Mr Fingerton’s Eyes - Chapter 3

Mr Fingerton’s Eyes

A Novel

By Paul McCann

Chapter 3

 The Theatre Of Life  

Once a year at Garden Street school there was a parent teacher night that would engage communication between parents and teachers on the progress of how things were going in the class There was a dinner and sometimes a show that was performed by some of the students . This year the principal approached Mr Fingerton to ask him if he would like to put together a performance with his class on the parent teacher night . In previous years many of the other schoolteachers had put together a performance of one kind or another and this was the first time Mr Fingerton had been asked . His first reaction was to decline then he thought that may not be received well and so accepted the offer and spoke to his class that day in the classroom and within those walls he could tell there were ears listening to what had been said . Suddenly he saw the figure of teacher walk through the classroom followed by a few more and then they all disappeared out of sight  . He thought that somehow those teachers had once played out similar roles and he could almost hear the whispers from their souls encouraging him to do something special and show off the talents of the children to everyone because as schoolboys they had never had the opportunity to perform together in front of an audience .

It was a chance for their innocence to be appreciated as well as their talents and Mr Fingerton as their  teacher had to find a way to allow that to be seen  . It was a time for them and himself to be appreciated  .
Apart from being a schoolteacher Mr Fingerton also had other gifts no one knew about and often seen people from the shadow world . If only he could feature a school play with some of his talented students playing out the roles of ghost teachers from the past and under his direction somehow appease those who had visited him earlier in his classroom . He loved that idea and started to research some literature with a theatrical side that could be acted out by his students .

He thought even adding some songs or even adding music to the sketch that would create a uniform package to be shown on the parent teacher night . He came up with an idea to put on a talent contest in the class just to get a measure on those who could sing or even dance . He had a few students who came from different cultural backgrounds and he asked them if they knew any songs in the language their parents spoke . Things were coming together quickly and then the idea came to him about putting on a play with children from different cultures who worked together to show how in diversity comedy could find a way to shine through . Then with adding a fairy to the script it would also allow innocence to come through . As the winter season was still around, he decided it would be good to put on a show or a play with that in mind . Over the week he wrote  a short play called The Snow Fairy and explained and narrated the story to all the boys in the class .

It told the story of a number of students from different cultures who were all in the same classroom and they had some difficulty getting along and as a result they broke up into small groups segregating themselves from the other groups in the class  . In one of the groups there was a bully who didn’t care about the different cultural backgrounds he just bullied everybody and enjoyed his role as the class bully until one day he was visited by the Snow Fairy who came to teach him a lesson he would never forget .  The fairy turned him into a snowman and left him out in the cold in the school playground in sight of everyone in the school and for the first time in his life he was able to see how it was to be left all alone with no kudos for who he was , He was rejected by others who made fun of him and some of the school boys threw sticks and stones at him and insulted the snowman . Some blackbirds even  pecked at his eyes and his nose . Then after a while some of the teachers discovered a boy had gone missing from his class and all the students began to search for him around the school . The whole school was worried thinking he was injured and looked everywhere calling his name but there was no sign of him anywhere  . All the students came together and even though they were from  different cultures they all worked together to try to find the missing boy who also the school bully . Only now did he see how much people cared for him and how worried everyone was because he had gone missing . As a result , he had a change of heart towards others and he felt a warm glow around him that spread all over his body melting the snow away . Then and there he made a promise to himself that he would never bully any one ever again and then magically all of the snow melted away from around his body and he became a human child once again .The entire school rejoiced when the missing boy was found and they all sang songs in different languages  and danced some cultural dances with one another because the boy who was lost had been found and sitting nearby , watching all of this happen was the  snow fairy who was unseen by everyone at the school .

Mr Fingerton handed the play over to the children in his class and asked them to try and improvise in their own words the story . It started to come together and by the time the parent teacher night arrived the boys had memorised their lines and were ready to perform the play .

On the night of the performance as all the parents arrived at the school assembly hall , Mr Fingerton noticed a group of teachers appear from nowhere and took up a position all around the hall and after the play was over, they all disappeared .

There was a thunderous applause from all the audience as Mr Fingerton and his students all took a bow from the stage  Mr Fingerton’s mother was in the audience and proudly said to everyone around her  .

‘That’s my son up there . “

While dinner was being served, Mr Fingerton began removing some of the props from the stage and he weas joined by some of the other schoolteachers who complemented him on a wonderful performance . It was a great night and everyone there kept making comments about the play and the performance of all the children .

It addressed school bulling , multiculturalism , innocence and also showed  how different cultures can work together to secure a great outcome  . It also showed how children can change their behaviours and become better people playing out new  roles in their lives . That night Garden Street school became more than a school because it had become a theatre of life and for a short while a dream had been sound and the sound of change had been felt .

End Of Chapter 3

.Link to chapter 4

https://www.abctales.com/story/mcscraic/mr-fingerton%E2%80%99s-eyes-chap...

Mr Fingerton’s Eyes

A Novel

By Paul McCann

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