Carol Ann Duffy — Welltread

Welltread was Head and the Head’s face was a fist. Yes, I’ve got him. Spelling and Punishment. A big brass bell dumb on his desk till only he shook it, and children ran shrieking in the locked yard. Mr Welltread. Sir. He meant well. They all did then. The loud, inarticulate dads, the mothers who spat on hankies and rubbed you away. But Welltread looked like a gangster. Welltread stalked the forms, collecting thruppenny bits in a soft black hat. We prayed for Aberfan, vaguely reprieved. My socks dissolved, two grey pools at my ankles, at the shock of my name called out. The memory brings me to my feet as a foul would. The wrong child for a trite crime. And all I could say was No. Welltread straightened my hand as though he could read the future there, then hurt himself more than he hurt me. There was no cause for complaint. There was the burn of a cane in my palm, still smouldering.