“After that I’d put the music on softly, but the kids would want to turn it up and I was constantly on edge if their talk got any louder than a murmur. That was the start of the decline. I got so worried about the noise that I decided to leave the music off and then the students complained. They started pushing the boundaries. I’d do anything to try to keep them quiet and they knew it. They started playing up, even the normally compliant kids gave me trouble. I spoke to my senior teacher but he said I just needed to use some discipline. Other teachers avoided talking to me. I could see them looking down their noses at me.”

Keely stopped again. The only sounds were the birds and the gentle rustle of the leaves in the trees. It was another perfect afternoon. Neither Euan nor Ken spoke. She could stop there and they wouldn’t know any different but she’d come this far and knew she had to say the rest.

“One of the boys in my class had an older brother who was a senior boy. He was popular, good at sport and a school captain. He burst into my class one day, wanting to speak to his brother. I asked him to come back at the end of the lesson. He ignored me and, as he left, I asked him to come and see me before he went home. I didn’t expect he would but he did. He came into my class after everyone was gone. He shut the door behind him, roughed up his hair and pulled the shirt out of his trousers. Then he…he came right up to me and said…he said I had the hots for him and that his mates were just outside and if I gave him any trouble he’d tell them I’d come on to him.”

Euan stood up. “The little bugger, I’d…”

“Wait, Euan,” Ken said. “Let her finish.”

Keely kept looking at the river. She heard Euan sit back in his chair.

“Go on, Keely.” Ken’s tone was low and encouraging.

“I went straight to my senior teacher and told him what had happened. He virtually accused me of overreacting and misunderstanding what the student had said, but I knew I hadn’t. The boy was a school captain. It was my word against his. I let it go but that wasn’t the end of it. The boy started harassing me. It was subtle and never when another adult was around. He would bump into me in a corridor, whisper suggestive comments, make rude gestures…One day a group of boys jostled me and he…he squeezed my breast.”

She heard Ken draw in a sharp breath. She couldn’t look at him.

“The spineless little bugger,” Euan snapped.

“Did you report it to anyone?” Ken asked.