Handel: The official neutral observer of Mackay and Seff Three boys were sitting on a bench, having their lunch and talking amongst themselves. Handel, the one in the middle, nodded his head. He could tell where the current topic of conversation was going to go. Here we go again, two seventeen year old high school boys getting started on their favourite topic of conversation. I just wish they didn't always try to drag me into it also. "Well, personally I think that Jenny would be nice." said Mackay. "Jenny? But she never speaks to anyone, and I swear she practically faints if some boy accidentally comes anywhere near her." said Seff. "Ah, yes, but I think the quiet ones are the most interesting." "Isn't she a bit too quiet? Not to mention slightly strange." said Handel. “Oh, I don’t know...” said Mackay. "You're not going to stop at just one, are you?" said Seff. "Ok, how about I include Carmen? She's not quiet, and she's very pretty indeed." "Hmm, not bad. Although... She may be talkative, but, you know, I don't think she has any good friends. As well, I think she treats men with disdain, and she's a bit abrasive towards girls also. So, ah, that's two girls who are both loners." said Handel. "Ok, Ok, what if I add another one. Turquoise!" said Mackay. Seff and Handel burst out laughing. "You really do go for the quiet aloof ones, don't you?" said Handel. "More like quiet and weird. She rarely talks; she mumbles when she does, she's got some strange mannerisms. And, while I believe she's got a nice figure, she really isn't the prettiest, is she? Are you sure you want her in your harem as well?" said Seff. "Sure. They're the type I like. I don't have to have any logical explanations for my preferences, you know." "Yeah, yeah. I'm sure you will have no problems in getting them to join you." said Seff. "Ah, yeah. It would probably require supernatural intervention.” Said Mackay. Yeah, it certainly would. Mackay, not being aware of this little addition from Handel, kept on going. “But I'm sure it will all work out, even if it's not the way I initially planned. Anyway, that is what my harem wish would be. And what's your preferred harem makeup, Seff?" said Mackay. "Oh, let's see, ah, how about Daisy?" "Well, I can't fault you there, Daisy is a nice girl, but she always has this serious look on her face. And she tends to be a bit hardline about religious matters." said Handel. "And Hyacinth." "So, another of the flower girls, hey? She's pretty. But... She certainly tends to act up on occasions. Almost a juvenile delinquent." said Mackay. "I might as well have the full set and include Rose." More laughter from all three. "A very nice girl, she has friends, she is good at school work and I hear she even does volunteer work." said Mackay. "But, you know, I really don't think that any of those girls would go for a foursome." said Handel. "I can wish, can't I? I'm sure I can sweet talk them into some arrangement or other.” The two boys with hypothetical harems stopped and looked at Handel. A long meaningful stare. "I suppose you haven't changed your stance on such things?" said Mackay. "Certainly not! I'm just not interested in girls in that way." said Handel. "And not boys either?" said Seff. "Nope! Not boys either." Seff and Mackay looked at each other. "Yes, yes, I know, you've said it all before, I'm weird, but I'm coming to the conclusion that that's just the way I am." "What if an angel appeared and offered to fix your obviously broken brain?" said Seff. Sigh. "No angel is going to appear and 'fix' me. Be realistic, will you?" said Handel. "But still, are you sure you're totally uninterested in any, ah, passionate relationship, with anyone?" said Mackay. "Yep, that's right!" said Handel. His voice was raised and he was starting to show all the signs of being just a little bit agitated. "OK, OK, perhaps we will just have to accept that." said Mackay. "Well thanks. I mean, why would I want to be obsessively thinking about sex every six minutes, like you two do? And, besides which, in spite of all your frantic fantasizing, neither of you ever talked to any girls ever. Just like me, you both spend all of your spare time playing computer games." "Handel, that's so mean. Even if it is true." said Mackay. "Ha! And neither of you even plan on doing so in the near future, right?" "Oh, you got me there." said Mackay. He clutched the front of his shirt, as if he had been mortally wounded. Seff, on the other hand, hesitated, and then eventually said: "Well, actually, you know, I'm thinking of screwing up my courage and actually trying to talk to Daisy. Ah, soon." "Uh?” said both Mackay and Handel. "Really? I mean, we're both experts in looking at the girls, but actually talking to them?" said