I Hear You Calling Page 12

  Rae

  I was so weary by the end of that day, I almost fell out of the car when I parked on my drive and even reaching into the back seat for my lap-top was a real effort.

  Then I heard someone walk up behind me and it startled me so much that I jumped and banged my head on the car roof. The pain seared through my brain and I couldn’t think at all for a few seconds.

  ‘You need to be more careful Rae,’ Jim said as he closed in behind me.

  I swung round to face him and, as I saw his sarcastic smile, a ferocious anger flooded me.

  ‘What the fuck are you doing here? How the hell have you got the nerve to show your face here after you took my dog?’

  ‘I don’t have a clue what you are talking about.’ He was still smiling.

  ‘I know you did it, even though I can’t prove it to the police.’

  ‘Rae, darling, take it easy. We wouldn’t want people to think you are having another break down and imagining things again, now would we?’

  ‘Just go Jim.’ Slamming the car door closed and still rubbing my now aching head I turned away.

  ‘Like I said Rae, you just be careful,’ he called after me.

  A cold shiver passed down my spine; the words were an echo of what Richard had said when he was supposedly channelling my Dad.

  Barney lay cowering in his basket as the china plate hit the wall and broke into bits. Then another one flew through the air and hit the corner of the wall cupboard, smashing with a load crash, the white fragments landed on the floor like china snow.

  ‘Fuck, fuck, fuck you Jim.’ The tears were a furious river blinding my eyes.

  Then I was sliding down the wall until I was sitting on the kitchen floor, head in hands, sobbing and shaking.

  When it felt like the war was over Barney crept out of his basket and sat beside me, mopping up the tears on my face with his huge pink tongue.

  …………………..

  I deliberately waited in my office until Pam rang through to tell me that everyone had arrived and they were ready for me.

  The meeting room in the education building had recently been refurbished and now boasted a huge board room sized beech table with seating for ten people around it. As I walked into the room I noticed immediately that Chris had sat himself at the end of the table whilst Janet, Tom and Richard sat along one side. There was plenty of room for them all to sit together and yet Chris had sat apart. It didn’t bode well.

  ‘Thank you all for coming.’ I deliberately did not look at anyone, keeping my gaze down onto my page of notes on the table.

  ‘I think we probably all agree that this situation has gone on for far too long and so the purpose of this meeting is to find a way forward. We need Richard to be able to receive the education he is legally entitled to.’

  From the corner of my eye I saw that Chris was preparing himself to speak. I carried on quickly;

  ‘And we need to put aside any personal feelings we may have about what has gone on before, and focus purely on making sure that this happens.’

  The only noise in the room now was the frantic scribbling of Pam’s pen as she rushed to record my opening spiel.

  ‘Richard,’ I softened my tone as I looked at the small boy. His eyes were dark ringed and sunk back into his pale face as he looked back at me. ‘You are the main person in this room right now. Tell us what you would like to happen.’

  The child looked immediately at his father before quietly saying ‘I would like to go to school, I get a bit bored at home.’

  ‘And I guess you would like to see your classmates again?’ I asked

  The boy’s facial muscles visibly tightened, ‘No. I mean I would like to go to a new school.’

  ‘I think that would be good,’ Janet agreed. ‘A fresh start would be the best all around.’

  ‘Sadly, it’s not that easy,’ I said. ‘The head teachers of both schools will talk to each other, that is standard practise, and I am sure that Mrs Wilkes will be passing on quite a detailed account of what has happened during Richard’s time with them; therefore I cannot promise you a totally blank sheet to start with.’

  For a split second I thought I heard thunder in the distance then I realised it was the sound of Chris Banks pushing his chair back and standing up.

  ‘That is not fair, that means that awful, bigoted woman can affect Richard for the rest of his time in education. This should not, and cannot be allowed to happen.’

  ‘Mr Banks, please, if you will allow me to carry on……’

  ‘But you are not saying anything new, every time we meet you, you say the same thing. This is a sheer waste of time. It seems to me that the only compromise here is the one where we crawl back to that woman and allow her to brand my son as a lunatic.’

  ‘Chris,’ although not loud Tom’s voice was quite sharp. ‘Be quiet and let Rae finish what she is saying. Please?’

  Chris slumped back in his chair with his mouth tightly shut; it was obvious that he had not calmed down at all.

  ‘What I was going to say is that, if you really want to move to another school, I will also speak with the new Head teacher and give the viewpoint of an independent third party, which may help your case.’

  ‘Well that’s hardly likely,” Chris scowled. ‘Seeing that you don’t believe us either.’

  “It’s not really a matter of what I believe; it’s a case of encouraging the new Head to consider that emotions have become very raised in this case and, therefore, accounts from either party may not be totally factual.’

  ‘Will you please stop referring to my son as a case?’ Janet was tearful. ‘He is just a little boy but, between you, you are turning him into a thing under a microscope.’

  ‘I think,’ Tom said, ‘that it would be good to have a short break, if that would be ok?’ he asked.

  I really just wanted to plough on and get the whole horrible business finished but, with Janet so upset and Pam struggling to keep up with the minutes, it seemed churlish not to agree.

