They both got up and walked out of the classroom, as they went down the steps, Mike asked Dave if he had done his essay as they had agreed. Dave showed Mike his essay, and like his own, apart from one being a radar and the other being sonar, the two essays were identical.
As the two boys stood outside4 the headmaster's study, the prefect who had given them the essays to do came and stood next to them. After a few minutes, all three were called into the study, the headmaster was sat at his desk, he looked at the prefect. "I understand you assigned these boys with some written work," he said, "is that correct." "Yes sir," the prefect said." "And have they handed it into you yet," the headmaster asked. "No sir, they have not." The headmaster looked at Dave and Mike. "And pray," he asked, "did you intend handing in the essay's." Mike looked the headmaster squarely in the eyes. "We were going to hand them in at dinner time sir," he said.
The headmaster looked at Mike. " do you have the essays with you now, " he asked. "Yes sir we do," said Dave, and the two lads together put the essays on the headmaster's desk. "I don't want them," the headmaster said, "he does," pointing to the prefect. Dave and Mike picked up the essays and handed them to the prefect. The prefect took the essays, checked that all pages were full and then said to Dave and Mike, "I am happy, you have done as asked." He then proceeded to screw up the essays in his hand and throw them in the bin at the side of the headmaster's desk. Dave and Mike stood and watched as the headmaster slowly stood up, with his fists on the desk, his face was like thunder. "You two go," he said to Dave and Mike, pointing at the door. They turned and left the room, as they closed the door, they heard the voice of the headmaster bellowing. "How dare you give my pupils an essay to do and don't read it yourself, how bloody dare you."
Mike and Dave didn't hear anymore, they were both running down the stairs as fast as their legs could carry them, on there way to dinner, they talked about what had just happened.
That night as the Palmer's sat at the table for there evening meal, their father finished off the story of the prefect. Ken had gone to the school to have a word with the headmaster with regards the essays, and the unfairness of it, and when Dave and Mike had been summoned, he had been seated in the outer office with the door slightly open, so that he could hear what was being said, and that the prefect involved had been given 30 days by the headmaster to write two papers A4, four sides, on the working of a radar, and the workings of a sonar. However, if he wrote more than one round and around and three pings there would be trouble. Ken also said, the headmaster had been very impressed with both essays, he realised that a lot of hard work had gone into them, not only the writing, but the reading required. He told Ken, he accepted the amount of cheek that went into around and around and ping, ping, ping. As for prefect's, as of that fateful day, only lines were permitted as there punishment for other pupils, and only a maximum of 100
The following day at school, whilst Mike and Dave were having their mid morning break, Mike was telling Dave what his father had told the family the night before. Dave was laughing fit to burst, then Chris asked what the joke was, Mike told him, and said that as of that day, prefects could only give out 100 lines as a punishment. back in the classroom this information soon got around the whole class, and everyone seemed extremely happy. As the classroom was almost next door to the prefects restroom, almost every noise that came from the classroom meant that a prefect always came into the classroom to sort out the problem, then dish out some sort of punishment.
During the winter months, Kelvin and Mike prepared the canoe for the new spring, at first, both of them were working on it after school, but after a while, the excuses were starting to come to the fore from Kelvin, I want to do some fishing tonight, or I plan to play football with the lads at the shop. So that Mike spent his out of school hours alone at the boathouse, sanding down woodwork and canvass. During weekdays, he had only an hour or so, so mainly weekends, he would spend Saturdays and Sunday afternoons working on the canoe. Mike did not mind this, he was happy to potter on, he was a bit of a dreamer and the time alone would allow him to write in his head, his poetry and plays, then in his bedroom at night he would put pen to paper and the plays would come alive
School was a place of enjoyment for Mike, he was learning more and more, and remembering more, even maths was becoming a doddle, and Mr Ward was treating him properly so that he no longer felt under threat, whenever he had a maths lesson.
The whole class had been together for a year now, and apart from the odd one leaving, and a new one coming, the band of 6 seemed to stick together, week in week out. They were all friends together, there was no hanky panky going on, though there was a time when they thought that Dave and Heather might have a thing going, but no. Mike had the hots for Denise, but she did not return the favour, so Mike didn't push it, plus the fact the girl's dads were Army and most of the lad's dads were Navy, so it was oil and water. As school friends though, they all seemed to get on very well.
The real object of Dave and Mike's affection of coarse was May, she was the woman that they both desired, If she had asked them to swim a shark infested river, they would have done so. They were besotted by her beauty, and when she spoke to the class, both Dave and Mike listened in awe, her voice so feminine so sexy, and the way she stood in front of the blackboard just blew Mike and Dave away.
Mike loved putting pen to paper, he would spend hours making up plays, putting down where the action was, producing scrips for the actors, even the clothes that had to be worn. Some of the plays were one act specials, some were three or four acts long. May Riddle seemed very interested in Mike's writings, and sometimes during English lessons, would get the plays printed up, then the class would act them out. And on those occasions the class really enjoyed themselves.
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