The Programme

Last night, riding home along the river in South Perth, I began passing a succession of male teenagers on both sides of the path, about fifty in total, each alone beneath a path light, each completely still, each expressionless. Their close proximity to the path was unsettling but I gradually accepted that they weren't a murder cult. They were just teenagers, sitting. 

Before passing the final one, a curly haired boy of about 14, I stopped my bike and asked what was going on. He half looked up from the grass and said ‘We're in a programme. Our teacher gets us to sit here alone for half an hour.’

I looked back down the path at the sublime sea of students all imprisoned in bubbles of solitude.

‘Would you mind if I took a picture of the path?’ I asked, assuring him that no student's face would be visible.

‘You'd better check with the teacher.’ He pointed to several vague figures glowing near the water’s edge.

I’ve come this far I thought to myself. I thanked the student and rode my bike down to the water, toward the light, where I found a man and two women huddled around a portable camping lamp, studying my approach.

‘Um, hi,’ I said, uneasily. ‘Are you their teachers?’

‘Yes,’ the man answered. He looked to be in his forties and had a face like a friendly potato. The two women appeared slightly younger, and less friendly.

‘I was just riding by,’ I continued, ‘and noticed how unusual it looked.’

‘Yes,’ the man replied, ‘I suppose it would.’

‘They're in a programme?’

‘Yes,’ he said, ‘they don't get out much so I get them to come down and sit in their own space for half an hour.’

‘Do … you mind if I take a photo?’ I asked, my thumb pointing back toward the path. ‘I won't capture any student's faces.’

The three heads illuminated by the small square lamp contemplated as one. 

‘I suppose that would be fine,’ he said.

I thanked the teachers and rode back to the path, and the student I had spoken to. He had shifted his body to face away from me. I wondered what kind of programme it was. Witness protection? No, too many of them. I raised my camera and framed the southern edge of the path. Their attention was divided between the lit grass, the river and the night sky. I took the picture.