  ‘So Richard,’ I began as soon as we sat down again. ‘What school would you like to go to?’

  The small boy shrugged his shoulders. ‘I dunno,’ he said. ‘One near to my house?”

  ‘There’s a little one on the other side of our estate,’ Janet said. ‘I don’t know what it is called or anything about it really.’

  ‘I think you mean St Josephs,’ I told her. It’s a nice school, smaller than Springhill, but they get good results.’

  ‘Wait a minute,’ Chris interrupted. ‘St Josephs, is that a church school by any chance?’

  ‘It’s attached to St Joseph’s church.’ Suddenly realising the avenue we might be heading down here I added, ‘but they are not over the top on religious instruction.’

  ‘No,’ Chris said. ‘Think of somewhere else.’

  ‘Well the only other school local to you is Baileybrook, but that would involve a fifteen minute drive?’

  ‘That’s no problem,’ Janet jumped in quickly. ‘Do you think it’s a good school for Richard to go to?’

  ‘It has had one or two issues in the past, but with a new Head they seem to be pulling themselves back on top.’

  ‘Fabulous,’ Chris muttered. ‘So these are the options are they?’ He stretched his long fingers out before him and began ticking them off as he spoke; ‘One, return to a school where they think he is a lunatic, two, go to a new school where they will think he is the anti-Christ or three, go to a school where they are crap at their job. And you tell me that this is in the best interest of my child?’ He glared across the table at me as he closed his fingers back into a tightly formed fist.

  ‘I’m sorry Chris.’ When he put it like that I actually did feel some sympathy for him. ‘But I promise you that I will do my utmost to make sure that Richard feels supported and that he is accepted into Baileybrook if t
hat is what you decide upon.’

  ‘Do they have to decide now?’ Tom asked.

  ‘Not right now, but obviously the sooner the better if we are to get things sorted.’

  ‘We’ll let you know in the next couple of days, Janet said.

  Chris Bank’s frustration was hanging in the air so thick you could almost see it, however, for once, he was staying quiet.

  As the visitors filed out of the meeting room Tom nodded towards Pam and she smiled weakly back at him.

  ‘Hello Tom.’

  ‘Do you two know each other? I asked.

  Tom looked at Pam and she coloured slightly. ‘We went to high school together.’

  “Well, well.” I thought. “There’s a little story here if I am not mistaken.”

  Richard

  Mum’s perfume smells like flowers. As she is tucking me in I can still really smell it ‘cos she had put a lot on for the meeting. A massive spurt of happiness shoots up from my big toes all the way to my ears. I feel sort of tingly.

  I fling my arms around her neck and give her a very big hug.

  ‘Thanks Mum.’

  She smiles and her face looks like sunshine.

  ‘What for?’

  ‘For everything. I’ll be so good at my new school Mum, you’ll see; and then everything will be ok again. I promise.’

  Mum hugs me then, really tight. And then she goes out of the bedroom so quickly she doesn’t even look back at me at the door and say “Nigh-night, sleep tight.”

  I lie in bed thinking about when I go to a new school; I will do everything that Tom tells me so that I don’t mess up again and I will have lots of friends to play football with.

  Then I need a pee. I am coming out of the bathroom and heading back to my room when I hear Dad’s voice.

  ‘We haven’t made a decision yet as far as I’m aware.’

  ‘I don’t really think we have a decision to make,’ Mum says. ‘It’s obviously what Richard wants to happen.’

  ‘He’s just a child. We have to make the decisions, and, as yet, we haven’t done so.’

  ‘Then maybe we should talk about it now,” Mum says. ‘Before he gets his hopes up too high.’

  ‘Right now I’m going for a walk. Maybe we’ll talk when I get back.’

  I don’t feel so happy now.

  There is only one person left who could help us to change Dad’s mind, so I pray to him.

  ‘Dear God, please let Dad say I can go to that new school. Please let Mum stop crying and please make us all happy again and I promise I will be the best medium you ever had when I leave school. Please let me sleep tonight. Thank You Great Spirit; oh, it’s me, Richard Banks, by the way.’

  I think God hears me ‘cos I go really sleepy really quickly after that.

  And then I am floating, I feel light as a feather and I am floating upwards. I’m not scared. It’s cool really. I can smell something; it reminds me of Christmas, the smell that comes off the tree. Pine, that’s what it is, pine trees and I can smell it really strong. And I catch a flash of something shining underneath me and when I look down it’s a big lake.

  I am floating over a big lake and it has pine trees all around it. There is no noise at all and I just lie over the lake and the trees and it is so nice.

  Rae

  As I was waiting in the school reception area at BaileyBrook I couldn’t help comparing the magnolia walls, red tiled floor and dark green paintwork surrounding me as I sat on a red plastic chair to the grandeur of Springhill.

  Richard’s new surroundings would be less plush than he was used to, if I could persuade them to take him that was. Somehow I didn’t think that would bother him though.

  After a few minutes I was led into a small cluttered office where the Head, Mike Arrowsmith, and his deputy head, Lisa Tighe, were waiting for me.

