Himalayan Home - 5. HH Chapter 5

“I would really like to hear a lot more about that, if you would give me the chance to listen,” Giles said to me, and I just shrugged my shoulders, just as the Study Prep came to a close for the night. My second night at the boarding house was uneventful, and as I settled into my bed to go to sleep, the sound of a loud bell began to sound, and soon we heard Lenn and the other prefects shouting out loud.

“This is a fire drill, file out of the building quietly and calmly, remain as a group and gather out the front of the boarding house for roll call, and do not wander off anywhere,” we heard Lenn say with the help of a loud speaker, and as Giles, Adam, Chad and I exited our rooms, “That includes you too Mr Hamilton, no wondering off,” Lenn said to me sternly with a hint of a smile, and I nodded my head in understanding as we walked past him, and Giles gave me a nudge in the side with his elbow.

Nearly half an hour later, we were able to settle back into our beds, but now I was struggling to get to sleep, which really annoyed me to no end. Sitting on my bed, I started to do some meditation to see if that would help to get me back into a sleepy mood, and eventually it did, but almost an hour after I am usually asleep, and when I woke up at my usual time, I was not feeling rested at all.

Skipping meditation, I went straight into exercise, walking briskly around the oval, this time going around three times more than I usually would, and I was feeling a little bit better after the exertion. “Good morning, how… oh, you don’t look at all happy today!” Giles said when I walked into our room.

“Yes, and you can thank your cousin for that, I couldn’t get to sleep until an hour after I am usually asleep last night, and I had to skip meditation to do additional exercise to try and overcome my weariness,” I replied. “Good morning, how are we to… oh, oh!” Lenn said when he appeared in the doorway and saw how I looked, and he quickly disappeared realising that he may be the cause of my appearance.

I ended up having a long hot shower once the others had finished in the bathroom, and as a result I was late for morning roll call. “…ok, that is about all I have to say for now, have a good day at school today, and… Mr Hamilton good to see you, the Prefect has explained why you are late. Off to school with you all now,” the Housemaster said dismissing us all from roll call.

I looked over to where Giles was and he nodded his head and smiled and turned his head to look over to his cousin, who was looking directly at me, looking a little sad, which had me a bit confused, as I was shuffled out of the meeting room, as everyone exited, and I stepped to one side to await for Giles to exit.

“Hey, Lenn is really sorry that you didn’t get a good night’s rest last night, he told the house master that you were doing a task for him, as an excuse for you not attending roll call. Come on, lets grab our bags and get to school,” Giles said to me, as we headed upstairs to gather our school bags, for the start of our second day of the school year.

I struggled through the morning of classes, and when it came to lunchtime, I headed to the chapel and heading up to the choir loft, I settled on the wooden floor and closed my eyes to meditate, where I was able to get back into a more harmonious mood, and I was feeling much better as I began to return to normal breathing, just as I heard a noise of someone approaching.

“What on earth? Oh, I am sorry for interrupting your meditation session, it is Mr Hamilton, isn’t it?” the school chaplain said to me. “It is ok Reverend, I had actually just finished, thankyou for allowing me to use this space to meditate,” I replied.

“You are most welcome, but if you really want a very quiet place to meditate, I can give you an even better option, but this is to between you and me, and maybe your House Prefect, so at least someone else knows where you are,” the chaplain said to me, as he indicated for me to follow.

The School chapel is a long and very tall building, and to get access to the choir loft and organ, that are located at the back of the chapel, one has to use the corner spiral stairs in each back corner, and as we entered the spiral tower, I followed the Reverend upwards where he stopped and opened a locked gate, and indicated for me to follow him, as we stepped out onto a long passageway, that runs along the inside of the chapel above the main part of the chapel.

Taking a quick look down, I saw that we must be at least twenty feet above the ground, as we walked along the passageway, heading towards the front of the chapel, stopping about half way along, I saw that there was a large wooden door.

This is known as a triforium passage or gallery, which mainly provides access to all of the clerestory windows on this upper level, but in the old times, they were designed to allow women to be segregated from the men to attend the service, as was the trend back then,” that chaplain informed me.

“It definitely has a great view from up here, you wouldn’t want to be afraid of heights at all,” I commented, which made the Chaplain chuckle, as he unlocked the door with a big old key, and opened the door. “This is above the North Transept, as you can see it is just one big open room, with plenty of glass windows, and a lot of dust.

I am going to allow you to use this space for your meditation, provided that it is not during times that you are meant to be in class, and only during daylight hours, although I may adjust that with the shorter daylight time during winter.

I will give you these two keys, one is to the northern Transept door, to get into the chapel, and it will also allow you through that cast iron gate that was passed through, and the second key is for the Triforium rooms at each transept. Please do not lose or misplace them, and make sure that you tell Mr Princeton that I have granted you permission to use this space, as he is also a chapel prefect.

