Adam Blake - 52. Chapter 52

Lunch was great, it was an American dinner. I encouraged the kids to go back for seconds, and I noticed the staff did as well. I don’t think these kids act any different than any child who is away from home at a boarding school. I noticed the boy who I ate with was at the Knights table, when he saw me looking at him he smiled. Ralph came over and asked me if I liked the cookies. He handed me a sheet of paper and it was the recipe. I smiled and hugged him. I noticed his roommate smiling as well.

Dad finished his audit the Friday before I had to leave for the trustee meetings. I took his report with me and asked him to send a copy to James. On the plane, I read the report.

When I landed I was surprised to see Ambassador Damon waiting for me. I went to shake his hand and instead I got a hug. "Richard said to give that to you. He has informed me there have been a lot of changes.”

“Yes, there have been a lot of changes, all for the better I hope. Dr. McMillan resigned as an option of not getting me fired. Dr. McMillian resigned when I asked for a student's medical record and he didn’t have one, for a school like ours that’s malfeasance. The child had apnea and needed to be treated, I located a clinic to do the test and specified the machine. I bought everything and the boy is back to normal. And you should know I had the finance department audited and the head chef fired because he wouldn’t keep his kitchen clean. I also suspect we were buying a lot more food than we used.”

“Do you have proof of this?”

“I have the audit report, I’ll make several copies and you can distribute them to the trustees before the meeting.”

“Richard says you are a good guy who looks out for the students, I’m beginning to believe him.”

“I think Richard is a little bias.”

He laughed as he dropped me off at my hotel. “The meeting is on Monday at 2. I’ll pick you up, enjoy your one-day stay in England.”

'Wait and I'll give you a copy of the audit."

I made arrangements to have several copies of the audit made, enough for the trustees and a few parents as well. I did some sightseeing, caught up on my sleep. I visited a pub and went to a museum and library. I took a lot of pictures and made a lot of notes. I did break one of my rules and had fish and chips. I could see why everyone liked them. I ran in the evening when it was cooler, I noticed several people looking at me. They must have thought I was crazy, who runs in London unless you are being chased.

The Ambassador picked me up for the meeting. I had my copies with me, one thing I had going for me was my contract and the friendship of the Ambassador, but my real strength was back home, the students.

When I walked into the room, I noticed seven people were sitting on one side of a table, which reminded me of a Board Room. I was asked to sit at one end of the table, like the foot, if the entrance to the room was the top. I sat down and waited. Slowly the table began to fill up.

The man directly opposite me stood up, “Gentlemen, we have asked Dr. Blake to come here to answer some questions and concerns that have been brought to our attention. Dr. Blake, we are aware of your background and I believe a few of us have read your book, but unfortunately, I haven’t. Since you came to the Academy, there have been some drastic changes and we are concerned about them, particularly the dismissal of Director McMillan.”

“Sir I didn’t dismiss Director McMillan, she resigned as a reaction to this group appointing me as President of the Academy.” I sat down.

“What about Doctor McMillian?”

“Dr. McMillian resigned when he was faced with a charge of malfeasance.”

As I looked around the table, I could tell who read my book and who didn’t. I had friends at this table.

“It has come to our attention that you fired your head chef.”

“That’s true, when he refused to keep his kitchens clean and endangered the students with the possibility of contaminated food, I had no choice.”

“Did you not ask Director Shoring to take personal leave.”

“Yes, I did, I thought it would be best if he was out of the office during the financial audit. It appeared there were several discrepancies in the payroll accounts.”

“Has the audit been completed?”

“Yes, it has. I have a copy here for you and a few extra.” I passed the copies around, making sure that each trustee received a copy. The extra copies I left on the table. The Ambassador had one which I gave him when he picked me up from the hotel. He looked at me and winked. I wanted to smile, but I didn’t.

“Dr. Blake, I think we need a two-hour recess while we read this report.”

I got up and left the room, Ambassador Damon came out and said it will more than likely be three hours. The building across from where the meeting was being held, was a library. I decided to spend my time there. Again I looked at photos of pubs, I even asked the librarian if she could copy photos for me. She did one better, “Look at this.” She handed me what appeared to be a magazine devoted to pubs. If had pictures dating to the 1200s.

“How much is this magazine, my boys would love to read it.”

She said it was five pounds, so I bought it. Then with my magazine, I was going to sit down and read it, when I noticed a sign indicating English Fiction. I headed in that direction and start to look at the books. There was a book on King Arthur which was written earlier than my book. I took it to the table and began to read. I noted King Arthurs Knights of the Round Table oath. I thought I must have that. I took the book to the librarian and asked if she would copy that page for me. She took the book, I paid her one pound, I knew it was high, but it is a public library. Now I had some ideas.

I sat back down and read the books, I got lost in the tales of Robin Hood when my phone buzzed. It was Ambassador Damon saying the group will meet again. I said goodbye to the Librarian, put my purchases in my briefcase, and headed across the street, back to the meeting.

I knocked on the door, one of the ladies opened the door and smiled. Is this a good omen or not? I took my seat at the bottom of the table.

The person who addressed me was a different person. “Dr. Blake, we have read the report and are very embarrassed. The function of the trustees is to ensure that the quality of education for our children is top rate and that there is fiscal responsibility among staff. We have been derelict in our duty. We have relied too much on the people who ran the Academy and did not do our fiscal diligence. We are sorry to have brought you here. ”

“If it has increased your confidence in me, then the trip has been worth it.”