Mackay. "Well, that's impressive. At last, one of you is taking the first step. Say, why are you picking Daisy in the first place? Do you think she is an interesting person to be with?" said Handel. "Interesting? I don't know about that. But she is very pretty." said Seff. "Come off it, if you're going to be with a woman for a long period of time, you need to find her interesting." said Mackay. "Well, now, I wasn't necessarily thinking of the long term, you know." said Seff, "But, anyway, what do I say to her when I talk to her for the very first time? I mean, I can't just go straight up to her and ask her out for a date, I've never talked to her before in my life. I don't know how that would come across as." "Hmm, in the last action movie I saw, the hero said hello to the lovely lady, and five minutes later they were in bed." said Mackay. "Even I know that that is about as practical as expecting to win the lottery without paying for a ticket." said Handel. "Ok, then, last week my little sister watched a romance at the same time I was being forced to wash the dishes. And even by the end of the half hour they had barely kissed, let alone done anything interesting. But it appears that you need to become friends first. Establish some common ground, develop some mutual understanding. So, you need to, ah, find some interesting topic of conversation to start the process. I suppose." said Mackay. "Find something to talk about. Then talk about it." Big sigh from Seff, "And hope it leads to more conversation. But how do I take the first step? I just don't know. And it all sounds like a long winded process to me." said Seff. "Beats me, too." said Mackay. At this point, the siren marking the end of lunch break went off. "I know what. We have the whole of the school year in front of us. What say we gather again in the last week and compare notes?" said Mackay. "Oh, a year's too long. Make it the end of this term." said Seff, "And, also, let's make it interesting. Let's award points, say up to maximum of 100 points for every girl we get to go all the way." said Seff. All three laughed as they packed up the remains of their lunches. "You two are so stupid. With your track records, I think it will be a big fat zero for each of you. And, of course, for me too." said Handel. "Maybe. And why not make Handel be the officiator? After all, he is totally neutral on this matter." said Mackay. "Sounds like a good idea. And, at the very least, I'm sure I would never get a negative score!" said Seff. Handel packed up his lunch box and the three of them set off back to their classroom. With all of these supercharged hormone effects flying around, let's hope things don't get out of hand. "Say fellows, you should really be careful what you wish for..." said Handel. The other two just laughed. Mackay: Gets some sisterly love. Late that afternoon Mackay came home, tossed his school bag onto his bed, picked up his computer game console, and began playing his latest acquisition. "You're wasting your time on that thing again?" Mackay glanced up, to see his younger sister, Melissa, poking her head into his room and pointing her finger at him. "Oh, you again. Broken record." Annoying little sister. He resumed playing. "Why not do something a bit more responsible, like doing your homework?" "Aw, can't be bothered. I'll do my reading later on. Anyway, I always pass my exams, so why the fuss?" "Because you could do so much better!" Yawn. "Go and do your homework, then." "Actually, tonight is when you accompany me to my music lesson." "Oh, damn. Why do I always have to do it? It's such a bother." "Cause no one else is home. Or do you want me to be wandering around the streets of the downtown night life centre after my lesson all by myself?" "Ok, Ok, I'll take my assigned reading..." Half an hour later he was sitting in the piano teacher's waiting room, looking out the window at the slowly darkening sky. As the teacher had explained: "Sorry, but the student before you was unavoidably late, and he has a piano examination tomorrow, so, if Melissa could practice her pieces on the piano in the other room while she waits?" So Mackay was reduced to actually doing his assigned reading, all the while regretting the lack of game playing time. I could just go home myself, after all Melissa knows the way... He briefly ran through his head what the reactions of their parents would be to that course of action. On second thoughts... I think it will be much better for my health if I wait. He passed the time reading his school notes. Still later in the evening, after they had returned home, and mum and dad were now also present, they all had their evening meal together. "Mum, don't you think it is disgusting the way he shirks his responsibilities