Chapter Twenty-Nine

 

WILLIAM COULD HEAR THE SCHOOL BELL toll as he walked past St. Michael’s. It brought back so many bad memories that he wished he had never visited the place again and thrust his palms against his ears to avoid the din.

It took him a few painful moments to look at the place. It looked the same and he could hear the voices again; the voices that taunted and humiliated him in the not too distant past ... in the days before he met Maya and his face lit up when he thought of the lovely and happy times he had spent with her, only to be clouded by the sudden thought again of how … AND WHY she died …

“It’s not ... It can’t be ... It is. You’re William Bright aren’t you?”

William turned around suddenly to be greeted by his old Headmaster, standing before him with a scroll of some kind under his arm.

“G ...g ...g ... good morning, Mr. W ...W ...Walker . . .

The Headmaster looked sadly at William having remembered the last time he had anything to do with him and that was due to the supposed tragedy with some supposed murder or other, which turned out to be a fallacy and Mr. Walker raised his eyebrows with pleasure, accepting that William Bright still had his stutter.

“What are you doing now, William,” the Headmaster asked as he folded his notes and changed them to his other hand.

“I ... I’m still working at the s ... s ... supermarket, Mr. W ... W ... Walker,” he replied nervously, “ but I …h ... h ... hope soon to be enrolled at the R ... R ... Royal college of Music.”

Mr. Walker beamed a smile of approval and added that he always knew that William would do well with his music, before he shook hands with his ex-pupil and strode back into the school again, just as the bell stopped tolling.

“Nice to see you again, William,” said a young female voice from the back of the playground. “I remember you from the fifth form. Do you remember me?”

William screwed his face up in the sunshine as he shielded his eyes from the sunrays with his hand and scanned the face of the young intruder.

“I’m … s ... s ... sorry,” he said, “I don’t think I … r ... r ... r ... remember you.”

“Janine Mercer,” the reply came and gentle. “I’m teaching here now. Have been for the past six years or so . . .”

William looked closer and a smile broke out over his face as he suddenly remembered who this young woman was. She had been one of the nicer girls, he could remember and he didn’t think she was one of the gang of girls who made his life a misery.

“J ... J ... J ... Janine Mercer, why of course … I am so … s ... sorry I didn’t recognise you, but you are so ... well g ... g ... g ... grown up from those days gone by. I think you must have been in the …b ... b ... b ... brainier section of the school to have trained as a … t ... t ... teacher. I just work at a … s ... s ... s ... supermarket and even then, I don’t have anything …s ... s ... s ... special to do there at all … only shelf packing.” William said and Janine smiled again.

“It takes all kinds and shelf packing is as necessary as anything else, William,” she said, “Have you met any of your old friends from school since you left?”

William lowered his head when she said that. He could hardly tell her that Lisa Frankland had crossed his path, could he ... especially if she already knew, as he presumed she would, that Lisa Frankland wasn’t in the land of the living any more.

“No ... no, I haven’t met any of my old friends,” he said politely, hoping that Janine would believe that he did have a few friends from his school days.

“You’ve turned out to be a nice looking guy, William and I hope I don’t embarrass you when I say that ...Got yourself a nice girlfriend, I’m sure,” she added as she looked at William to see his response, but William looked down when she said that and his face coloured red. “Tell you what,” Janine went on, having guessed that there was no girl in William’s life from the way he looked. “I have a list in my class of many of the pupils where were at school when you were here with us. You’ll probably recognise some of them, although I doubt if you’d know them now. They’ve all grown up into beautiful young ladies. There’s some telephone numbers on that list too as I remember. Hold on a minute and I’ll get it for you.”

Very quickly Janine Mercer returned to the school and within a few minutes she reappeared with the promised list, which she happily passed to William, but at first he was reluctant to take it. ... He hesitated but Janine insisted.

“You might find it interesting to know the girls you went to school with, William and maybe if you go though the names, one of them might come up that could be a very good friend ... or more,” said Janine as she left William with a smile to return to her classroom. William studied the list dispassionately. There would never be a name there that would compare to Maya’s, but as he had a closer look at the list, Lisa Frankland’s name screamed at him from the top of the two pages that Janine had given him and he wasn’t at all pleased about that.

“Thank you ... Janine ... m ... m ... m ...may I call you …J ... J ... Janine?” William called after Janine and she waved back at him.

“Of course ... everyone does. The days of titles are out now William. Be good and look after yourself. Perhaps we might see you again soon ... If ever you’re passing St. Michael’s”

She waved William goodbye again and he walked away slowly, thinking that not everything or everybody who came out of St. Michael’s were odious., however the names that were on that list that Janine Mercer had given him were not all what he would have described as friends ... not by a long shot.

 

It was Fiona who broke the silence as William sat thinking about his new list and what he should do about it.

“William, I have a day off tomorrow. Do you fancy going for a drive somewhere and maybe take some driving lessons. I’d be happy to teach you,” she said and William looked up, startled. He wasn’t aware that Fiona was in the room.

“No sorry Fiona,” he replied, “Can’t do that. I’m working tomorrow and besides, I’d be a hard one to teach. You should know that by now.”

Fiona screwed her face up and poked her tongue out at the mirror.

“But you don’t work all day, do you . . . and besides, I can accommodate anytime, having the whole day to myself.” Fiona called out and William put his list into his pocket.

“No …not tomorrow Fiona …sorry but, I have several things I have to do and tomorrow would the best day for me to start,” he said with a grin.