An appearance by the Old Bill

You’re working in your office when you hear the classroom door open. A few seconds later Mrs Oversight knocks on your office door. It’s already open.

“Ah, Mr Smith, I’m glad to see you’re here. Is it alright if I take some of your time?”

“Yes, of course, how can I help you, Mrs Oversight?”

She gestures for you to follow her. In the corridor are standing two strangers, a man and a woman, in simple, cheap suits that look official. Both tower over you. The man must be nearly 2 meters tall. The woman just a bit shorter. You and Mrs Oversight both look like children compared to them.

“These two members of his majesty’s constabulary need to have an urgent word with Mrs Sorgood. If you could sit in on her class while they do so, that would be appreciated.”

“Is she in trouble?”

“No, no, nothing like that,” the man states.

Mrs Oversight ignores them and knocks on Abigail’s classroom’s door. She doesn’t wait for a response before opening it. You get a momentary sight of Abigail at the front of the class, projected onto the screen behind her is a map. It only takes you a few seconds to recognise it as a map of the Battle of Stalingrad. You’re an expert on Roman and pre-Roman Britain but even you can recognise something as iconic as that. You realise this is a video projected from her laptop, which she has paused as soon as Mrs Oversight opened the door.

The blinds are down, and the lights are off, so it takes longer for you to recognise the class. It’s the Upper Sixth ‘C’ Stream, in their usual state of disinterest, boredom, and general insubordination. They’ve perked up as soon as Mrs Oversight stepped into the room. Several rise even more when they see you behind her.

“Mrs Sorgood,” Mrs Oversight begins. “Can I borrow you for a moment? Mr Smith will look after this class while you’re gone.”

Abigail looks at you with concern. You just shrug. As she passes you, she hands you the remote to her laptop. “Just show them the video.” You let her leave, shut the door, and walk to the front of the class.

“Alright, class. Let’s carry on watching this video.” A click and the video continues. It appears to be a free one from YouTube. The history videos on YouTube are of varying quality, but this one looks professionally made. It has maps, it has stills from the battle, the presenter is clear and precise. You wish there were videos like this for your time period. One of the advantages of dealing with modern history is that there’s lots of material out there, admittedly you suspect most of it is of dubious quality, but there are diamonds among the slag.

It doesn’t matter how good the video is. The girls aren’t paying any attention. Before they slumped in disinterest. Now, they appear to show more interest in you. You should be used to that by now, but the comparison between their attention when Abigail was at the desk and when you are is plain. It makes you wonder. Teenage girls looking at you makes you aware of all the hormones in the room.

“You should be taking notes,” you tell them, hoping that will distract you from the thoughts rising in your groin. A few of the girls make a show of doing so. {If Harem > 0}It’s pleasing to see that Kelly is among those.{endif}

The video is nearing its end, and your worrying what to do next, when Abigail returns. Even in the darkened room, you can see the stress on her beautiful face. It’s screwed up, her brown eyes appear to be holding back tears, she’s constantly wringing her hands in front of her.

“Mr Smith, can you?” she can barely speak. Her voice is cracked and gravelled by her distress. She looks across the class, and you can see her shiver. Several of the girls snicker, only silenced by a glare from you. Then she scurries into her office. You distinctly hear the click of the door locking behind her.