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Chapter 5

“Oh my god, Tom,” Angela exclaimed as she opened the door.

“Mom... they... tried...” he began, panting.

She saw the distress and terror in his face.

“I know... the school just called. I heard what happened,” she told him. “Come in... tell me... are you hurt?”

“No, don’t... think so... but I... was gonna... die, Mom! They were gonna kill me...” he began crying.

“Tom, you’re okay now, no one’s going to hurt you. Listen, I called Dad when I heard what happened. We don’t have much time, kid. Dad thinks the school’ll call the police and they just might want to arrest you, so we need to get you safe till we can get a handle on things. Let’s get in the car. I’ll tell you while we go.”

Angela called Duncan as they went to the car. Duncan told her that he’d arrange to get a room in a hotel near his office and that she should take him there. A short time later they met Duncan outside the hotel and he took Tom to the room while Angela returned home. Duncan got the whole story from Tom while they walked to the room.

“So that’s all I can remember, Dad,” Tom said. “It all happened so fast. I felt like I was gonna die, I really did, and I just wanted to get away from them and they were trying to strip me.”

“So they tried using force to undress you ?”

Tom nodded. “Yeah, one was holding me tight and with the panic, I couldn’t move and just went blank, kinda like a dream, you know, where bad things are happening and you can’t stop them, but then when one guy tried to pull off my school blazer, something snapped in my head and all I could think of was trying to get away. I don’t remember much, all I could think of was that it was like the zombies coming for me, you know, like we saw in that horror movie a few weeks ago?”

“So it was that bad, huh?” Duncan looked at Tom sympathetically.

“Ohmygod,” Tom breathed. “Like a bad dream, where you’re running but can’t get away, you know? Except it was real. God, why does stuff like this happen?” he moaned.

“Yeah, son, why? That’s the question. First, I found out from the doc who wrote the prescription that a side effect of one of your drugs can be hallucinations, paranoia, and violent aggression. The dose might have been too high, also. And even though your shrink from Germany had told us that your problem might get better, it looks like it hasn’t, or maybe just hasn’t yet. So we gotta find a way to keep you away from that nudity crap in the schools until we know how to help you make things better. Meanwhile, we need to get you out of this little situation. Hey, this is a pretty nice room. Check out that big TV. You stay put here; I’ll send Lynette to you here as soon as I can—she’ll keep you company. Will you be okay till then?”

“Yeah, Dad, thanks. I love you so much and thanks for taking care of me, even when I do bad stuff.”

“Hey sport, this wasn’t your fault. Your records Mom gave the school show that you have that phobia and it really affects you badly. Seems those meds made things much worse. I can’t believe that your school officials didn’t pay any attention to your medical records. Anyway, I love you too and you stay put, okay? Don’t use the phone either; we’ll call you if we need to. You might need to spend the night so we’ll have Lynette bring over what you need.”

Duncan left and took a cab home. When he arrived, he noticed a police car in front of the house. He went into the house.

“What’s going on? Is everything okay?” he asked the officer who came to the door when he entered.

“We’re here about your son, Thomas Armstrong,” the officer replied. “You are Mr Armstrong, the father?”

“Is Tom okay? Angela?”

“I’m here...” she answered.

“Ohmygod, what’s wrong?” he replied.

Angela came over. “I tried calling you. There was a problem at school. They say Tom did some damage there, The school called about Tom but they didn’t say where he was,” she said, winking at him.

“Oh really?” Duncan replied as a second officer came to the front door and entered the house. “Must have my phone turned off. What kind of damage?”

“According to the head teacher, he threw stuff all around the office, messed it up a lot,” she said.

The second officer spoke. “Where is your son now?”

“He’s supposed to be in school, right, Angela?” Duncan answered.

“He’s probably not anywhere near the school,” the officer replied. “He was last seen jumping out of a ground-floor window. We need to ask him some questions. The school might be laying charges against him.”

Duncan looked at him hard. “What kind of charges? Civil or criminal?”

The officer shook his head. “That depends on the investigation and what we learn from your son.”

Duncan nodded. “I see. Well, until he shows up, then, you’ll need to wait, I suppose. I’ll also need to contact my solicitor. Officer, will you be waiting here?”

“When does he normally return home?” the officer asked.

Duncan smiled grimly. “I don’t think that the circumstances are ‘normal,’ do you? Let’s see... Angela? When is his usual time?”

