Monday evening arrived and Kevin and Denise went to the school for the governors’ meeting. School officials expected a large group attending and set the meeting up in the auditorium. The auditorium was packed, almost completely filled with parents; close to three-quarters of the parents had shown up.
The head teacher, Mr Hanford, opened the meeting.
“Good evening, parents, thank you for coming. I’m not surprised at the large turnout and we would have had a larger turnout except for the people who had to work this evening; my office had rather a few calls during the past week asking if the meeting could be held during the day instead. Unfortunately we could not do that. As a result we’ve received many letters from parents who were unable to attend, expressing their view on their children’s participation in the program I’ll be discussing here.
“As we wrote in our letter to you last week, the Department for Education has informed us that our school is subject to the Human Sexuality Promotion Act, a law passed by both Houses of Parliament several years ago, since our school receives government subsidies directly in the form of bursaries based on pupil enrollment to offset the full cost of our school fees. As the law mandates, both the Lambeth Borough Council and the London Common Council have required Program participation in state-funded schools they administer, but as an independent school, we’ve been exempt until this recent ruling. The act that established the Program is silent about what amount of government financial support triggers a school being considered to be a state-funded one but less than 15 percent of our funding is from state sources.
“Our governors have made their preliminary decision; the borough and city councils, whose representatives are with us this evening, have both indicated that if our governors decline to adopt the Program curriculum, our bursary support could be ended and many of our families will no longer be able to send their children here. So we are being placed in a sticky situation and have made a difficult decision. Before we get to that, let me turn the podium over to our chair of governors, Dr Byron Abberle.”
That official came to the podium and began to discuss the deliberations of the governors, and because of the threat of losing the subsidy, the governors found themselves virtually forced into agreeing to have the Program begin at the school. As soon as he said that, there was a huge outcry from the audience with people clamoring to be heard. It took several minutes for Abberle to restore order.
“Please, we’ve made provision for parents to speak here soon,” he finally made himself heard as order began to be restored. “But since we really can’t expect to have you all spend the entire night here, your governors would greatly appreciate your keeping comments constructive and brief. Before we open public comment, the governors would like to determine your level of support—probably opposition would be the better term—for the Program. We think we’ve identified four fundamental reasons for approval or opposition to public nudity for our pupils. These can be generally categorized into social, moral, cultural, and religious reasons. But I suppose that those four can be loosely grouped into two major areas: religious and moral; and cultural and social. Now, by a showing of hands, how many of you are opposed to the Program for religious and moral reasons?”
After a quick estimate and consulting with the others on the stage, he announced, “We reckon the count shows that about two-thirds of the parents are opposed. Now let’s bring up the other reason, social and cultural, and please, if you indicated your opposition in our first count, don’t raise your hand now.”
He looked over the audience. “I reckon this amounts to perhaps a quarter of the group. Our counting this way is only an approximation, but it tells us that some 90 percent of you parents oppose the Program. Now we have another question. An essential key to the success of the Program’s achieving its stated goals is if the pupils’ parents encourage and support their child and ensure that they participate fully. When the Program begins, how many of you will support both your child and our school to help them satisfactorily complete their participation? Show of hands, please.”
A few hands were tentatively raised but were quickly snatched down when it became apparent that virtually no one else seemed to support this issue.
Then a voice rang out: “How many parents will actively oppose their kids’ participating?”
Virtually every hand in the audience was raised and chants of “Hear, hear!” rang out.
Abberle looked out at all of the waving hands and shrugged. He turned to the group seated to his right. “My colleagues from the London Common Council and the Lambeth Council, please take note of these responses from our parents.
“Now the comments we received by mail predominantly stated parents’ opposition based on religious practice and most cited Islamic law but a fair number mentioned Christian doctrine as well. In all cases, the reasons cited were based on modesty, and writers pointed out that children of most cultures are taught to be modest in behavior as well as dress. There was one single comment that was a common element in all the letters we received. Almost all letters mentioned that one of the principles of our British society is the acceptance of all citizens regardless of cultural or religious background; a major stated educational goal of our society is to instill in our young adults a healthy attitude toward people of all cultures. In other words, we strive to teach our children to respect people of all religions and cultures. Forcing public nudity on children whose upbringing taught them otherwise is destructive to cultural, religious, and family values. That’s what we gleaned from parents’ letters.
