Consequences of Learning English part 3 by thadeusz

---

Prefect Mark then asked:
"Jan, when did you get your last haircut ?"
"This morning" was my answer.
"Jan, you don’t speak to a prefect in that way. You will call me ‘SIR’ or ‘Prefect Mark’. UNDERSTOOD ?"
"Yes, Mark."
"NO, not Mark, the Assistant headmaster can call me like that, but not you !"
"Yes, Sir"
"Good boy ! But you really need an additional haircut. It was OK as long as you were NOT in a full Tornberg uniform and a future member of our CCF unit, but now you must be worthy of the uniform you wear and of the uniform you will wear on Friday."
"But,Ma… Sir, it is only for one month."
"I don’t care, march with me to the barber. A new student must have very short hair !"
"Sir, do you really want to do that ? Mister Colbert said that it was OK like it is now."
"Boy Jan, when the Assistant Headmaster told you that, you were not yet going to wear our proud cadet uniform. Now that you are going to be an Army cadet and that you are going to wear our proud CCF uniform, you must adjust your behaviour. This includes starting with a shaved head to avoid any possible lice. And obey all my orders without discussion."

Mark forced me to go back to the barber and told him:
"Barber, clean this boy’s head please. He is an impudent new cadet, so give him a zero cut."
The barber made me sit once again on his chair, capped me and started to work. He first took his clippers and started to clean the left side while pushing my head to the right, then he did the same for the right side of my poor head. His next step was to "clean" my neck pushing my head forwards and using his clippers to destroy every bit of hair that was still there. He started to reduce to zero all the hair on the top of my head. This haircut was no longer tapered like the previous one. I felt like a prisoner in his skilled hands. Finally the noise of the clippers stopped and I thought that I was done. But that was not the case ! The barber started to wet the sides of my head and my neck. He put foam on it and used a big old hand razor to completely "clean" all these zones. He also used a shorter razor to clean my head around my ears. It took him a certain time, but when he was done Mark finally said:
"Well done Barber. This student looks now really like one of our new boys, a really new student and at least a clean one."

Prefect Mark led me back to my cubicle. There Mark helped me to place all my stuff in my cupboard according to the school rules. He later explained to me clearly how the school functioned, especially on a day like this one: a Monday afternoon, all the students were either in their cubicle studying, or (most of them) in study halls where they could study and ask questions to some professor.

When the evening came, a bell rang and all the students formed in ranks to go to the dining room. Prefect Mark told me which was "my" rank. Dinner was pleasant, but it started with a prayer said by another Prefect while all the students (me included) were waiting in front of their chairs (and their empty plate). As soon as the prayer was done, several attendants appeared from nowhere and started to serve each of us in silence.

After dinner, we had half an hour liberty in the playground. During that time, I started to make friends with students of my room and of my form. After that we had two solid hours of study in our cubicles. Mark (again him) showed me which were the courses for the next day, thus the courses he suggested I should prepare. I did nothing of the sort since I knew that I already had my 9th Grade diploma !

At 9:30 pm a bell rang announcing that it would be "lights out" within 30 minutes. All the students in my room started to get ready for the night and I joined them.

I must confess here that during the evening, the other boys in my room gave me a very warm welcome. They asked me why I had arrived nearly at the end of their school year. I told them my story and they reacted saying that I was very lucky to have the opportunity to improve my English this way.

---