From the Other Side
I briefly worked as a Teaching Assistant in Australia where I was regularly used as an extra herder on school outings.

One boy was a real nutcase, a proper 15-year old ADD headjob, who just had an overwhelming compulsion to fuck around with absolutely everything. I'd known him for a while, and he was actually an ok guy - but he just couldn't help being involved in whatever was least likely to look good at any particular time. He would always be caught, and didn't seem to care, no matter how much trouble he got in.

Anyway, his politics class had a school trip arranged to the High Court in Sydney. Not the most ideal of environments. I was given a simple brief - watch this one kid to the exclusion of all others. I was not to let him out of my reach for even a second, no matter what was going on. I was in fear and trepidation for the chances of a smooth trip, but it went ahead.

I managed to get him across Sydney on public transport with no major mishaps. But then we arrived at the court itself. You had to go through airport-style security to get in. Troublekid puts his bag through a scanner, and an alarm goes off. We get sat down and the bag is taken away by a security person. Troublekid really starts to sweat, which is unusual, as he's never been worried about consequences before.

Eventually a couple of Aussie FBI-types appear and explain that they have found traces of explosive in his bag, and that they need to question him alone immediately. They whisk him off. I wait.

About 2 hours later he is escorted back by the men in black. He is pale, shaken and very quiet. He does not have his bag or it's contents. The men say there will be no further action. He stays very well behaved for the rest of the trip, and then on for about a week after. He never reveals what went on, just looking terrified whenever I ask, and I never mention anything to anyone beyond him getting into a bit of trouble. I guess he'd learnt about as much of a lesson as would ever be required without teachers or parents knowing.

Still want to know what he'd been up to.
(meepmeep is, Mon 11 Dec 2006, 17:15, Reply)