“Now let me introduce Dr Myron Hubert, the National Program representative for the London Common Council, who wanted to address precisely that topic, modesty and multiculturalism, because this is a common criticism of the Program. Dr. Hubert?”
He came to the podium. “Thank you, Dr Abberle and Head Teacher Hanford. Indeed, it is the very idea of modesty in children, especially excessive modesty amongst them and amongst certain cultural groups, which gave rise to the development of the Naked in School Program. Too many of our youth grow into adulthood with their experiences of healthy interactions between cultures, religions, and genders severely impaired by the insularism their cultures impose on them. This gives rise to misunderstanding, discrimination, and persecution of people not a member of one’s group, and in the case of genders, to sexual assault and violence.
“The Program was specifically intended to remove the mystery of what human sexuality entails in all of its manifestations and to banish the modesty which various conservative cultures impose on their children. The Program is specifically designed so that those who participate in it will be trained to lose their modesty and will thus be better able to function in our modern society, especially for members of those cultural groups who maintain insular barriers which isolate them from the general population. It is the indoctrination of modesty in children which the Program is expressly designed to dispel. This is the position of London’s Education Authority, which I represent.”
His comments produced a swelling of booing and hooting. When the audience quieted, Hubert continued.
“As government representatives on the Education Authority, we respect the customs of all cultures and religions, but the practice of religion is a private matter. When religious customs clash with the goals of society as practiced in public, then the rules and regulations of the public take precedence. An example is the custom of multiple marriage which is permitted in certain cultures and religions but is not allowed in the United Kingdom. This is a matter of public policy.
“The purpose of the Program is defined in the Human Sexuality Promotion Act and is printed in the booklets which are provided to all pupils and their parents. Let me read the purpose as it’s stated in the Program booklet and is addressed to the pupil participant. I quote: ‘The Program has been carefully designed to help you become more comfortable with your body and your sexuality, to treat others in natural balance as both individual people and sexual beings, to learn to harness your natural energies, and to behave in a more mature and morally conscious manner. By becoming more comfortable with your body and sexuality, it is hoped that your sexual tensions will be in general diminished but more focused when appropriate. This is your opportunity for rapid personal growth.’
“That is what the Program is all about. The Program is actually a component of the state secondary-school curriculum, and just as members of all religions and sects are expected to follow the government-approved curriculum, it’s expected that this curriculum module will be followed as well. Thank you for your attention.”
He returned to his seat as many audience members rose and clamored for attention. Abberle returned to the podium and called for quiet. Then he addressed the gathering again.
“Now we’ll take public comment, but please, if your only comment is to state your opposition to the Program or to repeat something that a prior speaker has said, we ask that you restrain yourself. The fact of your opposition is abundantly clear; we are looking for constructive suggestions to assist our governors in deciding their best course of action. There are microphones set up in the aisles for you to use and we sincerely request that you be orderly. We also beg you to be considerate of those waiting to speak and be brief.”
A line of people formed at each microphone and most comments basically covered religious modesty practices; people claimed that just as the government had no right to dictate a Muslim’s diet, they had no right to dictate his or her dress—and this fact was recognized in school dress codes permitting Islamic garb. Examples illustrating this argument were quickly exhausted, inducing many potential speakers, waiting in the lines for their turn, to return to their seats. Then, as a lull developed in parents rising to comment, one of the governors came up to the podium.
“Excuse me,” she said, “I’d like to interject here now that there’s somewhat of a lull while people are returning to their seats. I’m Marsha Luddington, a parent governor, and would like to invite Mr Kevin Coris to address us. Mr Coris contacted me last week and told me that he can speak to some issues which I’m certain no one has considered to this point. In fact, it appears that he is, for want of a better term, somewhat of an ‘expert’ in the Program.”
A hush fell over the room. Kevin stood and walked to the nearest aisle microphone but Luddington motioned for him to come to the podium. He climbed the steps and went to each person on the stage to greet them personally. Most looked at him quizzically but he simply smiled at them and told them that he was honored to meet them and to be asked to speak. Then he went to the podium.