I will leave you to explore this space, and please feel free to add a few furnishings to make it a little more comfortable, just remember to lock up afterwards,” the Chaplain said to me as he handed over the keys and headed back the way we came.

I was stunned that I was been allowed to use such a space for my meditation, and pacing the space out, I worked out that it is about 15 metres wide and 25 metres deep, which was huge. I decided that I would definitely need some items to make the place more homely, and I had just the items I needed at home, which I would ask Mum and Dad to send to me.

Realising that the lunch break must be almost over, I quickly exited the room, locking it behind me, then walking at a face pace along the passage and down the long spiral stairs, stopping about halfway to stop getting dizzy, and with stepping out into the nave, I saw the Chaplain sorting through a cupboard, and I waved to him as I exited the chapel and headed back to my locker.

I managed to get through the afternoon classes quite well thanks to the meditation session at the chapel, although Giles was concerned that I had skipped lunch, and I let him know that fasting is all part of the Buddhist tradition, so it was not a problem for me to miss one meal.

After playing badminton in the afternoon after school had ended for the day, I had a quick shower, before going for a short walk, so I could have some privacy while I called Aunty Grace. I informed her of the offer from the school chaplain to use the room above the north nave of the chapel for meditation and I described the room to her.

“My word, it sounds like a very cold and draft place, we will need to arrange for it to be cleaned and maybe add some furniture in it,” Aunty Grace stated to me.

“Well, that was why I called you today, I want to arrange for Mum and Dad to send me a few floor rugs and some wall hangings and large sitting cushions, to make it a bit more comfortable, also I would like to get hold of a small and not too heavy statue of buddha, to put in the room,” I said to my Aunt.

“I think that we should be able to get these genuine items from here in Australia, instead of having to deal with long distance freight costs, and the risk of any damage during transport. Let us ask our friends on Saturday, we we can obtain some of these items,” Aunty Grace said to me.

“That would be awesome, thanks Aunty, you are the best, I got to go now, I have to get ready for dinner,” I responded, “Ok, see you on Saturday, bye for now,” my Aunt said before the call ended. I was happy that not only did I now have a quiet location for meditation, but that I would also be getting some furnishings to make the room a little more comfortable.

“Why are you in such a good mood?” Giles asked me, just as Lenn sat down on the other side of me at the dining table, “It may have something to do with his lunchtime meeting with the chaplain… Let me know if you need any help with anything Christopher, I will be happy to assist,” Lenn said to me.

“Ok you two, what the heck is going on, how come I don’t get to know what you are planning and all this other secret stuff,” Giles complained, “Too many ears listening in, we will tell you all when Christopher is ready to tell you, but only when away from everyone else,” Lenn replied, and I smiled and nodded my head in agreement to what he said.

“Mr Princeton, you are wanted at the Dean’s office right away,” a student who was probably a year younger than Lenn said as he approached, “Catch you guys later,” Lenn said as he stood up and carried his half-eaten dinner back to the serving table where he spoke briefly to one of the staff before leaving the dining hall.

After dinner, Giles and I were so busy chatting as we exited the dining hall that we didn’t notice that we were about to walk into a heap of trouble, the first indication was when we were suddenly surrounded, and the sound of Giles gasping and bending over, when he received a swift punch in the stomach, before a sweep of a leg, forced Giles to land heavily on his backside, and a kick in the side had him roll over onto his side in severe pain.

For me in the meantime, I had been grabbed, and although I tried to break free, I was dragged away, with Giles left as he was abandoned and in pain, and my view of his was cut short when a bag of some kind was put over my head, and I was told to keep quiet, or I would receive the same treatment as Giles had.

It was at this point that I was starting to realise that I was in big trouble, and I was also guessing that it was probably the three goons that has caused me some trouble before, who had been punished or their behaviour, which had totally embarrassed them, been forced to hold hands with his two friends in the middle of the senior quad, in front of so many students.

When we stopped, I was forced up against a tree and I had my hands tied behind me, before I had my uniform removed, leaving me standing in just my underwear, as I was tied up to the tree. “Lets se how you feel about been publicly humiliated in front of a lot of students of the school shall we,” the raspy voice of one of the bully boys said to me in a nasty tone.

“There they are, quick grab the three little turds, I will attend to Mr Hamilton,” I heard a voice call out, and a few moments later, “Dechen, I am so sorry, I was called away on a hoax, to get me away from you, those boys will pay for their behaviour in a big way, I will be recommending to the headmaster, that they be brought before the school disciplinary panel,” I heard Lenn say to me quietly.

He quickly grabbed my blazer and wrapped it around my waist and used the arms of the blazer to hold it in place around my waist, as I began to sob.