He could hear screaming and shouting before Wendy came into view.
Three other senior pupils were over the fence and in knee deep stagnant water. This was the notorious swamp in the neighbour's property. Noel's eyes, though, were on the sobbing thirteen-year-old girl who was further out in a circle of grey gunk. Her thrashing body had moved the green slime across the rest of the surface and, even as he watched, the clinging ooze splashed across her mouth.
Noel turned to the senior children. "Go back and ask Miss Voss or Mrs. Woolstone to get the school extension ladder. It is in my car shed. Understand?"
"We're here," Kate called out. She stood by the fence with a long skipping rope in her hand. "We'll get it."
Noel turned and waded in as far as the pupils had and stopped. He knew that if he went further he could very well be sucked down himself. Once caught like Wendy, there was no way to get free. Only a few weeks previously a cow had been caught in the swamp and was sucked under before anyone knew where it was.
Wendy still had her two arms out and was trying to use them like a swimmer to propel herself forward but only succeeded in being sucked further in. A long whimpering cry of sheer terror filled the air.
"Stop it, Wendy!" Noel snapped in his most formidable voice. "Put your arms out wide and stop thrashing around.
"Mr. Overworth!" screamed the girl and thrashed harder.
"Stop it, Wendy!" Noel commanded. "Stop it!"
Wendy's terrified eyes looked at him but she obeyed.
Her arms went wide. She dropped, mud covered her chin and she immediately started to panic again. Arms flung wildly and waves of mud shot out in huge circles. Noel edged forward but his front foot began to sink. He turned and found a hand gripping his. It was Kate.
"I've got you, Noel," she panted. "Sarah's taken some senior children to get the ladder."
Noel glanced up and saw a line of children behind the fence. Two girls were cuddling Alexia but closer; Kate was bending across the mud with a hand outstretched. Behind her, holding her other hand were two more senior pupils.
"Thanks," Noel replied and turned back to Wendy.
She was in a desperate situation. Just one arm now remained free and, only by tipping her head back did she succeed in keeping her face out of the ooze. She had stopped screaming but the petrified eyes focused on Noel and a wide mouth spat out mud. This told him everything.
"My hand!" Noel forced himself to remain calm. "When I reach for you grab my wrist, not just my fingers. Understand!"
"Yes, Mr. Overworth," Wendy sobbed.
"Reach for me, Wendy!"
Noel leaned forward but she was out of reach. He stepped forward, found something firm under his front foot and moved towards the girl.
"I can't reach!" she screamed as her head went down.
My God, she was going under!
"Grab my legs," he screamed back at Kate and plunged forward like a swimmer doing a belly flop into the swimming pool.
Cold stinking mud gripped him and he could feel the octopus like suck on his skin but where was Wendy!
Holly shit; there was only a mob of hair visible.
He plunged forward with outstretched hands fanning out in the girl's direction. She was there! He had her under the armpits.
With all the strength he could muster, he lifted her girl but the action immediately forced him down. Stinking mud was sliding up his nose choking him. Noel knew that if he let Wendy go there would never be another chance! He shut his eyes, held his breath and yanked.
God! She was a heavy girl and it was all dead weight.
He could sense someone pulling him, perhaps two people, and he found he could see the sky and suck in oxygen. Then right in front of him almost touching his nose was the mud-covered face of his pupil. Her eyes were alive and so close they were out of focus.
"Around my neck, Wendy!" he spluttered. "Put you arm around my neck." He tried to smile. "Don't choke me, though."
Two arms seized him. She clung on and almost pushed him under again. Noel was vertical now but there was nothing firm beneath to support his weight. He grunted with exertion, gripped her body and lifted. My God she moved. He lifted again and found he was looking at her neck and hair; hair caked with the grey mud.
He took a calculated risk and let his arms slide down to grip Wendy's waist but the hold was not firm. Damn, he was going to lose her again.
In another desperate plunge, he reached down further and found a leg. He held her and heaved. More mud covered his face so he took another breath as the suffocating ooze reached his nose. At the same time he pulled rather than pushed and found Wendy's waist plastered into his face. That was good. She must be half out of the water.
