A Most Unusual Passage
Copyright© 2026 by J&J
Chapter 20
“Good morning, Hazel,” I sang out, as I entered the restaurant, “You open?”
“Sure we are, Elizabeth, but you’re the first. Any news on Marcus?”
“I’m afraid not, but Dr. Harley says it’s nothing to be alarmed about. He’s thinks another 48 hours at the most.”
“I hope so,” she said, handing me a cup of hot tea. “How is Martha holding up?”
“Amazingly well; I don’t how she does it.” I handed back the menu. “I’m pretty hungry, and haven’t had a real meal since Sunday. I think I’ll have the French toast, with bacon extra crispy, and can I get the warm syrup?”
“Absolutely, coming up.” She slipped the order on the wheel. “Now, how was your first day as principal?”
I laughed. “Just like Fancy described it to you, I suspect. You heard about Everett?”
“Yeah, weird. I got no idea what he’s up to, but it’s something no good. Never much cared for him. He’s a weasely sort of character and cheap. He’ll squeeze a nickel until the buffalo gives milk. Don’t much see him in here, unless someone else is buying, and he never remembers to leave a tip.”
Breakfast was delicious, and I thoroughly enjoyed having a hot meal. The restaurant gradually filled up with the regulars. The main topic, besides Marcus, was the extraordinary heat wave. Not hot by Charleston standards, it was breaking records for Otis. Paying the check, I had to tease Hazel a little.
“So why does everyone keep telling me about all these warm clothes I need here? Feels downright tropical to me. Maybe I should get some more shorts and tank tops.
“Tell me about it. But at least you work in a nice air-conditioned school,” said Hazel, handing me the change.
“I hope I will be working in an air-conditioned school. The unit in the classroom wing was making some scary noises yesterday. It would be a bad day for it to go out.”
“I wish I hadn’t said that,” I thought to myself as I walked the short distance to school. Suddenly I could hear Mr. Murphy or Mrs. Murphy or whoever wrote those damned laws laughing their asses off. New principal, second day on the job, and hottest day in recorded history ... well, almost ... hell, it wasn’t just possible the air-conditioning would fail; it was written in the stars.
I had just taken a seat at my desk ... hmm ... first time I thought of it as MY desk. I had just a moment to wrap my mind around that thought before Fancy was there with a cup of tea.
“Thank you, Fancy,” I said.
“Well, don’t get used to it,” she replied.
“Now Fancy, isn’t that the exact thing you said to Marcus about fifteen years ago?”
“Twenty, it was a little over twenty years ago, but in your case, I mean it.”
I looked up slightly startled, but I could detect no hint of ill will in her. “You mean I don’t rate being waited on and pampered just because I’m a woman?” I asked keeping my tone light and teasing.
“No,” she replied with a perfectly straight face, “because you’re a woman, I don’t expect you to need it.”
“Fancy,” I laughed, “I think we’re going to get along very well indeed. I always teased my father that a man was always ready to slay the dragon, just so long as there was a woman to remind him where he left his sword the night before.”
Fancy howled with laughter. “That’s Marcus for sure ... sigh ... but I think we’re going to wish he was here today, because we’ve got ourselves a dragon.”
“Not Everett again,” I groaned.
“You wish! This is a much bigger dragon, and he died during the night.”
“Oh God, I knew it, the AC. Completely gone?”
Fancy nodded her head. “‘Fraid so, dead, deceased, rigor mortis, gone.”
“Well, call whoever you call for these things, right away before we have crispy scholars.”
“I did,” she said quietly; “that’s the really bad news. The official authorized contractor says two days minimum.”
“Fuck that, we can’t be without air for two days; the kids will suffocate.”
“No,” she said, “they won’t, because before noon, the temperature in that wing will be so high that we’ll have to send them home by health regulation, and school will be closed until it’s fixed.”
“I don’t suppose opening windows or anything will help?” I asked hopefully.
“No, these buildings are made to keep heat in, not let it out. I’m afraid we’re screwed.”
“Isn’t there any other company?” I asked.
“Sure, Adams AC who installed the unit. I’ll bet you anything Bob Adams could have it running in a heartbeat.”
“Well, call him.”
“Can’t,” she said.
“What do you mean ‘can’t’?”
“School board bid this exclusive contract with Orion AC, and we aren’t allowed to call anyone else.”
“Even when they can’t come for two days?” I asked incredulously.
“No matter what; Everett made that pretty damn clear to everybody.”
“Well, he didn’t make it clear to me, and I’m not closing the school. Call your Mr. Adams; ask him to please come and look at the unit, and tell us when he could fix it and for how much. I’ll take personal responsibility; tell him I’ll write him a check if necessary, but I want him here now! And give me the number of Orion AC.”
Fancy handed me a card and headed for her phone. I called the number.
“Orion AC. How may I direct your call?”
“Straight through to your manager, this is Principal Manigault at Otis High.”
“This is Dave Comstock, Mrs. Manigault, and I know why you’re calling.”
“Good, Mr. Comstock, does that mean you’re on your way?”
“I really wish I could say ‘yes.’”
“Then say ‘yes,’ and you’ll make us both happy,” I said.
“I can’t help you, not for at least two days, and I can’t really promise two days for sure; it could be longer.”
“That’s completely unacceptable, Mr. Comstock. You understand I’m hours away from closing my school, and every day we’re closed requires a make-up day out of the taxpayer’s pocket.”
To read the complete story you need to be logged in:
Log In or
Register for a Free account
(Why register?)
* Allows you 3 stories to read in 24 hours.