as a student. He could easily be an A+ student! He's just not responsible." said Melissa. Her mother put her brief case onto the table and began to take out some case folders. "Unfortunately, he's old enough; it's now up to him to make such decisions. And, in actual fact, he is responsible. Just witness him escorting you to and from your piano lessons, even if he does complain. It's just that he can't be bothered applying his powers of responsibility to other things in his life." "Fine, fine. I just hope he gets a good sharp shock one of these days." "That would be fun to watch." said dad, as he was making his way to his home office. Mackay did not deign to add anything to this conversation. He finished eating as quickly as possible and went up to his room. The next morning, Mackay was late getting up. This was nothing out of the ordinary. His bedroom door opened and someone stuck their head in. "Get up!" "Hey, don't deafen me, little sister." he said as he crawled his way out of his bed and started to get himself together for another school day. "I'm going. You can be as late as you like!" Mackay: A very bad day for his hypothetical harem He was in plenty of time for the first class. After all, the teacher was barely ten minutes into his lecture. "So, another day, another late appearance by Mackay." said Mr Daskalov. The students barely managed a collective twitter before resuming their diligent copying of the teacher's blackboard scribbling. This typical school day wound to its conclusion, and at the end of the last lesson the teacher, who by chance was Mr Daskalov again, said "Right, today it's, err" He consulted the duty roster stuck up on the notice board next to the door. "Jenny's turn to return the projector and table to the store room. Ok, everyone, dismiss." "Hey, Handel, can I copy the first ten minutes of the first lesson?" said Mackay. "Sure. Here, take the page. I'll wait outside with Seff." Mackay sat there, copying the notes, and blessing whatever good spirits there might be for the fact that Handel's handwriting had to be the most legible in the class. And as he did so, he observed a little drama. Jenny tried to pick up the table with the projector on it, but it was too heavy. She tried to move the projector by itself, but it was firmly attached. She looked around and saw Mackay looking back. He had no objection to helping her, but she visibly startled and looked away. She smoothed down her long auburn hair and pushed it back over her shoulders, as if to pretend that that is all that she had been doing. Oh, right. She thinks I'm about as inviting as a week old dead rat dumped on her front porch. Hmm, my wishes for a harem aren't looking too good, are they? Fortunately, Carmen was at hand. After giving a brief look at Mackay, she said. "Look, Jenny, you should know there's no way one girl can move that thing by herself. But two girls can. And we can do it without any help from any boys, too!" Right again, the look she just gave me is definitely one of disdain. Or maybe contempt for my very existence. What did I do to deserve that? Oh well, I think the chances of achieving my harem goal has by now thoroughly evaporated. A few minutes later, he was out of the classroom and met up with Seff and Handel. The three of walked down two flights of stairs towards the school entrance. Accidently following the two girls carrying the table and projector, since the storeroom was also on the ground floor near the entrance. They're still very desirable. What a shame there's no chance..." Mackay was trying to simultaneously admire their figures, while appearing not to even be looking in their direction. Seff looked like he might be doing the same, while Handel totally ignored the girls. In turn, the two girls were obviously doing their best to ignore them as being not worthy of their attention. Noting this, two boys had enough decency to hold back a bit, and let them get ahead. On the last stair flight, Seff looked over the balcony and down to the ground floor. "Hey, look! There's a police man!" The two others looked over, just in time to hear Carmen say, "Dad! I'm just helping Jenny, be with you in a tick." "Oh-oh" said Seff. The father of one of your harem members is in the police! You've haven't got a hope, have you?" "Damn! And I had it all set up." said Mackay. They were still laughing as they came down the final flight and walked across the entrance hall floor. The police officer looked up at this sound, smiled vaguely in their direction, and turned his head back to watch through the glass door as the two girls manoeuvred the table to its proper place in the storeroom. Say, did he hear Seff? Oh well, I suppose he must be used to such things. He looks as if he had scrutinised us