The Butterfly Ethic/10

10 

The Butterfly Ethic 

Phil was our teacher the next morning. Giovanni’s half-brother, Vince, decided to come to school with the sleeves of his shirt cut off and a punk hairstyle, which, in our school, was like walking into a synagogue wearing the SS uniform. I know this because Jeff the Racist   did that once, and the Jews gave him the same reaction Phil gave to Vince when he taunted the substitute.

“Hey, Phil,” he said. “My brother’s been looking for you, you know, Alv. You remember?”

“Vince, that shirt is not school uniform.” Phil said.

“It isn’t?” Vince asked. “Well, it was when I came here.” Some of the kids laughed at this.

<span style="font-family:"SegoeUI","sans-serif"">“Vince, get a different shirt on.”

<p style="margin-bottom:0in;margin-bottom:.0001pt; mso-add-space:auto;line-height:normal"><span style="font-family:"SegoeUI","sans-serif"">“Okay.” Vince began taking his shirt off while singing: “I’m too sexy for this shirt, too sexy for these pants, too sexy for these shoes, so sexy.”

<p style="margin-bottom:0in;margin-bottom:.0001pt; mso-add-space:auto;line-height:normal"><span style="font-family:"SegoeUI","sans-serif"">“What are you doing?” Phil asked.

<p style="margin-bottom:0in;margin-bottom:.0001pt; mso-add-space:auto;line-height:normal"><span style="font-family:"SegoeUI","sans-serif"">“You told me to get a different shirt on, and I need to get this one off first,” He finished pulling the shirt off. “Hey, is it getting hot in here or what?” His words were followed by a laugh track, courtesy of the class.

<p style="margin-bottom:0in;margin-bottom:.0001pt; mso-add-space:auto;line-height:normal"><span style="font-family:"SegoeUI","sans-serif"">“Well, do you have a different shirt?” Phil asked.

<p style="margin-bottom:0in;margin-bottom:.0001pt; mso-add-space:auto;line-height:normal"><span style="font-family:"SegoeUI","sans-serif"">“Uh, no.”

<p style="margin-bottom:0in;margin-bottom:.0001pt; mso-add-space:auto;line-height:normal"><span style="font-family:"SegoeUI","sans-serif"">“Then why do you need to take that one off?” Phil asked.

<p style="margin-bottom:0in;margin-bottom:.0001pt; mso-add-space:auto;line-height:normal"><span style="font-family:"SegoeUI","sans-serif"">“I just need to show off my hot body.”

<p style="margin-bottom:0in;margin-bottom:.0001pt; mso-add-space:auto;line-height:normal"><span style="font-family:"SegoeUI","sans-serif"">“Get out!” Phil shouted. “Get out and put your shirt back on! Put your shirt back on, and then get out of this classroom, you’re suspended from school.” Vince held his shirt triumphantly above his head and ran out the door, shouting: “Freedom!”

<p style="margin-bottom:0in;margin-bottom:.0001pt; mso-add-space:auto;line-height:normal"><span style="font-family:"SegoeUI","sans-serif"">“What a pot licker.” Phil said as he slammed the door. He turned around, looking more like a gangster than a teacher. It was hard for him to keep the class in line for the rest of the day, as Vince had developed a greater following than Che Guevara. I wondered how Phil would be if his own kids treated him like that. He was relieved when they left, but he still felt that the next class would be old poison in a new bottle.

<p style="margin-bottom:0in;margin-bottom:.0001pt; mso-add-space:auto;line-height:normal"><span style="font-family:"SegoeUI","sans-serif"">“Now you see what your wife puts up with every day.” Ross said to him. Phil sighed.

<p style="margin-bottom:0in;margin-bottom:.0001pt; mso-add-space:auto;line-height:normal"><span style="font-family:"SegoeUI","sans-serif"">“I knew it would be bad.” He said, “but I didn’t know it would be this bad.”

<p style="margin-bottom:0in;margin-bottom:.0001pt; mso-add-space:auto;line-height:normal"><span style="font-family:"SegoeUI","sans-serif"">“Good thing Vince is gone, though.”

