Enemy Camp by Hill David

Author:Hill, David
Language: eng
Format: epub
ISBN: 9781743487167
Publisher: Penguin New Zealand
Published: 2013-04-08T04:00:00+00:00

February 1943

MONDAY, 1 FEBRUARY The first day of school. Clarry had this huge grin, nearly dividing his face in half. ‘You blokes excited about going back?’ he asked. Barry and I just stared at him.

Barry towed his brother. We passed other kids, all looking gloomy. Clarry yelled to the ones he knew. ‘Hey, I’m coming to school! Great, eh?’ They stared at him, too.

When we were nearly at the gates, he said: ‘Stop here. I’m going to walk the last bit.’ He was already swinging himself out of the trolley, a smile splitting his face again. Mrs Morris had made him wear his leg braces, and he robot-walked in through the gates, an old Railways satchel on his back, chatting to everyone he met.

We had an assembly outside. The headmaster began reading class lists out; we crossed our fingers and held our breath.

You wouldn’t believe it — I’ve got Mr White again! I’m with Barry, and Anzac and Terry, and just about all the kids from last year’s Standard Five. Susan and Margaret are in the class, too. That’s OK.

Barry and I stood grinning at each other. Then we heard Clarry’s name being read out. He’s in Standard Four, and he’s got Miss Mutter! He didn’t seem to mind, though.

There’s a new woman teacher, Mrs Sutcliffe. She said hello. We all turned to face the Union Jack on the flagpole, and sang ‘God Save the King’. Then we marched into our classrooms, while band music played over the loudspeakers. Ahead of us, Clarry swung along with his class. I think his grin must be glued on. I thought of Ito’s son. I imagined the American planes that are dropping tons of bombs on Japanese factories and ports, and I wondered whether schools ever got hit by mistake.

When our class was sitting down (I’m even at the same desk as last year), Mr White smiled, and asked, ‘Haven’t I seen some of you people before?’

We laughed, and he said how pleased he was to have us again, and now we were Standard Six, we were the seniors, and had to set a good example. ‘This time next year, you could be commencing secondary school. I hope you will seize the chance to go. When this war is over, we’ll need young people who are educated and dauntless.’ He looked at me as he said the last word, and I knew he’d be waiting to see whether I looked it up.

Terry and Margaret are the first week’s class monitors. They gave out ink wells, and filled them from the big bottle. Susan has new exercise books covered in wallpaper with yellow flowers on it. I guess that’s alright for a girl.

Cricket at lunchtime, with a tennis ball and an old bat. Clarry hobbled after the ball, and whacked at it like a maniac when it was his turn to bat. ‘Why’s your brother grinning all the time?’ Anzac asked Barry.

As we rode home that afternoon, I glanced at the trolley trundling along behind Barry, and said, ‘Take it easy.

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