Little Tim, Big Tim by Tim Roy Page B

classes.
    The school swimming carnival is on and I have to swim in the fifty-metre race. I don’t know how to swim. It’s time for my race and no one realises that I can’t swim. I have to find a distraction to get out of this predicament.
    Mr Waters is my target. I am walking half way up the pool length when I see Mr Waters perving at little boys’ arses. It sickens me that I can be aware of his perversion and the other teachers are completely ignorant.
    I approach him and proclaim loudly and clearly,
    ‘Stop perving on those boys. ’
    Embarrassed to be busted for his sick observation, he tells me to go and sit on the hill and that I am not to participate in any activities. I protest slightly but turn and smile as I have achieved my objective and get the bonus of exposing him again.
    School exams are around the corner and I am freaking. I know I will fail. No matter how hard I try to learn, there are basic fundamentals that I keep getting wrong. I’m sitting in the remedial class trying to grasp what the teacher is patiently trying to explain to me when I am suddenly ejected from the Light into the Dark.

PROSTITUTION
     
LITTLE BIG TIM
     
    As Little Big Tim I am plopped into a seat to find I am being given instruction by Mrs Roberts. I know Mrs Roberts because she lives in our street, but what confuses me is that she has always been the remedial teacher for the slow learners.
    Flung into this reality confused, I am shocked to hear myself proclaim,
    ‘Fuck, what am I doing here ? ’
    ‘You can go to the principal’s office for that outburst. Tell him I sent you and what you just said, ’ Mrs Roberts retorts.
    I walk out of the room with the full intention of going to get punished at the principal’s office, but shame overtakes my desire to adhere to Mrs Roberts’ directive.
     
SHANE
     
    As Shane I am in control but I’m totally lost as to the direction of the principal’s office. I go outside the building and sit on a bench enjoying the sun. A man who we don’t know soon approaches us.
    ‘What are you doing out here, Tim? ’ The stranger asks.
    ‘Umm, don ’ t know, Mister. ’
    ‘Mister what, Tim? ’
    ‘I don’t know, Mister, Sir, ’adding the ‘Sir’ in case that is what he wants to hear.
    ‘Come with me. Your cheek has got you into a lot of trouble this time, ’ he threatens.
    I follow him, relieved that someone knows how to negotiate these hallways to a known place. As we arrive in his office he picks a length of cane out of a bin that stores about forty canes. It’s an intimidating sight.
    ‘Hold out your hand, ’ he demands.
    The swish of the cane comes down hard; I am ripped into the Dark to see Peter coming to the surface.
     
PETER
     
    Being unprepared, the first swishes sting like hell. The next two on one hand and three on the other hand are taken without flinching. It infuriates our principal to the point that he decides to put extra effort into the last two swishes.
    ‘Get back to your class. And next time you are told to come to my office, do it promptly. ’
    ‘Yes, Sir,’ I know it will be prudent to address him this way.
    I leave his office, to be totally confused as to where I am. I keep walking away from his office to ensure I look like I know what I am doing, but I don’t. And it’s confusing as to why I am still in this reality.
    I know I was on the Cadet Camp (sharing the Light with Mark) but I have no idea how much time has passed. Where am I going? What am I meant to be doing? If I don’t solve this puzzle soon I will be back in the same office, with the same result.
    I round a comer to be deposited into the Dark as Little Big Tim slips into the Light.
     
LITTLE BIG TIM
     
    I am at the far end of the building and the only way back to my class is back past the principal’s office. However, I know he sits outside his office near the end of the period to catch kids cutting class early—effective at one time, but now a deterrent as it has become habit that all