CHEAT!

BY ALLAN BAILLIE
Synopsis: –
 About two schoolchildren and their attitude to peer achievements and relationships.
 The short story competition is won by Geoff and he wins the Holmes-Watkins Medal.
 Lynne’s story is placed second and she feels disappointed.
 She learns to accept her failure and decides to let go.
 Then, she comes across a short story of write William Bradburie.
 Geoff’s story of a circus elephant’s escapade in the park is similar to Bradburie’s story.
 Immediately, Lynne assumes that Geoff has cheated and did not write his own story.
 She is in dilemma as to whether and how she should expose Geoff.
 The consequences may be too drastic for Geoff.
 During the class discussion on careers, Lynne holds back exposing Geoff but later she inadvertently mentions
the name Bradburie and notices Geoff’s reaction.
 A few minutes later, she is called into Headmaster Velo’s office and Geoff is there too with the Holmes-
Watkins Medal.
 Mr Velos explains that Geoff feels he might have taken his story from Bradburie’s collection.
 So, he decides to reverse the results and Lynne wins the prize.
 But, Lynne is unhappy with the way the situation has turned out.
 She begins to have doubts about her own story.

CHARACTERS AND CHARACTERISTICS

Lynne Webbings
 Impatient – She could hardly wait for the result of the competition to be announced.
 Gracious in accepting defeat – Although bitterly disappointed she congratulates Geoff sincerely on his
win.
 Hardworking – She works very hard to write a dramatic story about a sheepdog in a flood.
 Quick to jump to conclusions – She reads a story by the author William Bradburie that is similar to Geoff’s
story and immediately assumes he has copied it.
 Quick-tempered – She blurts out Bradburie’s name in front of Geoff in anger.
 Fair – She does not want to win the medal after finding out that Geoff did not cheat.

Geoff Bolder
 Funny and good humoured – He jokes with Lynne about how Mr Velos chose the winner of the
competition.
 Ambitious – He wants to be a barrister when he grows up as he believes he will make more money.
 Inquisitive – He tries to find out more about Bradburie’s story on his own after Lynne mentions his name.
 Honest and brave – He confesses to Mr Velos and asks to be disqualified once he has doubts about the
originality of his story.
 Remorseful – He truly feels sorry and apologises to Lynne for the whole incident.

THEMES FOR CHEAT

Cheat is written by Allan Baillie. There are two main themes for the story.
First of all, we must be judgemental. We might not jump into conclusion too soon and it caused misunderstanding.
For example, Lynne is one of the characters who is judgemental. After she read about the book writeen by William
Bradburie in the library, she was filled with anger. She said that Geoff is cheating in the short story competition
even though she has never read Geoff’s story before. The second theme is creative writing is not always original.
A creative idea or innovation like is not always original because we will take idea and inspiration from different
resources to make improvement. For instance, Lynne emphasised the importance of originality in the writing.
When she realised that Geoff is not cheating, she was wondering whether she had read any story related to the
sheepdog in flood.

CHEAT! THEMES
competitiveness
honesty
creativity and self-confidence
keeping anger in oneself
presumptuous and taking situations for granted
keeping faith with friends