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Short Fat Stubby Finger Stories PRESENTS:

EPISODE 5

Upon obtaining Joseph’s signature on the formal contract to commence employment at Johnson’s Import and Export the now happy interviewer departed the orphanage where the interview had taken place.

Joseph, however, despite seemingly requesting the contractual temporary release clause was himself in total confusion as to what his mind and tongue had done on his behalf.   The thought had come from nowhere, yet for a reason he couldn’t understand he felt what they had done had been done for a reason … but at the moment it was a reason he was not privy to.  He just hoped that his thought processor knew what it was doing, because at the moment he had no clue whatsoever.

Joseph’s awoken memory that had arisen just prior to his accepting the position he had been offered at Johnson’s had transported him back to the year he had begun his education.   He, like every single orphan that had passed through Farm-Vale over the years, attended classes at Grimshaw’s Private School which was located five hundred yards away from the orphanage.   By co-incidence, Grmshaws’ was established the same year as Farm-Vale, both grand old buildings, former residences of two nobleman, Lord Harvey Grimshaw and his brother Morphett; brothers who had co-owned the nearby village … and who had both died the previous year under very auspicious circumstances

Grimshaw’s was usually restricted to around one hundred and twenty students per year.  However should a student be forced to leave the school, for any reason whatsoever, their position in a class would not be filled by the intake of a new student,  with the sole exception of a vacancy occurring before the end of term one of year one.   And even then the new student had to prove their worth before being accepted.

Grimshaw’s did not take on new students after the completion of term one of the student’s first year in the education system.   Students were expected to commence their studies at year one – and remain at Grimshaw’s until they were ready to attend university.   No exceptions were made to enrolments.    If it meant that several classes were reduced in size for several years … then that was that.   The remaining students had the luxury of obtaining even more individual time with their teacher.

And Grimshaw’s had an impressive record for the product that they output.   No student that they had processed had failed to gain acceptance at the university of their choice in the entire history of the school.   The children’s education had meant more to Grimshaw’s than the monetary rewards additional students would have provided since the day it had opened.   Like the orphanage the school had an extremely generous benefactor which allowed them this opulence.

A rigidly run school in most areas, it never-the-less allowed for a friendly working intimacy to exist between both students and teachers in every class … a situation that had been made available to both parties because each class was limited in numbers.

The school provided little by the way of sporting achievement, though some exercise time was allocated to meet government rules, but the sports involved were limited to thirty  minutes of walking, running or cycling, under strict supervision, once a day.   Invitations to inter school carnivals and meets were never accepted, and social intercourse between students, a ruling which today includes facebook and its digital cousins, was banned any time that the students were on the school grounds.   ‘Schools are for schooling, not idle chattering’, was the rule at Grimshaw’s.

Computer games and social interaction sports such as hop scotch or hand ball were also banned pre-school should the student arrive earlier than necessary, and during  the lunch time break.   These rules were enforced with the teachers all arriving one hour before school commenced which meant as all students arrived they were sent straight to their class room where they had a choice of perusing a text book of their choice as long as it was applicable to one of the day’s lessons, which were all listed on the blackboard, or reviewing their previous night’s homework until the hour arrived to begin their daily lessons.

Students had a choice in the midday break to either eat, peacefully and quietly, in the dining hall, or have private one-on-one lessons with the teacher of their choice where they could also eat their lunch.

Occasionally some of the students from outside the orphanage complained about the school rules forced on them to their influential parents, but the parents were fully aware of the results obtained by the school over the years and had no interest in rocking the boat … so the bans remained in force for forever and a day.

In later years Joseph would also lay blame for his lack of interest in computers on these rules, along with the possibility of his parents perhaps also being behind it, before dismissing it once more from his mind.

Joseph had been an ideal student, bright, inquisitive and blessed with an intuition that allowed him to easily find solutions to problems set by the teachers when other students struggled, even though he had received little, or no, training in the subject.    And James had bonded easily with Professor Timothy Smith, his English and history teacher, who, co-incidentally, was a former tenant of the orphanage … in fact he had been the first orphan to have passed through Farm-Vale.   But that had not been the reason that the friendship had grown … it was time that kept them together.

Joseph had initially shown a keen interest in English as a language which was one of Professor Smith’s courses, and in his third year he became interested in ancient European and British history which Professor Smith also taught, with a leaning towards the supernatural aspects that had occasionally occurred within major  events.   An interest that had begun when he had heard the legend of the school from one of the older orphan’s in his last year of university who had returned to the orphanage for the term break.

