Read Online Foxworth Academy by Chris Blewitt - Free Book Online Page B

that you are skipping your duties today,” she said.  “Tea with or without milk?” she asked.
    Brett and Ally looked at each other.  Brett spoke first, saying, “Two without please.”
    The woman walked away and Ally said softly to Brett, “Tea?  We don’t drink tea.  Well, at least I don’t.”
    “I don’t either, but it seems like everyone here does, so we will too.  This further confirms our thoughts that we are in England.”
    “Shh,” Ally whispered.
    The woman returned with two small cups and a small kettle with steam coming out of its spout. She placed them on the table alongside a small glass bowl of sugar.  “Anything to eat, folks, before you make your way down to the harbor?”  She winked.  “That is where you’re going, right?”
    Brett played along, “Yes.”
    “How about a few lemon scones to fill up your skinny bones?”
    “Sounds great,” Brett replied.
    “The harbor?” Ally asked when the woman was out of earshot.
    Brett just shrugged his shoulders.  “We’ll check it out after we eat.”

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    T he class watched Brett and Ally on the big screen TV chewing away on their scones and sipping their teas.  Both of them had put a healthy amount of sugar in their cups.
    “It’s definitely England, Mr. Martin,” a girl said near the front.  “Tea?  Easy giveaway.”
    “Is that your final answer, as they say on that old game show?”
    “Yep,” she replied.
    “You are correct, Tina.  Although I’m not sure tea was the easiest of hints.  They drink tea all over the world.  Ireland consumes almost twice as much tea as England.  But five points to you, Tina.”  He went over to the blackboard, picked up a piece of chalk and wrote while speaking.  “So we know they are in Southampton, England in April of 1912.  What happened here on this date?  Or close to this date?”  He turned to the class.  “No one?”
    They stared back him and turned to one another.
    “I understand,” Mr. Martin said.  “You only get one chance to answer, but I thought at least one of you would have the correct answer based on the date and the location.”
    A boy in the back of the room cautiously raised his hand.  He had dark hair and dark eyebrows and seemed skeptical in his response.
    “Chase Browning, adda boy.  Let’s hear your one and only guess on what’s going on here.”
    The boy brushed his bangs away from his eyes, exhaled, and looked at Mr. Martin.  Full of confidence he said, “It’s the start of World War one.”
    Like in a tennis match, every pair of eyes went from Chase Browning in the back of the room to Mr. Martin in the front.  The teacher nodded his head slowly, crossed his arms, and walked to the other side of the classroom.  There were murmurs slowly forming throughout the students and even Chase Browning started to smile.
    “Not bad, Mr. Browning, not bad at all.  Only problem is, you’re two years away.  World War one officially started in 1914.  Very good guess, Browning, very good indeed.”
    The kid was crushed and he dropped his head onto his chest.
    “I give Mr. Browning here credit,” Mr. Martin said to the class.  “Anyone else want to step up to the plate?  Throw their hat into the ring?  Take a bite out of history?”
    All was quiet.
    “Well then, let’s resume watching, shall we?”

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    A lthough the sugar helped, the tea was certainly not to their liking.  They managed to get through half a cup, mostly to wash down the dry lemon scones they were eating.  Soon, the café emptied.  Brett surmised that they were all going to their places of employment, wherever that may be.  He waved the woman over and asked for the bill.  She verbally said they owed sixty-five pence.
    “Cents?” he asked.
    “My dear, cents is the American word.  Here in England, we say pence.  You really aren’t from around here, are you?”
    Brett did not act surprised when she said they were in England, he figured as much.  He reached into