Ivory by Steve Merrifield Read Free Book Online

It’s never the same without you kids
there. I’m off to the faculty ‘VIP lounge’ for a break.
Coming?”
    Martin shook
his head and said he had some work to do. They both commiserated
each others losses again and with a wave Donnie minced out of the
room. Martin watched him leave then returned to the large room at
the back of the classroom that served as a storage area. He passed
between the metal storage units stacked with art equipment that
dissected the room into narrow walkways. He reached the back of the
room and dragged a stool out from between some boxes to a cupboard,
he unlocked and opened the doors wide, and sat before the easel set
up inside on the middle shelf. The shelves below were crammed with
his personal art materials. This was his space tucked away at work
where he could snatch moments to create. Both his one-to-one
tutorial students had cancelled and left him the whole afternoon to
work. He reached down to the shelves below and pulled out a large
sketch pad and some pencils.
    He closed his
eyes and held the graphite to the page. Now he would wait for his
hand to move and see what it would create. This was what Jenny
called his ‘free associating’, where he would allow his mind to
wonder across a page and create lines and shapes free of his
conscious control. After a time he would allow himself to open his
eyes and frame and block sections of his work and search for
inspiration. His hand moved across the page.
    Martin’s
thoughts scattered as a soft laughter broke the quiet. He sprung
from his stool and pretended to be checking the shelves for
something. He slid his small wire-framed spectacles down his nose
and peered over them as Richard Hadleigh stumbled backwards into
the store room, propelled by a youthful lad with peroxide yellowed
hair. Hadleigh slammed into one of the shelving units with his arms
pinned outstretched, and there was mischief in the boy’s eyes as he
stared into Hadleigh’s face. The blonde’s hands fell to the waist
of Hadleigh’s jeans and with a twist he popped the buttons of the
fly open. Hadleigh offered a faltering unconvincing protest which
the boy ignored and dropped promptly to his knees. He knelt there,
poised, daring Hadleigh.
    “ We shouldn’t. Not
here ,” Hadleigh breathed.
    The boy’s face
became mockingly serious and he gave an exaggerated shake of his
head. The smirk returned and he yanked Hadleigh’s jeans open and
lunged forward.
    “ You are right, Hadleigh. You shouldn’t,” Martin stated with a
stentorian voice.
    The younger
boy jumped up and stumbled over some of the equipment surrounding
them. Martin watched with a merciless grin as Hadleigh doubled up
to fasten his jeans. He smiled at his perfect timing. “Canvases are
expensive enough without having them dashed with your Greek
love.”
    The two boys
bundled through the door. Hadleigh tried to recover himself, whilst
dragging the boy after him, who after the initial scare didn’t seem
worried at being discovered. “I’m sorry you didn’t win last night,”
he stated. He paused in the doorway his face a deep red and pained
by his own words. “I mean – I thought your piece was very
good…”
    The peroxide
boy sniggered at Hadleigh’s fuel on the fire apology and earned a
flash of genuine anger from Hadleigh as he shrugged him off.
    Martin smiled
as genuinely as he could against the dead feeling he had when he
looked upon Richard. “Thank you. I should never have entered it. It
wasn’t a contender. A wasted opportunity.”
    Richard tucked
strands of his jaw length hair behind his ear, straightened his
back and puffed out his broad chest as he began to recover himself
after his embarrassment. “It was a contender.”
    Martin nodded
curtly. “Congratulations on your achievement.” He smiled in an
attempt to relieve the tension of the moment, but he felt it twist
into something cruel that altered the intended lightness of his
tone. “Now will you kindly take the love that dare not