CHAPTER 73
Maugham didn’t actually slam the door, but there was a clear hesitation movement as he obviously considered doing so. Once it was shut, Ross turned to Ricky first.

“Not quite my choice of words, lad, but point made and taken. Clipped to a gear loop?”

“Yes. I was on that side of the group, could see it clearly. It was on Enfys’ blind side, so it took her an extra second. That’s why I’d shifted my focus, ready to back her up. I think there’s more going on in his head than being the big man. I think Enfys got that one as well. Doesn’t like women much, does he, girl?”

I just nodded, not trusting my vocabulary, and Ricky snorted out a laugh. Ross and I simply sat and waited, until Ricky could explain without gasping.

“Was just imagining Kitzy, Ross. Tiny girl on our course. Wouldn’t say boo, all that, right up until she moves in with this one. Try coming the Patriarch with her now, and you’ll end up having to check your gonad count”

I protested that Kitzy wasn’t like that, and Ricky just waved a lazy hand at me.

“She wasn’t, bab, but she’s learned. That Lee did it. No! I don’t mean he’s pushed her; it’s him that’s the shy one, and she’s just found out how to stand up for herself by having to stand up for him”

I was seeing a different Ricky just then, not just in how careful he had been in watching my own group as well as his own.

“I didn’t know you paid so much attention to my housemates, Rick”

“It’s that module thing, Enfys: outdoor activity and mental health. Opened my eyes big style, that, and what with all that stuff up in Scotland, I’ve had a lot to watch and learn from. Now, I have some thoughts on this lot. You happy if I say my piece, Ross? How I see it?”

“Go ahead, son. Doing well so far”

“Right. Boys are a good lot, allowing for the usual adolescent dominance games”

He grinned at me.

“Matt said it with that joke on the first day, about putting up new E Lotsanumbers routes. You’re the class climber, bab. Better than all of us. What you haven’t got is an eye for some of the people stuff. Probably what makes you so good on the rock—no sense, no feeling, yeah?”

Before I could think of a decently nasty retort, he was off again.

“Not boasting, but I am more of a people person professionally than you. Small margin, but I have to have something to make up for my climbing, so… We have a decent group of boys here. Two of them need watching to help them steer away from throwing their weight around, like that first kid you had, Enfys. He was at the front, like I said, because he pushed in. There are about four kids who need a confidence boost. And that’s it. Of the teachers, one is a little outside his comfort zone, but is still trying. The other two are fine. Maugham is the only issue”

I was still silent as he grinned and shrugged.

“Yeah, well. Final point? Not fair on them all to do a group punishment thing just because of one tosser. I think the group stays. And we speak to the school about him. Oh, and I do have an idea that the other teachers would prefer him elsewhere, but I think we need to take Maugham somewhere out of that comfort zone. I think some roofing material would be helpful. What’s your Dad up to, Enfys?”

I could see his thinking.

“And your choice of route?”

“One you told me about: Comes the Dervish. With that bad step into the bay it’s in”

Ross said something about insurance, and Ricky grinned.

“I can have a very short-term employment contract drawn up in five minutes!”

Dad loved the idea, and so, as we loaded the bus for a full day round in the Valley, Dad was ready waiting for us at Tryfan Fach, where he would just happen to be soloing problems when we turned up, ‘What I would give for a partner for the day, do some more interesting stuff’, and it went exactly as planned, with Dad off on his “It’s the only transport I have” motorbike, Maugham on the pillion in a spare lid, for a day in the Vivian Quarry. We started the boys and the rest of the teachers out on Tryfan Fach, of course, before moving over to Clogwyn y Tarw for some more challenging stuff, once the boys had demonstrated adequate toprope belaying skills.

So many memories tied up in one place, right back to my very first ‘assistant teacher’ afternoon.

We finished the day with a descent on the Chapel Rocks for some gymnastic silliness, and then a concerted attempt to drink the tea kiosk dry. Mr Maugham was back after us, and for the rest of the week, he stayed on or in the water.

When the school group left, I got more than a few hugs from boys and teachers alike, and it was clearly a disappointment to the bigger boys when I admitted I was actually ‘spoken for’: my first schoolboy crushes, but far from the last. I didn’t think it best to confuse them any further with the revelation of who exactly that involved. We waved them off, just as I heard the sound of a rather familiar bike. Ross grinned.

“I’ll get the kettle on, Enfys, while you say hello to your Dad. I am sure he won’t say no to a cuppa. Ricky?”

