The Mummyfesto Read Online Free PDF Page B

stood at the back and watched for ten minutes and then left.’
    ‘Jeez, that’s scarier than the shower scene in
Psycho
.’
    ‘What am I going to do?’
    ‘Make sure you check behind the door before taking a shower?’
    ‘I’m serious, Jack.’ Sheila spoke in hushed tones although the other members of staff within earshot were all fellow victims.
    ‘I’ve told you. You need to get out of this place before he turns you into a jibbering wreck.’
    ‘But it’s wrong, isn’t it? The person being bullied shouldn’t be the one who has to go.’
    ‘Of course not. But who said life was fair?’
    ‘Besides, I’d miss the kids too much. I owe it to them to stand my ground. If I go, he’ll hire some joyless smart arse who drills them in grammar until they never want to pick up their pens and write again.’
    ‘So defy him. Teach the way you want to teach. Dare him to take you on.’
    ‘And what if he does?’ Sheila asked, pushing her glasses back up her nose.
    ‘Who do you think the kids would back if he took any action against you? They’d have a sit-in at least. Probably start up some kind of campaign. They’re the children of
Guardian
-reading radicals and revolutionaries, remember. They’re hardly going to stand by while you’re thrown to the slaughter.’
    ‘Yes, you’re right. Of course you’re right.’ Sheila’s voice had acquired a steely quality not heard for some time. She put her mug down and stood up, straightening her back and jutting out her chin as she did so. ‘Thank you.’
    ‘That’s OK. Although obviously if it goes horribly wrong, I’ll put my official NUT rep hat on and deny all knowledge of this conversation.’
    She smiled and walked out of the staffroom, head held high. I finished my coffee, imagining myself sitting in the Head’s office writing ‘I must not encourage staff mutiny’ two hundred times.

    ‘Parents’ meeting in the hall in five minutes,’ I shouted across the playground. ‘Come and help us save our lollipop lady. The kids can be looked after in class two. There are no excuses.’
    A steady stream of parents started making their way through to the hall. Sam turned and grinned at me, in serious danger of tripping over her long skirt in her excitement.
    ‘Wow, this is great,’ she said, ‘you’re making them all come.’
    ‘I guess it’s my persuasive charm.’
    ‘No. It’s because you’re bloody scary. All you need now is a loudhailer.’
    I laughed. Though the truth was I did secretly hanker after one. It wasn’t that I couldn’t project my voice – when you spent your days trying to make yourself heard above thirty teenagers, that clearly wasn’t an issue. It was simplythat loudhailers appeared to be de rigueur in those archived news reels of industrial unrest in the seventies and eighties. If they’d had a rabble-rousing badge in the Girl Guides, that would have been the picture on it.
    ‘Get me one for my birthday,’ I said, winking at her. I stood square in the middle of the gates. Anyone who wanted to escape would have to get past me first. I guessed it was a kind of reverse picket line.
    ‘I’d better go and check on the boys before we start,’ said Sam. ‘Make sure Oscar’s behaving himself.’
    ‘Can you make sure the DVD they’re showing’s not a scary one. Alice is still recovering from
One Hundred and One Dalmations
. I suspect I am Cruella de Vil in her nightmares.’
    Sam smiled. ‘Will do.’
    I walked through into the packed hall. Anna was already working the room, her dark hair sleek and stylish as ever. Her face animated as she talked to people, engaged them, put them at ease then passed them the pen and pointed to where to sign. It appeared effortless. At least on the surface.
    She looked up as I walked over. ‘What a fantastic turnout,’ she said. ‘People obviously feel really strongly about this.’
    I nodded, not wanting to admit that actually they hadn’t had any choice in the matter. I got the impression