imageor once in your life you time something perfectly. You race to the cleaner’s cupboard, sliding the last five metres to the door, and turn the handle smoothly, throwing the door open with a huge push. You step over the body of the cleaner who had been eating his lunch just inside the door.

You grab the bucket from the sink, tip out the tea that the cleaner had been brewing in it, and fill it with water. You leap over the cleaner and rush back to the lockers, which are now blazing furiously.

You pour the water over the flames but to your horror the flames flare up even more brightly. Where did you go wrong? You suddenly realise!

It was hot water that you tipped on the fire! Oh no! How could you have been so stupid? You rush back to the cleaner’s cupboard and trip over the body of the cleaner. You jump up and fill the bucket with cold water. You head out the door. The cleaner’s coming back to life and staggering to his feet. Unfortunately the bucket catches him on the side of his head and he goes down again.

Back at the lockers you realise that things are getting serious. The corridor’s full of smoke and flames are leaping up to the ceiling. You pour the water over it again and this time it seems to help a bit. Back to the cupboard again, and there’s the cleaner, on his feet now.

‘What do you think you’re doing with that bucket?’ he asks.

‘Putting out a fire,’ you answer.

‘You put it down,’ he says angrily. ‘It’s against rules for students to touch those buckets.’

‘Well, you do it then,’ you say, getting angry.

‘None of your cheek,’ he says. ‘Now where’d I put my Marmite sandwich?’

‘Is this it?’ you ask, picking up what looks like a dirty bit of rag from the floor. You’ve trodden on it a few times as you ran backwards and forwards, so it’s lost a bit of its freshness. The cleaner goes purple in the face.

‘Get out of here!’ he yells. ‘Get out!’

‘But what about the fire?’ you ask.

‘Never mind the fire! Just get out!’

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