Magnus, aka Madz,
A very Special Student 

By: Ruwen Rouhs
(© 2022 by the author)

The author retains all rights. No reproductions are allowed without the author's consent. Comments are appreciated at...

RRouhs@tickiestories.us

Chapter 13
Great Defeat and Unexpected Prospect

The trip home from Hallberg to Gondersdorf seemed to be much shorter than the trip to Hallberg. Actually, it wasn't, it just seemed much shorter to me, as I recognized the hills, roads, bridges and villages as we sped by. After we had dismounted Maxi I pressed the book of the knight Johannis de Montevilla into Paul's hand, "Keep.it Pollux, mummy is surely afraid that it is bewitched." With that I ran home. I couldn't run down the village street fast enough, I was glad to be home again. As I tore open the front door, my little sister let out a startled scream, because I looked like the Martian, having forgotten to take off my helmet in my haste.

"Mom, it was great! We were looking for a robber's treasure and I found an old book; Anders got to sleep with me in the castle in the apartment of the chaplain Carlo and Anders and Alies invited me to sleep over at their house the next time!" In the meantime, I had taken off my helmet and found the little doll that had given me for my sister and the small porcelain vase from the chaplain for my mother. "Carlo, that is the chaplain, Anders and Alies send you their regards and Paul, that is Mr. Beck let it to be known I have been a good boy and are invited to come with him to Hallberg again any time.

My mother of course wanted to know everything about Mr. Beck, Chaplain Carstens, Anders and Alies, that is, about Andreas Dürr and Alois Bundschuh. I mentioned, of course, that Anders and Alies were half-brothers and she immediately wanted to know the family name of both of them. "I just told you, Anders is called Dürr and Alies Bundschuh. They have the same father but different mothers. Both are named after their mothers and they are closely related." Then I told her about Alies' store and the displays of "Short-Wave, Long-Wave, Water-Wave in the display." Mom, my sister, and my grandmother just marveled, and granny even praised me, "You really grew up over the weekend." "Did I grow up too?" I asked curiously. She just shook her head! Never mind, I thought, Anders likes his Baby-Boy.

Later I felt dead tired into bed and woke up in the morning only when my little sister shook me awake. My classmates had noticed that I had gone on a trip with Mr. Beck. They called me teacher’s baby, but they were only jealous because I was allowed to ride on Maxi. When Nickl repeated my new nickname on the way home, I punched him in the nose. The next day nobody teased me anymore.

*******

Wednesday, I had to visit Principal Gerstle in the afternoon. Not because I had done anything wrong, no, because of my miserable spelling. "Magnus, Magnus, how do you manage to make 30 mistakes in a two-page essay? You'll never pass the middle school entrance exam! Isn't that what you want?”

Actually, I didn't give a damn about middle school, but if Mom was convinced I had to attend middle school and Principal Gerstle was also and even Paul, then I had to go. And the spelling! I wasn’t able to show Principal Gerstle the book of Knight Johannis de Montevilla. Didn't he also write "heylig creüsz" and meant holy cross, or "jhesu Christj" for Jesus Christ or "unnd" instead of und? But Principal Gerstle would certainly have had an excuse why the words had to be written that way today and not the way Knight Johannis did. Therefore, I didn't explain to him how narrow-minded he was and promised to practice diligently. Luckily, I was able to dash over to Paul's apartment afterwards and read in the book.

Saturday was a really hot day. After lunch we kicked on the soccer field and since I was all sweaty, I persuaded Nickl to go swimming with me. He didn't have a bathing trunk with him, so I borrowed him my gym shorts and went naked into the water. But it was still much too cold for swimming because of the rain during the night. Nickl only went in up to his knee. I dared to dive under at least once. When I came out my dick had shrunk to a little worm. I went home wearing the wet gym shorts.

The next days the weather became warmer and warmer. In the beginning of June, the swimming season started. After school we mostly chilled in the grass by the river slightly above the bridge, where stones in the riverbed dammed up the water. Above this short rapid up to the river bend about 500 meters upstream, the river current was slow and the water deep enough for swimming. Over the stones of the rapids, however, the water rushed at high speed. There the water was shallow and the stones between the pondweed and the scraggly hornwort reached to the surface of the water. I only let myself drift down once over this rapid, because a second time I didn't want to have my belly scratched by the sharp stones.

We boys almost always had our places in the short grass straight at the water.  When the sun was burning hot, we dug shallow hollows in the sand of the shore, connected them with the flowing water through narrow channels and thus built our own shallow fish ponds. We put the fry we had caught with our hands in these shallow basins.

The girls usually put up their blankets farther from the water and chatted. When they finally went into the water, we splashed them wet and they scolded us. When it got even hotter, we walked upstream along the reedy bank to the wide river bend. There, pond rushes grew along the edge in the calm water. Now in the beginning of summer the rushes were more than two meters in length, about finger thick and their pith consisted of air chambers. They were ideal for building small rafts. We pulled out only enough at a time to tied them to a thick bundle and used this as raft. With the upper body we lay down on the rush bundle, headed for the middle of the river by stomping with the feet and then let ourselves drift slowly downstream.

