The Mob from TAC

It was Wednesday morning. Jason Carroll, the Te Arawa College principal, sat in his office facing one of his teachers. He scratched his balding head and repositioned himself in his chair. He'd noticed lately that this was becoming increasing difficult due to his ever-increasing size. He didn’t feel he was too fat yet, but it was starting to bother him a little, especially considering his pants didn’t fit as comfortably as they once did. At least he still looked smart in his suit, despite his trousers and shirt feeling tight. He certainly felt he looked tidier than the scruffy PE teacher who sat in front of him.

  ‘Mr Harris, how are you this morning?’ Mr Carroll said, trying to overlook his work colleague’s dubious dress code. He shuffled some papers on his desk, adjusted his glasses and awaited his reply.

  ‘Not bad, not bad, yourself?’

  ‘Well, I’ve been a bit tired lately. Don’t seem to have much energy, must be coming down with something. Anyway, I’ve called you to my office for two things. The first matter, although quite trivial, is the one I will address first.’

  ‘Don’t tell me.’ A gleam appeared in Mr Harris’s eyes. ‘There have been complaints that I’ve been murdering my students, right?’

  ‘Well, you could say that. There have been a couple of complaints...’

  ‘Only a couple?’

  ‘Yes, I don’t know whether that’s because some haven’t bothered to complain or because they aren’t aware of what’s going on. But a couple of mothers have rung to complain about what they see as abuse, with you shooting their sons with paintball pellets.’

  ‘Would one of those be Mrs Pyles by any chance?’

  ‘No.’

  ‘That’s a surprise.’

  ‘Why?’

  ‘Well, her son’s black shorts usually go home green after one of my PE classes.’

  ‘I see.’ Carroll tried to hide his amusement. ‘Is it necessary to shoot the students at all though?’

  ‘Those are my methods. They’ve been successful in the past. When you hired me, you knew my credentials. You had a problem with unfit lazy students and poor quality sporting teams. With my methods I can assure you that there will be vast improvements right across the board.’

  ‘Well, yes, I definitely agree that we’ve been a bit soft on them in the past. But aren’t you going a bit overboard?’

  ‘I don’t see it that way. Discipline has to be maintained and boys must be pushed. It’s the only way to get them up to scratch. They’ve had it too easy for far too long, playing sports every week. They get that every second Friday afternoon so they definitely don’t need it in Physical Education as well. Physical Education is all about fitness. All about learning to keep your body in good physical order through things like running, swimming and weight training, not through playing softball and namby-pamby games like that.’

  ‘True, but you haven’t even taken them swimming yet. You should, while it’s still summer time.’

  ‘Don’t worry, I will. I intend giving them some marathon swims to do. Maybe even in the river?’

  ‘That river is too dangerous.’

  ‘Pah! Dangerous smangerous! If they put in a little effort, they’d be fine.’

  ‘We almost had a boy drown in that river last week and one drowned in there three years ago. Besides, the swimming pool is there for swimming. We don’t need the river.’

  ‘Mmmm. Well, if you really do insist.’

  ‘You know you could get them to play a sport once and a while. Physical games like rugby and soccer have their merits as far as fitness is concerned.’

  ‘We’ll have to see about that. It would have to be a physical game. None of these namby-pamby standing-around-for-half-the-match type of games.’

  ‘That’s up to you.’

  ‘If I can’t work my way and do things my way, then there is no point in me being here. I get results, Mr Carroll and sure my methods may be a little extreme, but we need more of that in this day and age. There are laws against physically punishing students, but there are certainly no laws against shooting them, are there?’

  ‘Well, no.’ Mr Carroll chuckled. ‘There is no written rule in the school code about it, but...’

  ‘Those students need toughening up. They’re too soft. They’ll thank me for it later on down the track, you’ll see. Once they’re doing 50 K runs and power lifting 1 to 2 hundred kilograms, they’ll thank me.’

  ‘Well, we’ll just have to see what happens. We may be able to quash the rebellion temporarily, but if more parents complain, there may be further problems. Let’s hope not. But anyway, on to a more important matter...’

  ‘Don’t tell me. You’ve given some thought to my idea about holding a midwinter swimming sports day later this year?’

  ‘No, I haven’t Mr Harris and I very much doubt whether we will be having one. It wouldn’t be very pleasant for the students.’