and then dismissed us as having no need for any further attention. The boys passed on the outside of him, so they were free to watch him, and the girls, without being seen. So they were all in visual line of sight of the girls and saw: A cloud of purple smoke puff up and out, right in front of the girls. Two girls, looks of surprise on their faces, stagger and collapse. The boys stopped and stared, faces blank. The officer froze, then took three quick, deep breaths, ran forward, opened the door, grabbed a girl under each arm, change direction, kicked the door open again with his foot, and ran out of the room and across the floor almost up to the boys. He collapsed to his knees, and put the girls down. He exhaled, coughed, took several breaths, and looked at Carmen. She was not breathing. He had practiced for this; it was part of his regular training. He put one hand under her head and tilted it back, swept back her medium length black hair from her face, took a deep breath, covered her nose and opened mouth with his, and breathed out. He repeated this twice more, then whipped around and did the same for Jenny. And again for each girl. And each girl, in turn, started breathing. With coughing and retching. The officer himself was coughing also, by now. But it did not stop him from putting each girl in coma position, on her side, her arm and hand supporting her head. "Carmen, it's all right, you'll be fine." Carmen proceeded to vomit all over the floor. Jenny followed suit. But they were still breathing and did not appear to be going to stop in the immediate future. At last having some spare time, he pulled out his police issue mobile, and pushed the emergency call button. "Send police, ambulance, and fire brigade! Cough, cough. Poison gas! Two causalities. Cough, cough. No, make it three causalities, cough, hack, cough." Finally, he looked up and saw the three boys, still standing in exactly the same place as when it had all started. "You! Run out to the entrance and guide in the ambulance crew!" Seff ran to obey him. "You! Get the nearest teachers and bring them back!" Handel ran off towards the staff room, conveniently located on the ground floor. The officer stopped to do some more coughing. "You! Just stop anyone going anywhere near that damn store room!" Mackay jumped and looked around. Fortunately, there were not many students around. And by the time some of them started to congregate, the teachers had arrived, anyway. Closely followed by a policeman on foot and the wail of sirens and flashes of red and blue lights out on the street. The police gave them a preliminary review, and so Mackay got home several hours later than usual. He then had to spend even more time telling the story to his family. "But are the girls all right?" said Melissa. "I haven't a clue. They and the officer were taken way in the ambulances. There wasn’t anything more that we could have done. Not that we were able to do anything, anyway. We stood there as if we were a line of stuffed dummies, pegged to a clothesline and doing nothing more than swaying in the breeze. While the police man did all the rescuing of the two girls." "So, then, I suppose even I can't hold you responsible for anything further." said Melissa. The following day the school pastor, Father Joshi, made an appearance at the start of the second class. "I'm sorry to say that the two girls will be staying in hospital for a little while, they need to recover. I'm sure our thoughts and prayers are with them. But the police officer, who also got a whiff of the gas, was released this morning." He was followed by a police officer, the one who was first on the scene after the incident. "Good day. I'm Officer Gagnon, currently in charge of the onsite investigation. I hope that you will understand that the cordoned off area in front of the store room in the entrance hall is right out of bounds to all students. We will be doing our investigations, and it will take some time. And, after the last class today, we will need to interview again the three boys who witnessed it all." There was no other topic of conversation between the students that lunchtime. The three boys found themselves, for the first time ever, popular with the other students of the class. But only for their descriptions of the accident. They were surrounded by half of the class, and bombarded with questions. Eventually their classmates decided that they had gotten all that they could out of the three, and they scattered into little groups and got out their lunches. "Well, our popularity didn't last very long, did it?" said Mackay. At this point Seff took a deep breath, walked over to a couple of girls who had been sitting on the grass and who hadn't been in the group asking questions, and