Dad pulled in, set the bike onto its side stand, then hugged me hard even before he had removed his lid. Once he had let go, off it came, and I was met with a very direct stare.

“What an absolute tit he was. Want to fill me in?”

“Ross has the kettle on, Dad. Do it once, be better than several”

“Okay”

Into the common room this time, tea already brewing, and Ross, Sue, Ricky and I settled down as Dad pulled off his jacket. A sigh at the first sip of tea, then a quick grin.

“Already said it to my daughter, but what an utter tit! What did he do to deserve that game?”

I looked at Ricky, who shrugged and gave a no-frills account as Dad nodded.

“So you could have been down one schoolboy? And he wanted to complain? Sounds about right. Anyway, gave him the full macho, as requested”

I looked at a fresh scuff on the outside of Dad’s left boot.

“And?”

Dad caught the direction of my gaze, and grinned.

“No, I didn’t. I went reasonably hard, but he was such a flighty pillion, I didn’t dare get really silly. It was the walk-in that started him freaking properly, and the Bad Step was nearly cut-and-run time”

The climbs we had chosen for Maugham were in the Vivian Quarry, a slash of rock going straight into the hillside in a rising staircase of quarried bays. There are also side bays, easy to walk into, but to get into the ‘climbing’ bay means stepping round an ‘outside corner’ of quarried rock, across a gap that feels a very long way above the flooded pit below the climbing.

“Yup. That step nearly threw him, especially after everything he had been saying about how good he was. There were some goats up top as well, so we had some stonefall, chippings kicked down and that. Did Dervish and Tango, as he had told me he could climb 5c”

Dad took another sip.

“Well, I led them, abbed down to the bottom, then toproped him. Tango first, as it’s supposed to be a 5b, but only really got chatting as he was dithering on Dervish”

Ross was grinning, Ricky shaking his head in his usual way.

“Dad?”

“Yes, love?”

“Define ‘chatting’, please”

“Me? Nothing nasty. Just mentioning all the things dumped in the pool, as well as how sharp the slate can be, useful life of a rope, so on and so forth. Might have mentioned how easy my daughter found the two routes, as well as how much she loves her job working in some big local outdoor centre. And he kept falling off the crux”

Another sip.

“Yes, I did let him decide how to tie onto the rope. I think he might have re-examined his habits after the third peel. Bit quiet on the way back, he was”

Ricky asked the obvious question, the one I had been avoiding.

“Apart from all that, how was his actual climbing?”

“Honestly? He’s got good feet, I’ll give him that, and arm strength, but his fingers are weak, and he needs to readjust what his concept of a hold is, at least for hands. Bit of a jug-puller, but there aren’t exactly many jugs on a slate E3. Best summary: he could be a decent climber, but needs to learn that you don’t beat routes into submission. One thing he does have is an eye for the sequence. If he could just bin the attitude, along with most of his personality, he’d probably push up a couple of E-numbers. Reminds me: the Woodruffs are due back shortly, so perhaps my daughter here could start sorting a party date”

Sue looked up at that remark.

“Party? And the occasion is?”

Dad just looked at me, and I found myself blushing, much to my surprise.

“Um, my engagement. Our engagement. Me and Alys. But she’s in Australia, so it’s going to be a sort of virtual thing. Get friends in somewhere---”

Dad interrupted with “At the Cow; already agreed!”, and I nodded in gratitude.

“Yeah, makes sense. Get as many of our friends in as we can, and Alys says we can set up a laptop so we can see each other, have a look at sorting out the best time of day for her”

Ricky looked worried.

“Lots of ours on placements, bab. Want me to have a dig for contacts? Can’t afford to leave some of them out”

“Ah, got mobile numbers and e-mails for most of them”

Dad laughed out loud, that happy sound that always said so much about the utter wisdom Mam had shown in bringing him up to our home.

“Forgotten where your Mam works, love? Send her a list of names, and she will blind-send as necessary. I will assume that Neil and the others will be welcome”

I had a sudden surge of inspiration.

“Dad---what about those coppers? When, you know? I mean, they will probably just say no, but I think we should make the offer”

He stared at me for a few seconds, the softest, soppiest of smiles all for me, before his next words.

“And that is just so, so typical of my daughter, and why I am so, so proud of her. Now, I have a business to run, and she must have some drudgery or other to get back to. If she hasn’t, Ross, just find some. I’ll let the Woodruffs know, love, and once you have a date, I really think I need to look at closing said business for a couple of nights. I suspect we will have rather a lot of visitors”