“I’m truly honored to be asked to speak here and I thank Mrs Luddington for the opportunity. I’m afraid to have to dispel her characterization about my being an ‘expert’ on the Program; I’m actually a Yank and doing a year’s study here in London at one of your excellent universities. But I’ve had extensive experience with the Program in high schools in the States and have first-hand knowledge of all of its problems and shortcomings. I’m guessing that except for my fiancée, I’m the only person in this room who has actually been a Program participant. Am I correct?”
There was a rush of whispers which washed over the room and it grew totally quiet again.
“I guess I am, then,” he went on. “So I suppose for this room, I’m the best ‘expert’ available, right?” Laughter. “I contacted Mrs Luddington last week and told her that while I was aware that the governors would be compelled to accede to government pressure because of their threatened financial blackmail, there were measures which the school and indeed, parents, could take if they couldn’t delay the start of the Program until a legal challenge could be mounted to exempt the school. Now I’m going to go into some controversial matters and would appreciate not being asked to stop speaking until I’m finished. Everything I will mention will be completely legal and will actually follow the school’s policies as I’ve learned in reading its charter and bylaws. If any of our distinguished panel has a question or rebuttal, please make a note of it and we’ll address those comments when I’m done. Mr Hanford, Dr Abberle, can I have your assurance of no interruptions? And even better, could the governors adopt a motion to allow me to speak as part of the record?”
Abberle looked amazed and opened his mouth for a retort but Luddington spoke quickly, “I so move!”
“Seconded,” another governor called.
Abberle closed his mouth. “Hmm, most irregular... young man, I...” he began.
“Sir, either call for discussion or ask if they are ready for the question,” Kevin prompted quietly.
He looked at Kevin and shook his head. “Indeed? Most extraordinary...” he muttered. Aloud, he said, “Right then. Any discussion?” he called. “No one? Do you need the question to be put again? No? Those in favor say aye.”
“Aye.”
“Opposed, the same? None opposed; the motion is adopted. Mr Coris, proceed, please.”
“Thank you, governors,” Kevin said. “First, I understand that you really can’t delay in beginning the Program while you look for grounds to challenge the government, so to minimize student terror and psychological pain, try calling for volunteers first. Don’t co-opt unwilling children. I’m sure in a performing arts school, there’d be some students who might have exhibitionistic traits.”
There were some reluctant titters from the audience.
“Next is the use of force for disrobing students. I asked my London attorney—ah, it’s solicitor in England—to review the Program law and he told me that nowhere does it permit—or even suggest—the use of force to remove a child’s clothes. So this recommendation is for you parents: encourage your children that if they are selected, they don’t comply. Tell them that you support their refusal to participate, as you told us earlier when you said, by show of hands, that you’d actively oppose the Program.”
“I say there...” Hubert began.
“Sir, please, no interruptions?” Kevin interjected. “The Program rules also speak about using human subjects for classroom demonstrations. I’ve seen how this becomes a terrible abuse of teacher’s power and is an enormous humiliation for the student. There is absolutely no educational purpose that can’t be better achieved by using training aids. Tell your child not to participate in demonstrations either.
“The only threat that the school has in forcing participation is the withholding of graduation. You should know that the law simply states that participation in the Program is required to obtain the diploma; it doesn’t mention withholding grade reports and records of class completions. I’ve learned that a number of you parents are in legal professions and you’ll be able to find out how you can get grades released. I’ve looked into post-secondary school options too and found that your children can leave school at the age of 16 after taking their GCSEs and then do an apprenticeship or traineeship, if they choose that route. They can also work part time and take classes part time at age 16. This means for early school completion after year 11, the Program isn’t required.