sat down besides them. Not too close as to invade their personal space, but not too far apart that he couldn't talk to them. "Huh?" said both Handel and Mackay. "Ah!" said Mackay. The girl he was sitting closest to was Daisy. He could hear what they were saying. "Oh, hi, apparently the girls were sick?" said Daisy. "Yeah, it was horrible. They vomited all over the floor, but I was impressed at by the police guy. He knew how to get them breathing again, and how to look after them until the ambulances arrived." Handel and Mackay decided to move on and let Seff be. So, he gets a chance to talk to a girl. Pity it has to be because of such a horrible accident. But I don't get much of a chance, do I? There's only one of my supposed harem members still healthy, Oh, and what do you know, there she is. Turquoise also had not been one of the ones crowding the boys for news. She was sitting under a tree and happened to look up as he passed. Their eyes met. She turned away, hunched her shoulders slightly and made little motions with her hands. As if warding off evil spirits. The two boys kept walking. What a miserable track record. All three of my not-harem-members cringe at the very sight of me. And two of them are now sick in hospital. Just hope nothing bad happens to Turquoise as well, otherwise I would start to feel guilty. Not sure what of, but still. "Say, Handel, perhaps I should change my preferences in girls, or something?" he said. "Huh?" After the last class, the three boys dutifully gathered themselves together on the ground floor and waited for someone to take notice. Officer Gagnon waved in their direction, and then continued to talk to Father Joshi. "So, you were waiting in the chaplain’s office around on the other side of the ground floor from here, for a student who wanted counselling, but never showed up?" "Yes, that's right. And then I heard the commotion when the ambulances and police cars arrived. Sorry I don't have anything else to add." "Fine, fine. If I need to talk to you again I'll be in contact." The officer approached the boys. "Hi there. I suppose you recognise me from last night?" "Yes, you were the first officer on the scene. Well apart from Carmen's dad, of course." said Seff. "Yeah, I was investigating a new case of graffiti on the school walls, but never mind that..." He led them up to their classroom, and had them enact the entire incident, from their teacher asking Jenny to take the projector, right up to the arrival of the ambulances. He was polite and courteous, took many notes, and was patient as they occasionally argued amongst themselves over the precise details. The next police officer to arrive on the scene was not so polite. "Gagnon! This here is detective inspector Parker. He'll be supervising the case." She pointed to the man that had been following her. "Obviously I'm in no position to do so." She gave a glance to the three boys, with complete disinterest. She compressed her mouth into a thin line, gave an abrupt half wave to the two officers, turned around and rapidly strode away. "I'll be at the hospital, if anyone wants me. But try to wait a few hours, OK?" "Good evening, boys. You're the ones that witnessed the whole thing, aren't you?" said Parker. In a voice and manner that was back to the normal professional courteous style. "Yes," said Mackay. Parker noted that they were watching the officer as she pushed open the external door with unnecessary force and barged out. "Ah, please don't judge police Officer Janet by her behaviour today, she is under a bit of stress." "Err, stress?" said Handel. "Oh, that's right, you wouldn't know." said Gagnon. "She's the mother of Jenny, which is why she is going back to the hospital. "Oh, right, sorry. Ah, does this sort of imply that the girls are a lot sicker than has been let on?" said Handel. The two officers looked at each other. Gagnon looked at the floor. Parker eventually said, "The news will be out by tomorrow, anyway, but if you could oblige us by not speaking about this to any other student for a day or so... You see, the girls are not expected to survive." Silence. After some, more questioning: "Anyway, thanks for your time. You can go home now." said Parker. The three stood at the school gates. "They're going to die." said Handel. "How horrible." said Seff. "That was the last time we will ever see them." said Mackay. They split up, Mackay went one way, and the two others went the other. They could not think of anything further to say. Seff: Taking some first steps Life continued, as it always did. Two weeks went past. The students did not hear anything more about the investigation, apart from the depressing news that the two girls were not coming back. Mackay continued to slack off, with