  ‘That’s the idea. A chance to toughen them up a bit. Nothing like standing around on a freezing cold day in your swimsuit and then diving into an ice-cold pool for a one-kilometre swim.

  ‘That may be your cup of tea, Mr Harris, but not anyone else’s.’

  ‘Pah! The trouble with you New Zealanders is you’re too soft! In England, it’s freezing all year around. Even in summer the swimming pools have a layer of ice over them.’

  ‘Come now, that’s an exaggeration, surely?’

  ‘Well, where I come from they do. You know I have a wonderful idea for the cross-country this year. I have an idea for a new course, one that will be a lot more challenging than the one we currently have.’

  ‘The one we have is challenging enough.’

  ‘Pah! It’s about as challenging as a game of Snakes and Ladders. We should extend the run — make them go to New Plymouth and back. Wonderfully scenic route.’

  ‘That’s over 30 kilometres! You must be mad. Our kids could never run that far.’

  Mr Harris drummed his fingers on the desk. ‘That’s because they haven’t been trained properly. One year with me as their physical education instructor and they’ll be considering a run like that recreational!’

  ‘Well, we’ll have to see how they shape up. Anyway, the other reason I called you in is we are having a new student start at this school in a couple of week’s time.’

  ‘Who is he? A member of the royal family?’

  ‘Far from it. This particular student has been expelled from another school.’

  ‘What’s it got to do with me?’

  Mr Carroll leaned back in his chair. ‘Well, let me tell you a little more about this boy. He’s a 15-year-old by the name of Rex Cassidy. He was expelled on the second day of school this year.’

  ‘Gordon Bennett! Must have been serious.’

  ‘Fighting and disrespect to teachers.’

  ‘They expelled him for that? I could understand if it was a recurring thing, but after only two days?’

  ‘It was a recurring thing. It had been going on the previous year too. The new principal decided that he didn’t want this boy in his school and got rid of him.’

  ‘On the second day?’

  ‘He had not been made aware of this student before then.’

  ‘And now this boy is coming here?’

  ‘That’s right.’

  ‘So what, he gets expelled so his parents uproot themselves and move?’

  ‘Well the shift was going to happen anyway, so it turns out. It just meant they had to make the move sooner than planned.’

  Mr Harris drummed his fingers on the desk again. ‘What makes this boy any more special than any other boy who’s been expelled from one school and gone to another?’

  ‘His parents are wealthy.’

  ‘So we’re discriminating in favour of the rich, are we?’

  ‘Not at all. It just so happens that his parents are, as it were, paying Te Arawa College to take him in.’

  Mr Harris stopped drumming. ‘What?’

  ‘They will be paying the school a substantial grant each year he is here. We’re t
alking thousands of dollars here. We will be able to do all the renovations we’ve been planning for the last five years. We’ll be able to pay off our loan on the new pavilion quicker or upgrade our computers. This is a golden opportunity for Te Arawa College.’

  ‘Gordon Bennett, I know that boys get into fights every now and then, I personally don’t have a problem with that and boys do tend to disrespect their teachers quite a bit, especially if they’re useless, but to pay a school to take a student on? There’s more than meets the eye here. Surely, he must be guilty of a lot more than just fighting and disrespect?’

  ‘Unfortunately yes…’ Mr Carroll sighed. ‘His record is a lot worse than that. Fighting and disrespect are only the tip of the iceberg. He’s guilty of about everything except smoking and taking drugs.’

  ‘Well, at least he respects his body.’

  ‘He’s also quite an athlete.’

  ‘He is?’ Mr Harris’s eyebrow pricked up.

  ‘I thought you’d like the sounds of that. That’s why we are going to ask you to get alongside this boy. Keep an eye on him, be his mentor. I think a tough, no-nonsense, former army Sergeant Major like yourself, may be just what this boy needs to make him tow the line.’

  ‘Hmmmm.’ Mr Harris rubbed his cheek with his index finger. ‘I think I could sort this lad out.’

  ‘That’s what we’re hoping. If anybody can do it, you can.’

  ‘When will I meet the new recruit?’

  ‘Not sure at this stage. His parents are very difficult to contact. They'll be moving into a place here in Te Arawa.’

  ‘I see. I look forward to meeting this boy.’

  ‘Yes... Well, I don’t know whether I am.’

  CHAPTER 16:

  Incident at the Pool