An Astrologers Day and Other Stories Part 33

Very good, said his officer.

I was hoping you would turn up for at least half-a-day, a lot of things to do.

I knew that, sir, Rama Rao said, going to his desk.

29.

CRIME AND PUNISHMENT.

T A THAT is sixteen and three multiplied? Basked y V the teacher. The boy blinked. The teacher persisted, and the boy promptly answered : Twentyfour, with, as it seemed to the teacher, a wicked smile on his lips. The boy evidently was trying to fool him and was going contrary on purpose. He had corrected this error repeatedly, and now the boy persisted in saying

Twentyfour. How could this fellow be made to obtain fifty in the cla.s.s test and go up by double-promotion to the first form, as his parents fondly hoped ? At the mention of Twentyfour

the teacher felt all his blood rus.h.i.+ng to his head. He controlled himself, and asked again : How much ?

as a last chance. When the boy said the same thing obstinately, he felt as if his finger was releasing the trigger : he reached across the table, and delivered a wholesome slap on the youngsters cheek. The boy gazed at him for a moment and then burst into tears.

The teacher now regained his normal vision, felt appalled by his own action, and begged frantically : Dont cry, little fellow, you mustnt .

I will tell them, sobbed the boy.

Oh, no, no, no, appealed the teacher. He looked about cautiously. Fortunately this nursery was at a little distance from the main building.

Ill tell my mother, said the boy.

216.

CRIME AND PUNISHMENT 217.

According to the parents, the boy was^a little angel, all dimples, smiles, and sweetness only wings lacking.

He was their only child, they had abundant affection and ample money. They built up a nursery, bought him expensive toys, fitted up miniature furniture sets, gave him a small pedal motor-car to go about in all over the garden. They filled up his cupboard with all kinds of sweets and biscuits, and left it to his good sense to devour them moderately. They believed a great deal in leaving things that way.

You must never set up any sort of contrariness or repression in the childs mind, declared the parents.

Youll damage him for life. It no doubt requires a lot of discipline on our part, but it is worth it, they declared primly.

We shall be bringing up a healthy citizen.

Yes, yes, the teacher agreed outwardly, feeling more and more convinced every day that what the little fellow needed to make him a normal citizen was not cajoling but an anna worth of cane, for which he was prepared to advance the outlay. To the teacher it was a life of utter travail the only relieving feature in the whole business was the thirty rupees they paid him on every first day. It took him in all three hours every evening of which the first half an hour he had to listen to the child-psychology theories of the parents. The father had written a thesis on infantpsychology for his M.A., and the lady had studied a great deal of it for her B.A. They lectured to him every day on their theories, and he got more and more the feeling that they wanted him to deal with the boy as if he were made of thin gla.s.s. He had to pretend that he agreed with them, while his own private view was that he was in charge of a little gorilla.

2i8 CRIME AND PUNISHMENT Now the teacher did not know how to quieten the boy, who kept sobbing. He felt desperate. He told the youngster, You must not cry for these trifling matters, you must be like a soldier .

A soldier will shoot with a gun if he is. .h.i.t, said the boy in reply. The teacher treated it as a joke and laughed artificially. The boy caught the infection and laughed too. This eased the situation somewhat.

Go and wash your face, suggested the teacher a fine blue porcelain closet was attached to the nursery.

The boy disobeyed and commanded : Close the lessons today. The teacher was aghast.

No, no, he cried.

Then, I will go and tell my mother, threatened the boy. He pushed the chair back and got up.

The teacher rushed up to him and held him down.

My dear fellow, Ive to be here for another hour.

The boy said : All right, watch me put the engine on its rails.

If your father comes in, said the teacher.

Tell him it is an engine lesson, said the boy and smiled maliciously. He went over to his cupboard, opened it, and took out his train set, and started a.s.sembling the track. He wound the engine and put it down, and it went round and round. You are the Station Master, proclaimed the boy.

No, no, cried the teacher.

You have your tests the day after tomorrow. The boy merely smiled in a superior way and repeated.

Will you be a Station Master or not ?

The teacher was annoyed.

I wont be a Station Master, he said defiantly, whereupon the young fellow said :

Oh, oh, is that what you say ?

He gently touched his cheek, and murmured : It is paining me here awfully, I must see my mother. He CRIME AND PUNISHMENT 219 made a movement towards the door. The teacher watched him with a dull desperation. The boys cheek was still red. So he said : Dont boy. You want me to be a Station Master? What shall I have to do ?

The boy directed, When the train comes to your station, you must blow the whistle and cry c Engine Driver, stop the train. There are a lot of people today who have bought tickets .

The teacher hunched up in a corner and obeyed.

He grew tired of the position and the game in thirty minutes, and got up, much to the displeasure of his pupil. Luckily for him the engine also suddenly refused to move. The boy handed it to him, as he went back to his seat and said :

Repair it, sir.

He turned it about in his hand and said : I cant.

I know nothing about it.

It must go, said the boy firmly. The teacher felt desperate. He was absolutely non-mechanical.

He could not turn the simplest screw if it was to save his life. The boy stamped his foot impatiently and waited like a tyrant. The teacher put it away definitely with :

I cant and I wont. The boy immediately switched on to another demand.

Tell me a story .

You havent done a sum. It is 8.30.

I dont care for sums, said the boy, Tell me a story.

No .

The boy called,

Appa ! Appa !

Why are you shouting like that for your father ?

I have something to tell him, something important.

The teacher waa obliged to begin the story of a 220 CRIME AND PUNISHMENT bison and a tiger, and then he pa.s.sed on to All Baba and the Forty Thieves, and Aladins Lamp. The boy listened rapt, and ordered :

I want to hear the story of the bison again. It is good . The teacher was short of breath. He had done during the day six hours of teaching at school.

Tomorrow.

Ive lost all my breath .

Oh ! All right. Ill go and tell . exclaimed the boy ; he got up and started running all of a sudden towards the house, and the teacher started after him. The boy was too fast for him, wheeled about madly, and made the teacher run round the garden thrice. The teacher looked beaten. The boy took pity on him and stopped near the rose bush.

But the moment he went up and tried to put his hand on him, the boy darted through and ran off. It was a hopeless pursuit ; the boy enjoyed it immensely, laughing fiendishly. The teachers face was flushed and he gasped uncomfortably. He felt a darkness swelling up around him. He sank down on the portico step.

At this moment father and mother emerged from the house.

What is the matter ?

The teacher struggled up to his feet awkwardly. He was still panting badly and could not talk. He had already made up his mind that he would confess and take the consequence, rather than stand the blackmail by this boy. It seemed less forbidding to throw himself at the mercy of the ciders. They looked enquiringly at the boy and asked : Why have you been running in the garden at this hour ?

The boy looked mischievously at the teacher. The teacher cleared his throat and said :

I will explain . He was trying to find the words for his sentence. The father CRIME AND PUNISHMENT 221 asked : Hows he preparing for his test in arithmetic ?

On hearing the word test