Five Brothers and a War

Finishing School

In the seconds that followed, Bertus was trying to work out why his father was there. Was he just in the neighborhood, and doing him the favor of a ride home? Suddenly, like a bolt of lightning, he remembered the forging of his father’s signature on the report card. Now he had to determine whether it was better to wait for his dad or to start walking home, pretending that he had not taken notice of the car. He decided to wait. By the minute, he became more nervous, and was imagining just how bad things could get, and what his punishment would be. When Leendert finally walked out the front door of the school and walked towards his car, Bertus slowly sauntered over to meet him, trying his best to hide his panic. When their eyes met, Leendert gave his usual friendly greeting and asked if Bertus wanted a lift home. Bertus had no choice but to accept, and in any event was anxious to get the matter resolved. Leendert asked casually how his day had gone, and Bertus, still trying to put a calm face forward, responded that everything was just about the same as any other day. Then there was silence. Bertus did not want to speak because he was too nervous, and thought that if he kept his mouth shut, maybe it would all just go away. It didn’t. The next words were very stern and angry. “Don’t you ever do that again!” Of course, Bertus knew exactly what he was talking about. A few moments later Leendert continued, this time in his normal tone of voice. He explained that signing someone else’s name is a serious offence under the law and was punishable by jail time, depending how serious the offence was. Leendert reminded Bertus that this was the second time he had done something that could have landed him in jail—the first having been the punching of a police officer during the war. “Will you ever learn?”, an exasperated Leendert would ask. He then gave some advice that would fall on deaf ears when he suggested that Bertus could be successful if he just worked a little harder. The rest of the school year went about as well as could be expected, until almost the end. Just before he turned 18, Bertus took strong exception to what he considered was inappropriate behavior of a teacher to a female student. The student was seated behind Bertus and was giggling incessantly, which brought several warnings from the teacher. When the warnings had no effect, the teacher walked over and slapped the girl. The girl shrieked while the one seated next to her exclaimed, “She has a nosebleed!” The tall, strong and fiery Bertus did not hesitate. He fiercely asked the instructor, “Why don’t you try to hit somebody your own size?”. The instructor was more interested in protecting his position than in calming down the class. He raised his arm and yelled, “I will!” The words had barely left his mouth before Bertus landed one of his better punches to the face of the teacher, who stumbled down the steps of the theater-styled classroom and ended up in a heap in the front of the room. His fellow students were more impressed than the administration. The principal, Mr. Belsner, came to the classroom and promptly sent him home. A few days later, Leendert, Bertus and Mr. Belsner had a meeting, after which Bertus was allowed to return to school.

van Pelt

Five Brothers and a War

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