The Guardians Read Free Page B

stadium where he knew Mr. Kennealy was on duty. On the way he thought about the State boarding schools. Some were supposed to be not quite so bad as others, but they were all regarded with a mixture of contempt and dread. They catered to orphans and the children of broken marriages, but also to certain types of juvenile delinquents. There were ugly rumors about the life there, particularly about the terrible food and the discipline.
    Rob sent in a message asking for Mr. Kennealy, who came out to the leisure room ten minutes later. Rob had been watching the closed-circuit holovision which showed what was happening in the arena. It was gladiators in high-wire combat. In this, men fought with light, blunt-ended fiberglass spears fromseparate wires that approached each other at differing heights and distances. The wire system was complex and changed during the contest. The drop could be into water or onto firm ground, which in this case was covered with artificial thorn bushes, glinting with murderous-looking spikes. A loser always got hurt, sometimes badly, occasionally fatally. There were three men in the present fight and one had already fallen and limped away with difficulty. The remaining two swayed and probed at each other in the bluish light cast by the weather screen which at the moment covered the top of the stadium.
    â€œWell, Rob, what are you doing away from school?” Mr. Kennealy asked.
    Rob told him what had happened. Mr. Kennealy listened in silence.
    â€œThey said I couldn’t stay with you, but it’s not true, is it?”
    Mr. Kennealy replied heavily, “If that’s what the regulations say, there’s nothing we can do.”
    â€œBut you could go and see them—you could apply for me.”
    â€œIt wouldn’t do any good.”
    â€œThere was a boy at school last year—Jimmy McKay. His mother went off and his father couldn’t manage. He went to Mrs. Pearson in your block and he’s still living there.”
    â€œThe Pearsons may have adopted him.”
    â€œCouldn’t you? Adopt me, that is?”
    â€œNot without your aunt giving consent.”
    â€œWell, she won’t have me herself. She’s said so.”
    â€œThat doesn’t mean she’d be ready to sign you away. She might be thinking things will change later, that she can take you then.”
    â€œThey could ask her, couldn’t they? I’m pretty sure she’d say yes.”
    â€œIt’s not as easy as that.” Mr. Kennealy paused and Rob waited for him to go on. “What I mean is, this may be the best thing for you. You’ll be safer there.”
    â€œSafer? How?”
    Mr. Kennealy started to say something, then shook his head.
    â€œBetter looked after. And with boys of your own age. Mrs. Kennealy and I are too old for a boy like you to have to live with.”
    â€œYou said ‘safer.’ ”
    â€œIt was a slip of the tongue.”
    There was a silence. Mr. Kennealy was not meeting Rob’s eyes. Rob felt he could see the truth of the matter. All these were excuses, attempts to conceal the central fact: the Kennealys did not want him. He felt a bit as he had when Mr. Kennealy had not spoken up for his father against the man who had said that he was to blame for getting killed, but now it was more a feeling of desolation than anger.
    â€œYes, Mr. Kennealy,” Rob said.
    He had turned away. He found himself grasped by the shoulders, and Mr. Kennealy stared into his eyes.
    â€œIt’s for your good, Rob,” he said. “Believe that. I can’t explain, but it’s for your good.”
    Inside the holovision screen one figure lunged, the other parried and struck back and the first dropped ludicrously on his back, into the thorns. Rob nodded. “I’d better go back and see about packing my things.”

2
A Disgrace to This House
    T HE BOARDING SCHOOL STOOD ON land enclosed by a bend in the River Thames. The main