Wind Across the Playground

by Ross Richdale

  "No," Noel replied. "He didn't like my workbook and said I had to come to you for help for my music. It's a bit bloody late now, though, isn't it?"

  "Oh Noel," Lisa replied. "Your room is so attractive with all that art on display and those puppets your kids made are marvellous. I reckon you'll do well." She frowned and glanced up. "There is one suggestion, though. Why don't we swap for an hour a week?"

  "What do you mean?" Noel asked.

  "Well, you take my class for art and I'll take yours for music."

  "Will the boss agree?" Noel replied.

  "He suggested it," Lisa said. "Apparently in the city schools they swap classes around a lot."

  "Okay," Noel said with a grin. "I don't mind taking art twice. I can just make my lesson a little easier and repeat it with your kids."

  "Me too, with the music." Lisa smiled at Noel.

  He studied her intense face and body. My God, in that cardigan and tight skirt he could very well.... He flushed at his erotic thoughts.

  "Noel!" the young woman responded. "Stop undressing me with your eyes."

  "Sorry," Noel whispered. God, she was perceptive. "What were we talking about?"

  "My art and your music."

  "Oh yeah. I just wish our grading visits were over, that's all. When do you want to do this week's swap?"

  "How about two and back date it in our workbooks," Lisa said with a grin across her face.

  "Why not?" Noel said. He had never heard of swapping children between classes before but could see this new arrangement working well.

  FOR THE REST OF THE week, the two teachers worked frantically to have everything in place. Lisa's workbook was a dream with each double spread page filled with her neat curved handwriting. In contrast, Noel's had too many blank spaces. In the end he copied huge amounts of Lisa's planning into his workbook and even changed his pen every so often to make it look as if the entries were made at different times. Two terms of art planning were produced and run off on the methylated spirits Banda for distribution to other senior schoolteachers. In return for her help, Noel gave Lisa some of his quite arty charts from an earlier year for her walls. They were slightly faded but this was good as, again, they gave the appearance of being up for a few months.

  Children's books were laboriously marked and Noel even threw Jimmy's storybook away and bought a new one. As well as having terrible writing habits the boy had splashed ink everywhere and had bombers and jet planes drawn all over his covers.

  "Little bugger," Noel grunted

  On Friday afternoon, Lisa was again the only one in the bus. She came forward and kissed Noel on the neck as he drove. "I told Mum I was staying with a friend for the weekend," she said. "My suitcase is in the Morris Minor."

  Noel's heart dropped.

  "I bought new pyjamas," Lisa continued provocatively and caught his eye in the mirror.

  They were at the windy section of road again.

  "A bit cold at this time of the year," Noel replied with his disappointment barely hidden.

  Lisa suddenly burst out laughing. "You're the friend I'm staying with," she said.

  "With me in the school house?" Excitement crept into his voice

  "If you want me, that is."

  "Of course," Noel replied as blood rushed through his body.

  "But you really should control yourself, young man," Lisa teased in a perfect imitation of Old Wayne and gazed at his expanded fly and stretched her legs out beside him.

  "Lisa!" Noel yelled as the bus swerved on some loose gravel. "I'm driving."

  "Okay," the young woman chuckled "Like my new nylons?"

  Noel gulped and almost lost control again when he glanced at the fishnet style stockings.

  "You wait," he said in a quiet voice. He avoided her eyes but a few moments later and while his eyes still gazed out the windscreen, he moved his left hand sideways and squeezed to her leg.

  "Noel!" Lisa screamed, the legs disappeared and she pretended to be furious.

  FIFTEEN MINUTES LATER Noel made love to Lisa on the old couch in the schoolhouse living room.

  "My God!" Noel confessed as they redressed in the steamy room. "I hope I won't get you pregnant."

  "You won't," Lisa replied. "I'm on the pill. Started them three weeks back after my last period." She grinned. "Just in case, you see."

  "But how?" Noel said. He thought the new form of birth control was strictly controlled and only issued on prescription to married women.

