Mix up

I was out walking in a bluebell wood with my friends. 

“Their first exam should be over now.”  I text them.

“No reply?” asks Diane.

“Nope – there are far more interesting things going on.  They’re all having a weepy final assembly dressed as Disney characters.”

But over lunch, Carenza rings back.

“Yeah the paper wasn’t the one we were expecting –it was Latin language not literature...”

I am flabbergasted  - how did we get that mixed up?

“…but it went alright anyway.”  She summarised the Tacitus and Cicero that she’d had to translate  and the stories sounded coherent.  If, on the other hand, the story sounds rather like the plot of Mozart’s Magic Flute, it’s a sign that something’s gone wrong with the translation.

“How did Perran ‘s go?”

“Okay, I think – we raised our eyebrows at one another across the exam room.”

Afterwards, Diane and Carol tell me I went white and I have to explain about the Latin paper-swap.

We are knee deep in bluebells when Perran rings and he is using Carenza’s phone – where is his phone?  I decide not to probe.  There’s a lot of background noise.

“Are you in the pub?”

“Sorry – I can’t hear you – I’m in the pub.  About the Statisitics – it was tough but I think it went okay.”

As for me, as soon as I get home, I’m going to check the exam timetable that I’ve pinned to the kitchen wall to make sure there aren’t any more interesting surprises.

 

 

Drolls and Weirds - Robert had heard stories of beautiful fairy children reared by humans - they were called changelings - But of course, he did not believe in them. Read the latest chapter of my story of love and mystery set in Cornwall by clicking here. Or read from the start.