Chapter 13: A Giant Step.
After a week at home, Clarence made a return visit to the hospital with his parents to see Dr Owens and Alan Green. Between them they had made some important decisions. They were to be no more operations. Clarence had made up his mind: he'd had all the surgery he required and he wasn't going to have repeated stays in hospital trying to achieve a perfect face. He was thankful that there wasn't any rebuilding to be done and that the newly grafted skin had began to settle in. The very rough areas were now covered with new skin and the scars where the old met the new were less prominent. But Clarence was still looking into mirrors at every opportunity, which worried Alan Green.
-Listen, Clarence-Alan said-Looking in the mirror with confidence is great, but don't spend too much time doing it. Simply treat mirrors as you did before the operation-
His mother turned to Alan with a knowing smile. –Even before the accident he spent a lot of time looking in the mirrors-
Most importantly, Clarence had decided that he was going to return to school on the first day of the new term. This was a giant step. Since the accident, Clarence had only been in two buildings, the hospital and his home. The only people that he had interacted with had been hospital staff, his parents and his closets friends. Alan Green thought it was very worthy of Clarence to want to go back to school but he was worried about him going back so soon. But Clarence was adamant; he wanted to return to school at the start of term like everyone else.
The meeting was on Wednesday. The new term was to start on Monday and on Friday, when his stepfather was at work and his mother was out visiting friends, the front doorbell rang. Clarence was lying on his bed thinking of going back to school. He tiptoed carefully into the living room to see who it was through the front window. To Clarence's astonishment it was Mr Lincoln, his form teacher. He was standing facing the door as stiffly as a soldier on a parade. Clarence wasn't sure what to do. He considered not opening the door, thinking that Mr Lincoln would come back another time when one of his parents was in, but the Mr Lincoln rang the bell again. Clarence went out and opened the door.
-Hello, Clarence, I hope you don't mind me calling. I would like a quick word if I may-
Mr Lincoln looked at Clarence straight in the eyes. His minimalist smile was as good as Clarence had ever seen it. He could also see that Mr Lincoln had come prepared.
-My mom and Chad are not in but if you only need to speak to me that's OK-
-I promise you, I'll be gone before you know it-
As they entered the living room, Mr Lincoln began to talk about the weather. Clarence noticed that he didn't ask how he was or how the holidays had gone. Eventually Mr Lincoln came to the point.
-Yesterday I had a talk with a Mr Alan Green, the Clinical Psychologist from Aberdale Parkside Hospital. He informed me that you wish to attend school on Monday. Is this correct?-
-Yes-
-Are you sure that you want to do that? Do you realise that I will have had no chance to prepare the class or the school? Most of the pupils and staff have seen the story in the local papers but let's face it...-Mr Lincoln stopped suddenly, coughed and continued.-I'm sorry. Let's be realistic. I am concerned about how your fellow pupils will react to you-
-Well, Mr Lincoln, you shouldn't be afraid of using words like face…and look, I don't want any special treatment, I just want to continue my education, I don't see anything wrong with that-
-There is nothing wrong with that at all but…*Ahem*-He coughed-But we cannot control the reaction of the others-
Clarence was almost enjoying seeing Mr Lincoln struggling for words. –What should you do if you had your way?-He enquired.
-Well, we talk about your injuries in morning assembly before you arrived. We would let everyone know how impolite it is stare and we would of course inform everyone that you are still the same person-
-No way…my injuries, good manners and me are subjects that I happen to know a lot about. I can look after myself-
-Very well- Mr Lincoln spoke quietly –I'll see you on Monday then. Please don't hesitate to speak to me if you have any problems-
As they headed towards the door, Clarence said –I'm going to have to face the world soon. If I can't even face my school, then I have got problems-
As soon as the door was shut, Clarence ran to his room, grabbed his little blue book and ran back down to the phone of Sophie.
Sophie answered the phone –Hello?-
-Hi, Sophie, it's me, Clarence. Guess what? I'm going to school on Monday-
-Who said?-she asked, not hiding her surprise.
-I said. Tell Sumo and Jeff. Come and call for me on your way. We can go together it that's cool-
-Are you sure you want to go back so soon?-
-What do you mean, so soon? Everyone else is going back, so I'm going back-
Sophie tried to express her concern carefully but it didn't work. –You're not everyone else. You can't just rush into things now-
Clarence raised his voice. –You're supposed to be supporting me, you should be helping me. What are friends for? I thought friends were supposed to stick together and help each other out-
-OK, OK-Sophie interrupted-I just think you should be taking it easy-
-Will you knock for me on Monday morning or not?-
-Yes I'll be there. I'll be speaking to Sumo and Jeff later. See you on Monday-
After the call Clarence spent 10 minutes standing by the phone. He considered ringing Sophie back and telling her not to bother coming on Monday. He wondered what it would be like walking to school. He couldn't understand why Sophie wasn't being the tower of strength that he expected her to be.