  "Well, I went to a doctor and asked." She chuckled. "He was just a wee bit grumpy but when I told him I was sexually active he relented and..." She shrugged

  "Devious," Noel said.

  "No, practical," Lisa replied. "I'm not about to repeat my mother's mistake."

  She said no more but Noel was sure the story would come out sometime.

  ON SATURDAY, A SOUTHERLY squall came over the valley and, with it, a continuous torrential downpour and slips on the country road. Noel and Lisa moved into the empty lounge of the house, lit the open fire, spread out their schoolwork and spent hours, writing, chatting, marking children's work and filling in their brown covered Progress and Achievement Registers. As with the workbooks, Noel's was almost empty and Lisa's bloated.

  "How about a few more arithmetic test marks?" she suggested as she gazed at Noel's half empty page.

  "I left the tests in the cupboard at school," Noel moaned, "I don't feel like driving back to town in this weather."

  "Make them up," Lisa chuckled. "I do."

  "What!" Noel sounded horrified.

  Lisa grabbed her own register and opened it to a very full arithmetic page. "I have a code," she said with a smirk. "That little dot at the bottom of the column means it's a fake mark. The rest are genuine. When I write reports I only take notice of the real ones."

  "Let me see," Noel replied and studied her marks. As the year progressed, the dotted columns grew so, for this term, she had two dotted columns for every legitimate entry. However, without this code, he would never have guessed.

  "Well children's marks rarely change," Lisa explained. "Look at Cynthia here. She's hopeless at arithmetic and her marks range from twenty percent to forty, if she's lucky. Elizabeth, on the other hand, never gets less than eighty."

  Noel looked up and shook his head. "So the quiet, petite young lady with the curvy legs who has graced out staffroom this year is really a scheming..."

  "Watch it!" Lisa warned.

  "I meant to say a conscientious..."

  "That's better," Lisa replied. "We do have a reputation to maintain, don't we?"

  Half an hour later, Noel's brown book was almost as complete as Lisa's was. They smiled at each other achievements and decided to have a break from the work. Hand in hand, they walked out to the laundry, put on raincoats and, for the next two hours, walked over the back paddocks in the downpour. It was cold and water slid down his neck but Noel had never felt so proud and happy as he was on that rainy Saturday. Sensations he never knew he had rose inside. He couldn't place the emotion at the time but then realized he was falling desperately in love with the dynamic young woman sloshing along beside him in his oversized oilskin raincoat and gumboots.

  He wrapped an arm around her and she tucked rain sodden hair into his neck. Blue eyes glanced up at him.

  "Thoughts?" she asked.

  "You," he said and bent down to kiss her cold, wet lips.

  Somehow, even that rain soaked kiss was the best he'd ever had. He didn't think he was falling in love; he knew it!

  "Oh Noel," Lisa whispered. "I wasn't going to let this happen."

  "What?"

  "You and me. It was going to be a bit of fun with an oversexed male. I'd seduce you and then move on. I'd have fun and bugger the consequences," She smiled. "Then the new liberated Lisa Woolstone had to start an affair with you. It's all your bloody fault. Why do you have to be such a warm, considerate loving guy?"

  "Because I'm with you," Noel replied. "That's why."

  He held her clos
e and they kissed, a warm passionate kiss that went on and on. Noel finally stopped and gazed at the blue eyes.

  "Come inside," he said quietly. "I'll stoke up the fire and get us a drink. The embers should still be hot. Do you want coffee as usual?"

  Lisa nodded. "I prefer it to tea," she said and added without a smile. "Another protest against society, I guess. My parents drink nothing except tea."

  CHAPTER 3

  At ten past nine on Wednesday, Mister Mulligan and Wayne Stapleton walked into Room Seven. The inspector stood back with his thumbs in his belt and gazed at the forty children working quietly at their arithmetic.

  "Good morning, Mr. Overworth," Wayne said. "I'm sure you know Mr. Mulligan."

  Noel stared at the monstrous man who towered over him. Shaggy eyebrows almost met in the middle of a tanned face above a red nose caused by too much whiskey, it was rumoured. He wore a brown suit, an old fashioned wide tie and had a handshake that made Noel almost winch in pain.

