“Hello there Cliff, come in and close the door would you?”

There was a chill in the office, and I was not used to the deputy head asking me to close the door when he wasnted to talk to me. He motioned towards a chair and placed a coffee down on his desk in front of me.

“How have you been getting along, Cliff?”

This felt for all the world like a pre-amble, but I was in no mood to rock the boat; if he wanted to ease in then I as going to let him.

“Fine, thank you for asking. This is the good coffee, Harry, what’s going on?”

He sighed and his shoulders dropped. I could see in his eyes that he was not pleased to have to talk to me about whatever was coming; that he was annoyed to be put into this position, whatever it was, rather than directly with me.

“Cliff, there has been a complaint against you. Can I ask you a personal question?”

I nodded

“Cliff, do you take nude photographs in your spare time?”

“Yes Harry, why?”

“One of the parents has found out that you do and is planning to tell the local paper unless we fire you.”

—

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