“This is true even moreso for those wanting to go to university, because if a student is denied a diploma, I’ve checked with a number of major universities in the U.K. and in other western European countries where British children typically attend college, and the admissions offices I contacted all agreed that they would accept the results of their standard entrance exams together with the sixth form grades. I told them about the Program starting here and they all were familiar with it—thought it was absurd, actually—and will not honor the idea of the British government’s withholding of a student’s earned education. So in France, they will use the baccalauréat général; in Germany, the Abiturzeugnis. These are just two examples. I learned that the Belgium and Netherlands colleges will admit British students if their score on their college’s matriculation examination is in the 80th percentile or greater or if they meet an average of 65th percentile in the International Baccalaureate exam. So the threat of not graduating is a fairly empty one.
“Now, that is the information directed to you parents. I’m basically advising you that your child can refuse to participate and there are no legal repercussions available—none mandated by the law—to force them. The school may be forced to have the Program, but the law doesn’t force the students to participate. The only pupil sanction that the law provides is withholding the diploma, and it’s the fright over that that’s been forcing parents and students into being coerced into becoming unwilling participants. If the school uses any force to compel the students, that may actually be an assault and battery by the school official against the child. British law does not allow physical force to be used with children and that means that the criminal code applies if physical force is threatened or used.
“Now here is some information for both you parents and school officials. In an academic study conducted at Avery University in the States by a research group, one in which I participated along with my fiancée, our study documented a ten point reduction in median grade-point averages, for the same schools, before the Program began there as compared to after the Program was running. That’s equivalent to a full letter grade in the U.S., so what was a B average became a C average after the Program began. I’ve given a copy of that study to Mrs Luddington. That was a peer-reviewed research paper published in a well-known education journal.
“Next, this is advice for you governors. The law says you have to run the Program. You can run the Program, meeting your legal responsibilities; just do it with everyone clothed.”
The audience began laughing.
“Simulate nudity and the other activities that are mentioned in the law.”
The laughing got louder and people began applauding.
“If you can’t force students to participate by being naked, that might be your only recourse, after all. That suggestion is only partly in jest; in my case, I am forbidding my ward to participate for medical and psychological reasons. I suggest that you parents consider your options and take my advice. Now I’ll take any questions or a rebuttal. I think you had a question, Dr Hubert.”
“Not a question... I’m totally outraged at your impudence, sir, you make a mockery of a legislative act prepared by education experts and passed by both houses of Parliament. None of what you suggested is legal by any stretch of the imagination. We can certainly force students to remove their clothes and to participate fully; if they don’t, no university in the U.K.—I can’t speak for the rest of Europe—will admit a student who hasn’t participated. Parents, don’t pay any attention to Mr Coris’ comments, he has no idea of our system; he’s told us that he’s a Yank.”
“Is that all, Dr Hubert? Good. You should have checked with an attor... solicitor—one who knows his or her stuff. Obviously you haven’t. I can document everything I said here this evening. I can provide names of the university admissions officers I consulted if you ask me. As for the use of force, I assure you that assault, battery, or both on a child is a crime; tell your legal people to read Section 58 of the Children Act of 2004, as just one example. I’m done my homework; obviously you haven’t, sir. Do you have any documented facts which support any interpretation that specifically states that the Program act requires individual students to participate? That act is completely addressed to schools and what the schools must do. Schools can only coerce participation by withholding diplomas. But a whole cottage industry sprung up, called the ‘National Program Committee,’ which issued that Program booklet—by the way, it’s mostly plagiarized from the U.S. one—and some of the parts of the U.K. Program booklet are not actually supported by the U.K. act. They’re in the U.S. version of the Program law, though. Sloppy work. Think about that, sir.”
The audience was listening raptly at the exchange and broke out in applause again.
“And about my being a Yankee; I’m proud of it. I’m also proud to have received my education internationally, in Indonesia, South Korea, Japan, Hong Kong, and Thailand, in addition to the States. I might not be familiar with British law but by golly, I know how to find people who do know it, and when my ward is being threatened by her government and school system, by golly, I know how to protect her too.”
Cheering broke out in the audience now and Kevin noticed that several of the school’s governors were smiling, Mrs Luddington included.
Abberle took the podium again. “Are there any further questions for Mr Coris? Or for the governors? Yes, ma’am?”
A woman in a hijab spoke from a microphone in one aisle. “Sir, please could you tell if Muslim exempts being given? We no allow our girls the humility this cause; is so, so wrong to do this.”
