{"id":27328,"date":"2025-12-09T11:18:24","date_gmt":"2025-12-09T16:18:24","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/alanskeoch.ca\/?p=27328"},"modified":"2026-04-03T01:44:32","modified_gmt":"2026-04-03T05:44:32","slug":"episode-1469-nightmare-on-a-school-trip","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/alanskeoch.ca\/?p=27328","title":{"rendered":"EPISODE 1,469 ; NIGHTMARE ON A SCHOOL TRIP"},"content":{"rendered":"
“SIR, WE ARE BEING FOLLOWED.\u201d
\nEPISODE 1,469: NIGHTMARE ON A SCHOOL TRIP
\nNote; MOST school trips are smooth and trouble free. This trip was not.
\nSure enough, a carload of boys were hot on our tail. Not a good omen we had several teachers and one trustee of the Toronto Board of Education. March break, a week when we planned a school trip in this case a trip to Montreal.
\nThat was nearly 50 years ago and I forget the reason for the trip and most of the kids. Teenagers travelling under the thumbs of their teachers were unlikely to get into trouble. Right?
\nThat blue car had no thumb. So we began with a bad omen. I was a bit nervous. Our hotel was OK. at least it seemed that way until several odd reports happened.
\n\u201cSir, there are \u2018safes’ under the pillows.\u201d Yikes! Not under my pillow. I checked. Just under certain pillows it seems. Could be one safe under one lonely pillow all the same we had to be careful.
\nBoys on 4th floor\u2026Girls on the sixth floor\u2026teachers on the seventh floor. Separation. All chance of sexual actvity ruled out.
\nI had a pile of papers to mark. Occasionally I glanced out the window. Montreal was calm.
\nThen it happened. One hand appeared on our balcony. Then second hand\u2026head…leg and foot\u2026. A boy was climbing from the fourth to the sixth floor. He looked at me and said, \u201cIt\u2019s OK, I know how to climb.\u201d I froze. Said nothing. Did nothing to have the boy loosen his grip. His intentions were Platonic I hoped and wondered if the balconies all had climbers.
\nMeanwhile, teachers were spending the night in front of the elevators. \u201cNot a bit of trouble!\u201d Little did they know about the climber. Imagine if he fell. I could not speak or move. Then he was gone. There were two to four girls in the room above ours\u2026too many for a sexual encounter l reasoned. Best to keep my mouth shut.
\nWere climbers hanging like live strings of spaghetti elsewhere? I never knew. A far worse event happened.
\n\u201cSir, come quickly, a boy has overdosed\u2026he\u2019s unconscious.\u201d
\n\u201cwho is it?\u201d \u201cNew student.\u201d \u201cWhat drug?\u201d\u201dNo idea, sir.\u201d The room was full of students surrounding a kid. New kid for second semester. Flat out ; BEING drunk was bad enough\u2026drugs were far more dangerous. \u201cCall 911\u2026we need an ambulance\u2026now!\u201d
\nI rode with the boy\u2026he did not move as the medic probed and took blood pressure. \u201cI will call ahead \u2026 get a doctor right away.\u201d
\n\u201cAre you the teacher?\u201d\u2019 \u201cone of them.\u201d. \u201cWe will have to pump his stomach\u2026need permission\u2026\u201d
\nI remember that terrible night. I sat alone all night at the end of a long corridor. At the other end doctors and nurses worked over the boy. Seemed to be four of them \u2026 seemed urgent. Hours. All night.
\n\u201cHe should be OK now.\u201d The boy was alive and well\u2026he said nothing\u2026no thanks to the people who may have saved his life. We took a taxi back to the hotel. \u201cHas anybody phoned Mrs, Hambleton? \u201cYes, she says to send the boy back toToronto if he is able.\u201d \u201cHe is able\u2026out of danger. How did he get drugs?\u201d
\nThat happened long ago. What I remember clearly is the contents of his suitcase. Everything was so neatly packed. Extra clothes\u2026shirt that loooked brand-new\u2026socks bundled. I guessed his mother loved him despite his stupidity. \u201cSending you home\u201d.
\nThat was the last I saw of the boy. I don\u2019t think he returned to school. A few months later he was arrested for gang rape I was told.
\n\u201cRemember his neatly packed suitcase?\u201d
\n\u201cI remember it well and think of his poor mother trying to get her son lifted\u2026loving her son despite his behaviour . Crying.
\nalan skeoch Dec. 8, 2025
\np.s. I cannot remember why we took those kids to Montreal. It certainly was not an exercise in climbing or to find treasures under pillows or to get a stomach pumped\u2026or to test a mother\u2019s love for an errant son.
\nThis is not a happy story. Sorry . The next story is a happy one. I just had to get this story out of my memory\u2026failed to do so.<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

“SIR, WE ARE BEING FOLLOWED.\u201d EPISODE 1,469: NIGHTMARE ON A SCHOOL TRIP Note; MOST school trips are smooth and trouble free. This trip was not. Sure enough, a carload of boys were hot on our tail. Not a good omen we had several teachers and one trustee of the Toronto Board of Education. March break, […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-27328","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-uncategorized"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/alanskeoch.ca\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/27328","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/alanskeoch.ca\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/alanskeoch.ca\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/alanskeoch.ca\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/alanskeoch.ca\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=27328"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/alanskeoch.ca\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/27328\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/alanskeoch.ca\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=27328"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/alanskeoch.ca\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=27328"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/alanskeoch.ca\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=27328"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}