  ‘I can’t lie to you Mike,’ I began, ‘this is an unusual one.’

  ‘So Carol Wilkes tells me.’

  Damn, he must have got straight on the phone to her after I arranged this meeting with him. I decided to move on quickly.

  ‘Richard Banks is a nice kid with slightly above average academic potential, but things have got out of hand for him and the situation has escalated into a breakdown between Carol and the parents. We all feel that a fresh start would be the best way forward.’

  ‘You know I have places Rae, and you know, as I do, that unless there are strong mitigating circumstances the law requires me to take this kid. I am not happy about it though to be honest with you. From what Carol tells me this child is unhinged mentally and causes huge disruption and distress within a school. I am thinking that probably constitutes strong mitigating circumstances.’

  ‘There have been a few incidents, but Richard is working hard to conform to expectations.’

  ‘What do these incidents look like?’ Lisa spoke for the first time.

  ‘Well, I haven’t really witnessed them myself.’ I chose not to think about the incident that happened at their house that day. ‘But I believe he can sometimes appear to be talking to himself and he did once have some kind of a seizure.’

  ‘What is his medical diagnosis?’ Mike asked. This was a loaded question that I felt sure would have been set up by Carol Wilkes during his conversation with her about the boy.

  ‘There isn’t one at present, this may well be an avenue we go along in the future if things persist.’

  ‘I really don’t feel that I would be helping my students and staff by accepting this child. There appear to be great risk factors here.’

  ‘I can’t say there are none, but I don’t think it’s as high a risk as you might be fearing. These things didn’t happen that frequently and, as I said, there is work going on to try to stop them happening at all.’

  Mike and Lisa exchanged a look that I tried hard to identify but couldn’t.

  ‘I need to speak with my Chair of Governors about this Rae. I’ll get back to you later in the week.’

  Recognising that this was the best that I was going to get at the moment I thanked him and stood up to leave. Just then Mike’s secretary knocked on the Head’s door and her face appeared around it.

  ‘Sorry to interrupt, but there has been an incident that needs your attention.’

  Mike looked at her expectantly.

  ‘A year four student,’ she said with emphasis that suggested that he would know who that student might be.

  ‘Oh not again,’ he groaned.

  ‘I’ll let you get on then,’ I stepped towards the door.

  ‘Actually, seeing as you are here, you may be able to help us with this one,’ Mike suggested. ‘This young man has been with us for a year now and he hasn’t managed to get through a morning without hurting someone. Have you got time to come with me and maybe talk to him?’

  …………….

  ‘So we are no further forward then?’ Chris growled down the phone when I had finished filling him in.

  ‘Well no, that’s not strictly true, the Head is going to speak with his Governors and then hopefully we can discuss it further.’

  ‘And in the meantime my son doesn’t get an education; we really thought we were going to be coming back to some news today.’

  Stung by what felt like an unfair attack on me I replied; ‘To be fair, Chris, that bit is down to you – he can, and should be, receiving his education at Springhill at the moment but you are choosing to not send him in.’

  ‘Oh, let’s not go over that again.’

  ‘You’re right – let’s not get into that again. How about if I ask Carol Wilkes if she can send work home for Richard for the next couple of weeks, whilst we sort out a place at Baileybrook. How does that sound to you?’

  ‘Complicated, and it would be unnecessary if people were doing what is right. However, it would be better than nothing.�
��

  ‘I’ll see what I can do.’

  ‘That sounded a bit heated,’ Pam commented from her desk across the office.

  ‘The whole bloody thing is heated. I am really not that hopeful for the place at Bailey Brook; Mike was not happy and I suspect he will be using the next couple of days to find his loophole through which to escape this one.’

  ‘That poor child,’ Pam said. ‘I can’t help feeling sorry for him in the middle of all this.’

  I thought back to the meeting and Richard’s pale, sad face.

  ‘Each time I see him he looks paler and gets more withdrawn that the time before. It is certainly taking its toll on him. I worry about him as well Pam.’

  Richard

  I never thought I would be excited about homework but when Mum tells me that Mrs Wilkes is going to send me some work to do I am really happy.

  It’s boring being at home all day. Mum and Dad are arguing a lot, I mean a lot. So I stay in my bedroom most of the time. Sometimes I go with Tom to take Herman for a walk.

  I have been back to my place with the lake a few times and, when I tell Tom about it he says that I could probably go there even if I was awake.

  ‘Just relax and take your mind there,’ he says.

  So I try it, it isn’t quite as strong but it does work.

  So every day I have been going to the place. I’ve had a good look around as well. It’s cool. There are lots of trees and flowers, not like our flowers in the garden, these are really big and really bright colours. But most of all I love the lake. It’s massive and always still and calm. In real life I would chuck pebbles into it, to hear the splash and watch the water split. But I don’t want to do that in the place. I just look at it and it makes me feel good inside.

  Mum says that I might be going to that Bailey Brook school and to keep my fingers crossed. I have them crossed a lot, but sometimes it’s hard to do things so I have to uncross them. I am a bit scared that it won’t happen now ‘cos I haven’t kept them crossed all the time.