Angela looked at her watch. “Maybe two, two and a half hours from now.”

The second officer nodded. “Let us check with dispatch. I’ll let you know.”

They went out to their car.

Angela turned to Duncan. “I texted Lynette and called the school to release her in... um... in fifty minutes from now. I have some clothes packed. I’ll drop off the bag with her and send her to Tom.”

“Good. Hope the cops don’t follow you...” He broke off when there was a knock at the door.

The second officer had returned. “Dispatch wants us to leave but you have to call this number when your son returns.” He handed Duncan a card. “Be sure you do, there are legal consequences if he doesn’t contact us, you know.”

“Okay, officer,” Duncan acknowledged.

As soon as the officer left, Duncan got on the phone to his solicitor. He was still talking when Angela left to meet Lynette, who had brought Tom’s backpack with her. Soon Angela returned home, after getting a Uber car for Lynette to go downtown. She told Lynette to be dropped off a few blocks away from the hotel in case someone was looking for Tom; she had retrieved Tom’s wallet and phone from his school backpack and put it in the overnight bag Lynette was to bring to him.

Duncan greeted her when she entered the house. “Honey, I spoke to Campbell—our lawyer Campbell Morrison—several times. He just called back; he got himself free for the afternoon and said we should meet him at the school in 45 minutes. He spoke to the head teacher and told him we’re coming and that he’d better have some legal advice on hand when we get there. Apparently Campbell isn’t a great fan of this naked Program either.”

“Okay, good,” Angela nodded. “Lynette told me that the school office looks totally trashed, like a tornado went through it. There were a few people trying to clean it up and they were keeping gawkers away. They hung sheets over the windows to the hallway to block people from seeing in, but she saw it because she was called to the office. They wanted to know where Tom was.”

“Oh. Damage was that bad, huh. Well, I knew that Tom’s pretty strong... Andrew told me Tom bench-presses 105 kilograms now and squats 150. Way, way above average,” Duncan said proudly. “Shit, those damned drugs. Say, I also spoke to the Crisis Center and they put the shrink who prescribed them on the line. I told him what happened and how Tom reacted to the drugs for the week—and what he told me in the hotel. The shrink asked how Tom was before he got exposed to the nudity shit... um, he didn’t use that exact expression...”

Angela chuckled ruefully.

“Anyway, I told him that Tom was just about perfectly balanced, no issues of any consequence. So he told me to stop the drugs now. He said that Tom hasn’t been on them long enough to need to stop them slowly and according to the shrink, he thinks that it looks like they were doing more harm than good; Tom got the paranoia side-effect, what the shrink figured happened. He said Tom should just avoid seeing nudity. I laughed and reminded him of the Program. So he said he’d send a letter to the school telling them that they have to isolate Tom from the Program kids.”

Angela shook her head. “I spoke to the head teacher and asked the same thing. He said he couldn’t do that.”

Duncan smiled grimly. “Okay, but Campbell has a weapon against the school now, he told me. Well, let’s get Tom’s records out again in case they lost the ones you brought, right? And then it’ll be time to meet Campbell.”

A half-hour later they met Morrison in front of the school.

“Glad you could handle this one, Campbell,” Duncan said while they shook hands. “Different from real estate, no?”

Morrison nodded. “Indeed. But I’m on solid ground here. I worked as a Crown prosecutor earlier in my career. Anything changed from our last conversation?”

“One thing,” Duncan replied. “The Crisis Center shrink told me that Tom wasn’t responsible; the drugs’ side effects gave him paranoia, made him hallucinate and become very aggressive. Tom told me that he thought the teachers were some kind of zombies coming to kill him.”

“Oh my...”

“Also the shrink said that he’d send a letter to the school saying that Tom will have no problems being in school if he’s kept apart from the nudity and sexual shenanigans.”

Angela broke in. “And Lynette is terribly freaked out by everything she’s seen. She’s scared to death about what’ll happen when she gets picked. She’s putting up a brave front to support her brother, but she broke down when she was talking with me last night.”

Morrison smiled, but there was no humor in his expression. “Two things more to add to our list of demands, then. Let me ring my office briefly.”

He stepped aside with his phone, selected a contact, and spoke quickly with the person who answered. Then he looked up.

“That’s done. Let’s go in.”

The three were met at the school’s entrance and were shown to the conference room. There was one person already there; she rose and introduced herself.

