Astral Dan & The English Teacher

Astral Dan

&

The English Teacher

‘The Old Testament, the Book of Ecclesiastes, chapter 12, verse 6, where the silver cord is broken refers to one’s death. But don’t worry, this means your physical death not your astral one, nothing can hurt you, your astral body can’t die.’

Nicholas J. Smith

Smashwords Edition

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Copyright 2012 Nicholas J. Smith. All Rights Reserved.

Chapter 1

‘O’Hare?’ All the other pupils looked in Daniel’s direction. ‘Daniel O’Hare!’ Dr Phillips, frustrated by the obviously daydreaming Daniel, raised his authoritative voice. ‘You will fail your physics ‘O’ level exam miserably if you continue to stare out of the window during these lessons; that is, if you ever qualify to take it,’ less volume this time with a touch of sympathetic concern in his voice as, tilting his balding head forward, he peered over his bifocals in Daniel’s direction. Dr Phillips knew Daniel had the ability to pass easily, which he would have to do to follow only the initial steps in fulfilling his ambition of becoming a medical doctor.

Coming from a blue-collar background Daniel had worked hard to obtain a scholarship to gain entrance to Oakfield, an all boys private school less than a mile from Daniel’s home, situated in farm and woodland on the outskirts of the village from which it took its name. The school fees that would normally be charged were far more than his parents could afford. The only alternative was the infamous Smeshton state school, five miles away. This was where all the children from a large area, that included Daniel’s village, whose parents did not or could not pay for a private education, were sent. Known for its playground drug-dealers and apprentice protection-racketeers, Daniel knew if he wanted to be any good to anyone, including himself, he stood little chance if he ended up in Smeshton. He often read articles in the local newspaper about the achievements of Oakfield’s pupils. Achievements both sporting and academic, but Daniel realized that his parents, although hardworking and caring, had no aspirations for him to be anything better than his father, a construction worker. Although this was no mean feat considering the level of unemployment in the area, Daniel knew there was more, much more.

Dr Phillips, headmaster and physics teacher, was impressed by such a youngster, Daniel was eleven when he contacted Oakfield, who should take it upon himself to enquire of any scholarships that might be attainable to enable him to attend Oakfield without having to pay the usual fees. Daniel took the exam in mathematics and did well enough to gain a full scholarship, meaning no fees would be required for his tutoring at the school.

Daniel had no specific idea of which career he wanted to engage in, until, at the age of twelve, he watched with horrified disbelief, a documentary on the plight of AIDS inflicted Africans, many of them children. The image of a severely malnourished infant trying to suckle from its recently deceased skeletal mother haunted him to the point of nightmares. From the feeling of helplessness this gave him was planted the seed to be become a doctor. Now fifteen and soon to take decisive exams at the end of the term, his mind, emotionally advanced for his years, was in too much turmoil to retain the properties of alpha-particle and gamma-ray radiation. The nightmares initiated by the documentary were intensifying and increasing in frequency, sometimes two within a month, and not just the sick but visions of butchery, fighting and last night he dreamed of an horrific plane crash. This dream his mind kept reliving.

The fire in the woods illuminating the pitch, moonless night, he is compelled to investigate by some invisible force. The smell of burning aviation fuel and the snap and cracking of burning trees fills the air. He sees what could be a broken aircraft wing partly buried in the snow – yes, there is snow everywhere – and the trees, silhouetted by the fire, look like pines. Getting closer, the tail end of the plane, it appears to be decorated with a winged lady, the emblem of some commercial airline perhaps. Further on, the smashed fuselage, smashed bodies, bits of bodies, visions, each more gruesome than the last. A sudden roar and he is enveloped in flames; panic wakens him from the nightmare. He looks to his clock: 02:03.

‘Sorry, sir,’ Daniel said and fidgeted uncomfortably on his seat.

‘You will be boy, you will be. Now make sure you get this homework assignment down. And I repeat for your ears only, O’Hare, it has to be finished by Thursday.’ Dr Phillips shook his head and returned to writing on the board. Daniel tried to look diligent as he scribbled down the homework assignment but the previous night’s dream soon stole his attention again until the morning-break-bell brought him back to the present.

Daniel’s closest school friends: Peter Johnson, David Ashton and Simon Jones were sitting around their favorite table in front of the drinks’ machine in the recreation room. It was too cold and wet to wander around the playground; a typical November day in the north of England.

