Discworld 26 - The Thief of Time Read Online Free PDF Page B

'So I take it you punished him for not answering the right question?'
'Obviously. But that sort of behaviour is disruptive. Most of the time I think he's not all there.
He never pays attention, he always knows the answers, and he can never tell you how he
knows. We can't keep thrashing him. He is a bad example to the other pupils. There's no
educating a smart boy.'
The acolyte thoughtfully watched a flight of white doves circle the monastery roofs. 'We
cannot send him away now,' he said at last. 'Soto said he saw him perform the Stance of the
Coyote! That's how he was found! Can you imagine that? He'd had no training at all! Can you
imagine what would happen if someone with that kind of skill ran around loose? Thank
goodness Soto was alert.'
'But he has turned him into my problem. The boy disrupts tranquillity.'
     
 
  
Rinpo sighed. The Master of Novices was a good and conscientious man, he knew, but it had
been a long time since he'd been out in the world. People like Soto spent every day in the
world of time. They learned flexibility, because if you were stiff out there you were dead.
People like Soto ... now, there was an idea...
He looked towards the other end of the terrace, where a couple of servants were sweeping up
the fallen cherry blossom.
'I see a harmonious solution,' he said.
'Oh, yes?'
'An unusually talented boy like Ludd needs a master, not the discipline of the schoolroom.'
'Possibly, but-'
The Master of Novices followed Rinpo's gaze.
'Oh,' he said, and he smiled in a way that was not entirely nice. It contained a certain
anticipatory element, a hint that trouble might be in store for someone who, in his opinion,
richly deserved it.
'A name occurs,' said Rinpo.
'To me also,' said the Master of Novices.
'A name I've heard too often,' Rinpo went on.
'I suppose that either he will break the boy, or the boy will break him, or it is always possible
that they will break each other...' the Master mused.
'So, in the patois of the world,' said Rinpo, 'there is no actual downside.'
'Would the abbot approve, though?' said the Master, testing a welcome idea for any weak
points. 'He has always had a certain rather tiresome regard for... the sweeper.'
'The abbot is a dear kind man but at the moment his teeth are giving him trouble and he is not
walking at all well,' said Rinpo. 'And these are difficult times. I'm sure he will be pleased to
accept our joint recommendation. Why, it's practically a minor matter of day-to-day affairs.'
And thus the future was decided.
They were not bad men. They had worked hard on behalf of the valley for hundreds of years.
But it is possible, after a while, to develop certain dangerous habits of thought. One is that,
while all important enterprises need careful organization, it is the organization that needs
organizing, rather than the enterprise. And another is that tranquillity is always a good thing.
Tick
    Discworld 26 - The Thief of Time
    Discworld 26 - The Thief of Time
     
 
  
There was a row of alarm clocks on the table by Jeremy's bed. He did not need them, because
he woke up when he wanted to. They were there for testing. He set them for seven, and woke
up at 6.59 to check that they went off on time.
Tonight he went to bed early, with a drink of water and the Grim Fairy Tales.
He had never been interested in stories, at any age, and had never quite understood the basic
concept. He'd never read a work of fiction all the way through. He did remember, as a small
boy, being really annoyed at the depiction of Hickory Dickory Dock in a rag book of nursery
rhymes, because the clock in the drawing was completely wrong for the period.
He tried to read Grim Fairy Tales. They had titles like 'How the Wicked Queen Danced in
Red Hot Shoes!' and 'The Old Lady in the Oven'. There was simply no mention of clocks of
any sort in any of them. Their authors seemed to have a thing about not mentioning clocks.
'The Glass Clock of Bad