The following story is a work of complete fiction .... however, who knows?
Short Change.
Chapter One.
Bruce was filthy, not dirty, not a bit messy .... he was filthy, and he didnt mind one bit because he had maintained his 100% record and come first yet again in the inter-schools cross country. St. Thomass may not remember him for his academic qualities, but they could not forget his sporting prowess.
Getting changed in the changing rooms after a major messy cross country was indeed an art form because your first job was to take a shower with your running kit on, which washed off most of the dirt, then you slowly peeled off your sodden clothes and washed all the places that you often wondered how mud got there.
Despite being an old hand at the cross country game, Bruce had yet again made his usual mistake of leaving his underpants on under his shorts and found himself (yet again) kicking his only pair of underwear into the corner of the shower along with his singlet and shorts and cursing under his breath that he would have the usual scratchy walk to the bus stop.
The changing rooms were busy with runners from all the local schools and there was plenty of banter, St. Thomass were yet again the inter-schools champions and a few of the other runners were quite glad that they would probably not be competing against Bruce next year as most would all be moving onto the same high school Larchfield, which had by far, the biggest intake of all the local high schools.
Bruce collected his sodden running kit from the corner of the shower-room, wrung it out and made his way to the bench where his clothes had been hung, well at least they were still hung there when he went into the shower, now there was an empty peg .... and his shoes.
"Alright lads", he said in a fake weary sort of way, "you have had your fun, now where are they?"
A few puzzled looks from those closest by and a few smirks by those who realised his predicament, but no offers for the return of his school uniform, Bruce simply sat on the bench and waited for the culprit to get bored of his little prank and realise that Bruce was not going to take the bait.
Slowly, one by one, the other boys started to leave, Tony Grimshaw and Mark Walmsley who were Bruces closest pals did however hang on with him .... it wasnt long however before they were the only three people in the changing room.
"Would you guys do me a favour?" asked Bruce, "would you go and take a look outside and see if someone has thrown them in a bin or over a fence please?"
Tony and Mark readily agreed, they realised that if they didnt find Bruces clothes soon then they would miss their bus. When they returned ten minutes later without Bruces clothes, the consequences finally dawned on all three of them, Bruce would either have to go home in his still wet running kit, or they would have to try and find the caretaker of the host school to see if he had a lost property box and could make up a makeshift set of clothes for Bruce. The latter was the best option at this time and so Tony agreed to go and find the caretaker and ask him. Fifteen minutes later and now with no chance whatsoever of catching the bus, the last bus, Tony returned with an old guy in a brown jacket and carrying a large plastic box.
"Now then son", said the caretaker, "you do seem to have gotten yourself into a right pickle here, but I am sure I should be able to fix you up with something, I cant promise you designer gear .... but at least I may make you legal" he said with a twinkle in his eye and a smile on his face that told that he had seen this type of situation before.
"I take it you won then did you?" asked the caretaker.
"Yes, I did" replied Bruce, "Are you telling me this always happens to the winners?"
"Aye!" responded the old man "has done for generations, your not the first and I am sure you will not be the last".
The old man was digging around in the box and shaking his head.
"A shirt should not be a problem, a lot of kids leave their football tops on pegs and just never come to collect them" he said, as though to himself "but trousers, I cant remember seeing anyone go home without their trousers on lately".
Bruce was genuinely starting to get a little afraid at this stage, as it was a Sunday and he could not even ask Tony or Mark to nip around to a local shop as they were all closed.
"Shorts?", enquired Bruce, "you must have some football shorts in there?"
The old man apologetically shook his head, "Had a couple of pairs last year, but they all seem to have been claimed or used throughout the year".
The old man sat down on one of the benches and scratched his head, "I really have not got a clue what I can do for you son".
All four of them were silent for a while, when the caretaker clicking his fingers broke the silence.
"What size waist are you son?" he enquired.
"30 inch" replied Bruce, "why?"
"There is another storeroom in the main school building, it contains, amongst other things a whole range of school wear that the school bought from a local outfitters that were going out of business years ago" responded the old man cheerfully .... "you just hang on there son .... no second hand trousers for you, you can have brand new still in the bag trousers"
Bruce sat down and waited for the old man to return, he chatted with Tony and Mark and discussed the long walk home they all had, Mark pointed out to Bruce that he should of asked the old man for some underwear too. Bruce dismissed that thought by saying that he would not wear some other kids underpants.
It was about half an hour before the caretaker returned, and he was carrying several polythene bags. "We were beginning to think you had forgotten about us" commented Tony to the old man.
"Well", commented the caretaker, "I didnt think your mate would want to go home in a lovely pleated skirt .... and there were loads of them". The three friends all laughed at the thought. "The problem is son" continued the old caretaker, "The uniforms that we have in stock are from a couple of years ago, my old mind must be playing tricks on me, because I thought it was only two or three years ago, but when I checked the inventory, it was more like twenty to thirty years ago".
