Chapter 10: a talk

I don't know how long I'd been sitting there feeling queasy and rotten when there was a tap on the door and Mr Keaton came in. He sat down on the bed next to me.

Neither of us said anything for a while then he murmured gently, "You've given yourself quite a fright, Lynda."

I kept staring at the floor and sighed dejectedly, "Did you know that I tried to run away?"

"Yes, I did. I thought you would try something like that and I was watching you closely, but you were too fast for me."

"I am fast," I gasped.

"You certainly are. For a moment I wasn't sure which direction you'd gone and that gave me a fright, but then I saw some signs and was able to track you down."

"Thank you."

"Lynda, please don't run away again. Even if you ran down the fire trail, that's the dirt track we came on, you will still get lost because there are a lot of those trails crisscrossing each other and you have to know which ones to take."

"Fire trails?"

"Yes. If a fire breaks out in the forest, the fire trucks can use the trails to get to the seat of the fire."

"Oh."

My voice sounded hollow as I asked, "Mr Keaton, you and Mrs Keaton seem nice people, why are you doing this to me?"

He sighed deeply. "Lynda, your parents gave us virtually a free hand to discipline you as we thought appropriate, but we are not really trying to punish you, what we are trying to do is help you to learn some humility as we said."

"Dressed up as a girl, Lynda, you feel vulnerable, and that makes it hard for you to tease and torment others. Hopefully, you will begin to treat others with more respect and consideration, and that will be better for everyone."

He gave me a sympathetic smile. "Lynda, it's more comfortable and enjoyable to get on with people rather than be in conflict with them."

I just kept my eyes cast down. "Randolph will start teasing me, won't he, either now or when we get back?"

"No, he won't, Lynda. We've spoken to Randolph and he understands that while he could get some petty revenge now, it would probably backfire because you would resent it and then things would just get worse. Do you see what I mean?"

"Yeah, I suppose so."

"Lynda, nobody else is going to know about this, it'll be a secret between the four of us."

"What? Won't my Mum and Dad know?"

"No, unless you want to tell them, of course."

I sat there quietly as I tried to understand what he was saying, I'm not sure I did. Then he spoke again, "Lynda, why not look at this as a secret, two-week experiment? Give it a go and maybe something good will come out of it. We do have lots of things we can do; you could have plenty of fun and have an enjoyable holiday . . . if you want to."

I made some sort of indistinct mumble because I didn't know what to say.

"Okay, I'll leave you to have a rest now."

After he went out, I just sat there stewing over things. I suppose time passed because suddenly Mrs Keaton poked her head around the door and said, "Lynda, lunch is ready. Come and have something to eat, dear."