* * *

  (Hey Doogle. If you’re reading this: Don’t worry; it’s OK. That was all years ago now. Go back and visit the school again sometime. You wouldn’t believe how much the place has changed.

  You’re a legend, mate. We all are. The boys have incorporated what we did into their own school team-spirit psyche thing. Like that SAS motto. You know, “Who Dares Wins”? …Only they call it: “The Late Run.”

  They’ve even made a flag. It’s black, with three dark brown bottles on it, like the spokes of a wheel. In green letters across the top it says, “The Late Run”. Down the bottom it says, “Three Of Us”.

  Each term on the first windy night the name of one of the boys is drawn from a hat. After lights-out he has to creep outside and fly it somewhere, in the most daring place he can. Then he has to take it down just before daylight so it’s not confiscated.

  After that he gets to wear the Late Run badge for the rest of the term. It’s a little gold safety-pin with three of those tiny glass beads on it. Brown ones.

  It’s so small that no one notices it.

  And listen, Doogle. Don’t worry about the fifteen bob, mate. It’s jake.)

  * * *