I sat back down.

“May I ask a question?” This was the lady who opened the door.

“Yes, madam”

“My son attends the Academy. Can you explain the Knights of the Wooden Table?” I couldn’t help myself, I started to laugh.

“I’m sorry for laughing, perhaps Ambassador Damon can explain, he’s a Knight of the Wooden Table

She looked surprised and then looked at him, he looked at me and smiled.

“Lady Engles, the creation of the Knights has been a fantastic creation that unites all the students together. The comradeship among the students is unbelievable and if I hadn’t missed my guess there’s more up this man’s sleeve.”

“Dr. Blake, I can see you do not want to talk about your achievements but you must speak. We have been getting letters every week, that has never happened before. I can speak for all mothers, we love it. Please tell us.”

“The creation of the Knights of the Square Table started by itself. Before I joined the staff at the Academy, no staff person ate in the cafeteria with the boys. I was the first, when I walked into the cafeteria to have lunch one of the boys came and asked if I would sit with them. I did, the tables are wood and square. The next day, they put together two tables and it grew so into a square and all of the boys sit at that table with me. At first, they wanted me to sit at the head of the table I told them no and took a seat in the middle. We were talking, and one of the boys said if this was a round table we could be knights of the round tables. That was the birth of the Knights of the Square Table. I went along for the ride.”

“I’m sure there is more you aren’t telling us.”

“What do your sons say, they have sworn to tell the truth?”

“Sworn to tell the truth?”

“Of course, a Knight's word is to live by or die. Ambassador, do you remember the oath?”

“Yes, if I remember correctly there are three parts, truth, honesty, and comradeship.”

“You should visit the Academy. This year we’ll have six seniors graduating and will be closing the school with a fair.”

“And the students are all for this?”

“They don’t know about the fair. They have asked that snack machines be put into the cafeteria for between-meal and after-meal snacks, I assure you only healthy food will be in those machines.”

“If they are snack machines, how will they pay for the snacks, will we have to send them money?”

“No, I have special coins made that they can use. They will be given an allowance of 10 coins per week and opportunities to earn more. We have also changed the meal plan, breakfast will remain the same, concentrating on protein and some carbs, lunch is now called dinner and is the biggest meal of the day. Supper will consist of soups and salads.”

“Why wasn’t this done before?”

“I can’t answer that.”

“I think we didn’t keep an eye on things. We should have filled the president’s post. Now with Dr. Blake filling that vacancy, I think the school will be back on course.”

“May I ask a question? Wasn’t there a fiscal report or annual report sent to the trustees?”

I noticed the looks on the face of the trustees, they looked at each other. “No, we never required an annual report."

“You’ll get an annual report at the end of this term.”

“Are there going to be any surprises?”

“Yes, I expect there will be some more changes.”

“Any hints?”

“Let’s say that the contacts with suppliers are being scrutinized.”

“Can you stay an extra day?”

“Yes”

“We have some new business we would like to discuss with you.”

“I’ll be at the same hotel, you can contact me there.”

Everyone seemed to get up to leave, I followed suit. “Dr. Blake, if I give you a letter and a small gift for my son, will you give it to him.”

“Of course Lady Elgin, you don’t need to ask.”

“She smiled, “I’ll have the package delivered to your hotel.”

“Dr. Blake, could you join us for dinner tonight.

“Yes, I'd like that very much. Just call and let me know when and where.”

“Adam, I’m going to give you a heads up. They are thinking about building a small college on the site next to the school. I think you’ll meet with their architect tonight.”

“Is this the same architecture firm that built the school?”

“Yes, I think it is.”

“Good I have some questions about the school. I think there are rooms not being used and I would like to know if there was a problem or someone decided to just close them off.”

“Do you have a need for them?”

“One of the rooms appears large enough to set a computer lab. Then the boys could interact with their parents as well as doing research.”

“Every time I talk with Richard he’s excited about the school, he never was like that before you came.”

“The difference isn’t me, it’s them feeling free to be themselves. They don’t have rigid rules, they can explore, everyone is more relaxed, teachers are approachable. It’s an atmosphere that everyone has contributed. No one person could affect the change you see. Read my book.” I smiled when I said that.

“I think you like to work behind the scenes.”

“That’s the best way, students and staff learn they can relax, enjoy life if you let them. You’ll see it at the Renaissance Fair. You actually will hear about it, I’ll tell them about 2 months before the summer break.”

“Speaking of break, Richard said some of the kids go with you over the weekend to your cabin.”

“Last summer break, one child was told he had to stay at the school for the summer. I felt it would be too lonely since I had my best friend’s boys with me for the summer, he came with me and there was one other boy whose parents couldn’t pick him up right away. So there were two boys from the school and two boys from my hometown, and we had a ball. They ran with me, they fished, took nature walks, my mom and dad fell in love with them. Just recently the two boys that spent the summer wanted to spend the weekend with me, as it happens two other boys did as well. So I had four boys from school, two boys from home, and Mom was pleased to see so many children having a good time.”

“Will you do that again?”

“I go home every weekend. Gives me a chance to see my girlfriend, spend some time with family, if they are there, and of course enjoy the forest and lake.”

“I’d like that as well. Sometimes business and politics take up so much of your brain, you need to dump it all.”

“Ambassador, it would be my pleasure. Just tell me when.” I left the Ambassador and went to my room to shower and change. I wonder what the meeting tomorrow is about. I think everything went well today.