The Secret Catamite Bk 1, The Book of Daniel (17 page)

"Who's that?"

"Miles Evans. You've met him,
He's my Patrol Leader."

Simon remembered the big, kind
boy who had spoken to him at the church parade a few months ago.
"I'm still a bit scared of going back, but I'll try to remember
what you said on Saturday." And he tapped his chest twice.

Daniel laughed. "You'll be OK as
well. I bet it's a lot better once you get there than you think
now."

It was hard getting off the bus
without Daniel, and Simon watched it as it went on into the city
along the busy main road. He walked alone up the street to the
juniors.

"Hiya, Simon!" came a chirpy
voice next to him. It was Peter Holman. Simon was glad to see him.
They had sat together and were friends in school, but never met
outside as they lived too far apart.

"Hiya Peter, you sound
happy."

"So should you be, haven't you
heard?"

"Bout what?"

"Harvey. She's not coming back,"
said Peter.

Simon stopped dead. "What!"

"She's ill or something, but
anyway, she won't be there."

Simon could have hugged Peter
Holman right there and then. He felt a weight lift from his body.
But wait, perhaps Peter was wrong.

"You sure?"

"We'll find out, won't we," said
the chirpy Peter. "Come on." The boys ran the rest of the way and
into the juniors' yard. Many of the kids were talking about the
rumours concerning Miss Harvey, but nobody seemed to know for
certain.

Simon and Peter were confronted
with Barry Spence plus hangers on, a triumphant smirk on his face
as he looked hard at Simon. Simon thought how different his blue
eyes were from Daniel's.

"Piss off, Holman," said Spence,
without even looking at Peter. Peter nervously backed away. "So
where's Gray then?" mocked Spence.

"You know where he is. Henrys,"
said Simon. By mentioning Daniel, Barry Spence had in fact helped
Simon. He tapped his chest twice.

"Heart trouble?" scoffed Spence,
and pushed Simon hard back against the wall. Forth was there,
waiting for the fun. Simon reached out and pushed Spence back. The
hangers on gasped. Nobody pushed Barry Spence!

"Fight!" the cry went up and the
nearer kids started to gather to watch. Barry Spence came forward
again, aiming a punch at Simon. But Simon dodged it, and his mind
full of Daniel, he launched a straight punch with all his strength
at Spence's unprepared face. Spence received the blow on his nose
which started to bleed. He staggered and then fell over, and was
lying on the ground, crying and holding his hands to his face. The
crowd looked on, astonished, gone quiet.

"Any of you lot want the same?"
Simon glared at the hangers on who were trying to melt back into
the gathering crowds.

"What's going on?" The kids
parted as Miss Day came through.

There was a chorus of responses.
"Miss, Barry Spence started it … Hit Simon first … self defence,
Miss." Simon noticed that some of these comments were coming from
the Spence gang! Miss Day helped Barry Spence to his feet.

"I'll get you, Scott," he
snarled.

"No you won't!" said Simon and
Miss Day, almost in unison, which surprised both of them. "Come
along, Simon," she ordered. Simon followed, wishing he was still in
Miss Day's class, instead of Mr West's. Daniel said Mr West was
good, so maybe it would be OK. But then the whistle went and the
children lined up.

"I'll see you later instead,
Simon," said Miss Day, "I've Barry to see to now."

So Simon joined his class line,
the others making space for him, with a new respect.

"Well done, Simon," said Peter,
who had rejoined him. "He's had that coming for a long time."

"My hero," said Cynthia
Jackson.

Simon felt tall, but was still a
bit worried about Miss Harvey. But it would be worth getting the
cane to have beaten Spence.

"Hang your coats up and go
straight into the hall," the teachers were saying.

The children filed into the
hall, Simon's class now at the back, being the oldest. Where Daniel
used to stand. Simon wondered how he was getting on at Henrys.

The door at the side of the
stage opened and Miss Harvey – wait. It wasn't Miss Harvey! It was
Mr West. The school went quiet, waiting. Mr West stood at the
lectern.