“I’m Miss Richardson, the counselor. The head teacher will be right in; he’s... um... dealing with that... ah... cleanup.”

“Yes, of course,” Duncan replied and introduced the others.

That’s when Taylor entered with two others. He indicated that everyone sit and began introductions.

“I’m Dr Taylor, head teacher. You’ve met Miss Richardson. This is Mrs Waverly, she’ll be recording the meeting. And Mr Jose Garcia, the solicitor for the school. No one was available from the LEA on such short notice...”

The door opened and a woman entered.

“Ah, and this is Mrs Roxanne Gordon, the chair of the school’s governors.”

Duncan introduced his wife and solicitor, and then opened.

“I asked for this meeting because I want to know what your plans are in connection with my son Tom.”

Taylor made a throat-clearing sound, the kind of sound some people use to attempt to assert authority.

“Your son Thomas Armstrong wreaked serious damage on school property, injured two people, and greatly frightened my office staff. We intend to lay assault charges and assess property damages to your family; the preliminary estimate is greater than 10,000 pounds in property damages and lost productivity. We will begin steps for Mr Armstrong’s expulsion from school, as well.”

“Thank you. I’m going to let my solicitor continue the discussion. Mr Morrison, if you will?”

Morrison nodded. “Dr Taylor, I understand that, except for the first week where you had Program volunteer pupils, that selection for participants was to be random, as the national policy states. Yet it seems quite unique that Mr Thomas Armstrong was singled out by a different kind of notification of his selection; that implies that his choosing was not random, doesn’t it?”

Taylor shook his head. “The school reserves the right to select participants other than random choice.”

“So you acknowledge that he was deliberately picked, then. Apart from not disclosing that fact in your Program policies, why was a young man who was here in the school a grand total of a little more than three days deliberately chosen, over leaving the selection to random choice?”

Taylor glanced at Richardson. “We had a meeting—that is, Miss Richardson, Mr Grey from the LEA, and Mrs Dodson, our Program coordinator. The teachers had noticed, erm... unusual behavior on Tom Armstrong’s part. Mrs Armstrong, in a phone conversation, had asked me to help her son with dealing with his problem. In that meeting we decided the best help would be if he participated in the Program.”

Duncan and Angela snorted with derision.

“I see... and of course you have a record of that meeting?”

Taylor looked at Richardson who shook her head. “We didn’t record it or take minutes. I don’t recall seeing anyone taking notes, either.”

“Really? You break your own protocol on pupil selection without documenting your decision and rationale?”

Garcia spoke. “This isn’t a legal proceeding, counselor. Your questions sound like a cross-examination.”

“I won’t deny that they are examination questions, Mr Garcia. My clients were just threatened with some major, heavy-duty sanctions. Let’s just say that we’re fact-finding now. Less expensive than doing it by deposition or in a courtroom proceeding. Okay, I won’t pursue the lack of minutes for an unusual selection process, Dr Taylor. But what was the basis of your decision to provide this so-called help to Tom?”

“Miss Richardson? I recall you suggested the ‘controlled environment’ for the lad’s disrobing,” Taylor said.

She blushed. “We were discussing how young Mr Armstrong had certain problems when he saw the naked participants during the first Program week—other issues too, like participating in class and how he wouldn’t use the locker room for P.E. Someone thought that the psych treatment called ‘exposure therapy’ would help Tom, so we discussed how to include him in the Program.”

Morrison nodded. “Thank you. And enlighten me, what credentials do any of the participants in that meeting possess to practice psychiatry or psychology? You were devising a kind of psychological treatment plan for Tom, weren’t you?”

He got blank stares.

“Your silence answers the question. You have no such credentials.”

Garcia spoke up. “I don’t see why the school officials need to be shrinks to assign a pupil to the Program. They have the right to do that under the law that authorized the Program.”

“Obviously that’s true, sir,” Morrison replied. “But only if the boy had been selected randomly. He was deliberately chosen for what was clearly stated to be a psychological purpose: to subject him to the psychiatric treatment called ‘exposure therapy,’ which is a medical treatment. Now I need to ask about your familiarity with Mr Armstrong’s medical and psychological school records, which you received when my clients registered him in school here two weeks ago on the Friday. The Armstrongs have shown me a date-stamped receipt for them from your office.”

“I don’t recall seeing anything...” Taylor began thoughtfully.

