Trying to find a story

[Nigel Gordon]

Not sure where to put this post, we could do with a find story subject.

I am trying to find a story which I am certain is on AD. It is based in a public school which I is in the north of England or might even be in Scotland. The main character in the story befriends a new boy who has been sent to the school as somewhere to hide him. The boy is taken ill and the main character's intervention saves him. The story ends on a farm in the South of England in a shoot out.

I read this story years ago and it impressed me with its plot line, which I recommended to a friend. He's asked me about it and I can't now remember its title or the author. Can anybody help?

 

[Pedro]

I cannot think of a story that fits entirely, but there are three by Mihangel, here on AD that variously fit parts of your scenario, but not the whole, in particular not the shoot out on the farm. 

A Time : Where the main character had previously helped the younger survive in a Japanese POW camp. There is a shoot out but it is at the school (Yarborough)

A Younger Orogeny: Where the younger boy is being hidden from his pedophile father. 

Kingdom Come: Where the main character is the new boy and befriends another boy who appears younger and is ostracised by the other pupils.  

All good reads, even if not the one you are seeking.

[Nigel Gordon]

Thanks Pedro, I had looked at all three of the ones you mentioned as Mihangel was my first choice for an author about a public school, but none of them fit. Am now working my way through Joel. Not found it yet, but enjoying the reading.

 

[Rutabaga]

22 hours ago, Nigel Gordon said:

Am now working my way through Joel. Not found it yet, but enjoying the reading.

I am pretty sure it's not Joel based on past reading.  But his writing is a hoot, so your research will not be unpleasant.

Your description conjured memories of pieces of other stories here, but nothing I am familiar with really fills the bill.

Might it be in one of Michael Arram's stories?

R

 

[Cole Parker]

I too saw some of Mihangel in it, but some of your description didn't fit with anything of his I've read.  Close, but no cigar.  I don't think I've read the story you described.

 

C

[TomC]

I can think of at least two stories where a character is taken ill and his roommate cares for him, but both take place at American universities, so that's not right.  I can think of one story where a character is sent to school in Scotland, but it was more for discipline than hiding out, so that's not right, either.

The description sounded familiar, but maybe it was just the different parts that were familiar and maybe I never read the story you are searching for!

-Tom

[Merkin]

On 12/25/2021 at 5:18 PM, Nigel Gordon said:

Not sure where to put this post, we could do with a find story subject.

I am trying to find a story which I am certain is on AD. It is based in a public school which I is in the north of England or might even be in Scotland. The main character in the story befriends a new boy who has been sent to the school as somewhere to hide him. The boy is taken ill and the main character's intervention saves him. The story ends on a farm in the South of England in a shoot out.

I read this story years ago and it impressed me with its plot line, which I recommended to a friend. He's asked me about it and I can't now remember its title or the author. Can anybody help?

 

I, too, remember that story Nigel--only bits and pieces, however, and sadly not enough to help you with your query.  However maybe between the two of us we can jog someone else's memory.  The additional detail I remember:  the fugitive student is being hidden from an uncle in Africa who wants to take over the family lands and fortune after a dreadful slaughter of the new boy's family.  The boy is the only survivor.  Our main character befriends him and becomes his protector, a role enhanced by the main character's involvement with the school's cadet corps (? what is it called in England?) and and this leads later to identification of the new boy's pursuers while they are on a cadet  training exercise. Later in the story both boys are at the main character's rather lavish family farm while the rest of the family are away, and they are forced to defend the holding from a team of assassins deployed to kill the new boy.  I think there may also be a later scene set in Africa... it's all very hazy, and I'm somewhat led to believe I read it on a site like IOMfAtS.  I hope that helps to add some pertinent detail to your query?

[Nigel Gordon]

30 minutes ago, Merkin said:

I, too, remember that story Nigel--only bits and pieces, however, and sadly not enough to help you with your query.  However maybe between the two of us we can jog someone else's memory.  The additional detail I remember:  the fugitive student is being hidden from an uncle in Africa who wants to take over the family lands and fortune after a dreadful slaughter of the new boy's family.  The boy is the only survivor.  Our main character befriends him and becomes his protector, a role enhanced by the main character's involvement with the school's cadet corps (? what is it called in England?) and and this leads later to identification of the new boy's pursuers while they are on a cadet  training exercise. Later in the story both boys are at the main character's rather lavish family farm while the rest of the family are away, and they are forced to defend the holding from a team of assassins deployed to kill the new boy.  I think there may also be a later scene set in Africa... it's all very hazy, and I'm somewhat led to believe I read it on a site like IOMfAtS.  I hope that helps to add some pertinent detail to your query?

