Herr Laubach or Why He Was Allowed to Stay
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The CBB -> St Scholastika's House
#1: Herr Laubach or Why He Was Allowed to Stay Author: Joyce, Location: Hong Kong PostPosted: Sat Mar 03, 2007 3:30 am
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(I ALWAYS wondered why Herr Laubach was allowed to stay given all the girls he must have traumatized over the years. He was even allowed to throw things at the girls and nothing happened to him.

But dear understanding Miss Annersley never asked him to leave and this is just one idea of why that was…)

Herr Laubach or Why He Was Allowed to Stay

“I hate him!” the sobbing voice said. “He always yells. It’s not my fault I’m not artistic. I’m going to beg mummy to say I don’t need art lessons anymore…”

“Shhh! Miss Annersley is coming”

Hilda Annersley walked calmly by the crying girls and towards her study, the very image of the dignified head mistress.

When she arrived at her desk the façade crumbled and she sank down at her desk and groaned.

One mistake, she thought. One little mistake and I can’t get rid of the man!

***

“Hilda, look what I have!” Madge Bettany, now Russell came into the staffroom brandishing a bottle.

“The finest brandy. One of the old girls sent it to me. Come on let’s try it!”

Hilda demurred. She had classes soon. But the eager look in Madge’s eyes was hard to resist. Poor girl, she thought. I guess she needs a break from Mr I’m-always-right Jem Russell.

In a trice the glasses were out and the brandy was freely distributed. The two ladies gradually got more and more plastered and their laughter started to sound loud even to them.

“Let’sh go my room,” Hilda suggested between giggles. “Noone will dishturb ush there.”

Laughing and clutching the bottle and glasses the two stumbled down the corridor. “Shhh,” Madge said drunkenly. “The girlsh will hear ush.”

Hilda nodded and the two swayed down the length of the corridor holding each other up and laughing hysterically.

When they reached her room, the two ladies collapsed on the bed. Madge poured out more for both of them “I propose a toasht,” she said attempting to stand. “To Hilda Annershley, who putsh up with Joey.”

“Thank you.” Hilda said stumbling to her feet. “And to Madge Bettany who left her with ush.”

“Russhell, Russhell,” Madge said. “I married Jem remember? I’ll tell you a shecret – he got me at a bad time. He’d jusht reshcued ush and I felt vulnerable. I had sho many plansh…”

Madge cried.

“Oh shtop! Have shome more.”

The laughter came back as the brandy bottle emptied and the two women became their jolly selves again.

“Miss Annersley where are you?” the loud voice of the German art master echoed round the school sending girls scattering to the far corners.

Hilda woke with a start. What had happened? Why was her head pounding. Why was she lying on her bed. Why was Madge here?

She slowly focused on the now empty bottle and the two glasses. Oh no, how long had they been there.

“Wait,” she said gritting her teeth to the splitting headache. “I’m coming now.”

“Miss Annersley, are you all right?” the voice came closer.

“German, always in German,” Hilda muttered. “Why can’t the man learn to speak any other language?”

Before she could muster up the German to tell him she was fine, the art master burst in her room.

He saw it all – the brandy bottle, the glasses, one lady asleep with flushed cheeks, the other trying to look stand up and falling back down. And the smell. The unmistakable smell of alcohol.

“Oh, oh… I’ll wait here,” he said stumbling out.

Hilda groaned. She forced herself to stand and clear the room before going to the staff splashery and dousing her face with water.

Once back to her senses, she went to the class who had been taking advantage of her absence to play a noisy game of cops and robbers, thus attracting the attention of the art master.

She restored order and let them read very quietly for the rest of the lesson.

***

“Herr Laubach, I feel I must ask you to never enter my private room again. That was inexcusable. However I will promise to say nothing if you promise it will never happen again,” Hilda had decided attack was the best strategy. After all how could he explain what he was doing in her room.

