[ Pobierz całość w formacie PDF ]
.Karen hears a sobbing and notices that there are quite a few wee Primary Ones in the gathering, some of whom are looking very worried.The absence of adults from this particular area is normally as standard as it is welcome, but right at this moment it seems a bit strange.“Who’s going to look after us?” one of the wee ones asks tearfully.Karen is a Primary Three now and too big to be crying, but the little girl’s question still strikes a chord.She and her friends often ask, “Wouldn’t it be magic if you came in one day and there was no teachers?” but now that it appears to have happened, it doesn’t feel magic at all.It feels quite scary, in fact, and she begins to wonder why, especially at a time like this with the building burnt down, there would be no adults around even to tell them to stay back and not touch anything.Able at last, though briefly, to wrench her gaze from the darkly fascinating sight of this so familiar building ripped open like a doll’s house, Karen casts an eye right around the assembly and takes proper note of who is here.Her attention is caught by the attendance of several older children who should presumably right now be in class over in the unaffected Main Building.She sees a group of Primary Fours, two girls whom she knows to be Primary Fives—Helen Dunn’s big sister Nicola and her friend Pauline—and three boys whom she assumes to be older still.Helen is there too, sticking close to her sister.Karen wishes she had someone bigger to stand next to as well.Also in attendance is Scot Connolly from her own class, about whom she now notices two significantly unusual details: one, that he has a bike with him; and two, that he isn’t wearing school uniform.A few of the children do ride bikes to school, which they normally secure round the back at the big bins, but Scot has never been one of them, as she knows he lives right across the road on Burnside Avenue.“Somebody’ll be along soon,” Helen’s big sister assures the frightened Primary One who asked the question.The girl doesn’t look convinced, and neither at this stage is Karen.“Why are there no teachers here?” she decides to ask.“They’re aw deid,” says one of the bigger boys.“They were aw here last night havin a staff meeting when it happened.”“Aw, naaaaw,” bawls one of the Primary Ones, before bursting out greeting.“Shut it you, ya fanny,” another of the bigger boys warns the first.“You’re upsettin the wee yins.Don’t listen tae him, hen,” he adds, talking to the girl.“Naw, I’m talkin shite,” the first boy admits.“It was just auld Monahan that died.”“I says fuckin shut it, you,” repeats the second, though they are both laughing about it.“It was on the radio,” says Scot.“During the news.They said St Elizabeth’s in Braeside was closed cause of a fire and naebody was to come in the day.That’s how the teachers arenae here.The Primary Fours an Fives an Sixes an Sevens have to go in the morra, but the Wans, Twos an Threes have tae stay aff the morra and Friday.”“We never had the radio on,” Karen says.“Neither did we,” adds Joanne.“They never said anything about it on our radio,” protests Pauline.“It was on Clyde,” insists Scot, sounding like he thinks she’s calling him a liar.“I heard it twice.”“We were listening to Radio One,” Pauline explains.“They never mentioned it on there.”“That’s cause it’s English,” suggests one of the big boys.“My dad always has Radio Four on,” says Nicola.Karen didn’t know there was a Radio Four—just One and Two, like the telly.She doesn’t know what might be on it, but she is fairly certain if Robert Turner was here, he would be calling Nicola a f-u-c-k-e-n snob.“Does anybody know what actually happened?” Pauline asks.“Aye,” says one of the big boys.“Fatty Henderson ate a whole Gregg’s family-size cream cake tae herself an then fuckin exploded.”The boys all laugh, Pauline and Nicola too, and so does Karen, even though she tries not to.Mrs Henderson teaches the Primary Fours, and is the only person in the school fatter than Geraldine.Karen looks around and happens to catch Joanne’s eye, which immediately causes her giggling to stop.Joanne isn’t laughing, but is nodding to herself as she files away who was.“Did you see anything, Scot?” asks Pauline once the joke has died down.“Naw.Ma maw an da did, but.They says there was fire engines an everythin, but I slept through it.I could sleep through an earthquake, ma maw says.I thought they were kiddin me on until it came on the radio.That’s how I came ower tae see.”“You’d think there’d be a teacher here, but,” Karen suggests.“I’m locked oot for the day until my mum gets home.And what about these wee yins?”“If yous need tae phone somedy, I think ma maw would let you use oor phone,” Scot offers.This sounds like a good idea, and Karen is grateful to Scot, whom she quite likes.He is usually smiley and is never one of the ones who bring up her peeing herself that time.Then she remembers that her mum will be at work, not home, and she doesn’t know the number there, so she is still going to be stranded.“Heh, there’s Harris comin,” says one of the big boys.Karen looks towards the Main Building and sees Mrs Harris, the deputy headmistress, walking quickly towards their gathering.Karen feels the same as when she hears her mum’s voice in the downstairs hall on nights when she’s been left with a babysitter.“What are you all doing here?” Mrs Harris calls out as she approaches.“Is Mr Monahan not here?”“No, miss,” several of them reply.“Miss, we never heard the radio,” someone explains.“Well, let’s get you all sorted out.Come up to the Main Building and I’ll make some phone calls.”There are far fewer of them left by the time they reach Mrs Harris’s office.Those who knew their mums would be home simply left as soon as they, like Scot, had satisfied their curiosity with a long enough look at the wreckage.Mrs Harris makes phone calls to parents of those in Primary Four and above, and various arrangements are made.However, it turns out the contact details for the children in the Infant Building were all in Mrs Lanegan’s office.Joanne knows her mum’s work number off by heart, and as a result she is soon told her granny is on the way to collect her.This just leaves Karen and three of the wee ones.Mrs Harris says she is sorry, but they’ll all just have to stay in the Main Building with her until hometime.Karen doesn’t like the sound of this, as she finds Mrs Harris quite scary (though not as scary as Mr Monahan) and she knows it will be a beamer if anyone finds out she ended up playing with Primary Ones and Twos all day.But then Helen says something quietly to her big sister, and Nicola tells Mrs Harris that Karen can come home with them once their mum arrives.Mrs Harris says she’ll have to ask their mum first, but Nicola assures her and Karen that her mum will say it’s okay.Karen likes Helen and is immediately excited by the notion of getting to play with her instead of going to school.She is also very curious to see where Helen lives, as she has heard Robert Turner say Helen is a f-u-c-k-e-n snob because ‘she lives in a boat hoose’ [ Pobierz całość w formacie PDF ]