Date: Mon, 31 Jul 2023 13:20:45 +0000
From: Jonah
Subject: The Happiest Days   Chapter 1

The Happiest Days
By Jonah

This is a story about love - real love - at work in the lives of good
people.  It follows on from "Halls of Academia," but the story really began
many, many moons ago with "A Letter from America".  There are no real
people herein so, if you think one of the characters is based on you, or on
somebody you know, have another think and come up with a different answer.
Having said that, I didn't invent every character.  A couple of them were
originally crafted by another author.  I have to (well, actually, it is my
pleasure to) thank Jacob Lion, in the USA for his permission to use his
characters in my stories.

I hope you will enjoy this story, and I'm grateful to Nifty for enabling me
to bring it to you.  Nifty does not charge either me or you for doing so,
but it does cost money to do it.  Please consider donating to Nifty at
https://donate.nifty.org/ to help keep this site going.

Chapter one, Railroading.

I pulled over the two levers and watched as the signals cleared.  Slowly
the "Baby Deltic" purred into life and dragged her short train past my
signal box.  The little boy seated on top of the solitary coach didn't even
glance in my direction as he manipulated the control box in his hand.  I
wasn't surprised.  He was a happy, excitable little boy but, when he was
driving that train, his concentration was something that you couldn't cut
through.  He took that seriously.  If he hadn't done so, I would have told
him to, but there had never been any need.  I glanced at the tail lamp on
the back of the coach.  There was no need to do that.  If I had been a
signalman working a real signal box it would have been important but, here
in our garden, there was only one train working and we all knew that it was
complete.  The glance was purely because I knew it was a good habit to
cultivate, and I would have felt guilty telling Lloyd to take his job
seriously if I had been skimping on mine.

Garret appeared from the house with three glasses of lemonade.  I watched
as he placed one on the bench seat on the platform and then brought one to
the signalbox.  It was welcome in the warm June sunshine.

"Good day?" he enquired as he placed it on the blockshelf.  It was the
first time we had seen each other since breakfast.  I knew he must be home
since Lloyd was home, but I worked at a different school and he had been
indoors when I got back.  I hadn't gone in to find him because I had seen
Lloyd getting out the diesel.

"Busy day," I replied.  "I should have had four free periods on a Tuesday,
but we're three teachers down so I am, apparently, now an English teacher
on top of everything else."

"You shouldn't find that a problem," he observed.

"Not so far as the teaching goes," I replied, "but two of my other three
subjects involve little or no marking or homework, so I've been used to
getting away with it a bit."

"I'd say that I sympathise," he remarked, "but I'd be lying since primary
teachers work a little differently."

"What's for dinner?" I asked.  It was his turn.

"Cottage pie," he replied.  "I made it last night and it's in the oven
warming through.  About half an hour."

"Have you got choir practice tonight?"

"Yes, we've a concert in Norwich in a fortnight so we need all the practice
we can get."

"OK, when the Flying Scotsman gets back up this end, I'll get him to run
round it and put it away.  He can have a longer session with it tomorrow
night."

I knew that some children would have protested at a proposal like that.  I
had taught many who could turn on the petulance at the touch of a button.
I also knew that Lloyd wasn't one of them.  He had always fallen in,
unhesitatingly, with any plans that either Garret or I had, and always
seemed to enjoy doing so.  Neither Garret nor I had ever ceased from giving
thanks for the opportunity to look after such a delightful child.

The boy did not disappoint.  By the time the train was run round and
reversed into its shed, there was just time to wash hands before dinner.
Lloyd and I both complimented Garret on the cottage pie, not to mention the
rhubarb crumble and custard (which, of course, we did mention), then we
washed up, as Garret had done the cooking.

An hour later, Garret had set off for his practice with Sprowston Male
Voice Choir and I had settled down to mark RE homework.

"Daddy.....?"

Lloyd....."

"You know you said we could have a proper play with the train tomorrow?"

"I did, Lloyd, and my intention is that we can."

"Can Philip come over and play with it too?"

"Philip?"

"Philip East.  He's in my class."

"Well, it'll be a bit short notice for Philip's parents.  He can't ask them
till you ask him, and you won't see him till tomorrow morning."

"So can I ask him?"

"I'll have a word with Dad when he comes back from choir practice.  We'll
let you know in the morning."

"OK!"

So that was that.

"Hmmm!  If those two are going to get pally, it might solve some problems
for Annabel," Garret remarked when I mentioned it to him.

"How so?" I enquired.

"Young East has been giving her cause for concern.  There's been
absenteeism, lateness, and a marked inattentiveness in lessons.  Annabel
thinks the problem might be at home but neither parent seems to want to
discuss it.  The father has a police record, and nobody knows much about
the mother.  They live in Hellesdon, so it'd be a problem getting him here
unless we transported him."

"There's no chance that the problem might be bullying at school?" I
suggested.

"The symptoms are right," he replied, "but there'd usually be rumours, and
there's been nothing.  I'm sure Annabel would have noticed if there had
been anything of that sort."

Annabel Hutchins was Lloyd's class teacher - a pleasant young lady who
really cared about her charges.

"So what do we tell Lloyd in the morning?"  I queried.

"Either way, Philip won't be able to ask his parents before tomorrow
afternoon.  Why don't I give Philip a lift home after school.  He can ask
them then."

 That seemed to be the best solution that either of us could think of, so
we called it a night.

Next morning, Lloyd was excited when Garret outlined his proposal.

"We don't know that Philip's parents will say yes," Garret pointed out.  He
could have saved his breath.  Until you could prove to Lloyd that a glass
was half empty, he'd always see one that was half full.

I found that I was quite looking forward to an evening of railroading as
much as Lloyd was, and having an extra person would be fun too.  My day of
teaching design technology, metalwork, Religious Education - and English
Language - passed relatively quickly.

I was not surprised to arrive home before Garret and Lloyd, since I knew
that they had to call at Philip's home first, but I was a little concerned
when they had not arrived an hour and a half later.

It was seven o clock when Garret phoned.

"Can you call at Sprowston Police Station and pick Lloyd up?" he asked.
"We've got problems.  It's a good job we did run Philip home.  I'll tell
you about it when you get here."