<p style="margin-bottom:0in;margin-bottom:.0001pt; mso-add-space:auto;line-height:normal"><span style="font-family:"SegoeUI","sans-serif"">“That doesn’t make a difference.” Phil said. “I do hope he makes that comment about his brother, though.”

<p style="margin-bottom:0in;margin-bottom:.0001pt; mso-add-space:auto;line-height:normal"><span style="font-family:"SegoeUI","sans-serif"">“Why?”

<p style="margin-bottom:0in;margin-bottom:.0001pt; mso-add-space:auto;line-height:normal"><span style="font-family:"SegoeUI","sans-serif"">“Because I just thought of a very nice comeback.”

<p style="margin-bottom:0in;margin-bottom:.0001pt; mso-add-space:auto;line-height:normal"><span style="font-family:"SegoeUI","sans-serif"">“He’ll say it again, trust me.” Ross told Phil.

<p style="margin-bottom:0in;margin-bottom:.0001pt; mso-add-space:auto;line-height:normal"><span style="font-family:"SegoeUI","sans-serif"">During our next class, Sister Rose’s science class, the fire alarm went off. Everyone knew there was no real fire, but we were still forced outside in this unplanned fire drill. Someone pulled the fire alarm, and I was willing to bet my million dollar oil painting that Vince was the culprit. After the teachers confirmed that there was no fire drill, and that it was just some hooligan named Vince Cottonwood, we all went inside and studied the properties of nickel.

<p style="margin-bottom:0in;margin-bottom:.0001pt; mso-add-space:auto;line-height:normal"><span style="font-family:"SegoeUI","sans-serif"">At lunchtime, we went back to our secret lair and played video games again, and then I was off to music class with Ross. On the way to class, we discussed how music class seemed to be the only class with any order now that Amber was gone.

<p style="margin-bottom:0in;margin-bottom:.0001pt; mso-add-space:auto;text-indent:35.45pt;line-height:normal"><span style="font-family:"SegoeUI","sans-serif"">I washed out my mouth with spring water from Charlotte’s water cooler, and then practiced some patriotic music for next week’s concert. Of course, drinking a lot of water before class led me to the restroom, and after I relieved myself and walked into the hallway, I heard a shout from one of the abandoned rooms. It didn’t take more than a few seconds to figure out what was going on. I ran into the room where the GameCube was and found Nephi, Sam, and Christopher playing Mario Party 4.

<p style="margin-bottom:0in;margin-bottom:.0001pt; mso-add-space:auto;line-height:normal"><span style="font-family:"SegoeUI","sans-serif"">“What are you guys doing?” I asked.

<p style="margin-bottom:0in;margin-bottom:.0001pt; mso-add-space:auto;line-height:normal"><span style="font-family:"SegoeUI","sans-serif"">“Playing video games.” Nephi said.

<p style="margin-bottom:0in;margin-bottom:.0001pt; mso-add-space:auto;line-height:normal"><span style="font-family:"SegoeUI","sans-serif"">“You’re all supposed to be in Sophia’s class.” I said.

<p style="margin-bottom:0in;margin-bottom:.0001pt; mso-add-space:auto;line-height:normal"><span style="font-family:"SegoeUI","sans-serif"">“Since when are you the new sheriff in town?” Christopher asked.

<p style="margin-bottom:0in;margin-bottom:.0001pt; mso-add-space:auto;line-height:normal"><span style="font-family:"SegoeUI","sans-serif"">“I’m not, I’m just saying that there’s a price to pay for sloughing like this.” I said. I looked at the screen and saw Nephi get beaten by a computer opponent.

<p style="margin-bottom:0in;margin-bottom:.0001pt; mso-add-space:auto;line-height:normal"><span style="font-family:"SegoeUI","sans-serif"">“Hey Martin.” Nephi said. “Do you want to play for the fourth player, this computer cheats like heck.”

<p style="margin-bottom:0in;margin-bottom:.0001pt; mso-add-space:auto;line-height:normal"><span style="font-family:"SegoeUI","sans-serif"">“No, I’ll get caught.” I said.

