Cafeteria riot

The students rioted last Sunday night. I heard a great calamity going on around 6pm - wild hoots and hollers during a torrential rain storm. I figured the boys were playing an intense game of rugby in the mud so I did not give the clamor another thought. I hear wild shouts all the time - they have become background noise, like a honking car horn. As I approached the administration building the following morning, I was struck by an eerie silence and students huddling in packs. I slipped into the staff room just in time for an emergency meeting.

The food supply had been dwindling for weeks. Portions have gradually gotten smaller - the kids did not get much to begin with. Tempers were beginning to fester. The powder keg blew Sunday night.

The attack was premeditated. The upper-class males stormed the mess hall and began flinging trays of food in all directions. Said trays were smashed to bits. The mess coordinator tried to stop the onslaught, slapping any student that came within his wingspan. The boys spared him and moved onto the bakery.

The baked bread (called scones) was scattered outside in the rain. The baker, fearing he may be implemented in the revolt, demanded that the students strike him. He has a problem with his spleen, or at least he thinks it is his spleen, so he requested a head shot. His wish was granted.

With the bakery and cafeteria in shambles, the boys released any remaining angst by shouting up towards the storm clouds. The storm shouted right back. The girls had just arrived from their barracks for dinner to witness the aftermath. The rains continued to thunder down. No one from the faculty left their homes to quell the situation, probably because of the storm. The kids eventually tired of the revolution and returned to their dormitories, soaked and starving.

The administration responded by sending the students home for two days (it takes some students one full day just to get home). No one was reprimanded and no investigation launched to discover the ring leaders. Only an unspoken consensus that the students had reason to rise up so let's forgive and forget. During the hiatus, the provincial government 'found' some money and put it in the school account to pay off outstanding debts. The school truck toured the local villages and collected kau kau donations - an act of kindness that will not be forgotten... by the villagers. The students are back now. Order restored.

I was on a PMV yesterday with a returning student and we shared this
exchange:

'So, what do you usually get to eat during the week'

He told me.

'Damn. Not much balance in that diet.'

'Well, we've been told before that we are in school to learn, not to eat'

I pondered this awhile and we sat in silence. Finally, I asked:

'So what have you been doing for the past few days?'

He looked at me and calmly said 'eating.'

The cruel irony is that Rosary over 40 acres of lush farm land.