OK. I was looking around to check that
there wasn’t any strays. Thankfully, after doing a headcount of all
the young actors, Lizzie confirmed that everyone was there. That
made me feel a little calmer, as I tried to figure out what to do.
For me, the first thing to do was to get everyone back to the
Boarding School. At least then, we’d know that all the kids were in
one place, away from the harm of this horrible crowd.

“
Does everyone
still have their bus tickets with them?” I asked,

“
Yes” they
replied,

“
Are they
returning tickets?” I asked,

“
Yes” they
replied,

“
Right” I
said, “Head back to the school, there won’t be any show
today!”

“
I’ll take
them back” said Lizzie, “if you take David back on the
bike”

“
Fair enough”
I replied, “is everyone ready?”

“
Yes” they
replied,

“
Ok then,
let’s do it!”

Lizzie led the frightened young
actors down the street and towards the bus station. I took the
driving position and David sat behind me. No one had to sit in the
dreaded sidecar. I started up the engine as quick as possible and
zoomed off down the street, back the way we came. We drove away,
leaving the fighting crowd and riot police behind us.

CHAPTER FOURTEEN

We finally arrived at the
Boarding School half an hour later. We knew that it would take a
while for the others to arrive, so I parked the Moped and waited
for the others. We’d only been there a few moments when I came up
with an idea. An idea to help cheer the young actors up, after the
horrible event they’ve just been through.

“
I’m just
going to sort something out with the cooks” I told David, “You stay
here with the bike, I’ll be back in a minute”

“
Ok” said
David shakily, I don’t think he was very happy with me leaving him
alone in the middle of Scotland.

I ran across the courtyard,
down the steps into the tunnel, through the tunnel, up the stairs
at the other end, across the other courtyard and into the canteen.
The cooks were sitting around chatting among themselves at one of
the tables. They were nibbling at biscuits and drinking cups of
tea.

They stood up when I entered
and were taken aback by my haggard appearance. I was puffing and
panting. I stood there in the doorway trying to catch my breath. My
hand was holding onto my chest as I tried to spit out the words I
wanted.

“
What’s up
with you?” asked the larger female cook,

“
There was a
nasty incident at the Royal Mile” I began, “Joe’s troupe, they . .
.”

“
We know!”
interrupted the cook, “we just heard it on the radio. B.E.N has
been broadcasting Live from the Royal Mile all morning, they were
the first to report it. Are all the children alright?”

“
Yeah, they’re
with Lizzie” I replied, “They’re coming back on the bus. I just
came here to ask, could you make something for them all. Maybe
like, some hot chocolate or biscuits maybe?”

“
Yes” replied
the cook simply, “I’m sure that can be arranged, we’ll start right
away. Come on girls, hop to it!”

The cooks finished up their
teas and took their things as they rushed to the kitchen.
Momentarily there was a loud clanging and clinking of china, as the
cooks rushed around to prepare the drinks and snacks. Soon the room
smelt strongly of hot chocolate, the sweet smell was enough to lift
the spirits of a man who’s lost everything.

“
Thank you!” I
shouted,

“
You’re
Welcome!” was the answer from the kitchen.

I ran back out onto the
courtyard. I needed to get back to the front, so that I could tell
everyone to go to the canteen when they arrive. I ran back the way
I came down the tunnel and up the other side. Back in the first
courtyard I found David still by the bike, but now surrounded by
members of the orchestra and crew.

All the musicians, make up
artists, costume designers, parental helpers and such like were all
in the front courtyard. From the distressed looks on their faces,
they had heard the same radio report as the cooks had.

I saw David point to me when he
spotted me heading back. The others looked at me with sad eyes.
Laura was among them. The nasty glare of disapproval was gone from
her face, all that was left was a look of genuine worry and fear.
When I arrived to the spot where they stood, I was bombarded with
questions from all direction.

“
Is everyone
alright?”

“
Where’s
Joe?”

“
Where’s my
little Abigail?”

“
How did it
start?”

“
Is anyone
hurt?”

“
Every one of
the children who were playing prisoners is fine. They are on their
way here with Lizzie on the bus” I said, “Unfortunately, the ones
in Nazi uniforms were in the epicentre of the fight, I would have
thought the Police would have taken them aside”

“
Where have
you just been?” asked one of the parental helpers,

“
At the
Canteen” I answered, “I’ve arranged for the cooks to make some Hot
Chocolate for the young ones when they get back. They’re sorting it
out right now as we speak.”

“
I’m calling
Joe” announced Laura who was getting her phone out of her handbag,
her face was bright red with fury, “I’m going to find out where the
bloody git is, and see how soon we can get everyone back to Epping.
There’s no way we can do this show after that. No way. These kids
are going home”

“
I fully
agree” I said, “Just got to wait for the others to get back, then
lead them to the canteen”

Everyone replied with various
words and phrases to express agreement and understanding. We stood
there for a few good minutes, worrying beyond belief. All the time
he had to listen to Laura, she was shouting her head off down the
phone to Joe with alarming passion. Her arms were flying about
everywhere with clenched fists. It was like watching someone do a
very good impersonation of Basil Fawlty. Many of the people
surrounding her were stepping away slowly, in fear she might
accidentally hit them in her rage.

