The good old days

When I was eight the school I went to was Bulli public and the teacher I had was  Mr Gardner. He was cruel and I made the mistake of telling dad that he was hitting me. Well dad said to him if I caused trouble to give it to me and he did, every day without fail. I had a friend in the girl next to me and she did my homework for me as she didn't like the beatings I got at the hands of this fellow. I had no one to turn to. Diane was my saviour and was a saint and the only person that had ever helped me. I saw Diane  many years later and I recounted how she save me from many a beating .She didn't remember that but said he was the most hideous man she ever knew as he would throw sixpences on the floor and if we went to touch them he would beat us with a stick on our backs while we tried to get the money , as I said before we were poor and any money we got kept us from starvation and he knew it. I never saw him again after I left that school and if I had I think he might have been the one to get the beating, I think I was lucky in that if I did he might got badly hurt, and he would have had the satisfaction of seeing me hurt again...That is the only time in my life that I wanted revenge,  I  guess he is dead now and I will never see him again. I do hope he suffered... Am I bitter  No I am happy for the experience as I am a stronger person for it. Another teacher I had like that was the sport teacher in high school and he picked on the weaker students, the ones who were over weight or were small. and the ones who didn't have good gross motor skills. The geography teacher would cane me on a regular basis and I fixed him I deliberately failed that class and would not work for him as it didn't make a difference whether I passed or failed but I did know the work. I had dyslexia and I am partially blind and could not read or write until later in life when I taught myself,