A Parent visits

First break, you head down to the Staff Room to grab a cup of coffee. The route leads you past reception. Busier than normal, packed with strange men; five of them, all dark haired, most with curls, all wide-shouldered, all plain faced, all dressed in dark suits with white shirts.

Layla sits at her desk glowering, so focussed on them she doesn’t even notice you as you pause to watch. You have to pause anyway to let a gnarly old man clad in dirty blue overalls cross in front of you to enter the room. You know him, at least by reputation. The school’s groundskeeper. His arrival is greeted by a familiar voice.

“Ah, there you are. Come here.”

It’s Dr Stricture. The view you had of reception obscured the entrance to her office, where she’s standing with another stranger, a very impressive man. He’s a tall, thin, dark-haired distinguished man in his late forties, wearing probably the most expensive, fashionable suit you’ve ever seen, dark, with thin stripes, that is so well tailored it appears almost part of his skin. Draped over one arm is a pale, camel-haired coat and in one hand he holds a bowler hat. He notices you standing there, but he turns his eyes to the groundskeeper as he bustles his way to the headmistress.

The tall stranger, meanwhile, whispers something to Dr Stricture. She looks away from the groundskeeper and towards you. Her eyes bury into you. You feel the need to carry on down the corridor, but her call stops you. “Mr Smith, would you mind waiting there for a moment.”

Trapped you watch, as the headmistress talks to the groundskeeper. She gestures to three of the men, the three in the centre, the three that are suffering the majority of Layla’s ire. There’s a brief conversation you don’t overhear and the groundskeeper is leaving with the three men in tow, none of them looking particularly happy. Layla’s glare follows them until they’re out of view.

That leaves three strangers left. Two of them are like the men who followed the groundskeeper. The third is the tall stranger.

Dr Stricture gestures for you to enter.

“So, here’s the famous Mr Smith,” the distinguished man states in a commanding voice. “I’ve heard so much about you.” You raise an eyebrow. The distinguished man cracks a smile and then holds out one large hand. “Vito Altobello. You teach my daughter.”

“Ah yes. You’re Melanie’s father?”

Melanie Altobello, one of your Upper Sixth ‘C’ Stream students, academically she’s nothing much, but her main claim to fame is that she’s Ellie’s principal bully.

This is the Mr Altobello for whom the Altobello estate is named after. Everyone told you that he’s the head of a crime family, and looking at him you believe it. He’s confident. He’s brusque. He’s well dressed. He could easily slip into the Godfather and not look out of place.

“Yes. I hope she’s behaving herself. I know you’ve been quite a hit with her.” You have? You hadn’t noticed. She’s a surly teenager, who’s obsessed with her position in the hierarchy of the students. “Much better than your predecessor, that what was her name, that lesbian …”

“Mis Wandering. A woman you promised the town council you’d find,” Dr Stricture states.

“Yes, and I will. The moment she pops her head up, wherever she is, I’ll know. There’s nowhere in this country where she can hide from me and my associates. And as soon as I know, I’ll tell the Town Council. I promised as much. I’m a man of my word.” He turns to you. “Holding your word is the most important thing. It’s something I’ve impressed on all my children. My daughter is the most wilful of them. She’s promised me she’ll concentrate on her studies this year. If she doesn’t, then just let me know and I’ll have a word with her. In return I expect you to overlook her overexuberance in other behaviours. I run a tight house, and school is the one place where she can be youthful.”

Is he calling her bullying youthful exuberance? And is he stating that you should overlook it? The look in his blue eyes suggests a seriousness in his words. It gives you the chills.

“She’s nearly 18. She’s almost an adult. She should have learnt discipline and self-control by her age.”

“18 isn’t that old. We must allow children to be children. They need to understand the boundaries. And the only way you’ll ever learn the boundaries is by pushing on them. Trust me, I know. When I was her age, I was a wild child. But then I didn’t have the advantage of attending a school like this. I’m a graduate of the school of hard knocks. I’m a child of the street. Believe me, what my daughter gets up to, is nothing compared to what I did at her age. She knows how far she can go. If she goes too far, I will discipline her. That’s the father’s prerogative, not the school’s.”

You think she’s gone too far already. You’re certain she was one of the girls who pushed Ellie down the stairs in the first week. And you’ve heard of other incidents since.

“I believe the school should enforce discipline when it is threatened any of its students.”

“But only if the father agrees.” No doubt about it. His blue eyes offer no option. Just seriousness.

Dr Stricture laughs by his side. “Yes, as a member of St Perpetua’s staff, Mr Smith is right. We are in charge of discipline. You agreed as such when the Town Council let you and your men move here.”

Is that a flinch from the gangster? His expression changes. The darkness lifts, replaced with false lightness.

“Of course, of course. It’s good to meet you. I’m sure we’ll be meeting again.”

He shakes your hand, and this time his grip is tight and commanding. Not crushing. No, he’s not someone who needs to crush the other’s grip to show he’s in command. But there’s doubt there’s a hint of power play in the way he shakes it.

Then Dr Stricture dismisses you. You head to the Staff Room, glancing back once to see both Mr Altobello and Dr Stricture still watching you.