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“Ah, Alison” The Captain tucked his stick under his arm as he approached her. “I wonder if you might be prevailed upon to join us.”
“Sorry, Cap, so much to organise for the school visit tomorrow, I’m up to my eyes in it.”
The Captain frowned. Alison caught his expression and was surprised by the unhappiness in it. He seemed to be having an internal argument. She stopped heaving plastic chairs into a pile and brushed the hair away from her face with the back of a dusty hand.
“Is everything ok, Cap?”
“Um, yes” he said hesitantly, “It’s just…I…well…I…rather thought there was something I wanted to tell you, well, everyone really and they have all agreed to muster at eighteen hundred hours in the common room and I… well… I suppose I hoped you would also be present. I feel it is something you should know.”
Alison eyed the military man carefully. Now she looked at him more closely he seemed to be full of nervous energy, twitching almost.
“Is it…” she didn’t quite know how to phrase the question without in some way drawing information from him that he was clearly psyching himself up to deliver to the group as one. “If it’s important…” she began.
“Well, yes, I believe it is. I believe it is time I came clean. Can’t keep mum forever. Bad form I’d say. Perhaps… perhaps time to…” He stumbled, unfamiliar with his own attitudes
“Perhaps time to trust your friends? To know they won’t judge you? To know they care about you regardless?”
“Goodness.” The Captain cleared his throat. “Well, I’m not sure about all that, but I would very much appreciate your attendance. If you have the time.”
“Ok, Cap, I’m sure I can be there, this is important. I’m really proud of you, y’know.” Alison gave him an encouraging smile. He looked at her with confusion, brows knitted together. Young women really were the most curious beasts, he would never understand them. He cleared his throat again awkwardly.
“Right, jolly good. Thank you.” He turned on his heel and strode off.
At 1800 hours precisely he marched into the common room. The other ghosts were all present and correct, chattering amongst themselves. They fell silent as he approached. He scanned the bunch for Alison but she was not with them. The Captain tutted in frustration.
“Sorry, sorry, sorry,” Alison rushed in, hands held up apologetically. “The new banner fell off the wall and I had to…” She caught the expressions of everyone staring at her.
“Anyway,” she said brightly, “you don’t want to hear about that.” She perched on an upright chair and put her hands on her knees. “The floor is yours, Cap.”
“Ahem. Right. Thank you, Alison.” The Captain took a deep breath and clasped his swagger stick behind him. He surveyed the assembled group, looking from left to right, all eyes on him. He swallowed hard.
“Thank you all very much for coming. I am most appreciative. For some time now I have held a feeling of shame and I believe it to be the correct course of action that I, as it were, come clean. You see, I find that the documentaries that Alison and Michael are kind enough to put on the VCR machine for me each evening regarding tanks and weaponry and so on are so terribly fascinating that I frequently lose track of time and do not attend to my night time patrol of the grounds until sometimes as late as 2307! It is a shocking and shameful neglect of my duties and a threat to your safety. I hope deeply that you can forgive me and believe that I will have more discipline in future. I am most grateful for your understanding, which I infer from the heretofore lack of complaint, and I intend to show my gratitude with much tighter adherence to protocol henceforth.”
He looked once more around the group who looked back with expressions of shock. He took a small step back, concerned suddenly that they were far more outraged than he had anticipated and that a barrage of disgust would shortly be coming his way.
“Is that what you wanted to confess to us all?” Pat said, breaking the silence.
“Well, yes. I am most dreadfully sorry but I must say I do feel better for getting it off my chest.” The Captain gave a tight smile. “Perhaps there is something in this modern malarkey after all.”
“Your big confession is that you’re 7 minutes late patrolling a boundary that doesn’t need patrolling?” Julian said in disbelief.
“Er…yes.” The Captain looked a little less certain
“And there’s nothing else? No other piece of information about yourself that you feel you want to share?”
“No…” The Captain said warily
“Right.” Fanny slapped her hands on to her thighs and got to her feet. “Well if that’s that perhaps we can all get on with our evening.” The other ghosts started to get up, with varying degrees of mumbling. Alison walked over to the Captain and looked him in the eye.
“Is that really what you brought us here for?”
The Captain stared at her in annoyed confusion.
“Isn’t that enough?! Here I am baring my weaknesses to you, as previously requested on many occasions and it seems no one is in the least bit concerned!”
Alison squinted at him to check that he really did believe what he was saying but, as usual, his face was entirely honest.
“It’s just that…the way you phrased your request to me…and presumably the others… we thought… maybe…” No clarity seemed to dawn on the Captain so she continued. “There’s really nothing else you feel you want to tell us?”
“For goodness’ sake Alison, I think I have been more than forthcoming!”
Alison nodded resignedly.
“No, you’re right, thank you, Cap, I’m sure we all appreciate your honesty. But, as lady of the house and therefore technically your superior, you have my full permission to perform your night duties whenever you see fit, please don’t worry yourself. It’s my fault anyway, I should start the video earlier so that you can get out on time. I’ll make sure I do in future.”
The Captain tilted his head back a little and regarded her down his nose.
“Well that would be very decent of you, thank you, yes.”
He turned away to follow his fellow ghosts.
“And, Cap?” The Captain turned back with raised eyebrows.
“If you ever think of any other secret you want to get off your chest, just let me know.”