"I've only used a little bit of this piece. I could give you some from my chalkboard at home," said Hart.

"Just start rubbing it off," said Mrs Long, and walked out, as the bell rang.

Before school each day, the boys would line up in the upper playground for a five minute assembly, before being sent to their first classes.

Outside, Mrs Long announced to the assembled boys and teachers, "Hart Dale would like everyone to know that today is his tenth birthday."

"Where's Hart Dale?" asked another teacher.

"Rubbing his name off the blackboard in the classroom," said Mrs Long.

The entire school laughed, and classes began.

Hart was relieved that he would not be receiving a caning this time.

At the end of fifth class, Hart's best friend moved to New Guinea, and would not be returning to Gray Thwaites in sixth class. Hart felt extremely lonely, since he had not made any other close friends. Mrs Long, noticing the improvements in his behaviour, took an interest in him in sixth class, and was occasionally his substitute mathematics teacher, when the regular teacher was able to leave her in charge of lessons. She had observed his despondency at losing his friend, and would smile at him in the playground as often as possible, in the hopes of lifting his spirits.

Using her singing skills, Mrs Long also became the preparatory school choir teacher.

During the final week of first term the school would be participating in a special musical to be performed in the town hall. Since Mrs Long actually knew the musical well, Mrs Thompson had put her in charge of it, and the two teachers became good friends. Mrs Long had now graduated as a fully qualified teacher, and become a full-time teacher on the permanent staff of the school.

The preparatory school (including all of the students, not merely the choir) would be performing one lengthy song, which Mrs Long had them rehearsing many times, as the weeks of term went on.

The first time she attempted to teach the song to the students, they were fairly unresponsive, and she said, "I can make more noise than the whole lot of you!" frustrated at their lack of enthusiasm.

After several weeks of rehearsals, there came a time when they had sung the song twice during the lesson just before lunch hour.

Mrs Long said, "We'll do it once more, and let's jazz it up a bit this time."

She asked the piano player to alter it a little, and Hart realised that Mrs Long was trying to make it more enjoyable for the students. He began to stop thinking of her as a tyrant who opposed his mischievous pranks, and to respect the dedication of her efforts.

The day before the musical was to be performed (which would be part of an excursion into the city to the town hall), Mrs Long walked the boys to the school assembly hall, so that they could practice their final rehearsal, using the stage of the large assembly hall. This would familiarise them with the acoustics and environment of the town hall.

When she first became a student teacher at the school, Mrs Long had worn red lipstick, and sometimes even sunglasses. Now she was not wearing any lipstick at all, and was standing in front of the stage, leading the preparatory school in singing the song. Mrs Long had to sing much louder, to ensure that she was heard by the students. To do this, Mrs Long was opening her giant mouth wider than she usually did.

The assembly hall also had much larger windows, which let in plenty of sunlight. So, as he watched Mrs Long singing, Hart focussed his eyes on her full shapely lips, and realised for the first time in two years, that he liked looking at Mrs Long. It was his first real awareness of the concept of a lady looking beautiful.

That night, Hart woke up in the middle of the night, and began recalling the beauty of Mrs Long's mouth. He was not aware of the marital significance of her title "Mrs" or of the romantic benefits of kissing someone. He felt frustrated, because he did not know what to do about his fascination with Mrs Long's beautiful mouth. He dreamed of two Mrs Longs, one with lipstick and one without.

The musical was a tremendous success, and sixth class continued on.

On the second last school day of the year, Mrs Long approached Hart in the playground, and said, "You've improved a lot over the last two years or so."

"You helped me improve, Mrs Long. When you got me caned that time, you taught me that stealing was wrong. Then this year you showed me that music can be fun. I started off wishing that we didn't have to do the excursion into the town hall and all those rehearsals, but then I got to like it."

"Thank you, Hart. You go on and do well in High School, and grow up to be a special man. I'm sure you will."

He told her which high school he would be going for, and she wished him all the best.

*          *          *          *

Two years later, during the school holidays at the end of first term, Skipper Long decided to take a holiday from the science institute where he worked and go on a hiking expedition with his wife, Mrs Christine Long, who had once been Hart’s teacher.

When they were six days into the walk, about half of the distance that they had intended to cover over the two weeks, an accident lost them all of their food over the side of a cliff.

"We'll have to start back tomorrow morning, without completing the walk we had planned. We'll go to bed early without any dinner tonight," said Skipper.

After four days of walking with no food, and only river water to drink, Mr and Mrs Long were literally starving to death.

"Darling, as a scientist, I know we won't make it through another day. We will die from malnutrition. It's a certainty, and we wouldn't have the energy to walk any further. Our stomaches are nauseous from hunger. There's a way to save you only, and I'm going to do it, Christine."

"What do you mean?"

"I've still got the bottle of sleeping pills I've been using to fall asleep in unfamiliar camping environments. There would be enough pills left to put me painlessly to sleep, forever. I know it would kill me, but we'd both die from hunger some time tomorrow anyway. Once you've checked that my heart has stopped beating, start a fire and cook me and eat some of me today. Then carry the rest and eat it tomorrow and the last day."

"That's an incredibly generous offer," said Christine.

"Will you promise me you'll do it?"

"I ... alright," said Christine, "but give me a last kiss and cuddle first."

"You can have it while we're waiting for the pills to take effect," said Skipper.

Skipper Long poured all of the sleeping pills into his mouth, and snuggled up to his wife. She embraced him, and they reminisced over all their old memories, until Skipper had fallen asleep, and then she checked his pulse. There was no pulse.

She prepared a fire, and roasted her husband until he was properly cooked.

For the next two days, she completed her walk back to civilization, and saved all of the bones from Skipper Long, once she had eaten him. She would put them in a container and keep them forever hidden, buried in her back yard.

She reported to the police that she had seen her husband killed and eaten in the bush, and let them assume that it had been done by a wild animal.

Feeling such a strong need to start life anew, Mrs Long did not return to Gray Thwaites Boys Preparatory School in second term. Instead, she took a few months off, expecting the birth of her child, and had a beautiful baby girl. At the beginning of the next year, she took a new teaching position at Timothy Scribener’s Prep School, in the neighbouring suburb, only a few blocks from Gray Thwaites, but full of new scenery and new teaching opportunities.

It was at the approach of the end of the first term there, that she finally began to think about going out on dates. However, all of the male teachers at the school were married, as they were adults themselves. Mrs Long’s mind floated back to the day she had seen how much Hart Dale had changed, even as an 11 ½ year old boy. She took out an old year book from Hart’s prep school and found his class photograph and stared at the boy. He was decidedly handsome as a child back then. She wondered how much his looks would have matured in the last five years. As an adolescent boy, he might turn out to be very very attractive. She thought about it at her luxurious Turramurra home that evening.

"It's hard to see clearly, with him so small in the picture taken at a distance large enough to incorporate a class of thirty students," thought Mrs Long, "but he was a very handsome boy, for an eleven year old. He'd be nearly fifteen by now, like Skipper when we were dating. I feel as though I simply must find out how Hart turned out."