occasional bouts of responsibility when he was required to escort his little sister to and from her piano lessons. But he still managed to scrap by in his studies, due to sheer talent. Certainly not due to hard work. Seff started, very tentatively, to build a friendship with Daisy. The second lunchtime he found her sitting with some friends. "Isn't the news terrible." he said. The girls agreed. The third time, Daisy was sitting by herself. She looked a little nervous as he sat next to her. She scuffed her shoes along the ground, while examining her lunch, and eventually asked: "Why have you started to eat lunches with me?" She's still not looking at me directly, but still, it's the first time I've had a direct conversation with a girl. He could see a wisp of hair curling across her face. She flicked it away back over her shoulders. They were slim and very feminine. "Well, ah, you see, I, I think that you are interesting. Err, that is I would like to talk with you some more. If that's all right, that is. Ah, but no pressure, ok?" He felt a blush coming on. Daisy managed a smile, briefly. "Hmm, that's ok. Ah, we can talk when it's possible." At this point, a few other girls arrived, and nothing of any further consequence was said. Seff gave the other two boys an update. "So you're still not her boyfriend or anything?" said Handel. "No, no, nothing like that. This is just a beginning, no telling where it might lead. But, nonetheless, it doesn't seem like I've really made any progress." said Seff. "Oh, I don't know, you gotta start somewhere." said Mackay, "And I not going anywhere with any girl at the moment." While changing classrooms Seff found his chance to take another step. "Hi Daisy. I would really love it if we could eat lunch together, preferably without anyone else nearby." Daisy looked around; there was no one within hearing distance. "Well, ah, I suppose that is Ok." "You know the park bench near where the playground for the primary school kids is? Let's have it there." "Ah, certainly." Seff was first to get there. He looked at the park bench. "Now, if I sit right at the end, then she will sit at the other end, with a large gap between us. But if I sit in the middle, then it would appear that I was trying to be extremely pushy in getting her to sit close to me. This is difficult." He put his lunch and bag at the end of the bench, and sat next to it. Daisy arrived. She hesitated, and then carefully sat herself down equidistant between Seff and the opposite end of the bench. She put her lunch box between the two of them. "Ah, hello Seff." She did not look at Seff directly, and her eyes were continually glancing around, as if plotting an escape route. "Hi. Hmm, thanks for coming here today. Ah, well, it's pretty bad about Jenny and Carmen, isn't it?" This got her attention. She looked him directly. "Yes! It really is. Surely they didn't do anything to deserve such a fate?" "Huh? Of course not. It was an accident. How could they possibly deserve it?" "Maybe they disobeyed the word of God and this is their punishment?" How the hell did it get to this? "But, but, they're just two teenage girls. How could teenagers like us possibly deserve God's wrath like that? I mean, what course of action could we take, when we are still stuck in school and living at our parent's?" Daisy did not look too impressed with this argument. "And, anyway, haven't you heard the rumour that someone might have done it deliberately?" continued Seff. "Ah, no?" "That's my best guess. They were caught up in someone else's evil plot, for unknown reasons." Let's get away from this divine retribution stuff. He managed to steer the conversation to more mundane subjects like the forthcoming tests, and who might win the next athletic events. "So she's religious in a judgemental sort of way." said Mackay. The three of them were having a quick chat at the school gates before heading off home. "That might pose a problem to your harem plans." said Handel. "Hopefully not. If I just avoid the subject it shouldn't matter, should it?" said Seff. Daisy: Thinking about a nice boy Daisy walked home, entered the front door. "Hi mum!" "Oh, it's you." Her mother looked up from her cooking, and then resumed peeling the potatoes. Daisy went to her room, closed the door, and sat on her bed. Holding her hands together, shoulders hunched forward, she stared into space. Every time there was an extra loud noise from the busy road out front, she twitched slightly. Must do my homework. That'll calm me down. And think about Seff. Maybe he's a nice boy. A hug would be nice... Even in the privacy of her room, she blushed slightly. Mustn't think about such things. Do some homework. She pulled some notebooks out of her school bag and set to work.