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A NIGHTMARE
In East Africa, six years ago, I had a very frightening nightmare. Now it seems ridiculous, but at the time I was terrified.
In my dream I found myself in the swimming-pool across the road from the hotel in which we were staying. I was sitting on one of the seats around the pool resting before having another swim when I heard a noise behind me. I whipped my head round and saw, suspended in mid-air, a set of teeth ; it seemed as though there was an invisible person there with only his teeth visible. I stood up and walked away from the teeth, but instead of staying still, they followed me as I went. I walked to the cafeteria and bought a bottle of Pepsi-Cola. I sat facing the wall. No one in the cafeteria seemed to have noticed anything, except perhaps my uneasiness. On the wall was a mirror, and on looking into this I saw, plain as daylight, the teeth about twelve feet behind me. My heart jumped when I saw them, and without thinking, I hurled the empty bottle at them. I missed the teeth, but people began to whisper and make signs to each other.
I dashed out of the cafeteria, threw off my shirt, dived into the pool, and headed for the other side. Only once did I look round, and I saw the teeth still behind me. From their movement the teeth looked as though somebody was swimming the crawl, but strangely there was no splashing of the water. Once out of the water, I made straight for the changing cubicles to collect my clothes and leave the swimming pool as fast as possible. While I was putting on my clothes, I heard a knock at the door. I looked under the door but could see nothing at all. Then suddenly the catch on the door began moving slowly open, and I began to pray. Then the door was flung open, and directly in front of me were the teeth looking as if they were grinning. At that moment I remembered my sheath knife which I carried round in case I was attacked. The knife, whose blade was eight inches long, lay beneath the pile of clothes. Quickly I threw them aside and grabbed the hilt of the knife. The teeth were still there grinning at me, but as I drew the knife out of its sheath, the teeth ceased to grin. I lunged at the probable area of the body, and to my relief I felt the blade sink into something. I pushed the knife in right up to the hilt, drew it out, and got a fright. The blade was dripping with blood. By this time the teeth were lying on the ground. After one look at them, I put the knife back in its sheath, and woke up.
I was covered with sweat and my hands were trembling. I looked at my knife, which was on the bedside table. There was no blood on it. I didn't get to sleep for a long time afterwards.
M.T.L.
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SMALL-SQUARE FOOTBALL
A year or two ago we published an account of the Q.V.S. game of football as played on the big square during the period of building, and later of the wall-game which largely superseded big-square football when ball-games were again permitted there after we had occupied the new building. By then football had moved to the small square, and when the number of broken windows caused ball-games on the big square to be banned again, small-square football came into its own as the main " coarse " game at Q.V.S. From one main contributor in 3A, with a few finer points explained by other members of the form, we have this account of the game as it is now played.
Victorians of earlier generations will think of the small square as the sloping space between the main building and the gym, with the old pipe hut occupying a large part of the area. But that space has lost all title. The " small square " now means the rectangle of tarred surface between the swimming-bath and the work-shop and store huts. It has many uses : for A.C.F. parades, pipe-band practices, and parking of visitors' cars on certain occasions. But the boys regard it mainly as a football pitch.
A game starts with the owner of a ball, and a few of his friends arriving there and waiting for the other enthusiasts to gather. If by any chance there are primary boys playing on the square, they are ordered off, with the justification : " You'll be able to do the same next year." The pitch procured and the players gathered, sides are then picked. The two boys recognised as the best players do the picking. They decide who is to have the first pick by the ordinary method of tossing a coin, if anybody has one. If not, the matter is decided by the system of " tick-tacking." The two captains face each other about five paces apart. One of them puts one foot in front of the other, heel touching toe, and says, " Tick ! " The other does the same and says, " Tack ! " The process goes on till one of them, in moving his foot forward, makes it rest on the leading foot of the other. The one with the foot on top gets first pick. The process is done with great rapidity, and takes far longer to explain than it does to carry out. After the teams have been chosen and the game begun, it is still permissible for other players to be added. When two arrive to join the game, and only one is needed to keep the sides even, the two will ask, " Can we go cock-and-hen ? " They agree that one is " cock " and the other " hen." Then the captain who needs a player calls " cock " or " hen," and gets the one who has taken that name. This ritual also is done in a few seconds.
The rules of small-square football differ in some respects from those of ordinary association football. If a ball kicked out of play bounces off the swimming-bath wall and back onto the pitch, play goes straight on without a throw-in. If a ball kicked from behind the half-way line passes between the bricks which mark the goal, no score has been made, because the pitch is so much smaller than an ordinary football field. " Corners " are thrown in and not kicked.
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