As Lisa opened the doors to the assembly room, the words from the headmaster could be heard bellowing out from the PA system, as he spoke into the microphone. Billy could see that there was hundreds in the hall and they were seated in two sections with an aisle in the middle of the congregation like a church set-up.
Hand in hand with Joseph, Billy quietly entered the room that was holding at least two hundred people, and urged Lisa to come with him to walk to the corner of the hall and stand behind the people who were seated in the last row of chairs, he then lowered his head. He felt it was time he needed to be there, but he didn't want to be recognised either.
The headmaster continued with his talk, telling the audience how the three 'angels' were now in the care of God, and that he prayed every day for their souls. As the headmaster continued to speak to the audience that consisted mainly of relatives and children of the school, he looked up and suddenly stopped in mid-sentence, which made Billy hold his breath. Billy was still gazing at the floor, and knew he had been spotted. Lisa tugged on his shirt and he knew why she was doing it.
"Excuse me!" came the voice over the PA system. The headmaster scrunched his eyes and waved his arms. "You at the back!"
The crowd, which included parents, grandparents and children, turned around to glare at the Jones family standing up at the back in the corner of the hall.
The headmaster tried to compose himself and puffed out his chest, trying not to let the emotion of the day get to him. He said, "I believe there are empty seats here at the front." He pointed to the front, beckoning the Jones family to sit down with the rest of them. "Please, sit down…Mr. Jones."
There were a few gasps amongst the congregation and Lisa took Billy by the hand, and swiftly threw her head to the side as if to say to Billy, come on. She gently pulled the reluctant man with him as they slowly walked down the aisle that split the attendance in two. With Joseph still holding onto his daddy, all three family members walked slowly holding hands with an embarrassed Billy in the middle.
Some people remain seated, most slowly got to their feet, and as he felt the eyes of these people glaring at him, Billy heard the sound of people talking amongst themselves growing louder. Billy tried to quicken his pace, but couldn't seem to get to the front quickly enough. It reminded him of running down the hall on the day of the massacre; it seemed to have taken forever to get to that door that led to the nursery room. The chattering amongst the attendance grew even louder as the Jones family progressed down the aisle with astonished eyes following their every move.
At first he heard the sound behind him, it sounded like hands clapping. Then within seconds, the sound began to snowball and Billy and his family, who were now ten yards away from the front, looked around and saw the full attendance of the assembly hall applauding the man.
The sound in the hall was almost deafening, and a woman of about seventy, suddenly walked into the aisle in front of Billy and his family and hugged the man, and then kissed him on the cheek. "God bless you," she said wearily, and then burst into tears. "God bless you." Billy didn't know who the woman was. A grandmother maybe?
Most people restrained themselves, as if they knew this was not what Billy Jones wanted, but some people couldn't help themselves. He felt dozens of hands patting him on the back; he turned around once more and saw people in tears. He was then given another hug by another individual, but this time by a woman he recognised right away. It was Pauline Wherton, Katie Wherton's mother. The same Katie Wherton who Billy had found stabbed repeatedly in the back—the inquest claimed it had been four times, she embraced Billy and whispered, "It gets easier," in his ear.
He gave her a warm smile and still managed to keep a hold of Joseph with his other hand, but the chain had been broken as Lisa was now behind him. He saw Gary Anslow near the front, and he gave Billy the thumbs up. Billy responded with a polite nod.
Before he could sit down, he saw a young boy with red hair, standing next to his mother and father, the boy smiled at Billy Jones. The young boy's eyes were wide and watery and seemed pleased to see him. Billy recognised the young boy, although he looked older, he still remembered the face. He waved at the young boy, and the boy waved back showing his deformed right hand with the index and the forefinger missing. Billy felt the urge to go over and give young Thomas Nordin a huge hug, but he found himself being gently ushered away.
Billy, Lisa and Joseph finally managed to get to their seats. A few more pats on the back from the row behind him occurred as he made himself as comfortable as he could be, and once Billy got settled, he began to feel emotional. He looked around to see if Ali and his family were present: he knew they were there, but he couldn't see them with the amount of standing bodies that were blocking his view of the hall.
A tidal wave of emotion crashed over him; the lump in his throat grew to such a size it would have been impossible to speak; two single tears left each of his eyes and a dull throbbing in the middle of his chest had affected his breathing. After a few deep breaths later he had managed to compose himself, he had managed to hold his emotional breakdown to a halt. He was hoping that he would be able to contain himself until he got back to his apartment.
The headmaster wiped his eyes with a hankie, and looked at the Jones family. He beamed at the family and then looked up to the rest of the audience, and cleared his throat loudly.
"Let's continue, " he spoke.
The end
Thank you so much for spending the time to read Billy.
It is much appreciated.
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—Harry Truman.
Billy (a novelette) Page 6