"Dont worry about that" exclaimed Bruce, "Trousers are trousers, I probably wont be going to the next school disco in them".
"You would look a right bobby-dazzler in these at a disco" chuckled the old man in his native Yorkshire accent, throwing a bag towards Bruce.
"Bruce, ripped the polythene cover off the trousers and slipped them out of the bag. "Theyre shorts!" stated Bruce "School shorts".
"Oh aye" retorted the old man "thats all kids used to wear in them days, me and all, I never got me first pair of longs until I were seventeen" he reminisced.
"Oh well", replied Bruce "Looks like I am doing the time warp then".
"I noticed you didnt have any socks so I brought you a pair of long school socks too, and then I thought you might as well have a complete outfit" said the caretaker offering Bruce the other bags he had been holding.
Bruce laughed, taking the bags from the kind old man, "I will certainly wear the sweater and maybe even the jacket" said Bruce, "Though I am not too sure about the tie and the cap".
Mark and Tony just laughed at the thoroughness of the kindly gentleman.
The old man just smiled and said "Well you keep them as a souvenir of the day you got all your clothes stolen"
"I will do that" echoed Bruce "and I will remember the kind caretaker without whose help I would be going home naked".
"Think nothing of it son", said the old man, "and if you dont mind me saying so, you look a _d_a_m_n_ sight better in those clothes than other kids do these days"
Bruce looked a proper little gentleman as he shook hands with the old man, "I will be writing to the headmaster to let him know how kind you have been sir"
And with that, the three friends bid the old man farewell and walked outside, two modern kids and one very traditional schoolboy, he even had his cap rolled up in his blazer pocket.
Chapter Two.
The three friends walked and chatted the two miles into Belford, they had considered phoning any of their parents, as all three were certainly tired after the exertions of the cross country, however Bruce had indicated that although he may be the subject of some ridicule, that was a small price to pay as it gave him time to think of a reasonable explanation that he could offer to his father. Mr. Dixon was not an unreasonable man, he was however rather strict when it came to such matters as safeguarding your property.
Bruce was not really too worried as he felt that a simple explanation of the truth would be enough to satisfy his father, after all, Bruce had only done what every single other runner had done, in hanging his clothes on a peg, run the race and then come back to find his clothes missing. Its not really like he could have done anything more to safeguard them.
Tony and Mark were cracking a few jokes at Bruces expense, like telling him he should run home as it was surely past his bedtime. They also egged him on a few times to put the tie and cap on just to finish his outfit.
Bruce was never a boy to let his mates down and duly donned the cap and tie and even pulled his knee socks up and turned the tops over.
"I wonder what it was like to have had to wear a uniform like this throughout your entire school life" commented Bruce.
"Think about the caretaker, he never even owned a pair of long trousers until he was seventeen." recalled Mark "Imagine if any of us were denied the comfort of long trousers for the next three and a half years, we would probably run away from home and join the circus or something".
"I dont really know" replied Bruce, "its not actually as bad as you might imagine, mind you, I would prefer to have some underpants on, this material isnt half itchy"
"So you mean to tell me that you could get by for the next three and a half years dressed like a seven year old?" questioned Tony.
"I am not saying I would choose to" answered Bruce, "but what I am saying is, I can think of many things worse. Sure we would get teased and ridiculed at school, sure we would get cold during the winter, but it wouldnt be the end of the world"
Some two and a half hours after the boys were due to get home, they finally arrived. Tony was given a thorough talking to with regards to not phoning home and letting his parent know what had happened and that he was going to be late. It was pretty much the same for Mark, But when Bruce turned the key in the lock and walked in, his mother and father were sat in the kitchen and their looks of anger turned to amusement when they saw the state of their sons attire. Toby, Bruces ten-year-old brother was sat at the top of the stairs in his pyjamas and he practically fell downstairs at the sight of his brother dressed as a comical schoolboy.
"Bruce dear, what on earth happened to you, we were just on the verge of calling the police" stated his anguished mother, "and what on earth are you doing dressed like that?"
Bruce realised in an instant that he still had his stupid little school cap on his head, "oh mum, its a long story, Im afraid to say that whilst I was having a shower, someone stole my clothes, and the caretaker of Finsbrook grammar managed to find me this to wear. Mark and Tony walked home with me and it was them that egged me on to wear the cap and the tie"
"And very smart you look too Bruce" interjected his father, "Still not an excuse for not bothering to telephone and let your mother and I know that you would be late home".
"The caretaker really couldnt have been more helpful though dad" explained Bruce, "and I promised him that I would make a point of writing to the Finsbrook headmaster to let him know what a really great guy his caretaker was"
"And a very noble gesture that would be" comment Mr. Dixon "However, a more pressing matter would be to find out who stole your clothes and why you obviously showed such little concern as to their safekeeping"
"Dad", said Bruce, I promise you, I did nothing different from the rest of the runners, but I found out from the caretaker that it is a sort of tradition that the winner of the senior cross country gets their clothes stolen .... and this year, it happened to be me".
