The Richard and Judy Show

The Richard and Judy Show

Richard rubbed his hands together enthusiastically and addressed the
dozen or so adult students who attended his Short Story Writing
Course.
'OK, now we're all feeling refreshed after our coffee break I thought
we would watch a video that looks at the way in which we see things. In
the first part of this session we looked at how writers use the senses,
particularly sight, to paint a picture in the readers mind. I think
this video will help to explain it more clearly.' He reached above to
the TV mounted high on the wall and adjusted it slightly, unknowingly
returning it to the exact position it was previous.
Returning to his desk, he sat down and waited for the last few students
to return. It was usually the same few who wandered in last and Judy
was always one of those few. Dipping his head slightly, he peered over
his thick-rimmed spectacles while waiting patiently for her to settle
in her seat. Her unfinished cup of coffee was placed carefully to her
right with paper and pen arranged neatly alongside. She leant back and
stretched out her long legs, clad in faded blue jeans, before slowly
running her right hand through her short, copper tinted hair. She
glanced up to find Richard watching her.
'Could I have the tape now please, Judy?' he asked once he was sure he
had the attention of the class.
'The tape?' she replied, eyes screwed up in confusion.
'Yes, could I have it now please?'
She let out half a second of nervous laughter, sat up and wrapped both
feet around the legs of her chair.
'You wanted it this week?' she said moving her coffee a couple of
inches closer.
Richard let out a sigh that could be heard around the room, and shook
his head.
'Don't tell me you've forgotten it ? please!' The sudden raised tone of
his voice served as a signal to the rest of the class to pay attention.
Sensing conflict the chattering and mumbling from the students stopped,
like in a spaghetti western as the bad guy enters the saloon and the
place falls silent.
'I'm sorry Richard, I thought you said next week,' Judy replied. With
her slightly boyish but not unattractive looks, she bit her lip and
gave a slight shrug of her shoulders.
His usual soft tone became acidic and his actions more animated: 'I
don't know. These people pay good money for this course, I spend hours
of my own free time planning these lessons and you let everyone down
simply because you couldn't be bothered bringing the damn thing
in!'
The class remained silent and bemused. They had come to see Richard as
a gentleman but now were seeing a different side to him, and
embarrassed students blushed. Tapping his carefully laid handouts into
a neater pile, he continued his verbal attack on Judy. 'It's just not
good enough! Can I have a word with you ? outside ? now!' He pushed
back his chair and rose to his feet.
They marched into the corridor outside and closed the door behind them.
Mutterings flew around the room from the surprised students:
'That's unreal.'
'The bastard!'
'That's not on, that. Is it?'
Others gave a more silent disapproval of their tutor's actions, with
raised eyebrows, or a contorted and protruding bottom lip. Even Joe,
who up to this point had said very little in class discussions, was
disgusted enough to voice his opinion: 'That's bad that is. Humiliating
her like that. I'm not having it!' He rose from his chair and thrust
his notes into his holdall, before gulping the last of his coffee.
Crushing the Styrofoam cup with a muffled crack, he then tossed it into
the bin.
Judy met him at the door.
'Are you going to let him get away with humiliating you like that?' he
said as the rest of the class looked on. 'Because I'm not!' Without
waiting for a reply, he challenged a surprised Richard. 'That's
disgusting that is. The way you spoke to her like that ? in front of
the whole class.'
'Just listen a ? '
'No, you listen.' Joe stood inches away. 'I'll do something about it,
if she won't. I'm making a formal complaint about you and your teaching
methods. Like you said, we pay good money for this course and we don't
expect to be treated like kids, just because someone forgot to bring in
some tape for your stupid lesson!'
He spun round on his heels and was already through the double doors
before a confused Richard could stop him. 'There's something you should
?' he called, but Joe had gone.
Judy had taken her seat and said nothing to the rest of the class,
hiding her faint grin behind her hands, while Richard was greeted to
the silence of embarrassed students. He sat at his desk and rearranged
the neat piles of notes yet again, while the class waited with
apprehension.
'OK,' he began. 'I'll just say, that you've all been victims of a cruel
joke.' Eyes darted around the room, while he paused for effect. 'What
just happened between Judy ? well played Judy ? and myself, was a
set-up. Aren't I cruel? I now want you all to write for ten minutes on
what you witnessed.' Laughter rose and immediately the students
relaxed, congratulating Judy on keeping a straight face throughout.
'Unfortunately,' he went on, 'Judy's performance was a little too
convincing for Joe and he's gone to make a formal complaint about me
and my teaching practices. I did try to tell him but he wouldn't
listen. Oh well, such is life!'
The class started to write, some made comments that they knew what was
happening all along, while others tried to hide the fact that they were
convinced it was for real and some even passed comment on the fate of
Richard, once a gullible Joe had made his complaint.
Richard picked up his notes and leant back on his chair. Flicking
through them with no real purpose in mind, he couldn't help but wonder
whether he had gone too far. Joe wasn't the most talkative of students
but was clearly upset with the 'staged' play. In the number of years he
had been teaching the subject he had never had a student react the way
Joe did, but a wave of guilt came over him and maybe it was time to
stop that particular exercise. His thoughts were interrupted when the
door opened and in walked Joe.
'Ah, I'm glad you've decided to rejoin us,' Richard said as Joe passed
behind and returned to his seat without saying a word. He took out his
notes and pen and placed them on his desk as the rest of the class
looked on in anticipation. Richard cleared his throat, and then went on
to explain his actions to Joe.
'Erm Joe, I think there was some confusion earlier. I've explained to
the rest of the class the purpose of that exercise and they are all now
writing their interpretation of what they saw.' Joe said nothing, and
allowed Richard to fill the uneasy silence. 'I did try to tell you but
you didn't give me a chance. You, like everyone else were a victim of a
cruel joke. I'm sorry if you took it the wrong way.'
Joe turned to face his apologetic tutor, leaned forward, clasped his
hands together and gave a "you-didn't-fool-me" grin before saying
calmly: 'I know Richard. I overheard you and Judy at coffee break and I
knew we were going to be ?' He raised both hands to head height and
gave the gesture for quotation marks as he added, '?"the
victims."'
Richard was about to reply when Joe raised his hand to stop him.
'And so were you, Richard. So were you.'

***