  "You can introduce me to the children later," he said. "Have you a seat?"

  "Yes," Noel assured the inspector. "There's another teacher's desk at the back of the room. My records are all there."

  "Good," Mulligan snorted and turned to the headmaster. "Thank you, Mr. Stapleton. I'm sure Mr. Overworth can provide me with any other assistance I need."

  With the headmaster dismissed, the inspector strolled around the room, examined four children's exercise books and sat in the rear of the room. For an hour, he wrote copious notes in a little black book while Noel took arithmetic, changed to spelling and finally reading.

  At twenty five past ten, Mulligan stood and walked up to where Noel was taking a reading group for oral reading.

  "Nice country children," he said and left the room.

  Immediately the children who thought they were the ones being inspected broke into talk.

  "He's scary, Mr. Overworth," John said. "He just stares at you."

  "Yeah," Lynn added. "He made me read a whole page from the journal but didn't say a word."

  "I'm proud of you all," Noel said. "Remember after play, take out your story books and continued the story we talked about yesterday."

  The bell rang and Noel walked along the corridor to find Lisa waiting for him.

  "He's coming to me tomorrow," she said. "How's it going?"

  "I've no idea," Noel confessed. "He said about six words all morning. The kids have been good, though. I think they're scared stiff. Even John has been working hard."

  "You'll do well," Lisa said and squeezed his hand. "Just hang in there. By three it'll be all over for you and I'll have one more sleepless night."

  They walked into the staffroom together to be greeted with looks of sympathy by the staff. Nobody liked inspectors in the school and even Wayne looked a quivering wreck.

  The rest of the morning went quite well but John had to start a fight with the girl next to him and Nancy dropped a bottle of ink on the polished floor. The little girl was almost in tears until Noel excused himself from a discussion with the inspector and went to help her clean up.

  "I'm sorry, Mr. Overworth," she cried. "It just slipped."

  "That's okay, Nancy," Noel replied. "There's not harm done. Look, there's a little splash on your dress. Go out and dab water on it then you can go into my cupboard and get a new bottle. I'll wipe the ink off the floor."

  "Gee, thanks, Mr. Overworth," the girl said and tears were forgotten.

  Noel found a wet rag in the corridor sink and sponged the floor. He had almost finished when he glanced up to see Mulligan standing beside him.

  "It was just an accident," Noel muttered. "I don't believe in chastising children when something is not their fault."

  The inspector stared at the disappearing Nancy and reached over for the girl's storybook. She was one of Noel's best pupils and her cursive writing was copper plate. The man read her story and then turned back a page. This one had a coloured drawing and bright margin around the two-page story.

  When Nancy returned the inspector sat in an empty desk beside her and pointed to her last sentence. "So you're trapped in this room in this old castle tower," he said. "What is your topic?"

  "We had a choice of a modern fairy tail or an action story," Nancy replied after she realized the man showed a real interest in her work. "Most of the boys are writing about cowboys or soldiers but I like fairy tales."

  "I see," Mulligan replied. "So what's going to happen in your story?"

  "A prince is coming in a helicopter to rescue me," Nancy replied. "He'll let a ladder down and I'll climb out on the balcony and..." Her excited voice continued and Noel smiled. Perhaps fate took a hand to make his top pupil drop her bottle of ink.

  At eleven thirty, the inspector brought his chair up beside Noel's desk and sat down. "Can the children do something quietly for half an hour. I'd like to discuss your morning?" he asked.

  "Certainly," Noel replied and set the class onto social studies work where they were all colouring in maps and had plenty to keep them quiet.

  "Right," the inspector started. "Jimmy over there can't do the arithmetic, can he?

  "No," Noel admitted. "Usually I take a small group of weaker pupils up with me and we do work with Cuisenaire rods but today..." His voice trailed off.

  "Can you show me after lunch," the inspector added and Noel nodded. There went his planned art lesson.

  Mulligan placed at the open workbook on Noel's desk. "You have an unusually full plan for a male teacher," he said in a monotone. "It's usually the young ladies that do this much. Some of them must work all weekend just writing them up. A bit of a waste really. There's more to life than just school, you know."