“Ma’am, we’re all so new to this that I can’t answer that question now,” Abberle replied. “The special exemption decisions are made by the National Program Committee and we would have to apply for a ruling. That’s all I can say on that topic now.”
A man took her place. “When will this bloody Program begin now?”
Abberle looked at Hanford. “Head teacher, it’s next Monday, correct? We can’t delay any more, from what I gather.”
“Yes, Monday,” Hanford agreed.
“Well, no way will my daughter be allowed,” the man continued. “I think your Monday attendance will be thin... Say, are you going to take that eloquent young man’s advice and get volunteers?”
Hanford replied, “The names are supposed to be chosen at random...”
The man interrupted, “...but is that in the sodding law? Do what he suggested, why don’t you!”
“Yes!” cried a number of people.
“And with clothes!” called another.
Denise came up to an aisle microphone. “I’m Mr Coris’ fiancée and was in the Program in the States, as he told you. I was so affected by the experience that I later led a Program rebellion in my high school using the slogan, ‘Just say NO!’ and none of the students participated. Tell that to your kids.”
Hanford called for order. “We have many of our pupils represented by parents and guardians here. See if your child would be willing to volunteer and then call the office to let me know. We’ll also announce this in classes tomorrow. And please, please, ask your children to be orderly in school. Parents telling children not to obey instructions in school can result in very bad behavior problems, so we urge you not to tell your children to ever refuse legitimate instructions.”
Few people were paying attention now; most were talking among themselves or heading for the exits. Many began crowding the stage wanting to talk to Kevin, who was speaking to several governors. He found that the three parent governors were entirely supportive of his comments and planned to lobby the staff governors, who were teachers in the school, to get the other teachers to be as liberal as possible in not enforcing Program rules.
When Kevin went to leave the stage, a number of parents latched onto him.
“Hey mate, you were corkin’ brilliant!” one man said, pumping Kevin’s hand. “But you should know that my mates, who have kids in a school with the Program, were telling me about those blighters at his local Education Authority—that bloke who you put down so good is from the LEA. They don’t like to be told what to do, so you gotta look out for them. If you know about Ofsted... you do? Okay, like Ofsted does, the local EA sends inspectors to schools for curriculum checks. I bloody hope that they don’t bother us here!”
When Kevin and Denise returned home, Amelia was quivering with anxiety. “What’s gonna happen in school?” were her first words as soon as they began to open the door to the flat.
She rushed into Denise’s arms. “Are they doing the Program?”
Kevin took her hand. “Afraid so, darling, but we told them that we are forbidding you to participate if they select you,” he told her.
“But I read in other schools that kids were forced...” she began.
“Yes, I know,” Kevin replied, “but I have an idea. There’s a Bluetooth personal emergency alert device I recently read about that you wear and when you push the button it sends an alert with your GPS location from your mobile. I’ll get you one tomorrow and we’ll set it up. I can also lend you my miniature mobile; you can wear it on a necklace; a close friend’s dad helped develop it but they aren’t being sold yet. One of those little mobiles saved her from a kidnaping, actually. Then if you’re threatened, you can get help quickly.”
“But Kevin warned the school officials that using physical force was against the law, right, Kevin? Tell her what happened at the meeting and what you said,” Denise remarked.
Kevin looked at Amelia and smiled. “Yeah. So it looks like Monday’s the start date. Something like 90 percent of the parents at the meeting were opposed to the Program and it looks like most will tell their kids not to participate, like we did with you. I suggested that the head teacher ask for kids to volunteer...” Amelia snorted. “...so they’ll be asking in school tomorrow for volunteers. I gave them all sorts of reasons for not having the Program but the school is being forced—blackmailed, no, extorted, actually—by the government. I think that what they might do is have some kind of toned-down version of it, but we’ll have to see. And I did tell them specifically that forcibly stripping a child is a crime.”
“Can I stay home Monday?” Amelia pleaded. “I’m so scared. Even if I don’t have to do it, I couldn’t stand having to see other kids suffer by being pressured into doing it.”
“I’m afraid not, sweetie,” Denise said soothingly. “Everything will probably be okay and you’ll have that alert gadget.”