Go on my beauty, he thought rather than spoke and managed to reach the surface with the girl firmly held around the legs. He could hear her sobbing and another voice.
"The rope! Grab the rope." It was Kate calling.
He saw a circle of rope lying on the mud but both hands were still holding Wendy. He couldn't let go! But she had calmed a little, was rational and managed to reach out to grab the rope.
"Put it under your arms, Wendy," Kate called. "Loop it under your arms!"
The girl managed this manoeuvre and Noel saw her being pulled towards shore. Only then did he let her legs go and reached further down. His two cupped hands found a foot and he heaved. The momentum plunged Wendy forward into Kate's waiting arms.
Noel's heard a sort of swish and saw the ladder splash down in front of him. He grabbed it and finally managed to see what was happening. Sandra and the pupils had placed the extension ladder diagonally across the corner of the swamp. He could see it leaning on the solid bank but had no idea what was at the other end.
Words he couldn't comprehend were being called out and he realized the ladder was firm. Kate, stood chest deep in the swamp with Wendy held in a sort of swimming rescue hold.
"Right, Wendy," Noel spluttered. "We'll lift and you try to roll onto the ladder. Okay."
"Yes, Mr. Overworth," Wendy replied in an amazingly calm voice.
Noel caught Kate's eyes. She seemed to have a firm footing rather than be semi-floating like he was. "On three," he said and she nodded.
They both heaved and Wendy grabbed the ladder. Her grip, though, was insecure and she began to slide back.
"Again!" Kate called and, on the second heave, the Form Two girl managed to pull herself onto the ladder.
Hands reached out and she was ashore in Sandra's arms.
Noel pulled himself forward and found the secure ledge Kate was standing on. He stood up and hoisted her onto the ladder. The rest was almost an anticlimax as he used the ladder to pull himself ashore and staggered out onto the bank.
Wendy, completely covered in stinking grey ooze and green slime turned from Miss Voss and flung her arms around his slime-covered body.
Only then did the girl lose control again and burst into tear jerking sobs. "Mr. Overworth," she wept. "You saved me. I would have drowned but you saved me."
"We all did, Wendy," Noel replied and flushed. After all one of the cardinal rules of teaching was that you never touched your pupils. Wendy wasn't just a pupil but a very mature young lady. He grinned, patted her back and let her go.
"We'll get you back to school and ring your mum." He smiled and became the headmaster again. "Okay children," he called. "Everyone back to school. You know the pine trees are out of bounds!"
"You look a mess, Mr. Overworth," one of the younger pupils yelled.
"But look at Wendy and Mrs. Woolstone. Even Miss Voss is covered in yuck!" another said.
Noel looked around and smiled. Sarah was almost as sodden as himself except that her head was still clean and Kate had mud down her front where Wendy had grabbed her. As well, half a dozen senior pupils were somewhat mud splattered.
"Hold the bell for half an hour," Noel ordered. "A few of us need to get cleaned up."
They all made there way back to school and Sarah took Wendy over to th
e house for a hot shower.
"You go too, Noel," Kate said. "I'll look after the children."
"Thanks, Kate," he said. "Without that ladder I doubt if we would have made it."
"Just staff co-operation," she chuckled. "I also rang Wendy's mum and she'll be here soon."
LEANNE MCEWEN'S CAR roared in fifteen minutes later and an apprehensive woman broke into a smile as she saw her daughter running towards her over the lawn. Wendy was all crisp and clean in clothes Noel recognized from Lisa's wardrobe.
This time the girl's tears were those of joy as she hugged her mother and explained what happened.
"Tony grabbed one of the little kids' balls and booted it way up in the air, Mum. It went clear over the pines and disappeared. Poor wee Sally was balling her eyes out so I went to get it for her. It had landed just off shore in the swamp. When I reached for it, I slipped..." She turned to Noel who was standing by her mother. "I'm sorry, Mr. Overworth. I only wanted to get Sally's ball. It was her new one she only brought to school today."
