My knees wobbled in terror. “While you’ve only been here once before — that was for cheek, and you got sixx with the slipper — you seem to regularly earn demerits, one or two a week it seems. Your behavior isn’t bad, just naughty. This time, however, it seems to have caught up with you.” Her beautiful eyes gazed at me sternly. “Make no mistake, young Barkley — it shall be the cane for you today.” I trembled and shook. “Oh, please, Miss,” I murmured, but my voice was so soft I could scarcely hear it myself. Tears had gathered in my eyes and a blinked them back furiously. I couldn’t let Miss Craven see me cry. I was twelve years old now. A big boy. “Buck up, Barkley,” I said to myself.
A Trip to the Head15