“Denise, I have an idea,” Kevin exclaimed. “The Denisons, our college housemates, did this in their high school,” he told Amelia. “They organized the students so they’d work together to protect each other. They didn’t let anything bad happen to kids in the Program by shielding them—not using force, but by surrounding the Program kids. But those kids were mostly from military families and knew how to organize. If you can talk to your classmates, maybe you guys can come up with an idea to make it work in your school.”
“Kevin... I’m not... I don’t think I can organize... or talk about stuff like that...” Amelia began.
Denise got a glint in her eye. “But maybe we can do something better than asking Amelia to try to organize... Remember what the Marines said, sweetie, that the best defense is a good offense? Instead of asking Amelia to try to organize, why don’t we try something along the lines of that pirated student newspaper article?”
“Way cool idea, darling; sure, that’s much better,” Kevin enthused.
Amelia looked at Kevin, then Denise, with a puzzled expression. “I hate it when Denise gets that look,” she moaned. “Trouble always follows...”
The others laughed.
Amelia looked at Denise warily. “What pirated article, Denise?” she quizzed.
“You remember I told you about the high school we went to in Atlanta? That’s where we met the Denisons, our Marine family friends.”
“Sure. The ones who helped kill the Program there.”
“Right,” Denise continued. “When Kevin and I started school in Atlanta, the school had the Program, and the two of us got involved in helping the kids to resist. I called the resistance movement the ‘Just Say No’ campaign. Then one of our friends suggested hijacking the student newspaper to put an anti-Program article in it. So I thought that we could write up a page of some anti-Program suggestions and maybe you could somehow sneak them into school where the kids can find them.”
“Okay, maybe... but... I don’t know... oh, okay,” Amelia said uncertainly. “Well... There are six classrooms that are open in my wing before anyone goes to them in the morning so maybe I can leave copies there. I don’t wanna get caught... I need to see what’s happening tomorrow; maybe with kids all talking about the Program meeting last night, I’ll have a chance to do it. Ooohh, I used to love going to school. Now it scares me...”
~~~~
The next day Amelia went to school with the flyers Denise had suggested and a letter to the school from Kevin requesting that she be exempt from the Program for medical reasons; the letter promising that a medical statement would be provided the following week. And as Amelia anticipated, the students arriving at school were abuzz with the news of the Program meeting and about its planned starting on the following Monday. She was able to go to her classroom wing early and surreptitiously drop copies of the handout onto desks near the rooms’ doors without anyone noticing. After she put copies in the last room in the wing, she walked over to a group of kids in the hall and joined their conversation; they were all talking about how their parents were going to inform the head teacher that they wouldn’t participate in the Program.
The first bell rang and the kids began to drift off to their classrooms.
“Did you hear they’re gonna ask for volunteers to be naked?” one girl asked another as they followed Amelia into their classroom.
“Yeah, like that’ll happen, right?” the other girl replied.
Amelia went to her seat and the boy sitting behind her began telling her about what his parents heard the previous evening.
“Yeah, my guardians were there and they told me about what happened,” she responded.
“Hey,” a boy called from near the door. “There’s a stack of handouts here. Wow!” he exclaimed as he looked at one. “This is brilliant!”
“Gimme one!” another boy called to him as the teacher entered; copies of the handout began getting passed from person to person.
There was a hubbub as the teens quickly scanned the sheets. The teacher picked up a copy.
“Oh, my,” she said, “who brought these?” she asked.
No one replied. She turned to the boy who had found them. “Arthur, did you bring them in?”
“No, miss, they were on that desk when I came in,” he answered, pointing. “I picked one up; I thought they were handouts from the school.”
The page heading read, “Naked Program at Norwich Academy: Just Say No.” Then under that, “How not to get naked. Ideas heard at the Norwich Governors’ Meeting on Monday.” The page basically contained suggestions for resisting the participation in the Program. First, it advised not to take part in the Program at all, to simply refuse to take one’s clothes off. Next, it suggested, if somehow a person did have to become naked, that other students could help him or her by shielding them from being harassed, such as preventing them from having to do any objectionable Reasonable Requests. The page suggested that everyone should refuse to take part in humiliating classroom demos, pointing out that except for classes which taught specifically about the human body, there was no need whatsoever for a subject to be naked in a classroom demonstration. Students were advised to simply ignore the Program’s opposite-sex rule about restroom use or locker rooms because that rule was only about humiliation and presented a real safety problem for girls.