Peter, average height but slim for his age, was the son of a lawyer. His father was a partner in a long established successful law company. A position which he inherited from his father and expected Peter to inherit from him. Peter was not adverse to this notion, since he saw what benefits his father and, indeed, the whole family enjoyed. Peter was just above average academically and therefore put a lot of effort in. He would need good grades in the final exams to take him to a university of his and his father’s choice, to study law. He gave the impression of being very down to earth and serious.

David, a little on the chubby side, came from a new money family. His father, a flamboyant and somewhat ostentatious businessman had initially started as a scrap metal merchant. He had now graduated to owning a steel stockholding company. The only reason he sent David to Oakfield was because he believed that was what rich people did – sent their kids to private school. David’s mother was only too happy to have him at a boarding school where he would not interfere with her endless cocktail parties and social climbing. He was the least talented academically; it was his joviality of character that adhered him to the other three, although he could be a touch overpowering occasionally, due to his insecurity.

Small and scrawny spectacled Simon was the son of a diplomat. His mother had died when he was two. He was gifted with a marvelous memory, never revising but always amongst the top scorers in tests. He was the most talkative of the friends.

Although Daniel came from a poorer background than the other pupils did he had made friends and settled in easily. Wealthy in the material sense, the other pupils’ backgrounds were so diverse from each other’s in many other respects that wealth just made up one of them. Many boys, including Peter, David and Simon, came from some distance away so boarded at the school; these especially had to learn how to get along with their fellow pupils, different backgrounds and all. They related to one another relative to the individual’s character traits, accomplishments, intellect and personality.

‘Hey, Dan, what do think of Ms Hamilton’s outfit today, hot or what?’ David said, and smirked at Daniel. Ms Hamilton, the young nubile English teacher of the fifth and sixth formers’, was often a topic of conversation amongst the adolescent boys since she joined the school at the beginning of term. Especially when she wore something the pupils considered provocative, as she did today. She was twenty-something and extremely attractive, although somewhat academic looking. Today she was wearing a black suit with the skirt tailored so short as to border on being a mini, and black stilettos that were too high to be considered practical for a schoolteacher.

‘Si reckons he could see her stocking tops and knickers during English this morning,’ David added. Simon’s desk was positioned directly in front of the teacher’s for English lessons. Although Ms Hamilton usually only taught the fifth and sixth forms, seventeen and eighteen-year-olds taking advanced level exams, today she also took the forth form, since their regular teacher was on sick leave.

‘Yes, I’m sure she kept crossing and uncrossing her legs on purpose, she knew it was driving me nuts, she has got white knickers and suspenders on,’ Simon enthused.

‘Yes, sure, then you woke up!’ Daniel mocked as he took a seat at the table of his friends feeling a little envious of Simon’s boast and annoyed by the fact that he had a seat at the back of the class for English. Of the four friends Daniel was probably the most besotted by Ms Hamilton.

‘What do you mean? If anybody was dreaming today, it was you. What planet were you on during physics?’ Simon went on the offense.

‘I wasn’t dreaming, but I was thinking about this crazy dream I had last night.’

‘Another exciting episode of Dan the Dreaming Man,’ Peter held out his arms to Daniel in mock introduction. Whenever he had a vivid, gruesome dream, Daniel would describe it to his friends in all its gory detail. At first his friends listened with interest but now it was happening so frequently that they were becoming suspicious of the origin of these so-called dreams. Especially Peter thought it probable that Daniel’s imagination and the attention the recounting of these dreams brought were at the root of his friend’s amazing stories. Still, they had humored him, until now. Daniel ignored Peter’s remark as he went into the description of his dream.

‘Listen, I was in a wood or forest in the middle of the night and there was snow all around. I saw this fire in the distance and as I went towards it I could smell something like petrol, and when I got closer I could see it was a plane crash, and there were bodies everywhere….’

‘Hang on, Dan, hang on,’ Peter interrupted, ‘um, I think you might be getting your dream confused with the newsflash this morning about the plane crash in the Alps.’

‘What do you mean? I hardly ever watch breakfast TV....’

‘Yes sure, Dan,’ challenged David who had also seen the newsflash in the boarders’ common room before breakfast.

‘There was a plane crash?’ Simon interrupted.

‘Last night a Boeing 767 crashed in the Alps killing everyone on board, over two hundred people. Didn’t you see it either?’ David answered.

Under his friends’ collective accusing gaze Daniel struggled for something to say.

‘Hey, look guys, I was only telling you about a dream I had, why would I lie about a dream?’ It sounded weak and he knew it but did not know what else to say.

