Page 138 - Lavender-B-8
P. 138

‘Get him!’ she cried, jumping up and launching herself at Mr Ghosh. He fell backwards
              and the torch flew out of his hands.

              Suddenly, a deep voice from above shouted, ‘Get up at once! What are you trying to do?’ It
              was the Principal!

              The three children were marched into his office immediately,                   What had never
              something that had never happened before in the history of the                 happened before in

              school. But then, a teacher had never been attacked before,                    the history of the
                                                                                                            Just a Minute!
              nor had a teacher been suspected of murder!                                    school?

              Kavita poured out her story, not daring to look up because she was afraid of the
              expression on Mr Ghosh’s face.

              Then she heard a strange sound and all three children stared in disbelief. Both the
              Principal and Mr Ghosh were laughing!

              ‘I thought I had gone over all the possibilities,’
              said the Principal, ‘but this one escaped me!’ He

              put his hand on Kavita’s shoulder and said,
              ‘You’re a brave girl to have carried on your work
              as usual even when you were afraid, but I can
              assure you, I would never have placed any of the
              children in my care in the type of danger you

              feared.

              ‘Mr Ghosh, sorry, Ranjan Roy, is a historian and
              an archaeologist,’ the Principal said. ‘I called
              him here because when we were digging the
              foundation for the extension of your dormitory,
              we came upon some bones and pottery, which

              I thought could be an archaeological find.
              We didn’t want the public to know that the
              dormitory could have been built on some ancient
              graveyard, so I maintained secrecy and asked Mr Roy to teach History to you under an
              assumed name while he busied himself with the dig. He had done a splendid job and had
              excavated Stone Age remains—not of a graveyard, I can assure you—under the building

              site, as well as under the basement. Thankfully,                 disbelief: inability to accept that
              no more digging needs to be done there and your                  something is true or real
              dormitory building will remain intact.’                          archaeologist: a person who studies
                                                                               human history and prehistory through
                                                                               the excavation of sites and the analysis of
              It was a very subdued trio that attended the Assembly  artefacts and other physical remains
              the next day as the Principal made the news of the               subdued trio: a group of three people who
                                                                               have become quieter or less expressive
              archaeological finds public.                                     due to a certain situation or experience

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