During a farming lesson, the second one of the term, Tom and his group were in the calf sheds. They were stroking the calves and getting to know them. One of the calves was standing in a corner by himself. The others were skipping around and jostling each other rather like the students at break time. Tom walked quietly over to the lonely calf. Its ears were hanging down and its eyes were half closed. It had a dirty wet backside. Tom stroked its head gently.

 “What’s the matter with you?” he asked it quietly.

  The calf lifted its head and looked at Tom as if to say, ‘I’m not feeling very well.’

 Tom went back to the group and the teacher. He said he thought there was a poorly calf in the pen and that it should be separated from the others.

 “Yeah, what do you know about it, you a farmer or summat?” said a large loutish boy.

 “Let’s all go over and have a look at the calf,” said the teacher.

 The calf cowered in a corner. The teacher asked the large boy what he could see.

 “Looks like a sheep to me, ha ha ha!” he shouted.

 Some of the others laughed. The teacher turned to another boy.

 “OK David, what do you think?”

 “Looks alright to me – maybe it’s a bit shy, like Tom.”

 More laughter.

 “Mike, your dad’s a farmer, what do you think?” asked the teacher.

 “I think Tom’s right. Its eyes are dull, it’s hanging its head, it’s scouring, that means it’s got upset insides – like us havin’ diarrhoea. Yeah, it’s poorly. We should take it away from the others.”

 “Yeah, yeah, clever clogs!” said the large lad.

 “ Alright, Damian,” said the teacher. It’s OK to get things wrong. That’s why you’re here – to learn. It’s also OK to get things right! Well done Tom and Mike. Very good.”

 Mike walked beside Tom as they made their way back to College.

 “You keep animals then?” Mike asked.

 “Only little ones; ferrets. But they’re all the same, aren’t they?”

 “That’s right,” said Mike, “You gotta look after them careful like, or they start dyin’ on you.”

 Damian over heard the conversation.

 “We lost a puppy last week. One day it was runnin’ around, two days later, dead! My mum was some upset,” he said.

 “Didn’t it look sick or anything?” asked Tom.

 “Well Mum said we should take it to the vet the day before. She said it looked poorly, but my dad said ‘don’t be so daft.’ So did I. Vets’ll con you out of thirty quid soon as look at you.”

 “But now you’ve got no dog,” said Tom.

 Damian looked sad. “No. I had it for my birthday. £350 it cost. It was a great little dog.” He shuffled away.

 Mike and Tom looked at each other. Neither of them was surprised that Damian’s family had lost a puppy. People who don’t respect people are unlikely to respect animals. Mike shrugged his shoulders and the two boys walked back quietly, lost in their own thoughts.