“
YOU STUPID
MAN!!
” she was screaming,
“
YOU BLITHERING, THICK HEADED, OBESE PILE
OF PUSS!! HOW DARE YOU ALLOW THIS TO HAPPEN! YOU STUPID, STUPID
BARSTARD!! GET YOURSELF AND THE OTHER BOYS OUT OF THAT POLICE
STATION RIGHT NOW!!! WE ARE GOING STRAIGHT HOME! DO YOU UNDERSTAND
ME? STRAIGHT HOME!!! YOU . . . YOU . . . FAT
GIT!
”

She hung up the phone and for a
second it looked like she was going to smash it on the ground. She
knew better though, so she placed it back in her handbag and took
several deep breaths. After calming her self down, she took out
from her handbag a pack of cigarettes and a lighter and began to
smoke. She looked at us and pulled a weak smile.

“
He’s at the
police station” she said, her teeth were gritted but she was still
trying to remain calm, “the older boys who were dressed as Nazis
are there with them. He says that they are not hurt too bad, just
some bruises here and there. They’ll get back as soon as they can.
Joe will pay for everyone’s tickets, I’ll see to that. We’ll leave
when we’re ready”

“
I suggest
that we spend one more night here” I said, “just to rest up. The
younger ones might want to have a bit of a cool down after what
happened. They can just hang out, watch television and play
football on the grounds. They can just chill out. I think they need
it”

“
I agree” said
Laura, “best we go easy on them”

It was only a little while
later, when we finally saw Lizzie come up the pathway with the
children behind her. The children came in through the archway, some
were stunned and others were crying. Lizzie was holding hands with
two young girls who were crying, she was trying to comfort them
with kind words to no avail.

All of us walked up to them and
met them in the middle. The parents, who were present as helpers,
went straight to their own children to make sure they were OK. Many
of the others quickly went around the children and checked for any
injuries or complaints. Thankfully all of the young ones seemed
unharmed.

The first thing that everyone
commented on was the hair, they hoped it would grow back after what
the Director made them do. The parents felt so guilty for letting
the Director do it, that they hugged their children and promised
them that they wouldn’t have to work for Joe ever again. It came to
a point where people were getting so angry at Joe, that they were
about ready to lynch him.

“
Everyone!” I
announced, I sensed the intense atmosphere developing and decided
that it would be a good time to defuse it, “the lovely cooks here
at the school are preparing some Hot Chocolates and snacks for you
all. So, if you’ll just follow me to the Canteen, we’ll make sure
that everyone is sorted out”

I led the children across the
courtyard towards the tunnel. David came to my side. I put my hand
on his head to check for a wig, but there wasn’t one there, his
hair was real. This confused me a little bit.

“
Why wasn’t
your hair shaven like the others?” I asked,

“
I didn’t want
it done, nor did my mum” he replied, “That was when everyone
started to ignore me. They said was going to ruin the show because
I’d be the only prisoner who still had his hair. Amber was the only
other one who didn’t do it, but she’s really pretty and popular so
they let it go. I still have my costume underneath this though,
look”

David brought down the collar
of his shirt down a bit, so that I could see the stripy uniform
underneath. He was meant to be in that procession as well, but he
didn’t do it because he was with me and Lizzie. That made me feel a
bit better. At least I avoided one person from being stuck in that
horrible crowd. At least I prevented David from being apart of that
horrible experience that the others had to go through.

I led everyone down the steps,
through the tunnel and up the steps onto the courtyard on the other
side. The cold air was still bitter and the wind still blew with
tremendous force. The little group of people behind me were all
huddled together, to keep themselves warm. Thunder crackled in the
distance as some rain began to pour onto the courtyard. It was as
if the weather knew exactly what had happened that day, and wanted
to add to the ambience of the situation.

We reached the canteen, where I
opened the door wide open, so that everyone could just run through.
They all made their way inside to get away from the wind and rain.
Once I was sure that everyone was inside the building, I went in
myself and closed the door behind me.

The young actors had already
created a very neat line, all of them were chilled to the bone and
needed some nice, hot refreshments. One by one, the kids got their
hot chocolate and headed to the nearest table. On each table were
little bowls full of chocolate biscuits. Soon everyone had their
fair share of items and was sitting at table getting warm. Many of
the adults were sitting with the kids, trying to comfort them and
calm their shattered nerves.

Lizzie stood next me in the
doorway. Her face looked sad and I could tell that she was on the
verge of crying. I put my arm around her and gave her a gentle kiss
on his cheek. She smiled weakly at me before staring glumly at the
floor.

“
Are you ok?”
I asked,

“
I’ll be fine”
she replied, “It was just . . . so upsetting to see all of those
kids crying like that. I still can’t get over the fact that Joe
made all of them cut their hair. I just . . . can’t believe it.
That man should not be allowed to work with children”

“
After this” I
said, “I don’t think he ever will again”

“
Bloody good
thing too!” said Lizzie.

We all stayed in the canteen
for a good hour or so. Afterwards the kids had stopped crying and
felt a lot better. They were still considerably shaken by the whole
thing, understandably, but they at least felt a little better.
Everyone was chatting among themselves, when I took some steps into
the room to make another announcement.

“
I think” I
began, “that our lovely cooks deserve a “thank you” for the Hot
Chocolates and snacks”

“
Thank you”
they all said in unison,

“
Not a
problem” called the cooks from the kitchen,

“
You guys can
do whatever you want now” I said, “we’re going straight home on the
train tomorrow. So until then, you can chill out and do whatever,
as long as you stay within the grounds of the school.