Im going to my room. You have five minutes. If the two boys who were talking dont own up to me, then Ill come back and beat the whole dormitory. A little peer pressure does no harm when one cannot identify the miscreants by other means. If needs be, thrashing ten 12-year-old bottoms will be strenuous but not without its rewards. More likely, two sorry little figures will tap softly on my door (its amazing how softly boys tap on my door when a beating is in the offing!). If I were a betting man Id say Peter and Oliver.
I check my watch: three minutes. I put the kettle on for my evening cocoa (always washed down later with a tumbler of Famous Grouse). The soft tap occurs and I call come in!
One of the banes of a housemasters life is that certain boys present their bottoms for punishment with monotonous regularity, while others (craftier or better-behaved?) appear seldom or never. Statistics (which I keep religiously in the Ledger) show that invariably 8 or 10 boys of the 65 in my care account for 75% of the beatings I deliver. That is why I suspect Peter Dickens will be one of the culprits. Im quite wrong: Ricky and Robin walk in guiltily, avoiding my eye.
What can I do for you, boys? I prompt them.
We were talking after lights-out says Ricky, staring intently at the carpet. Ricky (Ricardo in full) is an Anglo-Brazilian boy of flawless beauty. He was a bit of a tearaway when he arrived at the school about a year ago but quickly learnt the simple equation bad behaviour