Free Selby Scrambled by Duncan Ball Page A

do anything but I must have. And it’s theanswer to all my problems!’ Miles cried. ‘Sometimes I amaze myself. Now if I work hard and save and budget everything will be fine. I’ll just pay myself what the council owes me now.’
    Selby watched as the accountant transferred the right amount of money.
    ‘Goodbye, Selby,’ he said, giving Selby a pat. ‘You were a very naughty dog just then but you kept me from making a terrible mistake. You’ll never know how much you helped me.’
    ‘No,’ Selby thought, as the accountant walked to his car,
‘you’re
the one who will never know how much I helped you. Goodbye and good luck.’

SELBY ON AIR
    ‘Let’s talk about school holidays,’ the man on the radio said. ‘Do kids need breaks from school? If you have any thoughts on this, give us a ring. This is Mike Balistik, known around here as Magic Mike, coming to you from Radio OK4U, the Heart of the Bush.’
    ‘Hey, I like the sound of this guy,’ Selby thought, as he lay in the lounge room listening to the radio.
    ‘Why do we pay for schools and then leave them empty for months of the year?’ Mike continued. ‘Wouldn’t kids learn more if they went to school every day?’
    ‘Good point, Mike,’ Selby thought.
    ‘And what do kids do on holidays? Nothing.
    They watch TV. They sleep-in in the morning. Parents have to miss work to stay at home and look after them. They waste their time — and everyone else’s. Do they learn anything on their holidays? Of course not.’
    ‘That’s true,’ Selby thought. ‘I hadn’t ever considered that.’
    ‘And when they leave the house it’s to get into trouble. I say keep them in school and out of trouble. Okay, do we have any callers on the line, Richard?’
    ‘Putting Laurence through, Mike.’
    ‘Hello, Laurence.’
    ‘Hello, Magic Mike, I love your show,’ a man said. ‘It’s so great to hear someone who’s not afraid to speak his mind.’
    ‘Thanks, Laurence. There isn’t enough of it these days, is there?’
    ‘That’s for sure. Mike, you know how you were saying that kids should always go to school and that? Over in Bogusville some kids were on school holidays and they went back to their school and broke a window.’
    ‘Is that right, Laurence? Well, it wouldn’t happen if we kept them in school. Thanks forthat, Laurence.
(Click)
Anyone else on the line, Richard?’
    ‘I remember that broken window,’ Selby thought. ‘Willy and Billy did it and boy did they get into trouble!’
    ‘We’ve got Camilla on the line, Mike.’
    ‘Hello, Camilla. What do you think about getting rid of school holidays?’
    ‘Mr Balistik, I’m a teacher and I think that kids need time off from school. They need to get away from school work to get their energy back.’
    ‘Hey, that sounds like Camilla Bonzer,’ Selby thought, ‘the librarian at Bogusville Primary School. She’s got a point.’
    ‘Do you know what, Camilla?’ Magic Mike said. ‘I think you’re wrong. You just want the kids to have holidays so
you
can have lots of holidays.’
    ‘No, don’t you see how important it is —’
    ‘I can see all right! I can see that you’re an idiot! An idiot who only cares about yourself!’
    ‘But-but-but —’
    ‘But nothing. You’d let the kids off for half the year if it was up to you.’
    ‘No, I wouldn’t. It’s just that —’
    ‘Yes, you would! You’d have them going to school for one month every year so that you could go on holidays for the rest of the time. Well, it’s just not good enough. There are people who are right and there are people who are wrong and you are wrong wrong
wrong,
lady! Wake up to yourself! Cut her off, Richard, she’s an idiot.’
    (Click)
    ‘What’s wrong with me?’ Mike said with a sigh. ‘I just think that people ought to do a good day’s work for a good day’s pay.’
    ‘Now wait, Mike,’ Selby thought. ‘Camilla had a point. You didn’t even listen to her side of it.’
    ‘And now let’s talk about