Read Online The Teacher's Secret by Suzanne Leal - Free Book Online Page A

Terry with an unexpected spurt of energy that propels him up the hill to the summit. As usual, it’s well worth the effort. Looking straight ahead, with the clubhouse on their left, there’s nothing but ocean in front of them. An endless stretch of deep blue water—filled, no doubt, with half a million golf balls.
    Today, Sid tees off first. Placing the ball down in front of him, he squints in the direction of the hole and, without even a warm-up, hits the ball hard before straightening up to see how it’s going.
    Terry watches as the ball lands twenty feet short of the hole. Not bad, he thinks. He decides he’ll use a three wood for this one. It’ll give him the length he needs. Lining himself up beside the tee, he has a few practice shots. When he thinks he’s got it right, he moves over to the ball, pulls back and, carefully, carefully, hits the ball up and over towards the green. When it lands in front of Sid’s ball, a smile spreads across his face.
    ‘It was about Elsie,’ he says as they walk over to the hole. ‘She wanted to talk to me about Elsie.’
    ‘Because of Trina?’
    Terry gives a short laugh. ‘You’d think that’d be it, wouldn’t you? But no, not because of Trina—because of me. She says I shouldn’t have touched her.’
    Sid stops short. ‘You didn’t lay a hand on her. I saw the whole thing. You didn’t touch her. You just told her to leave.’
    This time Terry really laughs. ‘Not Trina. Elsie. She said I shouldn’t have touched Elsie .’
    ‘What do you mean?’
    ‘She says I shouldn’t have given her a cuddle. It was inappropriate conduct.’ Just saying the words brings an awful taste to his mouth. ‘She made me sound like a paedophile.’
    ‘What’d she want you to do?’
    He shrugs. ‘She didn’t say. Just told me that my behaviour was inappropriate. In breach of the code of conduct or some rubbish. You know what I should have said to that? I should have asked her what the code of conduct says to do when a kid’s falling apart on the first day of school because her mother’s just got stuck into her. No, no, better than that—I should have just left it to the bloody code of conduct to sort the whole thing out.’
    Sid tips his head to the side. ‘She was pretty upset, wasn’t she? Elsie, I mean. And she gets a hard time of it anyway, even without Trina turning up again. I’d say you did the right thing, Terry.’
    They are up on the green now, and as Sid talks, Terry pushes the toe of his shoe hard into the grass, so hard he makes a hole in it. ‘I’ve got to tell you, Sid, I didn’t see that one coming. You know, I’d have thought she’d be thanking me for a job well done, that sort of thing. Could have knocked me for six when she started having a go at me. I sure as hell wasn’t expecting that. Merit certificate maybe, but not a bloody ticking-off.’
    This makes Sid laugh. ‘Tell you what, I can’t get you a merit certificate but I can buy you a beer when we finish. That cheer you up?’ Terry gives him half a smile. ‘Long as I get a chance to whip you first.’
    As they head over the rise towards the next hole, they see a couple of kids coming their way. One’s carrying a bucket and, every now and then, the other one bends down to pick something up from the ground. A golf ball, that’s what it’s got to be. The club pays kids to collect them. Not a bad little earner for the sharp-eyed. He can’t see their faces—they’re too far away for that—but their gait gives them away: Kurt with his shoulder-first stride, his tough little body moving like a tank, and skinny little Cody with his running walk, jumping around like a rabbit on the headland. Terry stops to watch them. He’s still watching when Sid, ahead of him now, turns back to give him a shout to hurry on. At the sound of Sid’s voice, the boys look up. And as soon as they catch sight of Terry, they start running over to him.
    ‘Mr P, Mr P!’ Cody shouts, his voice shrill. ‘We