REEVES WALKED BEHIND Sherlock, and he observed more uniformed female policewomen stationed outside the gym's hallway. One female cop was using a small click-counter gadget, to count the total number of people entering the gym main entrance. Reeves went through the gymnasium door.

He discovered all the Wesleyan teachers were gathered at the back, while some policewomen in uniform were on the other end of the hall. There was with a mike stand on the floor where a friendly cop hallooed to the puerile crowd gathering there, before speaking...

"Hi, all of you, are you all here? I am Sargent Harriet, thanks for being here now. Today, we have got a special treat for you all — there will be no further classes today — Yay!"

In an instant, the gym was roaring, with espousing cheers and clapping of over two hundred and seventy-odd students.

Harriet continued declaiming...

"That is right, you handsome-guys — we are going on a field trip today — and we are going to the Police Academy!"

More students started getting excited and the rhapsody became louder. It suffused the gym like they were at a rock concert responding to the band's vocalist...

"Okay, settle down, guys — there is going to be a carnival today at the Police Academy, so today will be a day of all fun and games — do you all like that!!?"

The ecstatic twelve-year-old boys jumped exuberantly, and danced in the seventh heaven, while the policewoman in front instructed next...

"Okay, okay boys — shush, listen up — there are 278 of you guys, and we will be leaving in 9 buses that are waiting outside now. We are going to separate you all into groups now — and each of you will be given a number that starts with an alphabet — everyone should memorize your number, okay clear?"

The alacrity boys okayed her, in unanimity echo.

"So, when I call your name and number — you come up to me, and sit in your designated group, okay? Listen, there will be 4 groups — Group A — B — C — and —?"

Most of the boys cried out, "D!"

"Wrong — it is H."

Harriet laughed after fooling them. "So, it is Groups A, B, C and H!" The boys instantly liked the comical presence of this prepossessing policewoman...

"Now all of you move to the right side of the room now." Another policewoman stepped up, and blew a pea-whistle, while hand signalling to all of the Intersexuals, to shift themselves to the right side of the gym.

"Move on quickly, we don't have all day, we have to organize fast. The longer we waste time over here — the lesser time we have to spend at the carnival — come, move faster!"

The entire Intersexuals were rabbling over to the right side of the room, all chatty and noisy with excitement, drowning Harriet's further instructions...

"Shush, quiet down, I will read the names and numbers, and you come forward to me — and, this officer will seat you in your group. Okay, here I go — Abdullah A-01, Ali A-02, Chandra A-03, Chong A-04..."

Most of the Intersexual orphans did not have last-names — even if existed, the confidential records were not revealed by IIRC.

Minutes later, Reeves understood what he saw — the students were segregated — and they sat on the floor behind four signboards placed on chairs that are in bold — A, B, C and H.

The order of the segregation soon made him suspicious...

*

Twelve minutes later, Officer Harriet was still reading out the boys' names. "Jason C-52, Janice C-53, Joe C-54..." Joe walked over, and the cop with pea-whistle sat him in Group C.

Reeves turned and observed the teachers at the back of the gym — where some were crying, and others were consoling each other. He sensed something was wrong, even among his teachers — is someone retiring from IIRC, or has someone died?

"Finally, Vincent C-97"

Reeves realized that he was standing among the ethnic group, of Hispanic Intersexuals of the IIRC — Officer Harriet further communicated...

"Now for Group H — Alejandro H-01, Carlos H-02, Chako H-03..."

Reeves next looked up, and heard a familiar sound — the high-heel D'Orsay clacked on the concrete floor. It vexed him a little in seeing the deceiving director Tina Martin, walking in with the government woman, from the office yesterday. Once all of the noisy Intersexual too heard the director approaching — they got really quiet.

Even Lucinda Gates was impressed by this Pavlovian conditioning — the tractable boys had been skillfully silenced to the sound of her high heels — just like the quondam experiment conducted on dogs, in studies of behavioural patterns...

But, the restive Reeves thought of it differently — the pithy words she threatened him with, in her office yesterday, still rang crystal in his head...

"So, do you want to be another Morgan?"

He now knew — why — everyone was afraid and shuddered at Tina Martin's presence — it was because, three years ago, she dispelled Morgan away for his bad behaviour — and ever since then, he was never seen nor heard of again in Wesleyan...

But, Reeves was not afraid like them...

This made him determined, to abscond from there even more...

"Diego H-37..."

Tina Martin and Lucinda Gates walked to the teachers gathered at the back of the room. Some teachers were inquiring some matters, and Ms Martin was calmly answering them. Gates soon led Martin away from the teachers to the front of the gymnasium — her heels sounded the cement floor, while Sargent Harriet was still reading out the names from her list...

"Eve-H-38..."

No one was stepping out from the group...

Reeves' mind was absorbed by the enthralled thuds of Tina's heels steps. 'What if she puts up a struggle when breaking into her office tonight?'