Yes, Merkin, that fits, it is the same story. I've got a feeling that it might well be on IOMFATS, as I think I have looked at every possible story that might fit on here and did not find it. 

[Cole Parker]

You might try contacting Timmy.  He may remember it.  Or it could be asked about in his forum.

[Rutabaga]

Bits and pieces of this sound tantalizingly familiar, but not enough to crystallize into anything useful.

At this point, I am hoping that someone will ride to the rescue because now I want to read the story.

R

[Nigel Gordon]

SUCCESS!!!!

Tim at IOMFATS found it. The story is Thilo by Andrew Foote

It is to be found at https://iomfats.org/storyshelf/hosted/andrew-foote/thilo/01.html

I am fairly sure it is posted elsewhere, as I think read this story before I was looking at stuff on IOMFATS.

[Rutabaga]

5 hours ago, Nigel Gordon said:

Tim at IOMFATS found it. The story is Thilo by Andrew Foote

Andrew Foote looks like quite a prolific author as reflected on his main story page:  https://iomfats.org/storyshelf/hosted/andrew-foote/

R

[Merkin]

Hooray!  Exactly as I remember, and now I can read it again.  Woo hoo, to quote a three-toed flightless bird.
 

[Rutabaga]

Just finished "Thilo" at IOMFATS.  It was an enjoyable, if somewhat uneven, read, with some quirkiness such as a major focus on alcohol consumption by the teenagers in the story.  Not sure yet whether it has convinced me to try any of the other Andrew Foote stories also available at this site.

R

[Cole Parker]

Thanks!

C

[Nigel Gordon]

8 hours ago, Rutabaga said:

Just finished "Thilo" at IOMFATS.  It was an enjoyable, if somewhat uneven, read, with some quirkiness such as a major focus on alcohol consumption by the teenagers in the story.  Not sure yet whether it has convinced me to try any of the other Andrew Foote stories also available at this site.

R

The alcohol consumption by the teenagers is probably pretty accurate for English teenagers, especially those at a Public School. You need to remember it is not illegal for teens or younger to drink alcohol over here, it is only illegal for them to buy it.  

[Rutabaga]

5 hours ago, Nigel Gordon said:

The alcohol consumption by the teenagers is probably pretty accurate for English teenagers, especially those at a Public School. You need to remember it is not illegal for teens or younger to drink alcohol over here, it is only illegal for them to buy it.  

Regardless of the legality or lack thereof (and the story hints that it was at least possibly questionable), I simply found it weird that the author devoted so much attention to the subject . . . and that the boys and their teachers all seemed to like getting hammered on a regular basis.  If there was some point to be made I missed it.  From a personal standpoint, I have never been a fan of hard liquor (distilled spirits), and it surprised me that 15-year-olds were knocking back Scotch and gin with such regularity.

I'm not condemning the story for it; it just didn't seem to serve any useful purpose in advancing the story line.

R

[Camy]

Here's a short story that, I like to think, uses gin as a plot point rather than a common or garden libation.

http://www.awesomedude.com/camy/fellow_travellers/index.php

[Nigel Gordon]

On 1/26/2022 at 2:38 PM, Rutabaga said:

 

I'm not condemning the story for it; it just didn't seem to serve any useful purpose in advancing the story line.

R

It served a major purpose  but you probably needed to be English to appreciate it. The boys drinking habits and the drinks they were drinking clearly identified them as a particular class of English society. Even the choice of drinks in the common room, identified the social ranking of the boys relative to each other. I have noticed that Foote uses these unspoken class indicators a lot in his writing. Unfortunately this does rather restrict appreciation of his writing to those from the same social background. I would guess a lot of what his is writing just does not make sense to people outside of England. I think even the Scots might find it difficult.

