On the trail of the lovers, Harry had found a perfect razor-shell, both valves intact and hinged together. Now he studiously scraped away sand, ‘found’ the shell, slid down the dune holding it carefully in one hand. Aware that his complexion must be bright red, he turned his face away from Green, pretending not to see him until the youth was almost on top of him. After that there was no avoiding it. No avoiding a showdown, either. ‘Hello there, Speccy,’ the bully growled, approaching in a half-crouch, his arms spread wide, defying Harry to run. ‘Fancy finding you here, ‘stead of pissing about with your mate the big football star. What’re we doin’ here then, Speccy? Found a pretty shell for Miss Gower, have we?’
‘What’s it to you?’ Harry muttered, trying to sidestep the other, get round him and away.
Green moved closer, snatched the double shell out of Harry’s hand. It was a shiny olive colour, old, brittle as a wafer. As he deliberately closed his fist on it, so it crumbled into fragments. ‘There,’ he said, his voice full of an unpleasant satisfaction. ‘You goin’ to tell on me, Speccy?’
‘No,’ Harry breathlessly answered, still trying to dodge past, seeing in his mind’s eye ‘Sergeant’s’ backside going up and down, up and down, in the reed hollow not fifteen yards away on the other side of the dune. ‘I don’t tell on people. And I don’t bully, either.’
‘Bully? You?’ Green found it funny. ‘You couldn’t bully a fart out of a frog! All you’re good for’s falling asleep in class and acting like a big tart! That and getting people in trouble.’
‘You got yourself in trouble!’ Harry protested. ‘Giggling like that.’
‘Giggling?’ Big Stanley caught his arm, pulled him close. ‘Giggling? Girls giggle, Speccy. You callin’ me a girl, then?’
Harry shook himself loose, put his fists up. Trembling in every limb, he said, ‘Piss off!’
Green’s mouth fell open. ‘Rude, is it?’ he said. Then he shrugged, half-turned, as if to go, and when Harry dropped his guard turned back and caught him a punch at the side of his mouth.
‘Ow!’ said Harry, spitting blood from a split lip. Off balance, he stumbled and fell; and Green was just readying a kick when ‘Sergeant’ Lane, tucking in his T-shirt, came storming over the top of the dune scarlet with rage and frustration.
‘What the bloody hell – ?’ he roared. He caught the flabbergasted Green by the scruff of his neck, swung him round, aimed his instep accurately at the seat of the bully’s pants and let .fly. Green yelped as he flew facedown in the sand.
‘Up to your usual tricks, are you, Big Stanley?’ ‘Sergeant’ shouted. ‘And who’s your victim this time? What? Skinny Harry Keogh? By God, you’ll be strangling babies next!’
As Green scrambled to his feet, spitting sand, the PT master pushed him in the chest, sent him flying again. ‘See, it’s not so pleasant, Stanley, when you’re up against someone who’s bigger. And that’s how Harry feels about it. Right, Keogh?’
Still holding his mouth, Harry said: ‘I can look after myself.’
Big Stanley, for all that he was a year older than Harry and looked older still, was on the point of blubbering. ‘I’ll tell my dad,’ he said, scrambling away.
‘What?’ ‘Sergeant’ laughed, hands on his hips as the bully backed off. Tell your dad? That fat beer-gut who arm-wrestles for pints with his mates in the Black Bull? Well when you do, ask him who beat him last night and nearly broke his arm!’ But Stanley was off and running.
‘You all right, Keogh?’ Lane helped him to his feet.
‘Yes, sir. Mouth’s bleeding a bit, that’s all.’
‘Son, you stay away from that one,’ said the master. ‘He’s a bad lot and he’s much too big for you. When I called you skinny, I didn’t mean it; it was just to point up the difference in your sizes. Big Stanley’s not likely to forget this in a hurry, so look out for him.’
‘Yes, sir,’ Harry said again.
‘Right, then. Off you go.’ Lane made as if to return across the dune, but just then Miss Hartley appeared, looking all prim and proper. ‘Shit!’ Harry heard ‘Sergeant’ say under his breath. He wanted to grin but was afraid it would split his lip even more. So turning his face away he made for where the rest of the boys were gathering around Miss Gower, ready for the return trek.