She is an adult, can he fight her? He does not want to hurt her either. But, the thoughts gripped him, and his hands began to tremor.

"I repeat — Eve, H-38 — Eve, who is Eve?"

Far ahead, Harriet articulated again. A Hispanic boy tapped him from the back...

"Isn't that you, Reeves?"

The staggered Reeves stepped up, and he sat on the floor with the rest in Group H.

He still kept observing a worried Tina Martin, who was speaking to Lucinda Gates — she seemed to be pleading for some requests — but, the woman from Washington's body-language indicated abnegation.

Joe who was in Group-C made his way closer to Reeves, who was separated by a three-foot gap between the seated groups. He whispered in a low tone...

"Hey Reeves, you saw the look on Ms Martin's face — she looks like her grandmother's cat had just died falling too off a window. I think she has been crying, man. I have never seen her distressed before — but she is one tough cookie, am I right?"

Something was totally wrong since entering the gym — and even a dumb-dolt like Joe could notice what he had mulled over. But Reeves seemed bewildered that he could not still connect the dots — especially, why were there SWAT snipers on the rooftops?

Reeves nodded passively to him, and Joe continued his incoherent babbling...

"One day away from classes, I gonna love this surprise field trip, man, I guess, it is going to be lots of fun — what say you, you hate going to classes too, right, bro?"

They both do — but for different antipodal reasons.

"You all right, Reeves? You, seem very quiet."

Reeves responded softly, from his rumination...

"I don't know — something does not add up here — you saw it a while ago Joe, there are cops on the roofs, and now this unexpected field-trip — while some of our teachers are crying back there, and even Ms Martin look troubled...

"It is like there is more to it and they are not telling us something — and finally — here we are, all seated on the floor — after being racially segregated?"

"What you mean? What racially segregated?"

That response irritated, and it got deep into his nerves — and Reeves disclosed by his growling whispers back at the red-headed boy...

"Sometimes Joe, I wonder whether you are totally ignorant or just plain stupid — or simply both. Look at Group-B — they are all Blacks and the dudes in Group-A — they are from all parts of Asia."

Joe argued softly pointing at some boys, "No way, then why are Steven and Bianca in Group-B — they are not Blacks, right?"

These were the things the boys had been subjected since their birth, to be oblivious like to the colour of their skin during socializing in their controlled test subject environment at the IIRC facility — but, Reeves noticed it now by Sargent Harriet's grouping sequestration...

Reeves retorted...

"I am no fuck-expert — but, my guess is they are of mixed blood — probably some Mulatto or so, so they certainly look all-White to us. That Ms Martin seems to have that record on all of us too..."

Joe looked perplexed for a moment before he interrupted again...

"If that is so, why are you in 'H'?"

"You are in 'C', right? I guess that is Caucasian — and probably I am not all-White like you guys too — and 'H' is probably for Hispanic."

Now, Joe was more baffled...

"Really, you are not White? And Reeves, you did not know that?"

Reeves felt like punching his face once again for each irritating and undigested question, that he was hearing Joe uttering at that moment — he then upbraided with accusation...

"I just knew I'm now half-Hispanic, just a moment ago, you dumb fuck. If only you had helped me to break into Tina Martin's office back then — I would have known earlier, you fat, shitty-dumbass!"

Joe retracted his head back...

"Whoa, let's not go there, man — coz I am not still doing it. See this proof — you have already given me two black eyes, bro — so, thank you very much."

Reeves allowed his bitterness to pass, and he realized to accept his expiration plan to escape over the wall, to seek his true domicile lifecycle outside in civilization, as a free-male — and that plan, was for him alone to execute...

It was of no use to be cavil, nor blame anyone — those who did not believe in his ways and adumbration of freedom — but, he would surely miss his simpleton redhead buddy, after he jumped over the wall later tonight, after their Police Carnival visitation.

Joe surprised him by placing his fist out, "Friends?"

Reeves smiled with sadness, as his fist-bump into his — the way Joe acted was risible, it also made him laugh when Joe bespoke in excitement with his panda-like shiners...

"Let's go enjoy the day at the carnival, dude."

Harriet concluded...

"Okay boys, we are all done. In a moment, we move in a single-file out in your own groups to the buses, okay?"

Lucinda Gates came over and whispered something into Harriet's ear, and she nodded. The cop then passed the mike to the IIRC's Tina Martin, who cleared her throat — and expressed herself in a bittersweet tone...

"Boys, you are all going on a trip. Enjoy yourselves, and don't get into any trouble when you are over there — be safe and, farewell."

Joe chuckled...

"Farewell? What a dumb choice of word."

Reeves was thrown off balance again by it — was he the only one, still with distrusting thoughts that something was wrong?

The other boys were standing; some started stretching their backs and were excited about their soon field-trip. Reeves heard the cop blowing the whistle, and Harriet's voice came back on again...

"Okay Group-A, make a single-file and walkout — followed by Group-B!"