‘It makes me wonder where you got the ideas for all the other dreams you told us about. What do you think, guys?’ Peter said, looking at David and Simon.

‘Whatever. We were entertained weren’t we?’ Simon, the most avid listener to Daniel’s dream talk, came to Daniel’s defense.

‘Guess so, but no more dreams, huh, Dan?’ David mellowed.

‘I was never bullshitting you guys, but if that’s what you think, then I’ll keep my mouth shut in future,’ Daniel was a little annoyed, which made him forget about his nightmare for the time being.

On hearing Ms Hamilton’s unmistakable footsteps the four friends’ attention simultaneously turned to the entrance of the recreation room. Click, click, click, she walked over to the drinks’ machine, her fragrant perfume wafting over them as she did so. Daniel inhaled deeply as she passed close by him; he wondered how long her blond hair was, since it was always arranged in a tight bun, and why she didn’t wear contact lenses instead of the black rimmed spectacles, maybe to tone down her image for school. The boys stared in silence as she inserted a coin into the machine. They could not believe their luck when the coin was rejected and Ms Hamilton had to retrieve it from the rejection slot that was on the side of the machine, close to floor level. As she crouched down, almost facing them, the four friends had their eyes glued to her hemline and for a fraction of a second her knees parted slightly, but enough for them to see she was wearing white panties and suspenders.

‘Told you,’ whispered Simon. Then there was silence between them as she repeated the action two more times.

‘Excuse me, boys,’ nervous coughs and finger fumbling by the quartette as Ms Hamilton approached them, ‘can anyone of you change this coin? The machine doesn’t seem to like it.’ Daniel hated himself for not having any money on him, especially when David and Simon, who were closest to her, each eagerly offered the requisite coin.

‘Ah, thank you. It’s Simon, isn’t it?’ Ms Hamilton inquired as she exchanged coins with him. Simon blushed. ‘And you are David. Let me think, Peter, and of course, the tall handsome soccer star, Daniel.’ Daniel blushed. ‘Pretty good of me, don’t you think boys, considering I haven’t been here a term yet?’ This impressed the group, not only had she known their names but she had remembered their first names. Teachers usually only referred to the pupils by their family name. Ms Hamilton had turned on her heels back to the drinks’ machine without listening to the ‘Yes, miss’ mumblings of David, Peter and Simon; Daniel was silently floating on cloud nine, savoring the words ‘handsome soccer star.’ Although not a soccer fanatic, Daniel enjoyed playing the game when he felt like it. He had immense talent, which enabled him to gain a place in the under-eighteen county soccer team without too much effort even though he was still only fifteen – the only pupil in the school to ever do so at that age. This was seen as a great achievement that had been commented on in the staff-room. Once again the quartettes’ eyes focused on Ms Hamilton as she inserted the coin but this time their luck was out, the machine accepted the coin.

‘Bye, boys. And thank you for the coin, Simon,’ she smiled as she passed them, carefully carrying a cup of coffee back to the staff-room.

‘Did you hear that? Did you hear that?’ Daniel said triumphantly.

‘Just because you made the county team doesn’t mean to say she’s in love with you,’ Peter, envious, attempted to deflate Daniel’s ego. ‘You’re way too young for her anyhow. Forget it, Dan.’

‘I can dream, can’t I?’ Daniel was coming down to earth.

‘At least they would be more realistic DREAMS than the ones you have been telling us about recently,’ David answered, which made them all laugh apart from Daniel, who managed only an exaggerated frown. The end-of-break-bell put an end to the group’s mirth.

Daniel’s next lesson was biology, one of his favorites since Mr Jacobs, the biology teacher, had joined that term. His teaching methods were very practical. He had brought a mating pair of Rock Pythons to the school, which made his lessons very popular with the boys. After biology Daniel’s attention wandered briefly now and then to thoughts of Ms Hamilton and visions of her retrieving rejected coins.

When the final bell rang at the end of history Daniel was relieved, this was his least favorite lesson. He never thought it was the subject to blame but the monotonous way in which the teacher, pipe-smoking sixty-year-old Mr Hughes, conducted each lesson. Ninety-percent dictation from boring books and manuscripts, it was an effort to stay awake sometimes and writers’ cramp was a known history lesson hazard among the pupils. Now time for soccer. Oakfield, like many British private schools, was very much sport-orientated. The last two lesson periods each day were taken up with sport; this was the reason private schools have longer school days than the government run state schools. Summertime cricket or athletics, whilst in winter, as now, rugby or soccer was played.

