The Angel of Bang Kwang Prison
immediately. His demand was instantly met as 30 excited pupils came tearing through the school to tell me that my boyfriend was outside wanting to see me. I suppressed a smile and headed out to the two mean-looking hoods. Bobby just looked nasty and angry, while Simon had a chipped tooth, evil-looking beard, six-pack abs and an absolute foul-mouth. I felt like the Pied Piper of Hamelin as the 30 followed me back out to the fence to watch the re-union. Most of these kids had led very sheltered lives and would never have had any dealings with the likes of Simon . They stood gaping as I shot the breeze. Although Simon and I had broken up by this stage we were still good friends.
    The visit worked wonders for my status in school. Now people sought me out because I was crazy and fun. A new circle of friends followed me around and I soon corrupted the lot of them. Once again I led the way in partying and encouraged them to drink and smoke grass, strip and lose their virginity. I even encouraged a few to come out of the closet. I’m sure I was the teachers’ worse nightmare, heightened considerably by my newfound popularity.
    I suppose it was only a matter of time before I was suspended. I got into a fight with another girl, who was actually one of my best friends. We started ribbing one another, then pushing and shoving, then pulling hair and kicking in a frenzy. We managed to rip off each other’s uniforms, down to our panties, and I wasn’t wearing a bra. We were both sent home in a taxi to our parents, suspended for six days. I was in my gym uniform since the other one was in tatters. My parents had to pay the taxi fair and I thought it was all great fun.
    After a year and a half of paying outlandish fees to the private school, my parents finally conceded defeat and I was back in public school. Strangely enough the private school never really gave me much trouble no matter what I did, until a few years later when I returned to the school to show them that I had grown into a relatively normal adult. The teachers were stunned to see the difference in me and I was acutely embarrassed when they recalled my youthful misdemeanours. I was living proof that miracles do happen. However, it was a bit of shock when the school later phoned my family and told them that I was welcome to visit any time but that they could not allow me to hand out Christian literature or talk about God to the pupils. And this was a Christian school!

Chapter Two
    It was inevitable that things had to change for me. I was lost in my own little world, and I needed something to bring me back to reality and save me from myself.
    I had had an epiphany. The year was 1977 and I was ready for a change. I spent the school summer break working part-time and had amassed quite a fortune. Some of my friends and I decided to pool our resources and finish the break with a couple of weeks by the sea. We got drunk and stoned every day. I did a lot of LSD and was tripping the light fantastic and having incredible revelations. One night we went to see a movie showing Jimi Hendrix in concert and I started to think about the world we lived in: why was there war and hatred? What are we here for? The more I tried to drown out these questions in booze and drugs the louder they got in my head, and the more depressed I got.
    I was looking for meaning and was reviewing my belief system. I believed that everyone had a reason for being, a destiny that they had to pursue. What was mine? I was desperate for direction, to find something that I could commit to. I was looking for a cause, and had even tried being a vegetarian but after seven days I had a burger, so that wasn’t it. When I thought of another year in school, interspersed with drunken parties and my twisted social antics, it made me feel hollow. I was burnt out. And at such a young age. I cut short my beach holiday and headed home, where my depression deepened. I couldn’t even drink or enjoy a joint.
    I called over to a

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