02 Mister Teacher (35 page)

The bright-yellow envelope with the words ‘Mister Teacher’ printed on the front was still there. Inside was Sebastian’s letter and, once again, I read his three wishes. The first had come true. He was an artist already and I knew that one day he would achieve his second wish and build his snowman. His third wish was special and his ‘magical journey’ was about to begin. He had already taken the first brave steps.

I stared at the letter and smiled. Sebastian’s words were simple and honest, uncluttered by adult reticence. They spelled out a message of hope and I, too, knew what I must do. Vera was right. We all need to move on and not dwell in the past.

I locked the logbook away in the bottom drawer of my desk for another summer. I had now completed two years as headmaster of Ragley School and I wondered what the next year would bring.

As the early-evening sun reflected from the high arched windows of the school, I drove out of the gates and left the academic year of 1978/1979 behind me.

Then I turned towards the High Street and stopped by the side of the village green.

To my left was the City of York. To my right was the Morton Road.

The decision was not easy.

I switched on my indicator.

And in a heartbeat I knew which road to take.

THE END

About the Author

Jack Sheffield was born in 1945 and grew up in the tough environment of Gipton Estate, in North East Leeds. After a job as a ‘pitch boy’, repairing roofs, he became a Corona Pop Man before going to St John’s College, York, and training to be a teacher. In the late seventies and eighties, he was a headteacher of two schools in North Yorkshire before becoming Senior Lecturer in Primary Education at Bretton Hall near Wakefield. It was at this time that he began to record his many amusing stories of village life portrayed in
Teacher, Teacher!
, his first novel.
Mister Teacher
is his second novel and continues the story of life in the fictional village of Ragley-on-the-Forest. His new book,
Dear Teacher
, will be published in early 2009. He now lives in Hampshire.

Visit his website at
www.jacksheffield.com

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MISTER TEACHER
A CORGI BOOK: 9780552155274
Version 1.0 Epub ISBN 9781407033457

First published in Great Britain
in 2008 by Bantam Press
an imprint of Transworld Publishers
Corgi edition published 2008

Copyright © Jack Sheffield 2008

Jack Sheffield has asserted his right under the Copyright, Designs and Patents Act 1988 to be identified as the author of this work.

This book is a work of fiction and, except in the case of historical fact, any resemblance to actual persons, living or dead, is purely coincidental.

A CIP catalogue record for this book is available from the British Library.

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