The next section had information about the threat of graduation being withheld and listed the options students had even if the school refused to issue a diploma. Finally, it mentioned that at Monday’s meeting, someone told about a study in American schools which showed that the Program caused student grades to drop by a large amount. The flyer suggested that participating could result in overall grades too low for university admission. The page’s final words were: “It’s absolutely clear that participating in the Program results in no benefit of any kind for you, neither social, psychological, nor educational.”
News of the flyers rapidly swept the school and at first, only a cursory attempt was made by the staff to find its source; soon the head teacher learned of the flyers but by then, attempts to confiscate copies were futile because kids had copied them with their phone cameras and emailed the copies to friends. By lunchtime, a number of students had been quizzed about the identity of the flyer’s author but none had any idea who it was. In fact, many students claimed that they would have been proud to have written it and brought it to the school.
Amelia wasn’t in school on Wednesday, her surgery day, or Thursday, but by Friday she felt better and Denise arranged for a cab to take her to school. At school she quickly found that she hadn’t missed much; during the week classroom instruction had suffered greatly since everyone’s thoughts were fixated on what events next Monday would bring.
She was still moving somewhat slowly and tentatively at lunch period when she met her blogging friends and they became very concerned when they saw how carefully she was moving.
“Yeah, I’m tired and hurting. You remember, I told you I was having surgery Wednesday,” Amelia explained. “They found something under my skin down there that was rubbing on my nerves and took it out. And then did this microsurgery stuff on a little nerve there that was damaged. When it heals it’s supposed to feel much better, they think. I hope so...”
“You go sit,” Darra told her. “We’ll get you your lunch.”
“Oh, thanks!” Amelia said gratefully.
When the girls returned, they asked for more details about Amelia’s surgery.
Amelia grimaced. “It was worse than they thought it would be, actually. My doc said it was either a grainy lump or something, I can’t remember the word, or a neural lump—neura... o... ma? Neuroma! Yeah, he thought a neuroma was what I had. Turned out it was both things! Ugh!”
The girls listened with a kind of fascinated disgust.
Amelia went on, “Apparently when I got cut, something got into the wound. They thought it might’ve been some threads of cotton—my panties got torn when I struggled to get loose—but when Papa had me treated for the cutting right afterwards, my doc here told me that the wound wasn’t cleaned completely. A lot of scarring formed around whatever was left inside and also a neuroma thingy grew on the nerve there. So my incision had to be bigger than they thought. Otherwise everything else went okay.”
“How is it now?” Fayola whispered.
“Very tender. It’s throbbing, too, not a bad pain, but way different from what I had before. And every so often I get a sharp jabbing pain from there. But my doc seemed very happy when he checked me when I left the hospital. He said everything went very well and I hav’ta protect that area and not do anything to disturb the dressings.” She giggled. “You shouldn’t know what I need to do to pee to keep the dressings dry... it was doing that or using a catheter for a week or so.”
“What?” several exclaimed.
“Um, I have a kind of funnel thing I hold there and pee through it. It’s like a boy’s cock in a way,” she snickered. “Not very comfortable using it, though.”
“Eeeww,” they all shuddered in sympathy.
“So tell me what I missed these two days,” Amelia asked.
The girls told her what they had heard from many kids about their not participating in the Program if they got picked.
“Yeah,” Mariama said, “lots of kids brought in parents’ notes saying that their kid can’t do the Program, I brought in one too.”
All the other girls nodded; they had brought in letters too.
Tisa pulled out a well-worn copy of the flyer that Amelia had planted in some of the classrooms on Tuesday.
“I got a copy of this,” she said showing it, “and I think everyone in the school’s seen one by now. We’re all in the ‘Just Say No’ movement.”
Amelia had to fight to keep herself from grinning.
Copyright © 2016 Seems Ndenyal. All Rights Reserved.