Lessons from the Heart by John Clanchy Page B

As soon as they got outside the hall, Miss Temple went totally hormonal: ‘I suppose you thought that was funny, Antonia?’ she said. ‘No, Miss Temple,’ Toni said back. ‘Then what on earth did you think you were doing?’ ‘I was making a feminist critique, Miss Temple,’ Toni said, ‘cos it couldn’t be much fun just being a miner’s wife in those days, could it?’ And Miss Temple – this is all according to Toni, of course, so I don’t know if she really said that or made it up later – she couldn’t speak she was that breathless. And that must have been the first time in her life that ever happened to Miss Temple.
    â€˜And what about this?’ Mr Jackson is holding up a copy of The Barrier Times that’s got a headline Sydney Schoolgirls Get a Lift Underground and a picture of Toni on the mine tour, and she’s being kissed by one of the miners. And they’re both in hard-hats and Toni’s skirt’s so short even she got a shock when she saw it.
    â€˜Can I see that?’ Mr Kovacs says, and Mr Murchison’s reaching for the newspaper too, but Mr Kovacs gets there first.
    â€˜But that was all just the reporter and the photographer, Mr Jackson,’ I say. ‘They suggested the photo, and everything.’
    â€˜It’s obvious to me, Miss Vassilopoulos, that from day one …’
    â€˜Broken Hill was day two, Mr Jackson.’
    â€˜That from day one, there was nothing on Miss Darling’s mind but disruption and mischief.’
    â€˜We are here,’ Mr Murchison says quietly then – and he’s still got his hand out, waiting for Mr Kovacs to pass him the newspaper – ‘to see whether there are reasonable grounds for believing that to be so, are we not? And whether anyone else was involved?’
    â€˜Very well,’ says Mr Jackson. ‘Let’s leave Broken Hill for the moment then.’
    And that’s when I realize he doesn’t know what really happened at Broken Hill at all, and hasn’t heard about the younger teachers and Toni and me going to have a look at the town after the kids were all fed and safely stowed in their tents for the night. And the reason we could go was because everything was quiet by then. Mrs Harvey was the teacher-in-charge for the night, and Miss Temple and Mr Jasmyne were invigilating as well – though, whenever I saw them, they were mostly invigilating each other or the moon.
    Broken Hill had lots of hotels and these weird facades that looked like buildings but had nothing behind them, and it was clean and boring and not like Wilcannia at all and had more policemen than black people, so we went into a hotel in the end and the teachers had whisky and wine – this was Mr Tremblings and Mr Prescott and Miss Plummer – and Toni and I had pub-squash, and there was a band, so we started dancing and it was already half-past eleven when Mr Tremblings noticed and said, ‘Christ, look at the time,’ and said we had to go back straightaway, and Mr Prescott said they’d all be asleep by now and there was no point one way or the other, but Miss Plummer was really worried and said we should all go back then, that second – she was sober suddenly when she was all drunk and dreamy five seconds before and I wondered if she was keen on Mr Tremblings, even though he was a teacher, but drink can do funny things – and in the end I went back with them, and Mr Prescott said he and Toni would have one last dance – the band would be packing up soon anyway – and they’d get a taxi straight back after us.
    I could see how worried Miss Plummer was, though, because two or three times she said ‘Dwa-yne’ in a pleading way and nodded in the direction of Toni who was standing beside Mr Prescott and had hold of his hand, though she needn’t have held it so hard or in both hands, I thought, it wasn’t going anywhere or