<p style="margin-bottom:0in;margin-bottom:.0001pt; mso-add-space:auto;line-height:normal"><span style="font-family:"SegoeUI","sans-serif"">“Fine, that’s your loss.” Christopher said. He went back to playing, and lost. “Dang It!” He shouted.

<p style="margin-bottom:0in;margin-bottom:.0001pt; mso-add-space:auto;line-height:normal"><span style="font-family:"SegoeUI","sans-serif"">“Quiet, they’ll hear you.” Sam said. I left at this point. I really didn’t want to get caught sloughing, lest I get suspended again. Music class was my domain for now, and after that, Kolleen transferred me to kitchen duty, where I worked with Nephi, Sam, Christopher, and Robert Osburn.

<p style="margin-bottom:0in;margin-bottom:.0001pt; mso-add-space:auto;line-height:normal"><span style="font-family:"SegoeUI","sans-serif"">“Why are you here?” I asked Nephi and Sam.

<p style="margin-bottom:0in;margin-bottom:.0001pt; mso-add-space:auto;line-height:normal"><span style="font-family:"SegoeUI","sans-serif"">“Well, we need an excuse for sloughing class.” Sam said.

<p style="margin-bottom:0in;margin-bottom:.0001pt; mso-add-space:auto;line-height:normal"><span style="font-family:"SegoeUI","sans-serif"">“Well, this place is pretty bad, with Sandra and all.”

<p style="margin-bottom:0in;margin-bottom:.0001pt; mso-add-space:auto;line-height:normal"><span style="font-family:"SegoeUI","sans-serif"">“Sandra isn’t here.” Robert said.

<p style="margin-bottom:0in;margin-bottom:.0001pt; mso-add-space:auto;line-height:normal"><span style="font-family:"SegoeUI","sans-serif"">“She isn’t?” I asked. I was certain that somewhere out there, a hallelujah chorus was singing.

<p style="margin-bottom:0in;margin-bottom:.0001pt; mso-add-space:auto;line-height:normal"><span style="font-family:"SegoeUI","sans-serif"">“Nope.” Robert said. We went in the kitchen, where a strange smell permeated the air. It was putrid, but of the less edible variety, like one of the ingredients for our lunches were ingrown toenails.

<p style="margin-bottom:0in;margin-bottom:.0001pt; mso-add-space:auto;line-height:normal"><span style="font-family:"SegoeUI","sans-serif"">Luckily, the chef, who I found out was named Krister, had me work in the lunchroom, moving tables aside with Robert. It wasn’t as bad as I thought it would be; it seemed Robert wasn’t very bad when Giovanni wasn’t around. When we were done, I heard music playing from the kitchen, a very strange song, consisting of a violin, some Indian instruments, and an electric guitar. It had a hauntingly beautiful atmosphere. I went into the kitchen and found Nephi and Sam doing the dishes to the music, with every pattern of movement aligned to the pacing of the song.

<p style="margin-bottom:0in;margin-bottom:.0001pt; mso-add-space:auto;line-height:normal"><span style="font-family:"SegoeUI","sans-serif"">“Turn that jungle music off!” Robert said. Krister stood against the brick wall with the creepy guy who dissects the food, next to a counter with a boom box letting off the music. He turned the boom box up and strafed forward to the beat of the song.

<p style="margin-bottom:0in;margin-bottom:.0001pt; mso-add-space:auto;line-height:normal"><span style="font-family:"SegoeUI","sans-serif"">“Get back to work.” He said to Robert.

<p style="margin-bottom:0in;margin-bottom:.0001pt; mso-add-space:auto;line-height:normal"><span style="font-family:"SegoeUI","sans-serif"">“We’re done.” Robert said.

<p style="margin-bottom:0in;margin-bottom:.0001pt; mso-add-space:auto;line-height:normal"><span style="font-family:"SegoeUI","sans-serif"">“Yeah, so we can just go back to class.” I said.