Walking to the soccer pitch Daniel encountered William Hudson, who was as close to a bully as you could get in a private school. A pupil who consistently and overtly bullied would be expelled. He was overweight but tall for his age, feared by most and disliked by all of the pupils in the fourth form. William was running alongside a much smaller boy, Ian Carter, slapping his head and verbally insulting him as he did so. Physically weak and scrawny, Ian was a giant academically, for this reason he received the unwelcome attention of the envious, lazy William. Due to Daniel’s physical stature and ability William avoided him when he could even though Daniel paid him little attention, but now William was unaware of Daniel running up behind him and Daniel felt sympathy for the chastised smaller boy. Using his superior turn of speed Daniel accelerated up to William, extended his right leg in front of him then slapped him hard across the back of the head, causing the bully to go crashing face down into the muddy ground.

‘Come on, Carter. Get to the pitch before the pig gets up,’ Daniel emphasized the word pig as he looked back at William.

‘Thanks’ very much, Daniel,’ replied Ian, the relief obvious in his voice. He ran as fast as he could to try and keep up with his savior and make the safety of the soccer pitch where their games’ master would be. William was in no hurry to pursue Ian. He did not want to risk a confrontation with Daniel, so he slowly got to his feet and wiped the mud from his face before making his way to the rugby field where more prey waited in the scrums of a rugby match.

‘Hi Mum, Dad,’ Daniel said more out of habit than greeting as he let himself into the small ex-farm workers’ cottage that his father had bought at a bargain price and renovated in his spare time. Although Daniel enjoyed school he was always glad to come home, especially on cold, dark autumn evenings, the cottage was so warm, cozy and inviting. He felt sorry for his friends who boarded. As he hung his coat and blazer in the hallway he heard something said on the evening news that his father was watching in the front room which made him hurry to catch the remainder of the bulletin:

‘….all that is known so far is that the crash happened at around 3a.m. Central-European time. The search continues for the black box,’ continued the newscaster as Daniel entered the room. The image on the television made his jaw drop. The same winged lady on what looked like the same broken-off plane tail as he had seen in his dream - but now in the daylight.

‘What a tragedy hey, Dan? More than two hundred people were killed. Many of them only around your age, on a school trip,’ Daniel’s father said, not taking his eyes off the screen. Just before he was about to tell his father about his dream Daniel decided it might sound farfetched thinking back to the ridicule he had received at the hands’ of his friends earlier that day. Nevertheless, he thought this was really weird stuff. He would have put it down to coincidence but for the winged lady emblem. He decided to hold his tongue and think on it.

‘Dan, cat got your tongue?’ His father was used to Daniel chattering on about the day’s events at school, so was curious as to his son’s unusual reticence.

‘Oh, sorry Dad. What was that?’ Daniel pretended not to know what his father had said or the subject of the news bulletin.

‘This plane crash in the Alps, many youngsters were killed. Makes you realize just how lucky you are to be alive, don’t you think?’

‘Oh yeah, one of my friends mentioned it at school today. It’s enough to put you off flying,’ Daniel said like a seasoned traveler even though the only experience he had of flying was two years previously when the family vacationed in Spain. There were no plans for them to travel abroad again in the foreseeable future due to the fact they all suffered with a bad case of diarrhea in Spain. But this was still one thing he envied his friends, the exotic sounding foreign places they visited during vacation.

‘Where are you going to sit, Dan?’ his mother said when she came in carrying his evening meal on a tray.

‘The table is fine, Mum,’ he replied, wanting a little solitude to think. The table in the dining area of the kitchen was as close as he could get to it.

‘How was your day, Dan?’ His father was a little concerned. Daniel very rarely ate alone at the table, preferring to eat his evening meal from a tray on his lap while he watched the news and spoke with his father.

‘Okay, but there’s some stuff I need to go through before doing my homework. If I leave it until after dinner I’ll be up all night,’ Daniel lied.

‘Fair enough, Son,’ his father seemed satisfied with Daniel’s reason for eating in solitude. Daniel followed his mother and his meal into the kitchen after collecting a book from his school satchel in the hall. He placed the book on the table at some randomly opened page next to his meal and began to pick at the shepherd’s pie as his mother busied herself with housework.

‘Food okay, Dan?’ she asked when she noticed he had stopped eating.

‘Sure, Mum, I’m just not so hungry.’

‘Are you not feeling well?’ his mother asked as she put her hand on his forehead checking for fever.