Herr Laubach looked at her and smiled. He raised an eyebrow and looked sideways at the neat tray set out on the staffroom sideboard – the wine decanter and glasses.

“Very well if you insist,” he said, deliberately speaking in German though Hilda had spoken in English. “But…” This time the look towards the wine was deliberate.

Hilda looked aghast – no, he wouldn’t, she thought. Looking at him, she thought, he would. He needs a job and who else would employ such a bad tempered man?

She dismissed him with a final attempt to be dignified but they both knew who won the encounter.

He smiled as he walked away barking at a few girls as her went. He had a job for life.

****

Hilda groaned again as she remembered that horrible moment so long ago.

When Madge had woken up, she hustled the woman out of the school as quickly as possible, snapping at Joey who wanted to have tea with her sister. Neither lady had ever mentioned that incident ever again.

But it was enough – she knew he had enough to ruin them both. Madge, now Lady Russell and Hilda, now head mistress, had to be seen as examples of decorum and respectability. And she would not put it past him to say they were doing more than lying on top of a bed.

Over the years, girl after girl had come before her in tears after a lesson with the art master begging to be let off lessons, only to be dismissed curtly.

Irate parent after irate parent had written complaining about him only to be ignored.

One girl who Miss Annersley had been quite fond of, had ended up in years of therapy, her dreams of being an artist shattered because he hadn’t liked her abstract displays of dead sheep. She was relieved when the girl recovered and had a wonderful career dangling in glass prisons over the Thames.

But as the years went by the girls realized that complaining about Herr Laubach was a waste of time. He was protected.

Hilda made a few weak stands to ask him to be nicer to the girls but every time he would look significantly at the wine decanter and once even mimed a person taking a drink and then drunkenly lolling in the chair.

We can’t get rid of him, she thought desperately. I could shoot him! The art rooms are far away and there are thousands of girls and parents who hated him – the police would be years interviewing them all.

Then Naomi Elton came.

Of course, Hilda had had to scold her about taking the whole stick out in the snow. But it was the mildest scolding she had ever delivered given that she was too busy trying not to hug the girl and offer her half the school fees for the year. Oh heck, give her all of it!

The final interview with Herr Laubach was, of course, as difficult as the man could make it.

“Of course, I will leave,” he said smoothly. “I am an old man now anyway. But I have nowhere to live and no savings.”

How can he have no savings? Hilda thought. He’s been living rent free at the school with practically no expenses for the past 20 years!

“A furnished chalet would be nice,” he continued. “And perhaps a nice wine and glass set.”

“Of course the school will see you looked after properly,” Hilda said through gritted teeth. They better, she thought. The dratted man!

So it came to be that Herr Laubach left the Chalet School. But not really. Hilda was never to be truly rid of him. He lived on next to the school until he died a natural death years later.

But was it natural?

That’s another story …
#2:  Author: Fatima, Location: Sunny Qatar PostPosted: Sat Mar 03, 2007 3:38 am
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Laughing Laughing

Ah, now it all makes perfect sense! I hope you're planning to write the other story...

Thanks Joyce.
#3:  Author: Chair, Location: Rochester, Kent PostPosted: Sat Mar 03, 2007 7:03 am
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Thanks, Joyce. That really explains a lot of things that I had never thought of before!
#4:  Author: Fiona Mc, Location: Bendigo, Australia PostPosted: Sat Mar 03, 2007 7:48 am
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That was great. Do we ever get to hear the truth about how he died?
#5:  Author: Liane, Location: Manchester PostPosted: Sat Mar 03, 2007 8:44 am
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That was great, thank you.
#6:  Author: leahbelle, Location: Kilmarnock PostPosted: Sat Mar 03, 2007 1:22 pm
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Would love to hear the real story behind how he died! Thanks, Joyce.
#7:  Author: Clare, Location: Liverpool PostPosted: Sat Mar 03, 2007 1:23 pm
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Brilliant. I loved this bit:

