At six a clerk comes down to the yard with a cloth and a piece of chalk and the whole school stands in front of the wall, and the cloth goes over my number first and everybody goes quiet.

RabWhatever it says, we did the arithmetic honestly and everybody watched us do it.

DeaconAnd if it does not say what we want?

RabThen the gate is a trap and we found that out in six days instead of six years, which is still the best week I have had in this building.