Chapter 6. The Prize
The next day, Mrs Hewitt gave us one hour to write. Andrew helped me with some words, but I did most of it by myself. I wrote so much and the hour passed very quickly.
‘OK, class. Put your pens down. I'll have a look at your work during the weekend.'
It was the weekend. My favourite time of the week. ‘I'll probably go and see David at the farm,' I thought. ‘I've got lots of books to read.' But the first thing I wanted to do on Saturday morning was to see Tom.
On Saturday morning I got up early and went up the hill.
‘Where are you going?' asked Mum.
‘Erm… I'm going to see a friend,' I said.
‘Who? David?' asked Mum.
‘No, somebody else.'
Mum smiled to herself as I ran out of the door.
‘Tom, there you are,' I said.
‘Good morning, Cherub. What are you doing here? There's no school today.'
‘I know, but I wanted to speak to you. I had to
write something at school yesterday. It was an essay, and I wrote about you.'
‘About me. Why?'
‘Because I had to write about somebody who's important to me.'
‘Well, bless your heart, Michael. That's very nice of you. I'd like to read it.'
‘You will one day, and maybe lots of other people will hear your story, too.'
I wanted to win this prize so badly. For the first time I wanted the weekend to end quickly. I wanted to go back to school to see if Mrs Hewitt liked my essay.
On Monday morning, I ran up the hill. I stopped to say hello to Tom, and then I went to school.
The first lesson was art. I drew the road, and the hill that I walked up every day. My picture had a lot of trees and beautiful flowers in it. The sky was blue, and in the distance, you could see the bench where Tom sat.
The next lesson was science. I tried to listen to the lesson, but I couldn't stop thinking about the essay. I looked out of the window. The school flag was moving around in the wind. I like the wind. It comes from nowhere. You can't see it, but it's so strong. In a way,
looking at the flag moving helped me to see the wind. I felt a little bit like the flag. Things happen to me, and I have no control. Just like the flag. ‘Who knows,' I thought, ‘where the wind will take me?'
At break time, I talked to David. ‘‘We've got English next. I hope I win, David. I really want to win.'
‘Well, don't be too sad if you don't win. You told me about that poem, ‘The Monster Horse.' Maybe they won't let you read it.'
‘Mrs Hewitt is different. I know she'll like what I wrote. I know,' I said.
Finally it was time for English. It was the last lesson of the day. I waited for Mrs Hewitt to begin.
‘Class, I read your work, and corrected it.' She looked around the classroom, and then she began giving the work back. She said something to everyone. ‘Not bad,' she said to Sally. ‘Could do better,' she said to Graham. ‘This isn't good enough, you didn't even try,'
she said to Clive. ‘I can't even read your writing,' she said to Kevin. Then she arrived in front of me. I didn't want to look at her. I kept my head down. But Mrs Hewitt waited until I looked up. She looked at me and smiled. ‘Yours is the best,' she said. ‘Keep it that way.'
‘So, class, Michael will read his essay at the school assembly next week,' said Mrs Hewitt.
Everybody looked at me. I waited for somebody to say something bad, but nobody did. At the end of the class, I ran all the way home. I couldn't wait to get home to tell Mum.
‘Mum! Mum! First prize – the essay – the old man, I mean Tom – I have to tell him – I'm going to read it to everyone.'
‘Slow down,' said Mum. ‘Now, tell me. What are you talking about?'
I told Mum everything, about Tom, and the essay,
and what Mrs Hewitt said. I also told her about Andrew. I even told her about how the other children bullied me. It felt so good to be able to tell my mum everything.
Mum smiled. ‘Oh Michael. Your father and I love you so much. We always have and we always will.' Then she took me in her arms and gave me the biggest kiss ever.
It's the evening after the school assembly. I'm writing this in my bedroom. I read my essay to the school this morning, and I really want to speak to Andrew about it.
‘Andrew, I read the essay this morning. You haven't spoken to me today. Why's that? Were you at school today? Did you hear me read the essay?'
‘I went to the front of the hall with my essay. I was ready to tell everybody about Tom. I looked out at the people in front of me. There was my class, and boys and girls from other classes. Then I saw David. He smiled at me, and gave me a big Thumbs Up sign. But you won't believe who I saw next. It was my mum – she was there! “What's she doing here?” I thought. Then I was even more surprised. I saw that Tom was standing next to her and there was a man taking photographs. It was all very strange.'
‘I read the essay very well. We wrote it together,
remember? Even if you weren't there to help me, I didn't make any mistakes. Mrs Hewitt told me not to speak too fast and to be very clear. So I tried to read it slowly and clearly. I told them all about Tom during the war, and what he did for those children. I told them that Tom was a hero, and that people shouldn't forget him.'
At the end, everybody clapped, and when I say everybody, I mean everybody – even Kevin and Clive. I couldn't believe it. I really couldn't.'
‘But the best thing of all was that I could see Mum and Tom smiling at me. They were really happy.'
‘You know what? Tom is going to be in the local newspaper. Mum phoned them to tell them about Tom, and they came to the school that day to speak to him. That's why the man was there – taking photographs. They're writing an article about him. The title of the article is going to be, “Tom Matthews – Local Hero.” There will be photos and the article will talk about Tom's life. Oh, Andrew, did you hear me speak? Why weren't you there? Why didn't you speak to me? Andrew, Andrew!
Andrew are you there?'
I don't know where Andrew is. Why isn't he speaking
to me at the moment? Perhaps he thinks I don't need him anymore. Andrew has been so important to me, and I'll never forget him. But maybe he's right. I miss him, but I don't need him so much anymore. Maybe he's busy helping somebody else now.
Maybe he's helping you.
