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had attended a crash course in teaching, but had not reached the standard for the regular schools, so they had been offered places on a training scheme operated amongst other venues at remand home centres up and down the country. As there were few or no alternatives they usually accepted the positions offered to them, it also filled teaching posts that regular teachers were reluctant to apply for, allowing the education authorities to fulfil their quota.
    Geoff adapted quite quickly to the basic rules of the school, that if you did as you were told, kept a low profile and you were not a troublemaker or a gang leader, life in the institution was not too bad. The teachers had their hands full with the rest of the unruly element in the classes, regularly dishing out their own form of physical rough justice to the boys placed in their safekeeping.
    The only form of education that he retained in this secure accommodation was not maths or English, but how to break into a car and hot wire it without the ignition key and drive it away. He soon learned how to force open a window without making a great deal of noise which would only cause undue attention, to check whether a building had a burglar alarm or just a dummy box and make sure that there were no noisy dogs in that or adjacent properties. He could tell the difference between genuine and poor quality imitation jewellery, where to sell the proceeds of your illegal endeavours, but more importantly, to obtain a reasonable price with no awkward questions being asked.
    The discussions held after lights out between the members of the group in his dormitory, with himself as a silent observer, were far more educational to his chosen path in life than that set by the education department. He was amazed at how much detail he remembered of the experiences from the bragging of some of the older occupants who shared the same dormitory. He paid more attention to this information than anything the weary teachers tried to enforce on their unruly, disinterested and overcrowded classes.

Chapter Three

    It was during this long period in the school that Geoff struck up a relationship with two of the other long-term residents. They were two brothers, John and Derek Bolton; both were quiet and shy like him. They were forced together by circumstances after an incident in their dormitory after lights out one evening. There was a form bully called Sidney Locket, otherwiseknown as Sid, the same lad that Geoff had had the confrontation with in the railway station toilets.
    Sid was now much bigger and heavier than Geoff last remembered him and he was always picking on either Geoff or one of the two brothers. This bully had a liking for jam pudding and, if Geoff or the other two lads would not give him their pudding at dinner, he would go out of his way to make their life at the school a misery. His favourite trick was to wait until night time when they were asleep in their bunks, and then he would urinate over them, usually over their hair and faces.
    The victim would awake, stinking and cursing, while the other occupants of the dormitory would be shouting at them to be quiet. Meanwhile, the perpetrator would sidle off back to his own bunk, laughing to himself at the power he had over these smaller boys.
    One night, Sid was preparing to perpetrate his usual degrading action against one of the brothers for not doing what he had demanded during the previous day or for not doing it fast enough.
    As the bully was about to urinate over the form in the bottom bunk, the body suddenly came to life throwing back the bed covers and swinging out with a tennis racket, catching Sid Locket on the end of his penis.
    â€˜Take that Locket; bloody well leave me alone!’ Derek Yelled. At the same time, his older brother, John, kicked out at the bully from the top bunk, catching him with his heel on the side of his ear. Leaving Sid Locket screaming.
    â€˜Take that as well, you bastard!’
    He did not know which was