Hobnail Boots

In school there was a pupil, a boy called Tony. Let me tell you about him… Although baptized Anthony, everyone knew him as Tony. Although he wasn’t a bad child, not really, he was always doing something that he shouldn’t be doing, to divert people’s attention from the bugbear of life – his height – or lack of it. You see, Tony was small. While Tony was attending primary school, this strategy worked well for him. No harm ensued from the many bold things he did, to impress his taller friends, but when he progressed to grammar school, his challenging behavior was seen in an entirely different light. And it had far reaching consequences, culminating in a set of events that were talked about for many a long year after they happened...