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start doing variations. ‘Give me a D,’ one of the boys says, and the whole bus goes, ‘D!’ ‘Give me an I.’ – ‘I!’ ‘Give me an M.’ -‘M!’ ‘Give me a B.’ – ‘B!’ ‘Give me an O.’ – ‘O!’ ‘D-I-M-B-O, DIMBO! Cos I’m Dave, and It’s My Bus, Okay?’ they chant. And so, by the time we get to the gate, and lurch down over the lip of the gutter and into the street, the driver’s already Dimbo, and he is that for the rest of the trip.

4
    â€˜You were alone – as a monitor, I mean – on your bus, Miss Vassilopoulos? You were the only monitor?’
    â€˜Yes, Mr Jackson. There were only five monitors altogether, you see, and with three buses –’
    â€˜But normally …’
    â€˜Normally I’d be together with Toni. But the idea is, you have one male and one female monitor on each bus. The same as the teachers.’
    â€˜So, there was a male student monitor on the bus with Miss Darling?’
    â€˜Jamie Turner. He was on Toni’s bus, and they had Mr Prescott and Mrs Harvey with them. They could tell you all this.’
    Mr Jackson has been asking all the questions to this point. Now Mr Murchison leans forward and opens his hands towards me and says:
    â€˜We’re interested in the process of things here, Laura. How it was decided who went on which bus, the combinations, do you see.’
    â€˜Well, I’m not sure. The teachers decided, I suppose. Nobody argued about it, or anything.’
    â€˜But in your case, for example, who decided you should go with Mr Jasmyne and Miss Temple?’
    â€˜Miss Temple did.’
    â€˜What did she say?’
    â€˜She just mentioned how pleased she was I would be coming with her and Mr Jasmyne.’
    â€˜So in each case, it was the individual teachers who decided?’
    â€˜I don’t know, Mr Murchison. I suppose. You’d have to ask them.’
    â€˜Yes, we will. I was just interested in how the monitors perceived it. The process of allocation, I mean.’
    Mr Jackson butts back in then. ‘Why do you think Miss Temple said she was so pleased to have you? Was it because she didn’t want Miss Darling?’
    â€˜No, or I don’t think so. It’s just that I’m in her class for English.’
    â€˜So, I believe, is Miss Darling.’
    â€˜Yes, but I like it.’
    â€˜Go on.’
    â€˜And I get on well with Miss Temple, and besides she said she would supervise my assignment.’
    â€˜And what was that?’
    â€˜What was what, Mr Jackson?’
    â€˜You’re not intending to be impertinent, I hope, Miss Vas-silopoulos?’
    â€˜No, Mr Jackson.’
    â€˜This assignment you mentioned. What did it consist of?’
    â€˜Well, for English, Miss Temple encourages you to keep a journal, which is something I do anyway. But she encourages you to put all sorts of things in it – different styles and things – she calls them genres – they can be just thoughts and ideas, or descriptions of things you see, or even poems – they can be poems you’ve written yourself or ones you just like that you copy out – all sorts of things, so it’s a kind of map of your mind for the year.’
    â€˜Like a diary?’
    â€˜Yes, except we call it a journal.’
    â€˜What’s the difference?’
    â€˜Well, a diary’s more private, I suppose. It has only private things, whereas a journal can have both private and more public things, like descriptions, or stories, or even jokes, or bits out of the newspaper that catch your eye for some reason. Or quotes that you like and have copied out. Anything really. It’s more like a collage.’
    â€˜And you kept such a journal? On this trip, I mean?’
    â€˜Yes, I was doing it as part of my assessment for English, and because Miss Temple was on my bus, if I needed any advice she