LITMIR.BIZ

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was one of my staples at this time of year. Lock some of these children in a room with a pen and a sheet of paper with the instruction to ‘write a poem’ and from their reaction you might expect to be arrested for committing war crimes, such was the sense of cold dread it could invoke. But give them a trigger – particularly one with lots of meaty imagery and connotations – and you could, if you were gentle, coax all manner of surprising word-combinations from them.

      We’d just had Halloween – plenty of meaty imagery and connotations there, for starters – and as the last half-term had fallen close to 5 November there had been lots of organised firework displays already. So there was something for everyone: dead souls and ghouls, clanking chains, and trick-or-treating or pyrotechnics, loud bangs and burnings at the stake.

      I began handing out workbooks and pens and coloured pencils, and as I did so I noticed that Imogen had taken herself off to the far side of the girls’ table, while the other five were all currently gathered around the boys’ one. What was her news, I wondered? Whatever it was, she obviously wasn’t keen to share it. No, she wouldn’t have much to say, I knew, but she’d normally at least be there, close beside Shona, taking her cues from her friend.

      ‘Imogen, love,’ I said quietly, not wanting to make a big deal of it and start stressing her. ‘Why don’t you join the others at the boys’ table for a bit. Like I said, we’re not starting straight away.’

      She’d had her head bowed, nose in book, as was standard, but now she looked up at me and I was shocked by just how wretched she appeared. Her face was pale and puffy. She’d clearly been doing a lot of crying. She shook her head by way of an answer and returned to scanning the pages.

      I leaned down. ‘You okay, sweetie?’ I whispered. She shook her head, but, again, didn’t say anything. Not even in the monosyllabic way she’d become used to doing in class now. Oh God, I thought, had she slipped back to her mutism again? In so many other areas, kids did tend to slip back a little when out of school – and in this too? And what was the cause? Was it simply the week at home? The heightened anxiety about returning after the break? Or was it because of something more sinister?

      I squatted beside her. ‘Imogen, love,’ I whispered, ‘I’m going to come straight to the point, okay? Have you stopped speaking again?’

      I watched and waited and, presumably with no place to go, she eventually raised her gaze and met mine. Then she nodded, and as she did so I heard the door open behind me. It was Kelly. And, seeing her, Imogen immediately shrank back and lowered her head again.

      Damn, I thought, standing up. This was a setback. And perhaps it wasn’t just about half-term; maybe it was because she’d been thinking. Maybe she’d been worrying that she’d said too much in her ‘secrets’ note to me, and would now be in trouble. But whatever it was, there was no way I’d find out at this moment. I went back to join Kelly – who I still needed to bring up to speed – and get the day under way.

      ‘Right then,’ I began, once I’d had the kids return to their usual working places, ‘from what I’ve just heard, it sounds like you’re all going to have lots to write about this morning. Not in the shape of a story, however. Today I’m after two pieces of poetry.’ There was the usual groan from the boys – something that seemed almost automatic – but I was used to that, so I carried straight on. ‘The first,’ I told them, ‘I want to be all about Halloween. Any aspect of it: how much you enjoyed it, which parts of it scared you, what you might have dressed up as; and the second piece I want to be about Guy Fawkes Night, which I know hasn’t happened yet, but did any of you go and see any fireworks over the weekend? Have bonfires? Make a guy, or …’

      I stopped in mid-sentence, because Imogen, previously just sitting there, head bent, had jumped from her chair, which fell back and landed with a clatter, made a dash for the door and ran from the room.

      The other kids stared, open mouthed, just as I did. ‘Imogen?’ I called. But it was too late. She’d gone. ‘Okay, everyone,’ I said, to forestall another wave of chatter. ‘You know what you’re doing now. Any questions, ask Miss Vickers, while I go and find Imogen, but come on, chop-chop, let’s get those thinking caps on, okay?’

      I left the classroom, then, expecting to have to start stalking the corridors, but Imogen hadn’t gone very far at all. I fact, she was sitting cross-legged on the floor, back against the wall. Just by the door. I squatted down beside her and laid a hand on her shoulder. ‘Sweetie, what’s the matter?’ I asked her, as the tears started up. ‘Something’s clearly wrong but if you don’t tell me what it is I can’t help you, can I? Come on, try,’ I coaxed, which only made her cry harder. My instinct was obviously to gather her into my arms but I stopped myself. I needed not to provide a method of retreat but to keep her outside her comfort zone, so I actually moved away slightly, then stood up, then extended my hand.

      ‘Come on, sweetie,’ I said, gesturing towards it. ‘Come on, let’s go somewhere more private. Somewhere quiet where you can tell me what’s wrong.’

      It took a while but eventually she slipped her hand into mine, and once I had a hold of her I helped to pull her up. ‘Good girl,’ I said, as we headed off down the corridor. ‘Now let’s go and see if Mr Clark’s office is free.’

      And, thankfully, it was. Perhaps he was even then deep in conversation with the head. Perhaps he wasn’t, but either way I knew he wouldn’t mind us taking refuge in his room. There was a box of tissues on his windowsill and, seeing it, I grabbed a handful. ‘Here, love,’ I said to Imogen, ‘now have a blow and wipe your eyes and then you can tell me what’s upsetting you, okay?’

      She duly took the tissues and blew her nose, but it was like stopping a leaky dam. She was still crying and I suspected she would continue to do so, until such time as she got this huge weight off her chest. But the speaking bit – that was probably going to be the hard part.

      ‘Imogen,’ I said, taking a seat opposite her, ‘I know this is going to be difficult, now you’ve gone to that place in your head, but, honestly, it’s just a question of starting. If you can just get the first few words out, the rest will be easy, so let’s start at the beginning and get the hardest part over with. Now, before half-term you put your secret letter in my box and you knew I was going to read it – is that what’s upsetting you?’

      Again I waited, resisting the urge to fill the lengthening silence, while Imogen again blew her nose and dabbed at the tears on her cheeks. ‘No, Miss,’ she said finally. ‘It’s not that.’

      ‘Well done,’ I said. ‘There. That’s a start, isn’t it? Okay, so it’s not that, so has something bad happened?’

      She twisted the life out of another bunch of tissues before answering. ‘It was our Bonfire Night, Miss,’ she said. ‘My nan and grandad did a party, for a surprise.’

      ‘A firework party?’ I prompted.

      She nodded. ‘An’ they never told me. And they invited my dad to come. And her.’

      Now we were getting somewhere. And that was interesting. Were they trying to build bridges? Help effect a reconciliation? Take the school’s lead and try to get Imogen back home? How ironic. ‘Gerri?’ I asked gently. ‘Your step-mum?’

      She nodded. But didn’t speak. So now I did prompt her. ‘And what happened, love?’ I asked her. ‘Did she do something? Hurt you again?’

      She shook her head decisively. Wrong track, then. ‘It was the fire,’ she said. ‘And her being there. And the way she kept grinning at me. Miss, she’s horrible! And I knew why she was grinning at me, too. She was doing it to remind me. About how she could set fire to me too.’

      She was getting into her stride now, fear and anger helping her to overcome her difficulties. And it was important things stay that way too.

      ‘Imogen, you know what you told me about how you thought Gerri was going to set fire to you? Do you think you could tell me what you meant? What actually happened? What made you think that would happen?’

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