Level Three. Work and Play.
Level Three. Work and Play.
By Michelle Lloyd.
Work and Play or variations of it, were all well known and repeated phrases spoken of by New One. He had heard all about the pitfalls of an all work and no play situation and he was not one to be put in any kind of an unbalanced scenario.
New One felt quite well versed on the meaning behind work and play but to be honest he never felt that with him it was ever an issue. At school and at home he got it all sorted out because he had playtime with his leisure pursuits, friends, family and of course Lana his beloved pet and then at work time, he was an absolute stickler for the study book (and never the twain did meet, well at least most of the time anyway!)
New One was at school when one afternoon his two friends R V and Little Herbert got him talking… they were the ones who had engaged him in the chat but when they started he then found it hard to stop. It had all begun in hushed tones and whispers but slowly as the excitement about the breakdown of breaktime events got more detailed, louder did the conversation grow. Before too long the trio were fully conversing and laughing and this had not gone unnoticed by the teacher at the front of the class.
Ahems and meaningful coughing would not cut it, the teacher was actually above them and had fixed them with a stern expression before any of the talkative trio had even noticed her presence. It was then that the sorry and shamed faces took hold.
At first New One had been apologetic. He understood the benefit of keeping his work and play separate but surely, when he had thought about it, the reprimand that they had all received had been slightly over the top. It would have been enough to call them out at the front of the class and the caught in the act scene was not needed. New One actually felt slightly prone to rebellion about it.
The more New One thought about it, the worse he felt. Surely a bit of harmless chatter would not have hurt the class and anyhow discussing their social activities was an important part of school, an area of activity that he felt was not allocated nearly enough time. If they needed a bit more time to adjust to the goings on and getting into of the school yard, then that was hardly their fault.
New One thought about it and he turned it over and over quite a few times in his mind. It all seemed slightly, no extremely unfair to him. Where did their freedom of speech come into all this? That’s what he wanted to know and New One decided that he was not going to let the matter rest there.
At school New One spoke about his concerns to R V and Little Herbert. Two out of the three were at first not too quick to act on it but with a little encouragement all of them were all out for proving a point.
New One started it off by making it apparent talking was not off limits to him in class. Backing him up R V and Little Herbert also followed the lead and they spoke up and out whenever they felt the need. Their teacher rebuked them a few times and then outlined the trip to the head that they would have to make if the disruption from them continued.
Determined and not to be tamed the three carried on conversing and much to the alarm of most of the class, the trio were sent off to see the said head. It did not matter to New One because he felt had proved the point that his freedom of speech was that important to him, similarly loyalty to the cause was displayed by the savvy feeling two of the trio.
On speaking to the head and receiving their allotted think about what you have done times, New One still felt justified. It was on looking through the work that was set them in their thinking time that New One started to wonder if the talking temptation had been worth it or not.
Many of the questions on their papers were based on the afternoon class that they had talked their way through. What made matters worse was that the subject was one that they all loved and felt sad about not being able to get properly involved in.
New One felt looks of shared doubt and realisation shot in his direction and he finally gave in to throwing a few of those himself. In forgetting to keep his work and play separate New One understood that actually one could lose out and in the long term this might not be for his greater good.