Balaclava Boy (school edition). Jenny Robson

other Grade Sevens were surprised, I think. They aren’t used to us two working in silence.

      First Obakeng aka Ostrich Legz pretended he needed to sharpen his pencil. On his way to the bin, he whispered, “Hey, Doo Dudes, what’s wrong, my bruz? Are you guys sick or something?”

      Then Johan Eksteen Clayton aka JECO pretended he needed to borrow Riyaad’s ruler. He also whispered as he passed our desk. “Eish! Are you okay, Big Ds?” That’s his favourite word: ‘eish’! He uses it every time he speaks. No matter what else he’s saying!

      And then Thandi, who is very noisy anyway, blew her nose extra-loud. She went to throw her tissue away, then bent over our desk. “Wazzup, Dumisani? Wazzup, Doogal? Have you taken a vow of silence?”

      Miss Venter was getting annoyed. She told them to stop behaving like Jack-in-the-Boxes. Then she told Dumisani and me that she was very pleased with us for working so quietly.

      And then she told Billy de Beer aka Lost-in-Space to stop staring out the window. Billy de Beer spends all his time staring out of windows. That’s why he’s called Lost-in-Space.

      Finally, finally, Cherise got going. We were already doing Exercise 5 of our decimal fractions.

      “Tommy,” we heard her say. So we leaned back to hear better. “Tommy, do you know why Miss Venter is called the Dragon Lady?”

      “No. Why?” Tommy said through his balaclava.

      “Because,” said Cherise.

      “What do you mean, ‘Because’?” said Tommy. “Because why?”

      “Oh, do you mean you want a reason?” We could hear in Cherise’s voice that she was smiling. “Okay, well, I’ll give you a reason. It’s because Miss Venter pats her chest and then her powder comes puffing out. And back in Grade Five we learned a song called Puff the Magic Dragon. So that’s why.”

      Dumisani and I looked at each other and shook our heads. This psychology stuff took a long, long time to start working!

      “Okay, Tommy. Now I’m going to ask you a question. And you have to give me a reason too.”

      Dumisani and I held our breath.

      But Miss Venter was on Cherise’s case. “Is that you talking? Again? What’s got into you this week, my girl? Dear! Dear! Dear!”

      That kept Cherise quiet for the rest of the lesson. She hates getting into trouble with teachers! We didn’t hear another sound from her until stupid boring Maths was over and stupid boring Natural Science started. Well, it was stupid and boring at the moment. Who cares how fish breathe? Why can’t we rather learn about Great White Sharks? Or tsunamis?

      *

      My friend Dumisani refuses to talk about boarding school. He says, “Why feel miserable? It’s still six months away. I’m not thinking about it till I get there.” And then he does something to make me laugh.

      But I can’t help thinking about it. The thought hides away there inside my brain and then suddenly pops out. Like the cuckoo in my grandmother’s cuckoo clock.

      “You have to live for today, Doogz. You have to enjoy what is happening right now.” That’s what Dumisani keeps telling me.

      I try to do that. Sometimes I manage. At least for a while.

      Post-reading

1.	Dumisani and Doogal get to school much earlier than usual on Tuesday morning. What is the reason for this?
2.	Do you agree with Cherise that “because” can’t be an answer to a question? Explain your answer.
3	Cherise calls the boys “Double Trouble” instead of the Doo Dudes. How do they feel about this nickname?
4.	How did Miss Venter get her nickname, the Dragon Lady?
5.	Explain why the children call Billy de Beer “Lost-in-Space.”
6.	What are the children doing that causes Miss Venter to call them “Jack-in-the-Boxes”?
7.	Explain Dumisani and Doogal’s different ways of dealing with going seperate ways in Grade Eight.
8.	Write down a simile from page 20.