Quote:
“Russhell, Russhell,” Madge said. “I married Jem remember? I’ll tell you a shecret – he got me at a bad time. He’d jusht reshcued ush and I felt vulnerable. I had sho many plansh…”
#8:  Author: JustJen, Location: waiting for spring training PostPosted: Sun Mar 04, 2007 4:29 am
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Sequel please!
#9:  Author: Loryat,  PostPosted: Mon Mar 05, 2007 2:52 pm
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Quote:
One girl who Miss Annersley had been quite fond of, had ended up in years of therapy, her dreams of being an artist shattered because he hadn’t liked her abstract displays of dead sheep. She was relieved when the girl recovered and had a wonderful career dangling in glass prisons over the Thames.

Lol. Very Happy Loved this!
#10:  Author: Ruth B, Location: Oxford, UK PostPosted: Mon Mar 05, 2007 2:56 pm
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This was my favourite bit:
Quote:

“I propose a toasht,” she said attempting to stand. “To Hilda Annershley, who putsh up with Joey.”
#11:  Author: Joyce, Location: Hong Kong PostPosted: Tue Mar 06, 2007 10:52 am
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I'm so glad you guys liked this bit of silliness Very Happy

But you seriously want a sequel? I'll work on it - let me think of a decent way to kill him off first.

Cheers,
Joyce
#12:  Author: Joyce, Location: Hong Kong PostPosted: Tue Mar 06, 2007 10:59 am
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ideas on how he might have died are welcome.

Because in Fued we are only told he died. Unless there's more in the
hardback about his demise.

I never liked Herr Laubach. Maybe because I had a teacher who was very like him - lost his temper easily but was never fired because he was considered a brilliant teacher

All I know is that my marks plummetted that year because I so was terrified of him I never did any work. No work = no criticism. That's how my mind works Smile

Cheers,
Joyce
#13: Re: Herr Laubach or Why He Was Allowed to Stay Author: Lisa A., Location: North Yorkshire PostPosted: Wed Mar 07, 2007 10:06 pm
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Joyce wrote:

but every time he would look significantly at the wine decanter and once even mimed a person taking a drink and then drunkenly lolling in the chair.


Lovely - I can just picture this - and Miss Annersley's expression when he did it! Yes please to more of this.

My friend's son has a maths teacher a lot like Herr Laubach and when she went to see the head to complain, the head said that the teacher "does use bully-boy tactics, but he gets results" and refused to take any action. Maybe there is more to the situation than we think!
#14:  Author: Elle, Location: Peterborough PostPosted: Thu Mar 08, 2007 10:30 pm
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Brilliant!
#15: Re: Herr Laubach or Why He Was Allowed to Stay Author: James,  PostPosted: Tue Jul 31, 2007 10:53 pm
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Lisa A. wrote:


My friend's son has a maths teacher a lot like Herr Laubach and when she went to see the head to complain, the head said that the teacher "does use bully-boy tactics, but he gets results" and refused to take any action. Maybe there is more to the situation than we think!


For a second there I thought I taught your friend's son, but I don't think anyone would say I got results! Embarassed

Good story Very Happy
#16:  Author: La Petite Em, Location: Cheltenham PostPosted: Thu Aug 02, 2007 5:23 pm
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We HAVE to know what happens next. I never thought of this before, but looking back it should have been a question that was niggling away at my brain! Thanks Joyce Very Happy
#17:  Author: Rosalin, Location: Swansea PostPosted: Fri Aug 03, 2007 8:50 am
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Laughing Laughing Laughing

I never wondered about Herr Laubach getting away with bullying the girls, but now I understand.

Thanks Joyce.
#18:  Author: wheelchairprincess, Location: Oxfordshire, UK PostPosted: Sat Aug 18, 2007 10:45 pm
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HOW did I miss this before?! Tis great, love it.

Thanks!
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