"Before we start the new school
year," Mr West began, "I have some sad news. Miss Harvey was taken
seriously ill during the summer holiday with what's called a
stroke. She was with a friend in France at the time I understand.
She is back in England, and is being treated in hospital in the
city. I am sure you hope that she will soon be well again." There
was a murmur of assent. "However, what is certain is that she will
never be well enough to return to work here. So we will need a new
head teacher. But in the meantime, the Board of Managers and the
Education Committee have asked me to take on the job." There was a
buzz of excitement round the school hall. Mr West held up his hand,
the noise died down. "This does mean that there are some changes to
your classes." He went on to read out a list of classes and
teachers. "And Junior 4W, that would have been my class this year,
will now be Junior 4D, and will remain with Miss Day."

Simon heard that with amazement.
Miss Day was taking them up. There was happy whispering along the
line.

Then it was a normal assembly,
except for a special prayer for Miss Harvey. At the end, Mr West
picked up a piece of paper from the lectern.

"I want to see the following
children immediately after assembly outside Miss .. outside the
head teacher's room." He read out a list of about a dozen names,
Barry Spence, some of his gang and Simon Scott among them.

The crowd gathered outside the
head's room. Miss Brown was there to keep order while one by one
the children went in to speak to Mr West.

"It's about the fight," one said
as she came out

"That's enough, no talking,"
said Miss Brown. Simon liked Miss Brown, he went to her for extra
help, but she seemed stern today. At last there was only Barry
Spence and Simon left, waiting as far apart as they could.

"Barry Spence!" called Mr West's
voice. Barry Spence went in and pushed the door behind him, but
this time it didn't quite close. Parts of the conversation could be
heard. Mr West sounded very cross. "Got away with far too much for
far too long … the end of the line of you, young lad … better
change your ways". Spence came out and managed a scowl at Simon,
but said nothing.

"Simon Scott! And you can get
back to your room now, Miss Brown, thank you."

Simon went into the hated office
as Miss Brown left, giving Simon a smile. Simon stood in front of
that desk, with Mr West sitting behind it now.

"Not a very good start to the
new school year, Simon?"

"No, sir," said Simon, looking
down but glancing round for the cane.

"Are you planning any more
fights?"

Simon looked up, taken unawares
by the unexpected question. "No, sir."

"I'm glad to hear it. After that
fracas last year with Sidney Forth, and your demolition job on
Barry Spence this morning, don't you think you've done enough?"

"Yes, sir," said Simon, puzzled
about how this was going. He still could not see the cane.

"I'll be straight with you, old
chap," said Mr West, his tone softening. "I don't think you've
always had a fair deal, so I want to draw a line under the past and
start from scratch. Starting from now. The rest is up to you. Do
you understand?"

Simon was not sure if he did,
but he understood 'start from scratch'. "Yes, sir."

"Any problem at all with Barry
Spence, tell Miss Day – she knows about this – or come and see
me."

"Yes, sir." Simon's mind was in
a whirl. He couldn’t grasp the change and what was happening, but
he knew it was good.

"Good lad. Now we've a bargain,
so don't let me down."

"Yes, sir. I mean, no sir. I
mean …" Simon stopped, confused. "I won't, sir."

"That's the ticket! Fresh start,
as from now. Off you go."

"Thank you, sir," said Simon,
and he left the room, feeling light and happy. As he walked along
the corridor he stopped as a thought came to him. Daniel's words
echoed in his mind. 'I bet it's a lot better once you get there
than you think now.' How did Daniel know? He is amazing. Simon
tapped his chest twice and walking tall, crossed the hall and went
into his classroom without a trace of fear.

Simon soon settled into fourth
year. The pace was hard, with the eleven plus coming up after
Christmas, but with renewed confidence, Simon worked hard and
slowly made progress with arithmetic. His reading and writing had
already come on to the point where Miss Brown stopped working on
that and concentrated on sums. She gave him papers to do at home,
and if he got stuck, Daniel patiently sat with him and they worked
through it together.

Once or twice, Simon was the
object of taunts, his detractors pointing out that Daniel Gray was
not around any more. Simon would tap his chest twice and think,
'yes he is'. Simon grew closer to Peter Holman at school, but still
looked forward to the evenings and weekends when he could be with
Daniel, and Simon was happy.