“So when you became aware of the difficulties Tom was having, and after speaking to his mother, you never checked his file for any prior records which would shed light on his condition.”

“One moment. You made that a statement, not a question,” Garcia objected. “You’re making an unwarranted assumption.”

Morrison shook his head. “I’m not; Dr Taylor’s facial expression told me all that I needed to know. He never checked Mr Armstrong’s file. Well then, sir, that then justifies our first counter-charge. For not checking my client’s psychological records and practicing psychology without proper licensure, Mr Garcia, your clients are guilty of negligence and your school is legally liable.”

“Not at all,” Garcia retorted. “School officials have wide latitude for the kinds of things pupils are required to do while in the school program.”

“That may be true in many cases,” Morrison said mildly. “But not in the case of an attempt at using a poorly designed psychological treatment method when records exist which warn against using exactly such a treatment. In Mr Armstrong’s case, two professionals—a psychiatrist and a psychologist—warned against using that treatment modality. And your amateurs here, despite the pupil’s written psychological records, chose to use that very modality. This is an open-and-shut case of negligence, isn’t it. I can’t call it malpractice, I don’t think, because they aren’t licensed to practice the professions which use that treatment. But to move on now. You were told by Mrs Armstrong that her son was put on powerful psychoactive medications. These are known to blunt a person’s normal responses, and in Tom’s case, virtually deadened them, and one known side effect of the medications triggered unwanted psychotic behavior. I stress that these are known side effects. I was told that you were aware that he was taking those meds, weren’t you?”

“Yes,” Taylor responded dully.

“Did you ask the nurse anything about how those meds could affect Tom while in school?”

“No.”

“Because you didn’t consult his record, but selected him as a participant of your Program, what was your plan if he refused to disrobe when you broke the news of his selection to him?”

“We assumed that he’d refuse, so we had two teachers stand by to help him if he balked at the request.” Taylor acknowledged.

“And that’s what they did, didn’t they? But they did more than ‘help’ him. You told the teachers to strip Tom and they tried to carry out your directions; am I correct?”

Taylor nodded but Garcia looked alarmed and interrupted. “Stop... Dr Taylor, don’t answer. I don’t like this line of questioning.”

“I have Dr Taylor’s nonverbal assent that that’s what, in fact, occurred, Mr Garcia. Again, this is not a court of law. According to Tom, the teachers grabbed him and tried to restrain him so that they could remove his clothes. Tom said that Dr Taylor told the teachers to undress him, and also to hold him. Under the laws of the United Kingdom, doing those things constitutes assault and battery on a minor child. Nowhere in the act of Parliament which authorized the Naked in School Program does it overturn the laws which cover committing violence on a person. Dr Taylor, for instructing the teachers to batter Mr Armstrong, you committed an assault; the teachers committed assault and battery. What you did was to commit a sexual assault on a minor. And since you were acting in your official school capacity as their supervisor, then as well, the school is legally liable.”

“That’s not at all true, sir,” Garcia objected. “Under the Program, pupils can be forced to strip.”

Morrison sighed. “That’s a widespread assumption but completely unfounded. Nowhere in the Program law does it repeal or modify the laws which penalize assault or other crimes against the person; they are still felonies. We could make this a test case if you want. The penalty for a deliberate assault and battery by an adult on a minor is 15 to 20 years. Since the intent was to strip him naked, this offence might very well be considered to be a sexual battery. Shall I lay that complaint with authorities?”

“No! Wait. Give me a minute with my clients,” Garcia requested, now alarmed and standing at his place.

“We’ll stop outside in the hallway. Get us when you’re ready,” Morrison said, and he and the Armstrongs rose and left the room.

“Wow, good job,” Duncan remarked when they closed the door. “You have them on the run.”

Morrison grinned. “Good to get back at the Program, somehow. Last year my daughter was caught up in that shit, pardon my French, and refused to strip off when she was picked. They made verbal warnings and threats but she listened to the headmaster, refused again, then walked out and came home. They didn’t try to force her, thank god; I don’t know what she would have done. She had taken one of those women’s self-defense classes which teach the girls how to do permanent damage to an assailant and she very well might have caused a serious problem for herself and a staff member if they tried using force.”

Angela looked at him. “What did you do?”

“Well, we moved her to a school without the Program.”

