Tommy Makes It Rich

Chapter 16. 24 January 1967

24 January 1967

I awoke as normal at sunrise. What was not normal was to wake up in the tiny room that I now had to share with my older sister Fran. I quickly found some clothes and put them on before Fran could see that I was naked. Then we started the daily grind of farm life. When we got on the bus, I again sat next to Alex. I didn’t want to scare him but if I sat up the back with Chuck there was a chance of a beating. There was also a chance of seeing pictures of topless girls but I wanted to do my homework. The bus ride took about 30 minutes. Surely I could complete the assignment in that time. After all it was a repeat of what I had done last year.

As I pulled out my exercise book and pencil and started to work, Alex looked amazed.

“What are you doing?” he asked.

“I am trying to make up for getting kept back a year.” I said. “I want to make something of my life. I don’t want to be stuck on that farm forever.”

“I think that is great.” Alex replied then jerked his thumb at the rear of the bus, “But what about those blokes do you think they will let you do your homework on the bus?”

“Why wouldn’t they?”

“Well, you should know! It is usually you who goes around the bus interrupting kids who try to do their homework on the bus.”

I thought about this for a bit. I couldn’t believe that I would do such a thing. “I have changed.” I said. Just then a grade six kid came up and pushed my hand as I tried to write.

“Bugger off, Billy” I snapped.

“Boo Hoo,” Billy teased. “Adams is doing his homework on the bus. Sorry goody two shoes, it is not going to happen.”

I pushed him away. “Leave me alone” The push wasn’t very hard but at the same time the bus lurched and Billy bumped hard into the seat across the aisle.

 It must have hurt because he got angry and came at me with both fists. I dropped my book and pencil and still sitting brought my right fist up as hard as I could into his solar plexus. I don’t know how I did it. It was just a reflex action. Billy went down like a sack of spuds gasping and gulping for air.

Next thing Chuck was there. “What gives?” he asked.

 “Just trying to do my homework.” I said. Thinking that it will be lights out in a minute.

 Chuck still had the bandage on his head and it made him look scarier than ever. “Why?”

“Because I don’t get time at home to do it and I don’t want to get kept back again.” I tried to keep the whine out of my voice but even to me it sounded like I was about to burst into tears.

“Fair enough.” Chuck said. “You are still going to play cricket though aren’t ya?”

“Well, yeah as long as I get my homework done and don’t get kept in at lunch time.”

“Leave him be, Billy. We need him in the cricket team.”

And so became the beginning of a year of doing homework on the bus.

Every morning and afternoon I would do my homework on the bus. I always sat with Alex and by mid term he was my friend again. Chuck also seemed to be my friend, though I never did get to see the topless girl pictures.

Homework on the bus however was not very neat so at first it was not well accepted by Mr. King. Well, actually at first he was surprised that I had done the homework at all. Then he held it up to ridicule me about the handwriting saying it looked just like my project from last year being proof I had somehow cheated on the test yesterday. As time went by though he did see me writing neatly and came to accept that my in-class work was neat and homework wasn’t.

 After a few weeks he even listened to me explain that home life meant that there was no time to do homework there. By years end he was singing my praises as I had topped the class. He also boasted that it was his holding me back a year that had woken me up and made me knuckle down.

I was selected in the school team for cricket in the summer and in winter I played football. I was very proud of my achievements this year. I had gone from the class dunce to top of the class. I was noted for my sporting achievements. My boxing training with Jock served me well and anytime anybody tried to bully me I would just give them a few light punches so fast that they didn’t know what was going on. I never hurt anybody and the whole school soon learnt to give me a wide birth.

My days in the 1900s were spent training. Jock taught me to box, use the slingshot and shoot. In return I worked with him on his schoolwork. He was never going to top the class but he went from the bottom to somewhere around the middle. Both him and his teacher were pleased.

The beans unfortunately did not do well. Despite all the hard work we put into them and all the rain, the crops were nearly all dismal failures. All the rain actually caused diseases such as Nest and Rust. Some patches we ploughed back in even without a single pick. By January 1968 we were once again ploughing bean paddocks.

 On 21 January, the day of the fire in 1900 I made special care to go to bed right on seven o’clock. Everyday since the start of January, I had made special care not to go back to 1900. I just could not face Jackie knowing what was to come. But tonight was my chance to fix everything.