  Noel smiled. Perhaps this man was human after all.

  THAT AFTERNOON THE inspector sat down and read through every word he wrote. There were criticisms and positive points, a comment about the bright artwork and a comment about Lisa taking Noel's music. Very little had escaped the man's eyes.

  He finished at three thirty, as Noel had to head out to his bus. "We should be able to get you a couple of extra points for your grading," Frank Mulligan concluded. "The competition this year is quite tight, though, Noel. I'll see what I can do for you."

  He shook hands and it was over!

  "He even called me by my first name at the end," Noel told Lisa half an hour later. "He loved Nancy's story and was impressed by the remedial arithmetic I did with Jimmy's group. I might even get a four, he reckoned."

  "Wow," Lisa replied from the seat behind him. She always sat there, now. "I knew you'd do well. Now it's my turn tomorrow."

  "Yes, he should have seen you first," Noel commiserated.

  "It doesn't matter. You can tell me what he expects," Lisa replied but the light-hearted tone had gone from her voice.

  They reached the schoolhouse and Noel spent the next hour telling his young colleague everything. Afterwards she turned down an invitation to stay for tea, gave him a quick kiss and headed home in her Morris Minor.

  In the morning, she arrived back looking more pale and nervous than Noel had ever seen.

  "I like your new suit, " he said and though how attractive she looked in the red suit, frilly white blouse and light coloured nylon stockings. "I'm sure your charm will work for Old Frank."

  "Thanks," Lisa replied. "I couldn't sleep a wink last night." She glanced at him and smiled. "We'll celebrate in style tonight, shall we?"

  "Sure will, " Noel replied.

  LISA NEVER TURNED UP in the staffroom at morning break so Noel had no idea of how she was getting on. At lunchtime though, his children had just left the room when Lisa came busting in with her face ashen.

  "What is it, Lisa?" Noel asked.

  "The bastard," she replied, her lip quivered and huge tears burst from her eyes.

  "What happened?" Noel continued. He glanced around, saw the room was empty and took her into his arms.

  "Everything is stuffed up," Lisa sobbed. "The kids played up, I bumbled up my physical educ
ation lesson and the cynical old bugger just stared at me. I reckon he was more interested in my boobs than my teaching."

  "Surely that's an exaggeration."

  "Not when half way through my physical education he just shrugged and walked inside. He took the books of the two worse kids in the room and complained because they didn't rule off neatly," she sobbed. "Now I got a bloody run in my nylons."

  "I'll whip down town and buy you a new pair," Noel said quietly. "But don't worry, it's half over."

  "I'm not going back," Lisa snapped. "He wants me to take your bloody class for music and I've got nothing planned."

  "Repeat last week's lesson," Noel said. "The kids loved that song you taught them and they're really good with the actions."

  "But they've only done it twice," Lisa said in a quiet voice. "I can't go back, Noel. Not with that lecherous old bugger staring at me every time I move. I swear he looks down my front when I bend over."

  "You can and you will," Noel snapped in a surprisingly angry voice. "I am not going to have you throw your career away because of the inspector. You're an excellent teacher, Lisa and a damned sight more conscientious than I am. You get back there, forget he's in the room and just do your normal routine. Understand!" He grabbed the young woman's hands and stared at her. "What size nylons do you wear?"

  "Long size," Lisa whispered. She dabbed her eyes and managed a smile. "Thanks, Noel. I feel a little more confident now.

  "Good," Noel replied. "Have your lunch and by that time I'll be back with your new nylons."

  "But I've got no money here," Lisa sniffed.

  "I have," Noel replied. "So you go back for me, even if it isn't for yourself."

  "Yes, Noel," Lisa replied, squeezed his arm and walked out.

  By the time Noel had returned from the dress shop a block away, the lunch hour was almost over, He thought about Lisa and decided to do something. As usual the inspector wasn't at school over lunch but Noel set his class on project work and intercepted the man as he crossed the playground at ten past one.