<p style="margin-bottom:0in;margin-bottom:.0001pt; mso-add-space:auto;line-height:normal"><span style="font-family:"SegoeUI","sans-serif"">“You could always take our place, Martin!” Nephi said.

<p style="margin-bottom:0in;margin-bottom:.0001pt; mso-add-space:auto;line-height:normal"><span style="font-family:"SegoeUI","sans-serif"">“Yeah, we don’t even have to be here.” Sam said.

<p style="margin-bottom:0in;margin-bottom:.0001pt; mso-add-space:auto;line-height:normal"><span style="font-family:"SegoeUI","sans-serif"">“You don’t?” Krister asked.

<p style="margin-bottom:0in;margin-bottom:.0001pt; mso-add-space:auto;line-height:normal"><span style="font-family:"SegoeUI","sans-serif"">“That’s classified.” Sam said. “Anyway, Martin, you and Robert can take my job. He, Nephi, and Christopher packed up and went back to Sophia’s class.

<p style="margin-bottom:0in;margin-bottom:.0001pt; mso-add-space:auto;line-height:normal"><span style="font-family:"SegoeUI","sans-serif"">“See ya, Martin.” Nephi said.

<p style="margin-bottom:0in;margin-bottom:.0001pt; mso-add-space:auto;line-height:normal"><span style="font-family:"SegoeUI","sans-serif"">“Yeah, see ya.” Christopher added.

<p style="margin-bottom:0in;margin-bottom:.0001pt; mso-add-space:auto;line-height:normal"><span style="font-family:"SegoeUI","sans-serif"">“So, er, you two wanna wash dishes?” Krister asked.

<p style="margin-bottom:0in;margin-bottom:.0001pt; mso-add-space:auto;line-height:normal"><span style="font-family:"SegoeUI","sans-serif"">“Fine.” Robert said. He washed the dishes, and I rinsed while I thought of what Rachel said about going into books. It was too late to use it for my book report, but I still wanted to do it, and now I truly felt I actually could. I just needed to try it again. I still had the Wodehouse novel in my backpack. Maybe later I could try it.

<p style="margin-bottom:0in;margin-bottom:.0001pt; mso-add-space:auto;text-indent:35.45pt;line-height:normal"><span style="font-family:"SegoeUI","sans-serif"">This “later” didn’t come until I got home. The whole day, I thought about it more and more. By the time I sat up in my room with the book in my hands, I felt excited to go into it. I kissed the book and muttered: “Godspeed.”

<p style="margin-bottom:0in;margin-bottom:.0001pt; mso-add-space:auto;line-height:normal"><span style="font-family:"SegoeUI","sans-serif"">I was the time traveler from the H. G. Wells novel. I saw the world around me fade away, and I heard an ethereal chorus singing songs of the glorious empire upon which the sun never sets. The room around me felt cold, and I felt like I was torpedoed across the world. I saw the shoreline of New Jersey during the second world war, lined with endless factories, and then I went to a more distant land. That distant land was Oxfordshire, England, on January 4, 1907. It was there that I attended Beckford College in my junior year. Our second semester was just beginning, and I wasn’t ready. During winter break, I was able to sleep until noon, but now, I had to wake up at nine-thirty, something the rest of the boys called “oversleeping”. I got out of my dormitory and went to the common room, where Samuel Blofield was sitting in an armchair, reading a book on the poetry of Lord Byron.

<p style="margin-bottom:0in;margin-bottom:.0001pt; mso-add-space:auto;line-height:normal"><span style="font-family:"SegoeUI","sans-serif"">“Hullo, you just woken up, I presume?” He asked. I nodded slightly. “What a pity,” he said. “It’s a beastly thing to be the fag of such a lazy chap.”

<p style="margin-bottom:0in;margin-bottom:.0001pt; mso-add-space:auto;line-height:normal"><span style="font-family:"SegoeUI","sans-serif"">“Look here, I have only been lazy after the last week. A two week holiday can do that to a fellow.”

<p style="margin-bottom:0in;margin-bottom:.0001pt; mso-add-space:auto;text-indent:35.45pt;line-height:normal"><span style="font-family:"SegoeUI","sans-serif"">“Right, so how goes our assignment?”