Since our games in my hiding I had met Helmes only in school or in church. Now, at the beginning of the bathing season, I also met him at the river from time to time. Usually I saw him only on Saturdays, when he washed away the stable smell of the whole week in the flowing water. One Sunday afternoon in the middle of June, I caught him sitting on a half-submerged tree stump at the bend of the river. At first, all I could see was his head looking strained. When I whistled, he looked up, smiled and beckoned to me, "Come into the water Madz, look what able to do! Now I can cum too!" As I slid down the steep bank, I saw that he had pulled his trunks down to his knees and was rubbing his stiffy with one hand. Suddenly his eyeballs almost popped out of their sockets and he began to moan, "Look, look Madz, I did it again. Did you see it?" Two, three small white blobs spurted out of his stiffy and splashed into the water. Immediate fishes were fighting for their share of the spunk. "Yesterday I did spunk the first time!" He beamed with pride. "Are you joining in?" Of course, I felt like joining in. But then I remembered Anders and my conscience told me. "Not today, I want to build a raft!" I was sure Helmes would not participate as he could swim only like a lame duck and was afraid of deep water, too. I was right.

*******

On Sunday afternoon I checked if Paul was back from his trip to Hallberg. Finding his room locked, I left the house and decided to go for a swim. On the way through the yard I passed Paul's shed and looked inside between the slats. Maxi was inside, so Paul was already back or hadn't gone to Carlo's after all. What could he do in this heat? Go to the river, go swimming. He had to be at the river. But where? At the bridge at the student’s bathing place, I had not seen him. He probably went to the smaller bathing place upstream the village.

This place, it was called Cow’s Hole and was used by farmers to refresh the cows on hot summer days. The Cow’s Hole was visited mainly by girls who had to sit their small siblings, because there the water was quite shallow. After dark the place had a bad reputation because young couples met there and did was young couple were up to.

Already from the distance I could hear the happy squealing of the little children. As I approached I saw them splashing around in the water together with their sisters. I made a bow around the proper bathing place, because I had no desire to be addressed by the girls. Upstream I made out Paul on a blanket in the shade of a willow bush engrossed in a book. I wanted to surprise him, lay down on my belly and tried to sneak up to him like an Indian. I almost succeeded, if I hadn't bumped my knee on a sharp stone. My soft cry alerted him.

"I had been waiting for you Ganymede, but when you didn't show up, I fled here from the heat!" "And I was looking for you. I didn't know if you were back yet.” With that I sat down cross-legged in the grass next to his blanket and he felt the reddened spot on my knee, "Non-fatal!" he remarked, "and….?" He sprawled out, closed the eyes and did not continue the sentence.  Getting bored, I wanted to know. "And you did not go to Hallberg today?"

"Castor is busy! He's planning a play for the end of the school year.” He groaned, “This weekend he has to choose the actors together with the teacher German literature, the school principal and the town priest. Then they're holding the rehearsal readings to find the students who fit best for the characters in the play." "Is Anders taking part, also?" "No, of course not. Anders is a ninths-grader, and only the eleventh and twelfth-grades will participate in the play. But since Alies will be in charge of lighting, I'm sure Anders can help." "Maybe he can do the masks." "Certainly, because they're performing Schiller's play The Robbers. With all Anders knows about Veit Scharpf, I'm sure he can think of the right costumes!"

Suddenly Paul sat up. He supported his upper body with his arms behind his back and began to stare at the forest on the opposite valley slope. This went on for quite a while. Then he turned his head to me and looked at me for a long time. "I'll deceived you, Ganymede!" When he saw my stunned face, "I'm sorry, but I should have told you sooner." He gulped, "Friends don't do that! But I just got the information yesterday. At the end of the school year, I'm leaving Gondersdorf and become teacher at the Hallberg Boarding School."

I must have looked quite dazed, because Pollux leaned over and pulled me to him, "My Ganymede, you know I like you. I like you the most of all the students. I've thought it over for a long time, but if you go to high school next school year, then one way or another I won't be your teacher anymore." I turned my head away and started to sniffle. That's when he squeezed me even tighter. "I promise you, I'll come visit you and invite you to come to Hallberg during the vacations. There you can play with Anders as much as you want and spend nice days!"

Suddenly I was totally down. The sun was suddenly no longer the sun and summer no longer summer, the river no longer smelled like the river, everything was different, pale, sad. As I jumped up and wanted to run away Paul grabbed me, "Come my Ganymede, let's talk about it again tomorrow, maybe there's a solution." But I didn't want to hear anything, I tore myself away and ran.

At home I went straight to bed. My mother wanted to know what happened, "Did you do something wrong? Did you hurt yourself?" I turned to the wall and pretended to fall asleep. I didn't fall asleep, not for a long time! Why? Why? Why did Pollux want to leave for Hallberg. He was my only friend here. Nickl, Stanni, Helmes? They didn't count. The other teachers didn't count. Father Angler didn't count. Why does Pollux count? Why did I want him as a friend? I didn't know. It made me angry. If he had been a frog at that moment, I would have thrown him against the wall. If he had been a fly, I would have plucked his wings off. Leaving just like this? If, if, if. At some point, despite my disappointment and anger, I must have fallen asleep.