"I see. Tony," Noel called in a stern voice. "Get over here!"
The Standard Four boy came forward with a quivering lip. "I was only having fun, Mr. Overworth," he said. "The wind caught the ball."
Noel tried to remain serious but the boy was almost in tears. "That's why we have rules, Tony," he said quietly. "And you know we help each other here at Ashleyvale. We don't tease younger children."
"I'm sorry, Mr. Overworth."
"Okay," Noel said. "I believe you are. If you apologize to Sally we'll forget about it."
"I already have," Tony replied. "We got her ball back, too."
"Good, so I hope you learnt your lesson, Tony," Noel said.
Leanne McEwen watched the exchange and also heard the full story of Wendy's rescue from the lips of half the school. She walked across to Noel with tears in her eyes and hugged him. "We owe you, Noel," she said quietly. "From what Wendy said you saved her life."
"Well..." Noel replied.
"No I mean it," the woman said. "And that way you dealt with Tony. Your predecessor would have cut him down like a knife with a sarcastic reprimand."
"We all had a fright, Leanne," Noel replied. "Tony was already terrified. I don't think he'll ever kick a ball away again. He didn't need a further punishment. Now take Wendy home and I'll get the school in." He glanced sat his watch. "It's only forty minutes until home time."
"Can I stay, Mum?" Wendy interrupted.
Leanne looked at her daughter. "Do you really want to?"
"I do, Mum," the girl replied.
"Right." Her mother smiled. "I'll go and visit wee Alexia and Sarah. She might need a hand with all those dirty clothes."
AS NOEL FOLLOWED HIS children indoors, Kate came up and tucked her arms around him. "I'm so proud of my boss," she said in a whisper and kissed him on the lips before she slipped away back to her class.
Noel's face burned until he realized nobody had seen them. The children were indoors and he could see Leanne with Sarah and Alexia way across the playground.
The class was quiet with every child reading a library book under Wendy's care. As the only Form Two this year, she was like another staff member rather than a pupil. Hell, she looked like Lisa, dressed in his late partner's jeans and jersey. Memories flooded back and a lump appeared in his throat.
"WE HIT THE FRONT PAGE, Noel," Kate said the next morning when she walked into his classroom at quarter to eight with the Otago Daily Times in her hand.
"What?" Noel grunted.
He looked up from where he was sweeping. With all the excitement from the day before, he hadn't swept the room out.
Kate laid the paper on a pupil's desk.
Headmaster Saves Pupil From Certain Death the headline blazed and a photo, showing Wendy in running shorts at a recent inter-school cross country event, filled almost quarter of the front page.
"...And where did they get the photo? I've never seen it before."
"Beats me," Kate said. "Probably from one of the parents."
She plunked herself down on a chair and began to read the story. It gave a very accurate and detailed account of the rescue with Noel being given credit for the way he. A glowing comment on how popular he was as the headmaster of Ashleyvale School followed.
"Careful, you'll get a swirled head," Kate chuckled.
Noel, though, frowned. "Damn," he said. "Now I'll have to fill in an accident report and send it to the Otago Education Board."
He found out later that it was Leanne McEwen who had phoned the paper and Kate, herself, who provided the eyewitness report on the events.
At five past three the climax arrived when the District Senior Inspector of Schools, the biggest of the big chiefs, rang to congratulate him for rescuing his pupil.
Noel, though, appreciated more than anything; a small gift Wendy brought him the next day. It was a little teddy bear wearing a home knitted sweater. A note was stitched on it. Mr O. the Best Teacher in the Universe. Luv Wendy.
"I thought Alexia could play with it," she said in a surprisingly shy voice. "Mum bought the teddy and I made the sweater last night."
"Oh Wendy," Noel replied. "It's lovely. I'll cherish it always. Thank you."
Even though it was strictly taboo, he reached out and gave his eldest pupil a tiny hug.
Afterwards he stepped back, smiled and reached into his desk draw. "I have something for you, too," he said and brought out a large envelope with a blue and red crest of a stylised thistle in the corner and handed it to Wendy.