<p style="margin-bottom:0in;margin-bottom:.0001pt; mso-add-space:auto;line-height:normal"><span style="font-family:"SegoeUI","sans-serif"">“It goes well; I shall have it completed tonight.” I told him.

<p style="margin-bottom:0in;margin-bottom:.0001pt; mso-add-space:auto;line-height:normal"><span style="font-family:"SegoeUI","sans-serif"">“Jolly good, for it is due on the morrow.” Samuel said.

<p style="margin-bottom:0in;margin-bottom:.0001pt; mso-add-space:auto;line-height:normal"><span style="font-family:"SegoeUI","sans-serif"">“Meet me in the library at four-thirty, I will take it to Jeeves then, now I must grab a bite.” I went back up to my dorm room and changed into my shirt, trousers, and waistcoat, then headed off to the dining room.

<p style="margin-bottom:0in;margin-bottom:.0001pt; mso-add-space:auto;line-height:normal"><span style="font-family:"SegoeUI","sans-serif"">I sat down next to Nephi at the Leicester’s house table for a morning meal of bacon, paillard, milk, and coffee.

<p style="margin-bottom:0in;margin-bottom:.0001pt; mso-add-space:auto;line-height:normal"><span style="font-family:"SegoeUI","sans-serif"">“Hullo.” Nephi said as I sat next to him.

<p style="margin-bottom:0in;margin-bottom:.0001pt; mso-add-space:auto;line-height:normal"><span style="font-family:"SegoeUI","sans-serif"">“Good morning, Nephi.” I said.

<p style="margin-bottom:0in;margin-bottom:.0001pt; mso-add-space:auto;line-height:normal"><span style="font-family:"SegoeUI","sans-serif"">“Quite a strange bloke, isn’t he?” Nephi pointed with his fork to the Jephson House’s table, where sat a man with a long beard, a wooden staff, and a pointed hat that obscured his left eye. I didn’t know who he was, but I knew who he claimed to be: Odin the Wanderer, the head of the Norse pantheon. Nobody knew for sure why he decided to disguise himself as such a person, rumor had it that the school was trying to promote a play of one of the Norse Myths, so they had him go around to gather interest, but that was only a rumor.

<p style="margin-bottom:0in;margin-bottom:.0001pt; mso-add-space:auto;line-height:normal"><span style="font-family:"SegoeUI","sans-serif"">“I hear he’s only mad.” Nephi said. “What do you say?”

<p style="margin-bottom:0in;margin-bottom:.0001pt; mso-add-space:auto;line-height:normal"><span style="font-family:"SegoeUI","sans-serif"">“I have no say.” I said. “I would inform you that if he were mad, the school would have him out at a moment’s notice, wouldn’t you say so?”

<p style="margin-bottom:0in;margin-bottom:.0001pt; mso-add-space:auto;line-height:normal"><span style="font-family:"SegoeUI","sans-serif"">“Yes, but he takes refuge in audacity, as Tacitus would say.”

<p style="margin-bottom:0in;margin-bottom:.0001pt; mso-add-space:auto;line-height:normal"><span style="font-family:"SegoeUI","sans-serif"">“What does that mean?” I asked.

<p style="margin-bottom:0in;margin-bottom:.0001pt; mso-add-space:auto;line-height:normal"><span style="font-family:"SegoeUI","sans-serif"">“Were he simply a mad beggar, the headmaster would do away with him, but since he is a mad beggar who believes himself to be Odin, the headmaster keeps him for the mere audacity of %the% act.”

<p style="margin-bottom:0in;margin-bottom:.0001pt; mso-add-space:auto;line-height:normal"><span style="font-family:"SegoeUI","sans-serif"">“Or maybe the headmaster believes him to be a god, and keeps him here out of fear.” Nephi laughed at my theory. I finished my bacon and gulped down my coffee and milk.

<p style="margin-bottom:0in;margin-bottom:.0001pt; mso-add-space:auto;line-height:normal"><span style="font-family:"SegoeUI","sans-serif"">“Where are you off to in such a rush?”

