Rich and I devised a naughty trick to play on Mrs Chalfont, the Infants Teacher. When she got cross with us for whispering to each other she called my name then Rich’s. I stood up but Rich didn’t and when she got even angrier I said innocently “But, Miss Malcolm Richard is my name.”
That cheekiness got me a quick smack on the leg but it made all our classmates laugh so we kept doing it until Mrs Chalfont threatened the ultimate punishment. Not wanting to lose my shorts and pants in front of the class I called it a day.
Mrs Chalfont decided that Richard and Malcolm needed to be seated as far apart as possible after that; we were a bad influence on each other or rather I was a bad influence on Rich. I didn’t mean to cause trouble but I found lessons too easy and got bored.
Looking at the solemn little chap over to your right you might find it hard to believe that he was such a mischievous little scamp but appearances really can be deceptive.
Everything changed when we moved up to second class. Miss Beevis, our new teacher was a stern, forbidding woman who brooked no nonsense from naughty little boys. We were all so frightened of her that within a few weeks most of us had wet our pants at least once because we were scared to ask if we could be excused.
The school had several pairs of shorts for loan to unfortunately damp boys until they got home; they’d be washed by our mothers and returned a couple of days later ready for the next accident. I hated having to borrow a pair of shorts, mostly because it felt really strange having no pants on; it was a bit chilly as well.
Rich joined the other boys in laughing at me when I had my accident but justice was served a few days later when he tried and failed to make it to playtime without asking to be excused. Naturally I joined all the other boys when they laughed at him; fair’s fair.
We got separated again but not because of naughtiness. Miss Beevis had a system which had served her for years and she wasn’t about to change it to accommodate two best friends.
As she had six and seven year olds to teach she divided the room into two halves, front and back with the new children at the front. on the day we started in second class each of us found our name on a desk and that’s where we sat for the first week; arranged alphabetically.
Based on work during the week and after a reading test on Friday afternoon we were moved around with the best performer going to the back, right hand desk of the block. That’s where I ended up on Friday of my first week and that’s where I intended to stay.
Rich was in the row in front of me but wasn’t jealous of my achievement, quite the opposite. He was my biggest supporter and was responsible for my first nickname ‘Brain Box’ which all the other children adopted immediately, even the older ones.
Away from school, when we were racing around the village green I was just Malc again.
Love
And you remember it all as though it was yesterday!
You’re a very good teller of a story and to read this I’d almost think you enjoyed your childhood.
But of course, as your regular readers are well aware, this was the summer before the winter – the lull before the storm.
And I hope never to forget those good times because they were wonderful.
To use your analogy it was a glorious summer but the winter was terrible and the storms, when they came were very bad.