She pressed him, “Wait, are there such schools in Lond...?” Suddenly a man came rushing down the hall and stopped in front of them. Angela looked at the man and whispered to Morrison, “...okay, I’ll ask later.”

“Is this the office? Delivery for Mr Morrison,” the man said.

“Ah, good. That’s me,” Morrison nodded.

“Yes, I’ll need an ID?”

Morrison pulled out a card and showed it. The man nodded, then handed over an envelope, got a signature, and left.

“Messenger sent by my office; it’s the updated agreement for the school,” he told the Armstrongs. “Save us time now,” he said, opening the folder and taking out some sheets. “Let me summarize what’s there—it contains our demands for what the school must do for us. Sign the agreement contracts at your names; initial each page too.”

He summarized the demands which the papers contained and they signed the sheets.

Duncan smiled. “Good. Looks perfect. Think they’ll agree?” He handed the sheets back and Morrison put them away as he answered.

“I think they’ll find that they’ll have to...”

Just then the conference room door opened.

Garcia spoke as they got seated. “My clients want to avoid any unpleasantness and legal disruptions, so without us making any admissions about your claims, what is it that you want to result from this discussion?”

“Let me first give you a bit of a preamble,” Morrison remarked. “In responding to what he perceived as a grave threat against himself, young Mr Tom Armstrong simply acted in his own self-defense; in his panic he was convinced that he was fighting for his life. As well, he was suffering a known side effect of the medications he was taking—after your seeing how they affected him, you should know that he’s been taken off those drugs now since it appears that they affect him so badly. Next, the damage to the office was a result of your own negligence in not reviewing Tom’s file, thereby ignoring the advice of two medical professionals against attempting to treat Tom’s phobia. It’s clear that when Tom is not terrorized by threats of stripping him forcibly, he’s totally harmless to himself and others.

“Mr Garcia, my clients make four non-negotiable demands based on your clients’ negligent and felonious behavior. One, we demand that the school and its officials drop any and all charges which may have been, or are planned to be, laid against him. Second, the school will bear all costs of the damage caused by its officials’ negligent behavior. Third, you will find a way to educate Tom so that he will not come into contact with pupils in your naked Program. Fourth and finally, this concerns Tom’s sister Lynette Armstrong, you will remove her name from the list of eligible pupils for the Program and will not in any way select her for participation either, as you also obviously will not choose Tom again. Failing to meet these four demands will result in the Armstrongs initiating a suit at law against the school and its officials for negligence; we shall seek compensatory and punitive damages as well, and we will lay charges for sexual assault and battery against the head teacher and the other teachers involved.”

Taylor looked at Garcia. “Can we do this...?”

Garcia shrugged. “Up to you. We discussed the options.”

Mrs Gordon spoke for the first time. “Mr Morrison, that damage was really extensive. Surely you don’t expect the school will pay for it all? Can we work out a compromise?”

“Ma’am, we will not compromise. That would imply that Tom has some share of the responsibility for what occurred. You brought on the damage with your own negligence. I assure you we have a virtually ironclad legal case and when you lose in court, your expenses and the judgment and its non-financial consequences will far exceed the cleanup costs.”

She shrugged. “I don’t know... it’s a difficult choice...”

“Take the known expense, ma’am. Gambling on winning a lawsuit is a bad idea, particularly given the facts of this incident,” Morrison counseled.

Taylor spoke, “If we agree that the school will bear the repair costs, it appears that the school must, as well, drop the destruction of property charges. They’re linked. Will the police actually let us do that?”

“They will, since if there’s no one to stand up at trial and testify about what occurred, the Crown would have no case to present,” Morrison assured him.

Taylor looked at Garcia. “How do we proceed?”

Garcia spread his hands. “Your choice, but if you don’t accept, then...”

“Yes, yes, I know. Right, then. Okay, Mr Morrison,” Taylor responded. “We’ll get to your third item last. About the sister; we can’t do that, exempting a pupil through what is essentially blackmail.”

“Exactly. That’s what it is, and you’ll do it; you don’t have a choice, do you?” Morrison grinned mirthlessly. “Just accidently delete the name from the eligibles list. Simple. No one needs to know. So that’s agreed. And the final item?”

Taylor shook his head. “I don’t like... not fair to the pupils... well, fine. You have us in a... checkmate. But there’s no way we can shield Mr Armstrong from seeing nudity in the school. I told Mrs Armstrong when we spoke by phone last week, that the group changes every week so there will always be naked pupils in various classes.”

