The Furies: A Novel Read Online Free PDF Page A

say in my youth.’
    ‘A what?’
    ‘A fight,’ he said.
    At least I’d learned something today, even if the fourth-years hadn’t.
    Robert looked hard at the mug of cocoa, which I was drinking as quickly as I could, relying on its volcanic heat to mask the taste of the brandy. He levered himself back to standing and made a second cup for himself.
    ‘Don’t tell Jeff,’ he said, as he sipped it.
    Jeff was Robert’s other half, or ‘the moon of my existence’, as he liked to refer to him, having dismissed ‘boyfriend’ as being inappropriately youthful for men of their age.
    ‘I won’t.’
    ‘I mean it, you know. Everything in Ricky’s life has been chaotic. I mean everything. Let him do what makes him feel happy and safe. That’s what matters most in his case.’
    ‘But the others are so…’ I gave up, before I said what I wanted to say. They were so hostile and aggressive and angry with everyone, especially me. Robert’s lack of concern was disconcerting. He couldn’t really think I’d done an adequate job today. But if he didn’t, he was faking it beautifully.
    ‘Your classes will all be fine. You’ve met most of them now, and you’ve got on with them perfectly well. So teach them all drama, if you think they’ll enjoy it. Or let them write and perform plays or role-plays if you and they prefer. They have other teachers for literacy and numeracy; your dramatherapy class is supposed to be somewhere they can learn some different things if they’re interested. They just need a space to express themselves creatively, if that doesn’t sound unspeakably poncey. And even if it does, frankly, that’s still what they need. They need to have a little control over their lives, and your classroom is a place where they can do that and, I hope, have some fun. They are teenagers, after all.’ He looked over his glasses at me.
    I held the cocoa mug higher in front of my face. ‘And the fourth-years?’ I asked.
    ‘Read some plays with them,’ he said. He waved a theatrical arm. ‘You know a lot about plays. You were directing at the Royal Court in London six months ago, for God’s sake, woman. You were one of my most promising students. And if you can inspire them to dream of being a little more than badly behaved children, you’ll have done everything I hoped you would. If you don’t, you don’t. There are plenty of teachers and therapists with bags of experience who would find it too challenging to work with these kids, and we all know that. A few of them work in this very unit, in spite of my best efforts. The board was happy to take a punt on you because I told them you were marvellous.’
    ‘And because it was an emergency?’
    He sighed. ‘Yes, of course. I had an art therapist, she got pregnant, I expected her to go on maternity leave at Easter, and suddenly she was in hospital with pre-eclampsia, and was told she should do nothing more taxing than rest in bed for the next three months. So, yes, it was an emergency. You were available with no notice, and someone is better than no-one. Especially if that someone is you.’
    I nodded. It was pathetic, the way I still wanted his approval all these years after he’d finished being my teacher.
    ‘Any expression of interest from any child in this building is gold, and you must treat it as such,’ he continued, growing more expansive with the brandy. ‘When they tell you they want to learn about something, take them at their word. You’ll gain their respect because you listened to them, and you might accidentally end up teaching them something.’
    ‘OK.’
    ‘When are you next due to see them? What day is today? Thursday?’
    I nodded.
    ‘So you see them next on Monday? Tuesday? Take in some plays – let them choose one to read, and see where you end up. We don’t have an extensive library here, but I have plenty of texts at home – I’ll bring some in for you. Or you could go round to Blackwell’s and buy a couple – was it