"The prospectus from Southland Girls' High School," Wendy said in a hushed voice. "Mum went there and has enrolled me for next year." She looked up. "I don't want to leave here, Mr. J, I never want to leave."
She took the envelope and walked away without even opening it. However, when she arrived at her desk she turned. "I'm going to be a teacher just like you, Mr O, I know that much."
"And you'll make an excellent one, Wendy," Noel replied.
AT LUNCH TIME NOEL plucked up the courage and showed Kate his Kimbolton School appointment letter
"So it's back to the North Island, Noel," Kate said in a neutral, almost cold voice. "A Grade Two school. That's a great promotion. Congratulations."
"I have a little over a week to make up my mind," Noel muttered as he took the letter back, folded and replaced it in the envelope.
"So why the indecision?" Kate replied with her voice still remote.
"You," Noel stuttered.
"Me?" She fixed her eyes on him and a wee slither of warmth showed. "You don't need to worry about me, Noel. I'll survive."
"I'm sure you will but I won't," Noel whispered.
"I see," Kate replied softly but refused to say any more.
Worse though, was that the next evening she refused to meet Noel in the medical room, "We have decisions to make, Noel," she said in a stubborn voice. "It cannot be clouded by our passion." She grimaced. "And what about Margaret?"
"I don't want Margaret," Noel replied in his own determined voice.
"Then tell her, Noel," Kate snapped. "You were going to weeks ago but haven't. I've been patient because..." She stopped and pursed her lips.
"Because what, Kate?" Noel whispered.
She looked up. "I love you, Noel," she burst out and, before he could respond she ran from the room.
A moment later Noel heard her car start and saw the Mini drive away.
"Oh shit," he sighed.
An unexpected voice made him jump in surprise. "So you told her about your new job, Noel?" Sarah's quiet voice said from the classroom door where she stood with Alexia in her arms.
Noel swung around. "Yes," he replied.
"And her reaction?"
"She was as cold as ice and told me she loved me."
"So why aren't you thrilled?"
"It's too soon," Noel muttered.
"After Lisa's death, you mean?"
"I guess. Other things, too."
"Margaret?"
"I d
on't love Margaret but I don't want to hurt her, Sarah. If it wasn't for her those first few weeks, I don't know how I would have survived. I feel I owe her."
"But you love Kate?"
"Possibly."
"Do you or don't you, Noel?"
"Yes," Noel whispered. "Sometimes I think I love her more than Lisa." He glanced up. "Is that wrong, Sarah?"
"No," the woman who would have been his mother-in-law replied. "It is not. Lisa's gone, Noel and you can't live on memories. She would have been the last one to wish that on you."
"So what do I do?"
"Get in your old FJ and follow Kate. It's crunch time, Noel. She's been damn patient with you but I have a feeling if you do nothing you will lose her. A young woman like her can only take so much." She smiled. "It's still not too late. I saw the love in her eyes when she was helping rescue Wendy. "
"Okay," Noel said. He kissed both Sarah and Alexia and tore across to his car shed.
Moments later he was on the road heading towards Owaka with his speedometer hovering will above the speed limit. It was a record trip to the town where he braked, skidded around the corner and headed up to the teachers' flats. Thank God! Kate's Mini was on the front lawn.
In one movement, he was out of his car and up to the door. Without even knocking, he raced inside and found a surprised Kate in the kitchen.
"Noel!" she cried.
"Come with me, Kate," Noel gasped.
"Where?" she asked. Her tone was now more curious than cold.
"The North Island. Kimbolton School."
"And why would I do that, Noel?" Kate said in a slow voice.
"Because of what you said, Kate," Noel replied.
Kate flushed but just stood waiting.
"I love you, Kate and want you to come up to the North Island with me next year."
"To live with you?"
"Yes!" Noel almost yelled. He stepped forward but Kate retreated two steps.
She sucked on a bottom lip. "I am not a substitute Lisa, Noel," she said quietly. "I liked Lisa very much and her death was a tragedy but I have different values than her."
Wind Across the Playground Page 10