‘Mum, I’m fine really; I had a huge meal for lunch,’ Daniel said in protest gently pushing his mother’s hand away, ‘maybe I’ll finish it off later.’

‘As you wish, dear,’ she cleared the plate from the table as Daniel got up and went to his room to do his homework and surf the Internet - which he did most nights when he had completed his schoolwork. After finishing his math and geography he decided to get physics out of the way too, even though it was not due for three days he was happy to keep his mind active.

‘Still awake, Son?’ Daniel’s father enquired as he gently tapped on the bedroom door.

‘Hi Dad, come in. I’m just finishing off.’ Daniel glanced at his bedside alarm clock and was surprised to see it read 23:15.

‘Don’t you think it’s time to call it a day? You’ll never be up for school lad,’ his father said as he poked his head around the partly open door.

‘Never realized the time, I’ll turn in now, Dad.’ Daniel suddenly felt very tired.

‘See you tomorrow, after school. We have a materials drop off in the morning at seven so I’ll be gone before you get up. Sleep well.’

‘Thanks, Dad, you too. Goodnight.’ Feeling too tired to brush his teeth Daniel changed into his pajamas turned out the main light and got into bed. It had been a long and eventful day; lying in his bed he compared visions from his dream to that of the news report he had seen on television. This was too much; he needed to sleep and so turned his thoughts to Ms Hamilton and soon fell into a deep and happy slumber. But then he started to dream: Lively loud dance music, flashing disco lights, many people partying. Daniel had no idea where he was. Moving through the room he did not recognize anyone. There were only adults present. He went towards the source of the music, a dance-floor. A woman; her back to him, moving frantically to the music; her long blond hair flaying out with each rapid turn, twist and throw of her head. She wore what might be a shirt; it appeared too short to be called a dress. It was obvious that the only thing she wore apart from the high-heeled shoes and the shirt was the black gee-string that was clearly visible when she moved her body in a particularly energetic fashion. The record came to a dramatic, abrupt end. The woman turned around and stopped with the music. For a brief moment Ms Hamilton stared straight into Daniel’s eyes. No spectacles now; perspiration caused the shirt to cling to her braless, firm breasts, her nipples plainly visible through the flimsy wet material. She made her way to the bar where she joined a much older man, probably in his fifties. He was leaning against the bar. Tall, he had graying, though not receding hair. He wore a black two-piece suit that looked like silk or mohair, white open-necked shirt that also looked like silk. He slapped Ms Hamilton on the bottom playfully before he passed her a glass of champagne. Daniel noticed the ostentatious horseshoe-shaped and diamond encrusted ring on the small finger of his left hand as he did so.

‘Thank you, darling,’ Ms Hamilton looked at her companion seductively. The older man just smiled and stroked her behind.

‘Let’s go to the office,’ he whispered into her ear.

‘Later, Carlos,’ she replied.

‘No, now!’ Carlos took her arm and guided her through the people. She went reluctantly. They went through a door marked ‘PRIVATE’ into a hallway and after a few yards Carlos unlocked a door to the right and led Ms Hamilton inside. The office was sumptuous to the point of being over the top: paneled walls, a huge antique mahogany desk, two deep red leather settees with three matching chairs, and erotic paintings of women in various states of undress adorned the walls. Once inside Carlos locked the soundproofed, padded red leather door behind them. The dance music silenced Carlos went over to a CD player and put on some classical Wagner.

‘Don’t you have something lighter than this?’ Ms Hamilton enquired in a slightly inebriated voice. Carlos walked over to her and started playing with one of the shoulder straps of her dress.

‘And I wanted to get heavy!’ he replied as he tore it from Ms Hamilton with one violent yank. Daniel tried to strike out at Carlos but awoke with a start and quickly realized it had been another vivid dream, he was getting pretty used to this now, unpleasant as they were. He looked at his clock: 01:20. He was relieved to see he could sleep longer, he felt so exhausted. The first time he had ever dreamed of someone he knew in this vivid way. These ‘special’ dreams, as he thought of them, due to their realistic feel, had always been of faraway places and people he had never before seen. He put this one down to thinking of Ms Hamilton just before he fell asleep, and his wild imagination that made it so bizarre. He soon returned to his slumber but with his physics assignment on his mind this time.

‘..fail your physics exam miserably.’ Dr Phillips’s words seemed to echo in his mind’s ear just before Daniel’s alarm clock went off. He climbed out of bed warily.

‘Got to get my physics together,’ he said to himself and progressed through his usual morning routine half asleep as