<p style="margin-bottom:0in;margin-bottom:.0001pt; mso-add-space:auto;line-height:normal"><span style="font-family:"SegoeUI","sans-serif"">“I have classes, and some science homework to do.” I said. My classes went until four’ o clock, wasting away all the daylight there was. Luckily, they had lamps in the library.

<p style="margin-bottom:0in;margin-bottom:.0001pt; mso-add-space:auto;line-height:normal"><span style="font-family:"SegoeUI","sans-serif"">The library was on the south side of the college, next to a large lancet window that arched over the southern towers of the school, and toward the snow drifted farms of Grafton and Radcot. Beneath this window, Samuel had just got out of Seminary. He sat up to a table, reading the bible in only his shirt and trousers. His waistcoat and hat were laid out on the windowsill.

<p style="margin-bottom:0in;margin-bottom:.0001pt; mso-add-space:auto;text-indent:35.45pt;line-height:normal"><span style="font-family:"SegoeUI","sans-serif"">Samuel was one of the school’s Catholics, and one of the few who was serious about his religion. He prayed and read the bible regularly and often studies the liturgical rites and sacraments.

<p style="margin-bottom:0in;margin-bottom:.0001pt; mso-add-space:auto;line-height:normal"><span style="font-family:"SegoeUI","sans-serif"">“Hullo, Martin.” Samuel said.

<p style="margin-bottom:0in;margin-bottom:.0001pt; mso-add-space:auto;line-height:normal"><span style="font-family:"SegoeUI","sans-serif"">“Hullo, you ready to finish that poem?” I asked.

<p style="margin-bottom:0in;margin-bottom:.0001pt; mso-add-space:auto;line-height:normal"><span style="font-family:"SegoeUI","sans-serif"">“Yes, but make it quick, I must tend my father’s horses soon.”

<p style="margin-bottom:0in;margin-bottom:.0001pt; mso-add-space:auto;line-height:normal"><span style="font-family:"SegoeUI","sans-serif"">“Yes, of course.” I said. “I’ll go give it to Jeeves now.”

<p style="margin-bottom:0in;margin-bottom:.0001pt; mso-add-space:auto;line-height:normal"><span style="font-family:"SegoeUI","sans-serif"">At the desk of the library was Jeeves, one of the writing professors. If anyone knew how to write a poem, it would be him. I showed him the draft Samuel and I came up with. He sat in his armchair and reviewed it.

<p style="margin-bottom:0in;margin-bottom:.0001pt; mso-add-space:auto;line-height:normal"><span style="font-family:"SegoeUI","sans-serif"">“I say, old chap, this poem will never make the cut.” Jeeves said.

<p style="margin-bottom:0in;margin-bottom:.0001pt; mso-add-space:auto;line-height:normal"><span style="font-family:"SegoeUI","sans-serif"">“Why not?” I asked.

<p style="margin-bottom:0in;margin-bottom:.0001pt; mso-add-space:auto;line-height:normal"><span style="font-family:"SegoeUI","sans-serif"">“No self respecting professor would ever have the ability to read through the first stanza.”

<p style="margin-bottom:0in;margin-bottom:.0001pt; mso-add-space:auto;line-height:normal"><span style="font-family:"SegoeUI","sans-serif"">“Jeeves, I spent the holidays working on that!”

<p style="margin-bottom:0in;margin-bottom:.0001pt; mso-add-space:auto;line-height:normal"><span style="font-family:"SegoeUI","sans-serif"">“If that were so, this would be better, this poem seems to have been written by a boy who spent the holidays drinking gin.”

<p style="margin-bottom:0in;margin-bottom:.0001pt; mso-add-space:auto;line-height:normal"><span style="font-family:"SegoeUI","sans-serif"">“That wasn’t me.” I said.

<p style="margin-bottom:0in;margin-bottom:.0001pt; mso-add-space:auto;line-height:normal"><span style="font-family:"SegoeUI","sans-serif"">“Oh, you’re right, you only drink Vodka.”

