Benjamin sat alone in the dinner hall one day. The walls were painted the most morbid colors imaginable. The top half of every wall around the canteen was a light shade of gray, the bottom half a cracked layer of dark green. The dire colors suited the mood of every soul in the borstal.
Benjamin looked just as miserable, staring at the dark brown stew that filled half his bowl. Thoughts of his old orphanage, Woodson County, ran through his mind. He never thought that he would miss his old home so much, especially the kind minister who regularly visited him.
Suddenly, a splat of the dark brown stew exploded onto his front collar, severing his train of thought. Benjamin glanced up to see none other than Tommy Joel and his two sidekicks, Jimmy Donald and George Johnston, laughing at him from a table opposite his. At first Benjamin thought Tommy was responsible but soon realized that George was the culprit holding the dirty spoon in his hand.
Soon, the entire cafeteria was laughing. A room full of faces jeered at him and whispered to each other. Tommy simply shook his head and gave Benjamin a look of disappointment before gesturing to him to fight back.
Glaring back at his stew, Benjamin sensed something unfamiliar stir in him. His temper soared. He felt hot and flustered. His spoon rattled for a brief moment and at first glance, he thought it had just been the trick of his eyes. Slowly his unused spoon rose off the dinner table at a snail’s pace, too slow as for anyone to notice. Benjamin trembled with fear and excitement but he didn’t dare break his concentration, willing the spoon to scoop deep into the center of the bowl and fling a large lump of stew back at George. When the older boy noticed the dark brown mush coming at him he ducked fast, leaving Jimmy Donald to take the splat. The spoon bounced heavily off Jimmy’s forehead and flung back across the two tables, landing directly back into Benjamin’s bowl like magic. An uproar of laughter from the table next to the bullies boomed out of the dinner hall doors.
Jimmy, embarrassed that Tommy was laughing at him and surprised that the new boy had retaliated in such a bold move, rapidly hit back at Benjamin, throwing his entire bowl at him. Just then, Mr. Jennings strolled directly into the line of fire. Every set of eyes in the dinner hall widened as a half bowl of brown meat and mashed vegetables showered Mr. Jennings’s ragged suit.
“You filthy brat!” yelled Mr. Jennings.
It was too late for Jimmy Donald to begin blaming others, for he was the only one out of his chair in the dinner hall and the only boy who was missing his bowl.
Jimmy pointed at Benjamin. “It was him, Sir, he made me do it.”
“Poppycock!” yelled Mr. Jennings, eyeballing George and Tommy. “You two will go without food today too. You’re thick as thieves, the lot of you.”
Two older prefects took each bowl of stew away from Tommy and George as part of their punishment as Mr. Jennings led Jimmy Donald out of the dinner hall by his ear.
Once the rest of the boys in the dinner hall continued eating, Tommy and George walked over to another table to steal a bowl of stew from two smaller boys who were too intimidated to ask for their lunch back.
After they had finished the bowls of stew, George whispered something into Tommy’s ear before he showed him a cigarette. Both rebels immediately got up from the table and scrambled toward the exit doors of the dinner hall. Benjamin tried desperately to recreate what he had done with his spoon earlier when Tommy kicked his chair as he passed him. The sudden jolt broke Benjamin’s focus.
A few minutes later, Mr. Porter arrived at the dinner hall and requested that everybody go outside for sports activities, Benjamin’s most hated subject. Following in line from the dinner hall into the wide open space of the outside playground, Benjamin could feel his tormentors watching him from a distance, waiting for the right time to get him on his own again.