"Are you telling us you won again Bruce?" asked his mother, full of pride.
"Yes mum, I won again and that made everything worthwhile in the end", said Bruce, immediately realising that his choice of words had not been carefully considered, "obviously, I will do everything in my power to get my clothes back, but what I mean to say is that I didnt really mind dressing like this .... because I won"
"That is good to hear," said his father, "just as soon as you have your clothes back you can stop wearing that outfit to school"
There was a pause, whilst all three of them considered what Mr. Dixon had just said, Bruce couldnt believe that his dad had taken that attitude, he knew he would not really be expected to go to school dressed that way, but just the fact that his dad actually held him responsible knocked all the wind out of Bruces sails.
"Yes Dad", was what he heard next coming from his own mouth.
"Ohhh Bruce", exclaimed his mum, "its going to be so nice to see you going to school dressed properly again".
The sound of uncontrollable laughter came pouring into the room, as Toby just lost it again at this new revelation.
Mr. Dixon, who was as quick as a flash, ignoring Tobys laughter continued "Yes, I cannot think why we ever gave you boys the chance to wear what you wanted to school, it will be so good to see my two sons dressed like I used to dress when they leave for school in the morning"
The laughing from the stairs stopped in an instant, Toby knew better than to shout down that it was unfair, but he too suspected it was just empty words and beside which, Toby also knew that he didnt have any school shorts as he remembered mum finally throwing them out last year stating that her little boy had finally grown out of his smart uniform.
Neither Bruce nor Toby truly expected their parents to even consider really forcing them to return to wearing short pants to school again.
Chapter Three.
As was usual in the Dixon household, breakfast was served first, with the whole family dressed in their nightwear and dressing gowns, after breakfast they made staggered trips to the bathroom and then finally got dressed for school or work. Toby was first to finish and trudged upstairs to use the bathroom. Bruce dallying over his breakfast as he thought over the events of the previous day and his fathers parting shot about going to school in his "little boy uniform", he chose to not even raise the subject just in case they actually decided that he should go through with it.
The lock on the bathroom door could be heard opening and Bruce noted his father give his watch a brief glance. He decided that was a hint that his father was concerned that the boys might be late for school so Bruce excused himself and made his way up to the bathroom. Toby was already in his room getting ready for school when Bruce locked the bathroom door and started having a wash.
When he was done in the bathroom he made his way to his bedroom and started to get ready himself. It was with some trepidation that he opened his wardrobe door to get out his uniform. His shirt was on a hanger, his jumper, his tie .... but no trousers. The pair he had lost the previous day was not his only pair of school trousers, surely his others could not all be in the wash. Surely Mum and Dad were not serious about him wearing shorts.
His silent thoughts were broken and his fears confirmed with the shouting of Toby downstairs .... "I hate you!" .... "Its just not fair!"
Without waiting to have all his fears realised, he remembered that mum always used to keep their school shorts folded in the bottom drawer of his chest of drawers. He sheepishly opened the bottom drawer to see the shorts he had taken off last night, were now neatly folded in the drawer. There was stomping up the stairs and Bruce popped his head around his bedroom door to see a little schoolboy complete with shorts storming into Tobys bedroom.
It was then that the truth and severity of the situation actually dawned on him. He was being forced to go to school in traditional short trousers.
He bravely donned his newly acquired shorts found the accompanying long grey socks and finally his usual shoes. "At least I am not expected to wear the cap" he thought to himself, "that is most definitely part of school uniform at St. Thomass".
He stopped off in Tobys room; Toby was sprawled out on his bed sobbing his heart out. "Its just not fair," cried Toby, "and its all your fault".
"Now Toby," explained Bruce, "One thing it most definitely is not, is my fault, I never chose to have my clothes stolen, I never chose what could be found for me to come home in and I most definitely did not chose to laugh when Dad suggested that I dress this way for a couple of days until I get my uniform back".
"A couple of days", cried Toby, "Have you checked your wardrobe for your other school trousers?"
"Well yes I have checked but guess that they are in the wash, or that mum and dad have hidden them so we dont sneak them out with us and get changed into our longs on the way to school" answered Bruce.
"Oh yes", retorted Toby, "They have hidden them alright, at least the legs of them, Mum has chopped all of our school trousers down to shorts, Dad says we are in shorts at least until we grow out of them .... and maybe even longer than that".
Bruce and Toby both just sat side by side on Tobys bed like two little schoolboys, which for all intents and purposes, they were.
"And if thats not enough" cried Toby, "I have just found out another tradition that Dad is restoring, I am going to get spanked tonight for losing my temper just now".
Please check back soon to read the next instalment of Bruces .... Short Change