One event that stood out for
Simon was related to the church. Daniel was being confirmed, and he
asked Simon to be there. Simon was not sure what that meant, but he
knew it was important to Daniel, and it seemed important to him
that Simon was there. So there he was, sitting once more with Mr
and Mrs Gray who had come to see this special service. The vicar
was there that Simon had seen before, but also, dressed in a gold
embroidered cloak was the Bishop. Simon had seen his picture in the
local newspaper a couple of times. Daniel was wearing his long,
grey school trousers, neatly ironed, along with a white shirt. He
looked so smart. There were some other people, not all kids, who
were being confirmed as well, and they were wearing white, but
Simon's eyes were fixed on Daniel as he knelt before the
Bishop.

"Daniel, God has called you by
name and made you his own."

The Bishop then placed his hands
on Daniel's head saying, "Confirm, O Lord, your servant Daniel with
your Holy Spirit."

"Amen," said Daniel clearly.

Simon felt so proud of his
friend, addressed by name by the Bishop. Then Daniel, along with
the other new communicants, took the bread and wine. Simon was
again moved by the service and as the rest of the congregation took
communion, he accompanied Mr and Mrs Gray to the rail as before,
and received the same blessing, followed by the warm glow he had
felt before.

Afterwards, he was asking Daniel
about it.

"What's it mean now?"

"I can take communion now, and
receive the bread and wine. It means I am a full member of the
Church of England."

Simon wanted to be a full member
of the Church of England too, but instead he asked, "What's the
wine like?"

Daniel grinned. "It's good
stuff. It's a shame they only let you have a little sip."

Daniel didn't go to church every
Sunday, sometime he was involved in Scouts or swimming events. When
he could, Simon went along to the latter to be with Daniel and
offer him support, the true friend that he was.

1. 1956/10 Accident in the
   Spinney
   

That warm summer had gone, the
nights had closed in and perforce Simon and Daniel could no longer
play outdoors as much. The den was often wet so they would meet up
and hang around the shopping parade. Sometimes they could still go
to the wood beyond the allotments. The earth paths though the
spinney had been compacted by the wheels of many children's
bicycles for this was a regular circuit. The two friends would
cycle down there and speed round the spinney, flying over roots and
taking off from small bumps. Often there would be crowds of local
children there, racing round without a care for their own safety,
or anyone else's. It was fast, exhilarating and the elements of
risk added to rather than detracted from the excitement. The risk
was real.

One day in the half term
holiday, Gavin Strong, who was Daniel's age and a Hooray Henry, was
going very fast, took off over a makeshift ramp and lost control.
His bike, with him on it, hit a tree. Gavin was hurt and bleeding
as he lay on ground entangled in his bicycle, howling. Some of the
children ran off and Simon was moving in this direction also.

"Where're you going?" asked
Daniel with a note of surprise.

"Dunno, just away," said Simon,
worried that he might somehow get the blame by association for
Gavin's injuries. He wasn't sure what Mummy would say about him
being in the woods, rough riding.

"We can't just leave him," said
Daniel. "He needs some help."

The remaining kids hung back,
watching, uncertain, content to let Daniel take charge. So there
were just the two of them to help, and of course the howling Gavin,
whose cries had subsided a little.

Daniel moved over to where Gavin
lay, and Simon followed. Gavin looked up at the pair, pain on his
face but also expectation, now that help was at hand.

"I can't get up, I'm stuck,"
said Gavin.

"Here, Simon, give me a hand,"
commanded Daniel, taking hold of the bicycle. Together they
carefully lifted the bike, allowing Gavin to extract his legs that
had somehow become locked in it.

"Hold the bike," said Daniel, so
Simon held the bike, and Daniel went to the still prone Gavin.

"Where's it hurt?" asked
Daniel.

"All over," replied Gavin.

"Do you think you've broken
anything?" continued Daniel.

Gavin shook his head. He was a
chubby lad, and Daniel put his arms around Gavin to help him up.
Simon felt suddenly and stupidly jealous. Gavin was now standing,
leaning on Daniel. His face was cut, his leg was bleeding and he
looked very muddy.