The Second Hand Man
April 7th, 1969

Mygrandfather had once explained to me the concept involved, in playing chess,that is the required approach essential for beating your opponent.

‘Chess is agame of strategy where you need to be able to think a few moves ahead of youropponent. The more moves ahead that you are able to think, the greater youradvantage.’

The statementis, of course, undeniably true!

Of course, agood strategist is one that can use that very same principle in the greatestmatch of all – the game of life!

I have donejust that in the case of the cat and mouse game that Detective Inspector Talliswas playing today at our school.

I hadanticipated the very move that he made, and had already prepared myself for thecounter attack – or in this case (As circumstances force me to play the mouse),a subtle deceptive move that would gain me a strengthened position on theboard. I will, in this case, settle for a draw – a stalemate, if you will!

After recesstoday, the entire male contingent of our school was called down to the largehall for a special assembly.

I was probably the only student in the entiregroup who knew what the whole strange foray had been all about.

All the doorsexcept one were closed, and we had to file out of that single exit in a sloworderly fashion.

As I nearedthe doorway, I could see exactly what I had been expecting – Kowalski wascarefully scrutinizing each student’s face as they passed by him. Tallis waswaiting patiently at his back in the hope that a positive identification wouldbe shortly forthcoming.

Yep, thiswhole thing was nothing more than a mass juvenile police lineup! It hadn’ttaken Tallis long to figure out that if Kowalski had been telling the truth,then the child perpetrator that he had told him about, would surely be from oneof the nearby, local schools.

There was noway I could have run away and hidden without the possibility of bringingattention to myself.

And ifdiscovered it would have been an obvious and screaming admission of guilt. Ihad therefore decided to throw some calculated caution to the wind – hiding inplain sight seemed like a far more logical approach to the problem.

As I nearedthe doorway, I removed a comb from my pocket and hastily changed my usual sidepath into a middle one. Then, just before stepping through the door I donned theHarry spectacles and pushed my tongue under my top lip to create a falseoverbite. I wanted to appear as bookish and timid as possible. I needed toremove all traces of the confident, brazen character that had found itnecessary to trip a one-legged man in order to gain his prize and make anunhindered getaway.

I knew alsothat if I tried to turn my gaze away from that of Kowalski’s, that it wouldalso be a blaring indication of guilt.

I frowned andstared him straight in the eyes and thought, ‘Who is this one-legged bum, andwhy the hell is he eyeballing me in that way?’ That, after all, must have beenthe thought of each and every kid passing him by. Maybe not in the exact samewords, but certainly of the same basic connotation.

I had smiledinwardly as his gaze had lingered on my face far less than most of the otherkids.

Safely pasthis and Tallis’ scanning eyes, I quickly returned the spectacles to my pocketbefore any of the kids could notice my sudden need for ocular accessories. Ididn’t need their curiosity to spoil my well-planned subterfuge after it hadbeen so well executed.

Back in classI managed to breathe a long sigh of relief.

I later sawTallis and Kowalski, through the classroom window, heading towards the parkingarea. They both seemed dejected.

I smiledagain – this time on the outside.

I had always thought it silly and ridiculous that Superman could disguisehimself by a slight change of hairstyle and the donning of a pair ofspectacles. I guess I’ve been proved wrong – and happily so too.

Eat your heart out, Clark Kent!