Al Jeebra was the best maths teacher that class 4C had ever had. His mental arithmetic was unparalleled, and in less than 2 seconds he could tell you that 4698 x 36.3 is… Well, whatever it is he could tell you. His left arm was of no significant importance, but his nostrils were 3% larger than that of his brother’s nostrils. Although this went largely unnoticed in the school community, he was nevertheless shy about his appearance. The clever white man wore thick brown glasses that looked as if they had seen more than the eyes that rested below his big busy eyebrows, which held as many secrets as it did biscuit crumbs.

But what was it about Mr Jeebra that made him so appealing to the children of 4C? Was it the fact that every day he brought an apple into work but not once did he ever eat the apple? Could it be the green sweater that he wore one Thursday in November that had a picture of a 6 fingered hand printed on it? Or perhaps it was the way he pronounced certain words. ‘Silence’ would be ‘seelance’. ‘Thank you’ was ‘teenk you’. And ‘look this way’ was heard as ‘put that book down before I hit you with it’.

Whatever it was, Al Jeebra was a god. Not a real deity. But to the children and teachers of Les Dennis Primary School, he was a legend in his own right. Every student who was taught by him got at least a B in GCSE mathematics. On top of this, for the entire 16 years he taught there, not one single tornado ever hit the school. Some sceptics believe this to be mere coincidence, but is it a coincidence that the day after Mr Jeebra retired, the school was hit by 3 tornados in a row? I think not.

The school still stands, but as you might imagine the maths department is in turmoil. The greatest teacher ever to have stood in room 106 was now gone. While the new teacher, Mr Ultaneous-Equations was doing his best, Al Jeebra was in the Bahamas trying to recover his lost luggage. He would eventually find his luggage and enjoy the remaining 20 minutes of his 2 month holiday, never once contemplating a return to teaching.