Lerato

Chapter 2: Mr Davies

We called him "Jesus". He had hair as curly and unruly as barbed wire. His beard was patchy, as if it had been stuck on by a child who didn't quite have enough glue left in his Pritt  stick. He didn't dress like the other teachers. On most days, he wore those linen pants that hippies wear and a v-neck top. Sandals completed the look, though I am pretty sure he would have preferred to be barefoot. On special occasions, he would wear a short-sleeved collared shirt and Chino's which always appeared too big and which scrumpled up around his waist.

This is what my classmates and I encountered in our first English lesson of the year: Mr Davies. He would make us line up outside the class room before each lesson and would greet us, one-by-one, as we walked inside. "Hello, Le-raa-toe," he would say to me, with one of those smiles that's meant to show genuine care and concern. It's the kind of fake smile you get from a psychologist who is trying to make you feel like you're not crazy, when everyone knows that you wouldn't be there in the first place if you weren't. I grew used to his smile over the course of the year, but I was never really convinced that he cared as deeply as he wanted us to think he did.

Mr Davies had this thing about him. He wanted us to be able to ask him anything, but he used to get overly sensitive about certain topics. When we figured this out, English class took on a whole new dimension. That year, Rea was in my class and so was his friend, Michael (more about him later). Rea was always a bit too arrogant for my liking - he was good looking and he knew it. I tolerated Rea because of the social status he held in our grade. But, in his defence, he did have moments of brilliance.

I remember a particular moment in Mr Davies's class - a moment which Michael and Rea had planned together and executed with grace and skill. The plan was for Michael to look really down in class, to see if Mr Davies would actually notice a difference. That day, we all noticed the corners of Michael's mouth. They were usually up-turned in a mischievous flick, but on that day, were as straight as pencils. His eyes, too, looked empty and despondent. But behind the eyes was a mind whirring with the activity of a plan in motion.

As if following a script, Mr Davies asked Michael what was bothering him. Silence. "Remember, Michael, this class room is a safe space. You can tell me anything, absolutely anything." Mr Davies pushed out his best psychologist smile.

"Well, sir..." Michael paused and then raised his gaze ever so slightly. "Sir, it's just that Rea has been teasing me because he says I masturbate too much, even though he also does it at least once a day."

Mr Davies's teeth remained stuck in smile-mode, but his eyes were in a state of panic. Snorts of subdued laughter and a gasp or two from some of the more prudish girls filled the silence. The plan was working. Now, all they needed to do was sit back, relax and enjoy the squirming, awkward response that followed.

"Now, Rea, it's very important that you don't tease others. Teasing others is a form of bullying and we don't tolerate that sort of thing here." A pretty typical response for a teacher. But he hadn't yet touched on the real issue. Michael and Rea were not going to let him get away with it that easily.

"But, sir, is masturbating even wrong? Is there, like, a limit on how much we should do it? How often do you do it, sir?" By now the snorted laughs had turned into full-blown wails of hysteria in the class room. Mr Davies clasped his hands together in front of him and waited for the room to quieten down. He seemed determined to address the issue. Perhaps he thought Michael's concerns were really bothering him.

Mr Davies gave a fairly balanced response and tried to emphasise that everyone is different and that puberty is a difficult period in life to navigate. I can't lie, I actually learned a thing or two that day from Mr Davies, the most unlikely of sources. And all thanks to Rea and Michael, who brought up a topic which none of us would have asked about, but which all of us wanted to know about.

Mr Davies never did answer Michael's last question though.