Professor Smith had not been aware of the legend when Joseph had asked him about it.   He investigated it out of curiosity and had been more than happy to share his findings with Joseph, and noting Joseph’s keen interest in both the story and the subject matter he offered to help him learn as much in the discipline of the supernatural, spiritualism and other associated byproducts of the the netherworld  that popped up throughout history as he could by giving him private lessons during the lunch recess.   A rather harrowing area of learning for one so young, but neither the student nor the teacher saw any harm in the project … just a piece of harmless fun they both agreed.  The school elders may possibly have been reluctant to allow the full scale teachings of the supernatural, however as long as the lessons were discussed within the realms of history, the board saw no harm in a little sidetracking to add a bit of flavour to the subject.    And Joseph’s grades in his history exams appeared to exemplify their judgement on the matter.

Over the following years, inquisitive ears listening in on the lessons may have been concerned that the lessons went a bit too deep on the dark side of life for a child so young, but as neither Joseph or his tutor discussed their lessons outside the privacy of the classroom nothing was said and little did anybody know just how much Joseph longed for every year of schooling to pass as quickly as it could so he could begin his new life as supernatural investigator – or whatever fate would name it.

But little did he know then, one so young and so filled with exciting dreams, how fickle life could be.   To introduce him to a world that made his heart beat wildly with anticipation of the things that he could possible come across: poltergeists, alien life forms, were-wolves, vampires, lost spirits, unexpected, unexplained mysteries, evil that existed well beyond the average man’s imagination, … and then, at the pivotal moment of his dream coming to fruition … the carpet would be ripped from underneath him.

However, regardless of what the future would or would not deliver, the friendship of boy and tutor, begun over the first year, grew stronger with each day and lasted over many years, even more years than would have been expected under normal circumstances as, by the strangest of coincidences, in an unsolicited event, Professor Smith was offered a senior lecturing position exactly one week before Joseph’s acceptance at the same university.

Joseph had had no problems with any of the teachers during his time at Grimshaw’s and had got along with them all, but he had found Professor Smith to be not just a friend, but a kindred soul.   There were times that Joseph had the feeling that his teacher only continued his time at Grimshaw’s for his benefit, and his alone.   For some unexplained reason Joseph constantly felt he had known the professor for much greater a length of time than simply the years he had attended Grimshaw’s and the university.   ‘A far, far greater time,’ Joseph had often thought to himself, ‘for years and years it seems.   Perhaps in a past life?’    A ridiculous thought Joseph would always tell himself as he chastised his imagination for its ridiculous input … but it was a feeling, an instinct in kind, that would continue to arrive in his mind at the most unexpected times for a long, long time … even well after he had commenced employment at Johnson’s.

The friendship was fully reciprocal from Professor Smith who always told Joseph not to worry about what the future or the world held.   ‘All lives are preordained’, he had explained, ‘set for an ending that nobody can see, forecast, prevent or control’.

And two days prior to the end of Joseph’s final term at Grimshaw’s he made a prediction regarding Joseph’s future, ‘I cannot predict the future, nor have I been shown it,’ he had begun, ‘but my instincts have been humming away over the past week.   Perhaps it is a premonition, perhaps not.   For reasons I can’t explain I can see an invitation being offered to you … an invitation that will change your life forever.   It won’t be in writing on a card that will arrive on your desk or in the post.    It won’t even appear as invitation.  It may be not even be an invitation that appeals to you.   In fact it could have the opposite affect on you.

   You may despise the invitation, consider it to be at the complete opposite end to your reckoning of what you are interested in, of your thoughts on what life holds for you, but you should really consider accepting it.   I think that your future may dictate that it is the only choice you have, though you probably won’t know that at the time.

   And there is no guarantee the real reason for the offer will be known to you  immediately.  It may be years before anything happens to justify your acceptance of the offer.    The choice will be yours, but please consider my words when the time comes.   It is my opinion that fate wants you to take it,and when you take it, take it with both hands and embrace it.  When the time comes for fate to reveal to you the reason behind your choice, you will know that you have made the right choice.’

When Joseph showed a total lack of comprehension to his words, Professor Smith smiled.

   ‘One last word on the subject, my friend, and then I shall silence my lips on the matter forever.   It is my belief that when the invitation arrives I believe it to be imperative that you accept the offer.’

Joseph had been completely baffled by his friend’s ramblings and they never spoke about the strange conversation again.   And as the years passed, the entire events of the day dismissed themselves from Joseph’s memory and never appeared again … until the day the interviewer arrived at the orphanage.

On that particular day, at the precise moment that Joseph had made his decision to reject the offer of employment at Johnson’s Import and Export, the memory began to reinstate itself inside Joseph’s head.

Then the words his friend had spoken all those years ago exploded inside his mind and Joseph believed the offer of the position at Johnson’s Import and Export, despite the objections he felt to accepting it , for this was the ‘invitation’ … and he had no choice but to accept it.

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