<p style="margin-bottom:0in;margin-bottom:.0001pt; mso-add-space:auto;line-height:normal"><span style="font-family:"SegoeUI","sans-serif"">“Jeeves, what would you reckon for me to change in it?” I asked.

<p style="margin-bottom:0in;margin-bottom:.0001pt; mso-add-space:auto;line-height:normal"><span style="font-family:"SegoeUI","sans-serif"">“Everything.” He said. I went back to Samuel empty-handed.

<p style="margin-bottom:0in;margin-bottom:.0001pt; mso-add-space:auto;line-height:normal"><span style="font-family:"SegoeUI","sans-serif"">“How was it?” he asked.

<p style="margin-bottom:0in;margin-bottom:.0001pt; mso-add-space:auto;line-height:normal"><span style="font-family:"SegoeUI","sans-serif"">“Beastly.” I said. “Jeeves didn’t like it.” I said.

<p style="margin-bottom:0in;margin-bottom:.0001pt; mso-add-space:auto;line-height:normal"><span style="font-family:"SegoeUI","sans-serif"">“What a pity.” Samuel said. “I suppose we will fail the assignment.” Sam sat in a chair in front of the student works section; this gave me a brilliant idea.

<p style="margin-bottom:0in;margin-bottom:.0001pt; mso-add-space:auto;line-height:normal"><span style="font-family:"SegoeUI","sans-serif"">“Samuel, Why don’t we take a poem from there?” I asked.

<p style="margin-bottom:0in;margin-bottom:.0001pt; mso-add-space:auto;line-height:normal"><span style="font-family:"SegoeUI","sans-serif"">“What?” he said.

<p style="margin-bottom:0in;margin-bottom:.0001pt; mso-add-space:auto;line-height:normal"><span style="font-family:"SegoeUI","sans-serif"">“See here, there is an entire section devoted to the poems of ages past from this school.” I said. “We need only to find an obscure book from a past student, one they’d never find.” We searched through the collective poetry and found a poem on the wars of Charlemagne, by Amber Bush. I gave that poem to Samuel, who was reluctant to go with my idea.

<p style="margin-bottom:0in;margin-bottom:.0001pt; mso-add-space:auto;line-height:normal"><span style="font-family:"SegoeUI","sans-serif"">“Surely, you cannot be serious.” He said.

<p style="margin-bottom:0in;margin-bottom:.0001pt; mso-add-space:auto;line-height:normal"><span style="font-family:"SegoeUI","sans-serif"">“I am.” I said. “See here, all you must do is copy this poem, and turn it in to Woodhull, and the next week will be a jolly holiday.”

<p style="margin-bottom:0in;margin-bottom:.0001pt; mso-add-space:auto;line-height:normal"><span style="font-family:"SegoeUI","sans-serif"">“Very well, I shall do it.” Samuel said skeptically. We went our way to the library of the door, but before we could leave, Robert Osburn burst in with a warning for Jeeves.

<p style="margin-bottom:0in;margin-bottom:.0001pt; mso-add-space:auto;line-height:normal"><span style="font-family:"SegoeUI","sans-serif"">“Jared has come, he has beset this room.” He said. Jeeves remained calm in the face of such an adversary.

<p style="margin-bottom:0in;margin-bottom:.0001pt; mso-add-space:auto;line-height:normal"><span style="font-family:"SegoeUI","sans-serif"">“Worry not, for we will find a way to escape from this angry Russian. We shall show him what the true York is capable of.” He turned towards Samuel and I.

<p style="margin-bottom:0in;margin-bottom:.0001pt; mso-add-space:auto;line-height:normal"><span style="font-family:"SegoeUI","sans-serif"">“Martin, follow me.” He led us to his office behind the library, where there was a desk with a lamp on it. Behind it was a red armchair, some bookshelves, and a trunk, which Jeeves opened and climbed into.

<p style="margin-bottom:0in;margin-bottom:.0001pt; mso-add-space:auto;line-height:normal"><span style="font-family:"SegoeUI","sans-serif"">“Are you sure you can fit into it?” Samuel asked.