“Sir, show some creativity,” Morrison chided. “Tom appears to be a smart young man; he has excellent grades. I’m certain that if you stop thinking of reasons why it can’t work, you’ll figure something out. For example, consider independent learning classes. He could work in the library, I assume. The teachers could prepare the work he should do—after all, it’s in their lesson plans, isn’t it. Then have the teachers do some one-on-one time with him each day so he can get his questions answered. You’re the educational experts; I’m sure there are various models for how to conduct independent learning. Do we have your agreement for this as well, then?”

Taylor nodded reluctantly. “Yes...”

“Excellent. In anticipation of your acceptance of my clients’ terms, I’ve prepared a settlement agreement for your signatures.”

He slid the document across to Garcia, who read it, and looked up. “It reads exactly what you stated in your demands. And you added a mutual non-disclosure clause, I see.”

Morrison nodded. “Yes. We commit ourselves not to let anyone know about this agreement. And I believe you will find it in your best interests not to divulge its contents either, don’t you.”

Garcia looked at Taylor. “They’ve already signed these papers. They need your signature and Mrs Gordon’s representing the school governors. And mine as your counsel.”

Reluctantly and with sour expressions, the three officials signed the two copies of the agreement. They kept one and passed the second copy back to Morrison.

Morrison looked at Duncan and, with a hand gesture, invited him to speak.

Duncan looked thoughtful. “The topic we need to discuss now is twofold. First, how my son will be viewed by others. How many people know that it was he who caused the office damage?”

Taylor thought for a few seconds. “Not many. No pupils. The two teachers, the guard, and my office staff. And those here.”

“Will they be discreet and not gossip?” Duncan asked.

“I’m certain they will be; I’ll contact them when we’re done. You said two points.”

“Still on the first. We don’t want the kids—or teachers—to view him as a troublemaker or worse, a psychotic—or some kind of hero for messing up your office. You can see how that would lead to other problems, right?”

“Certainly. I agree,” Taylor acknowledged.

“Now, next point. Given that you will need time to work out an independent learning program—hell, I hate that word ‘program’ now—what I suggest is that tomorrow, Tom goes to home room just like normal. No naked kids in there this week, I heard. Then he goes to the library. He has a ton of makeup work from last week and only did about half this weekend before he crashed. Lynette helped him a fair amount. He can get his work done and you folks can use the class lesson plans to get the materials he needs. The only thing he’d be missing is the classroom discussions and his participation in them. He does love to debate topics he feels strongly about. If you were really creative, you could set up remote participation using a video camera and speaker, sort of like Skyping the class.”

Taylor nodded. “Hmmm... interesting ideas. Yes, that sounds like a good plan to use for tomorrow. Thanks. I appreciate your thought of keeping the semblance of normality, that is, at least as normal as the Program allows school to be these days. Look, I really regret the way this matter worked out as it did, and apologize for the distress it caused you and your son. We’ve learned an important lesson, Mr Armstrong. Thank you for not rubbing our faces in the mud in revenge.”

With that apology, the group rose and said their farewells; the Armstrongs and their counsel left.

“That went amazingly well,” Angela sighed as they left the building. “Campbell, I can’t believe how you got everything, but you did go after them like a bulldog.” She laughed. “Impressive.”

“I had good ammunition. The thing was to use it properly. Give no ground; allow no wiggle room.”

Duncan laughed. “Yeah, they couldn’t wiggle, but you sure made them squirm.”

They all laughed.

Angela suddenly said, “Oh, Campbell, you mentioned schools without the Program, earlier?”

“Sure. Independent schools don’t have to run it. They’re tuition based, not government funded, so they don’t have to follow the government’s curriculum which includes the Program. I moved Dorothy to one so for her last year she won’t have to worry about being in it.”

Angela nodded. “Maybe we should look into that. What school is she in?”

He chuckled. “Won’t help Tom. He hasn’t the proper physique. It’s an all-girls’ school.”

“Yeah,” Angela agreed, chuckling. “That’s a problem. Well, if there’s one such school, there are more. We’ll look into it.”

“You know that Tom would never agree to go to an all-boys’ school,” Duncan remarked to Angela. “Remember how he fussed when he learned that Andrew wouldn’t be going to his school.”

“True, Tom and Lynette couldn’t bear to be separated that way, I know.”

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