All Happy?

I walked up the steps from the playground. Up the stairs to our classroom on the first floor. Mr Walsh walking up quietly behind me. I went to stand in front of his desk, as I thought he would want me to. Then he spoke quietly. “Mr Dwyer?” I turned to where he was, gesturing me to come and stand beside him at the window, which overlooked the playground. I stood next to him. He scanned the play areas below. It was noticeable, that many children were still under the covered area, enjoying an ice block. Very noticeable in fact. The few who had finished their ice blocks, were walking out happily from the shade and up to the play field on the upper side of the school. Mr Walsh didn’t say anything. He just watched for a moment. Then, he started quietly. ‘How would you describe the other children in your class today, Mr Dwyer (Still Mr Dwyer, so he was wanting me to listen very carefully). I  paused. “They are all very happy, Mr Walsh?” I suggested tentatively, thinking of all the faces I had watched getting an ice block. “Are they? Yes, they do seem to be very, very happy don’t they?”He replied. “Yes”, I continued a little more confidently. “All of them?” he asked. I looked down at the students below me. “Yes” I answered even more confidently.

He turned towards me. So, following his lead, I turned and faced him. Smiling. He wasn’t. I stopped smiling. Confused. “What about E….. and  K…. ? (I have still not put in their names, so you won’t know who we are referring to. Of course if they read this blog, they will know exactly who they are), He asked. I looked at him. I wondered momentarily if I could pretend to ‘not’ know what he was referring to.

“Should any members of your IMF team be caught… the secretary will dis-avow all knowledge of you” ran through my mind again (no theme music this time, just the sound of a bell). ‘E… and K… , Sir?” I spoke calmly (the sound of the bell was tolling now). “Yes, Mr Dwyer.” He sounded more stern now. “E…. and K…. are not happy are they? He spoke very seriously. “And you would know why.” “Yes, Sir” Mr Walsh continued. “You would know that the money they had for their lunch was stolen from their cubby.” At the word ‘stolen’ I felt a pang in my chest.

In literature, they often refer to the ‘romantics’. That period of the arts where certain values, were held as ideals. Directing the moral compass of society, by highlighting the greater good. Robin hood was ‘painted’ with that brush. But despite all he had suffered before becoming the outlaw he is so famous as, he also did some pretty bad things. There was nothing ‘romantic’ about it. The idea of sharing the wealth, I suppose, is simply socialist. Was that what I was at heart (and still am)? Is it possible I have in me, a greater feeling of the need for social equality above all else?

(Continued tomorrow)