SSC2004 Story: 'Enlightenment'

by Alex Birch

Category: Picture

Words: 502


The door of the old schoolhouse swung open and thirty small boys
hastily got to their feet as the tall figure of Cedric Witherspoon
entered the room, the cold Saskatchewan wind briefly following
scattering papers from desks until the schoolmaster slammed the door
shut then turned and slapped his briefcase and cane meaningfully on his
desk.

'Good morning Sir' the boys intoned dutifully and the schoolmaster
nodded curtly.

'You may sit!' he ordered and thirty little bottoms hit the wooden
seats simultaneously.

'Today..' Witherspoon barked, turning to his left and pointing to the
wall '..we are going to discuss our heritage!  Schofield...what is the
purpose of the national flag?'

The boy stuttered and choked.  'Er..to cover the dirty mark where Queen
Victoria's picture used to be, Sir?'

Witherspoon showed signs of apoplexy as he strode down the row.

'Stupid boy..stand up and hold out your hand!'   WHAAAACK!!!  
'OWWWWWWWWW'

'The flag is a symbol of our nationhood.  That we in Canada enjoy the
fruits of being a proud member of the British Empire.  It is a symbol
of good governance and opportunity for boys like you to be brought up
as British subjects.  There can be no finer prospect anywhere in the
world.  Now look at the map...what does the area shaded pink signify?'

Silence reigned as Witherspoon raised his eyes and sighed.

'..it shows that we are British subjects ..and if we had a world map
you would see that India, Australia, most of Africa and in fact half
the world is similarly blessed!!'

'Please Sir...' it was dimwit Harkness who would never learn '...my
cousin Charlotte in Minneapolis says that subjects are just slaves. 
She says that ....'

Witherspoon was out of his chair , cane in hand, in seconds.

' HERESY....' he screamed '...I WILL NOT STAND FOR IT!!!  Get your
trousers down IMMEDIATELY!!'

The boy obeyed immediately his plump bottom soon turning pink as he
howled and blubbered under the schoolmaster's earnest application of
the cane.

'Boys be warned against such seditious talk.  Harkness' cousin
Charlotte is AMERICAN.  This is not the poor girl's fault , it is an
accident of birth. These poor people are more to be pitied than blamed
but I'm afraid their rebellion in the last century has led these people
to hold some dangerous opinions.  We are too close to their border to
be entirely immune to them sad to say but if any are repeated in this
classroom I will cane the offender until I blister the skin from his
bottom.  IS THAT CLEAR?'

A shuffling of feet and nervous coughing told the master that his
message had sunk in.

'Now where were we..ah yes I was telling you how lucky you were to be
brought up within the embrace of a British education....'  and the boys
listened attentively as the wind swirled around the little Saskatchewan
school house on another cold winter's morning.