Of course that raises the question of how parochial a writer should be? At the moment I am in the final editing stages of 'Being Johnny' and a lot of the discussion between myself and my editors is around questions of how understandable something I have written is to an American readership. My own view is to make it as understandable as I can within the context but still keep an English feel to the story. This has resulted in me having to write passages to explain things which to any English reader would be obvious. I suspect Andrew Foote has taken a somewhat different approach. He writes in a very English style for an English audience. 

[Rutabaga]

11 minutes ago, Nigel Gordon said:

The boys drinking habits and the drinks they were drinking clearly identified them as a particular class of English society. Even the choice of drinks in the common room, identified the social ranking of the boys relative to each other.

You are certainly correct that that sort of thing would have gone (and indeed did go) right over my head.

And I have no doubt that there are innumerable bits of American culture that would mystify, or be missed by, those from other cultures.  

It still leaves me wondering what the actual story purpose would have been.  We already know that this is an exclusive and apparently quite pricey school, with the assumption that the students come from relatively privileged backgrounds.  Stephen is a Viscount, although he seems to resist at least some of the implications of that title.  He shows pluck along with his occasionally short fuse.  It's not clear what light his drinking habits might shed on his character in addition.

I have become far more accustomed to the British way of expressing things as a result, among other things, of reading stories here.  Apart from terminology differences, such as "living room" here and "lounge" there, there are verb form differences.  In the US we would not say something like, "I found Marge and her sister sat in front of the television."  We would use the present participle, "sitting," rather than "sat."  Similarly, we use the present subjunctive as follows:  "Bill suggested that we go after lunch." rather than "Bill suggested that we went after lunch" where "went" is not subjunctive (I'm not really sure what it is).  And so on.  I've gotten used to it.  I assume British teachers would not have marked either of my examples wrong.  In the US they would have.

I will almost certainly be appreciative of any efforts you undertake to make your new story more understandable to Yanks.  Although I do not recall any particular challenges with the previous ones.  

R

[Cole Parker]

I would think anyone conversant with the English language, no matter his country of origin or level of education, would have a problem with "Bill suggested that we went after lunch".

There are many examples of British vs. American usage differences, and of course I can't think of any as I write this.  But I see them all the time reading Brit stories, just as I'm sure Brits do reading ours.

May the best man win.  😏

C

 

[Rutabaga]

2 hours ago, Cole Parker said:

I would think anyone conversant with the English language, no matter his country of origin or level of education, would have a problem with "Bill suggested that we went after lunch".

No question.  It just sounds odd to my American-biased ears, especially after my struggles with subjunctive when learning French (where it figures more prominently).

I can think of other British expressions that Yanks don't use but seem useful:

"There, that's the food sorted."

"The weather pretty much put paid to our travel plans."

"It was gone ten when we finally went upstairs."

"Come through to the dining room."

”Thank heavens we finally got shot of that bore.”

R

[Nigel Gordon]

It is not so much about the meaning of language that is the problem, it is the cultural information that a passage can contain that is not available to anyone who does not know that culture. There is an opening line to a story which goes:

"It took me twenty minutes to walk back home from Lord's, having spent the afternoon watching the last match of the Ashes."

As an Englishman that tells me certain things. For a start the character is reasonably well off. They have to be to be living in 20 min walking distance of Lord's. They are in London, that is where Lord's is located. It is high summer, they are playing cricket at Lords. England had been playing Australia, it is the Ashes a test match series between England and Australia. That I get immediately from the information in the sentence. However, there is also a lot implied. I can make a fairly good guess at how the character would be dressed. I can also make a fairly good guess at the weather conditions. All of this I get because of my immersion in English culture.

If I read a similar line referring to a baseball ground in the States, it would be meaningless to me, just as the above quotation is probably fairly meaningless to most Americans.

[Rutabaga]

I confess that the only thing I would have gleaned from your example sentence, without more context, was a suspicion that cricket was involved -- solely on the basis of the word "match."

As for a baseball location in the U.S. (we would call it a ballpark or ballfield, or a baseball stadium), the one thing you can be fairly confident about is that the attendees would not be walking to or from the game.  Over here our feet never touch the ground.

R 

[Cole Parker]

I don't mind the 'gone ten' part so much.  It's the half ten that gets me.   They never specify if that means night-thirty or ten-thirty, and I'm sure they only say it that way to muddle the Yanks.

C