No Place for Nathan: A True Short Story

‘– and I was speaking to Jack,’ he explained. ‘He wants to be my boyfriend but I told him I am not a dirty girl. So I won’t be his girlfriend and that’s that.’

I was confused now. ‘So where has Nathan gone?’ I asked him.

He giggled again. ‘Oh, Miss, you are funny. I’m right here!’ He beamed at me then. ‘I love you, Miss, and I am so glad it’s Monday,’ he announced, jumping up then and throwing his arms tightly around my waist.

I hugged him briefly, then gently prised his arms from around me, crouching down as I did so to talk to him. ‘Good,’ I said, ‘but listen, it’s time to tidy these things away now.’

‘Okay,’ he said, and duly began gathering the paper and scissors and glue up.

‘And Nathan,’ I added, ‘you’ll need to put your hair in your drawer as well.’

‘But I want to wear it, Miss! I told you, I need to be Jenny today.’

I began helping him pop things back into the box. ‘Nathan, I’m sorry, but you can’t wear your hair in school. I mean, it’s fine if it’s just you and me, but not when the others are around. The big boys might laugh at you, mightn’t they? And we don’t want that, do we?’

He spent a few seconds considering this, and I wondered if I should be braced for a small explosion. But it seemed not. ‘Okay, Miss,’ he said, ‘I’ll take it off as soon as I’ve finished tidying up.’ Which he duly did, clearing the desk and putting the box back in its corner, before taking his wig off and placing it very carefully in his drawer.

With such a lot to think about, I took the opportunity to go and grab a coffee from the staff room and see what else I could find out when Jim arrived and was able to take the reins in the Unit. Did Nathan have some mental health issues or did he just have an overactive imagination? I was no psychologist, but there was clearly something psychological going on. He was clearly inhabiting multiple characters – so did that mean he had multiple personalities too? It would certainly fit in with the sometimes inexplicable about-turns in his mood and behaviour – was he acting out different people? Playing different roles as a coping mechanism? There was obviously a lot I needed to learn about this child if I was going to be in a position to get him back into the mainstream.