===Stories That Don't Go Anywhere===

I must have been around 5 o'clock I found met him. I think it was 5 o'clock, possibly a little past. It wasn't before 5, because the clock in the hall had just struck and my Mother was always very good at keeping it to time. But I definitely met him around five. Oo - unless it struck four. I suppose it may have been four, as I was never very good at counting at that age and I'd sometimes miss one.

If it was now, I probably would have been diagnosed with dyslexia or some such nonsense, I suppose. I probably was actually, but things were different back then. If you couldn't pay attention, you were punished, simple as that. People weren't so soft, either. It was good for us really, kept people respectful of their elders. I mean, our schools were very heavy-handed really, but spare the rod spoil the child was always the way things were run. Ha! Wouldn't have that now, not at all.