 The next day in class, I didn't look at him, not even when I was answering questions. To me, he just wasn't there. When he noticed my state, he stopped taking to me in class. This made me even more angry, even more disappointed. On Sunday I was so happy to be able to continue reading the book I had found in the castle cellar on Monday. Now I didn't want to. Anyway, the book, let it keep him. It was with him after all.

*******

On Friday the long waited for letter arrived.  I had to appear for the entrance examination at the middle school next Monday. In the morning, I would have to write a spelling test and afterwards there would be an oral exam in local history. On the second day an essay was scheduled. I was allowed to treat the topic for two and a half hours. The third day included a math test and another oral test in general knowledge. In the arithmetic exam, the four basic arithmetic operations were to be tested. The notice said that special emphasis would be placed on spelling. My greatest problem was spelling. Therefore, on the remaining days mom’s friend, Principal Gerstle, exercised the spelling test.

Monday morning, I drove by train to Mühlbach for the first exam and then again Tuesday and Wednesday for the others. Already the next Friday a letter arrived with the results of the examinations. Mom tore it open in joyful anticipation, began to read and turned pale. She sat down on the nearest chair and stammered., "You are not accepted! They accept only twenty-eight student in class five and you're thirty-first according to the exams."  Then she studied the letter ones more. "Your average was 2.4, which is slightly better than the grade entitling you to attend the middle school. You still have a chance if three candidates do not take the chance to accept the opportunity. But they're assuming that won't happen." She sighed in disappointment. "As an alternative they encourage you to try for a place at another school and wish you good luck." Mom suddenly had tears running down her cheeks and she began pacing the room, "That’s not possible! That was the only middle school you could reach by public transportation from Gondersdorf. The other possibility would be to enroll you at a boarding school. That’s impossible! We don’t have the money to pay for the tuition."

*******

I was disappointed, too. I knew the written spelling test had turned out badly. There had simply been too many words of foreign origin in the test. In the oral exam, I was able to answer all the questions, both in geography and everything about the animals and plants that lived in the part of our country. I even knew the circumference of the earth, at least approximately.

In the essay we were supposed to describe our greatest vacation experience. The problem was, I always spend my vacations at home, because of lack of money. Therefore, there wasn't much I could write about. After some hesitation, I decided to write about the visit to the keep with the gruesome instruments of torture. I pictured my horror when I found out about the purpose of the tools and I described the search for the treasure of Veit Scharpf with its negative result. The teacher did not like the part about the torture tools, but was reconciled by the description of the search for the secret passage and the treasure. However, she gave me minus points because of spelling mistakes. Of the math problems, I solved all of them correctly, but got point deductions for the text problems. "Because of the spelling" said the math teacher. The point deductions were unfair! Why can't I write the words the way I hear them!

Mom tried to comfort me, but today I didn't feel like being comforted by her. Instead, I went down to the river and sat by the water where it flowed very quickly over a pebble bank. The place was far enough away from the bathing place at the bridge and from the Cow’s Hole, so that I could be alone for the rest of the day. There I skipped stones across the water. When I came home after dark, Pollux was sitting at the table. "Teacher Beck has been waiting for you for a long time. Where have you been?" Mom said and pushed me to the table. I would have loved to turn around and run away. I didn't need pity, especially not from Pollux. 

Pollux's face was not as serious as I had expected. Me, his favorite student, not admitted to the middle school! I didn't understand that. He should have been angry with me, but no. When he saw me standing in front of him with my head hanging, he suddenly smiled. "Has the world come to an end, Madz? Come on, there's always a solution! If they don't want you, there are other schools that will take guys like you in stride." As I looked at him questioningly, "I talked to Carlo and the town pastor of Hallberg. Carlo also thinks it's stupid that you can't go to the middle school you want, but he thinks he knows the solution."

I still didn't trust Pollux. Besides, I didn't understand what Carlo and the town pastor could have to do with my, that is, our problem. I looked at my mom and she smiled, worried but relieved. "Why don't you ask Mr. Beck what he suggests you to do?" then she ran a hand over my hair for encouragement. "You mustn't be angry with him anymore. Do you think I haven't noticed that you've been hanging your head for days, I guess, since Gerstle told me that your favorite teacher will teaching at the boarding school in Hallberg." Then she nudged me, "Go on, ask!"

"Will you go to the castle with me this weekend?" Pollux grinned like a Cheshire cat, "We might be able to solve two problems at once. You can go to middle school and I can keep my favorite student!" Now he smiled from ear to ear. "How is that going to work?" slipped out of my mouth surprised. "Whether it works or not remains to be seen? But for that you must stop being mad at me and come with me to Hallberg! Are you coming?" I would have loved to hug Pollux, but I didn't dare, because of a mom and because of Pollux. I had never hugged Pollux before.

*******

To be continued...

Posted 10/14/2022