already
charted the coastlines of New Zealand and Eastern Australia.
Peregrine
raised his hand.
“Trout,”
said Mrs. Stowaway, to signal that he may ask his question.
“Well,
you know you thaid that the Dutch dithcovered Authtralia and that the
British thettled it...”
“Yes...”
she said with the tone of caution that all teachers seemed to approach queries
from Peregrine.
“...and
you know you thaid that there were already a lot of aboriginal Authtralian
tribes living there...”
“Yeeees...”
“Well
I wath wondering: Did the firtht aboriginal Authtralian to vithit Britain
declare that he dithcovered Britain?”
“Don’t
be facetious, Trout!”
“But,
Ma’am...” he began to protest when I noticed on page eighty-four a passage
entitled “Captain Cook and the Poisoned Puffer”:
It
told a story about the sailors on board Cook’s ship eating some puffer fish livers
and then becoming very ill. Their arms and legs became numb and very weak and
one of the pigs they had on board, after eating the remains, was found dead the
next morning. The article finished by saying, “This
is the first recorded example of tetrodotoxic poisoning”.
The
word “tetrodotoxic” jumped out at me. It seemed somehow familiar. I raised my
hand.
“Turnpike,”
said Stowaway, clearly relieved by the opportunity to answer questions from
someone other than Peregrine.
“Ma’am,
you see this story on eighty-four about Captain Cook eating poisonous fish…”
“Yeeees,
Turnpike. It seems that you have raced on ahead of us…”
“Yes,
sorry. I just wondered about these fish…”
“Aha!
Well,” she began, “certain types of these poisonous puffer fish are, believe it
or not, thought of as a delicacy in some parts of the World. The Japanese, for
example, pay good money for them. Ah!” she said, turning to page eighty-five,
“If you turn the page, you will see a couple of diagrams of what puffer fish
look like.”
Turning
the page, I saw that there were two very familiar diagrams. One
appeared to be a cross-section of a U-boat, the other a cross-section of a
maggot-eaten apple. Just like the diagram on Miss Prenderghast’s blackboard.
Freddie
turned and looked at me with an eyebrow raised.
“Ma’am,”
said Peregrine, “we dithected thith fish in Biology jutht now.”
“Don’t
talk such rot, Peregrine Trout!” Mrs. Stowaway snapped. “I’ve a good mind to
give you a Detention.”
“No,
Ma’am. Trout’s right,” Freddie piped up. “We really did just dissect this
fish.”
Mrs.
Stowaway paused.
“Well,”
she said. “I must say that if that’s true, I find it very surprising.” Her
brow was furrowed in genuine concern. “It seems like far too dangerous an
experiment.”
“Ma’am,”
I said, “Captain Cook in his diary talks about the liver. Is that the most
poisonous part? Miss Prenderghast got us to cut out the livers of the fish and
place them in tins.”
“I
am no expert, of course,” she replied, “but as I understand it, the livers are
very poisonous indeed. Well,” she shook her head and looked really rather
perturbed, “Miss Prenderghast must know what she’s doing. All I can say is
that I hope you all wore gloves and washed your hands thoroughly after you
finished.”
It
had seemed odd at the time that we had been made to do a dissection at all. This
was something that was not usually done until at least the Fifth Form. It now
seemed even odder that Miss Prenderghast had made us do a dissection of a very poisonous
creature rather than the usual rat or frog.
I
wondered what she was planning to do with the livers after we had left.
twelve
During
free afternoons, the Forest was a paradise of turmoil and boys brawling in
boilersuits.
“You
know about that tree, don’t you?” said Freddie. We were on our way to the
Vegetable Gardens for Hard Labour; harvesting carrots, lettuce and rhubarb.
The tree he was
charted the coastlines of New Zealand and Eastern Australia.
Peregrine
raised his hand.
“Trout,”
said Mrs. Stowaway, to signal that he may ask his question.
“Well,
you know you thaid that the Dutch dithcovered Authtralia and that the
British thettled it...”
“Yes...”
she said with the tone of caution that all teachers seemed to approach queries
from Peregrine.
“...and
you know you thaid that there were already a lot of aboriginal Authtralian
tribes living there...”
“Yeeees...”
“Well
I wath wondering: Did the firtht aboriginal Authtralian to vithit Britain
declare that he dithcovered Britain?”
“Don’t
be facetious, Trout!”
“But,
Ma’am...” he began to protest when I noticed on page eighty-four a passage
entitled “Captain Cook and the Poisoned Puffer”:
It
told a story about the sailors on board Cook’s ship eating some puffer fish livers
and then becoming very ill. Their arms and legs became numb and very weak and
one of the pigs they had on board, after eating the remains, was found dead the
next morning. The article finished by saying, “This
is the first recorded example of tetrodotoxic poisoning”.
The
word “tetrodotoxic” jumped out at me. It seemed somehow familiar. I raised my
hand.
“Turnpike,”
said Stowaway, clearly relieved by the opportunity to answer questions from
someone other than Peregrine.
“Ma’am,
you see this story on eighty-four about Captain Cook eating poisonous fish…”
“Yeeees,
Turnpike. It seems that you have raced on ahead of us…”
“Yes,
sorry. I just wondered about these fish…”
“Aha!
Well,” she began, “certain types of these poisonous puffer fish are, believe it
or not, thought of as a delicacy in some parts of the World. The Japanese, for
example, pay good money for them. Ah!” she said, turning to page eighty-five,
“If you turn the page, you will see a couple of diagrams of what puffer fish
look like.”
Turning
the page, I saw that there were two very familiar diagrams. One
appeared to be a cross-section of a U-boat, the other a cross-section of a
maggot-eaten apple. Just like the diagram on Miss Prenderghast’s blackboard.
Freddie
turned and looked at me with an eyebrow raised.
“Ma’am,”
said Peregrine, “we dithected thith fish in Biology jutht now.”
“Don’t
talk such rot, Peregrine Trout!” Mrs. Stowaway snapped. “I’ve a good mind to
give you a Detention.”
“No,
Ma’am. Trout’s right,” Freddie piped up. “We really did just dissect this
fish.”
Mrs.
Stowaway paused.
“Well,”
she said. “I must say that if that’s true, I find it very surprising.” Her
brow was furrowed in genuine concern. “It seems like far too dangerous an
experiment.”
“Ma’am,”
I said, “Captain Cook in his diary talks about the liver. Is that the most
poisonous part? Miss Prenderghast got us to cut out the livers of the fish and
place them in tins.”
“I
am no expert, of course,” she replied, “but as I understand it, the livers are
very poisonous indeed. Well,” she shook her head and looked really rather
perturbed, “Miss Prenderghast must know what she’s doing. All I can say is
that I hope you all wore gloves and washed your hands thoroughly after you
finished.”
It
had seemed odd at the time that we had been made to do a dissection at all. This
was something that was not usually done until at least the Fifth Form. It now
seemed even odder that Miss Prenderghast had made us do a dissection of a very poisonous
creature rather than the usual rat or frog.
I
wondered what she was planning to do with the livers after we had left.
twelve
During
free afternoons, the Forest was a paradise of turmoil and boys brawling in
boilersuits.
“You
know about that tree, don’t you?” said Freddie. We were on our way to the
Vegetable Gardens for Hard Labour; harvesting carrots, lettuce and rhubarb.
The tree he was
Similar Books
