A Most Unusual Passage
Copyright© 2026 by J&J
Chapter 47
I had finally felt enough at home here to get a good night’s sleep, so I was less than thrilled at being awoken before dawn. I felt something rocking me and opened one eye. It was Martha and she seemed anxious to wake me.
“Marcus, wake up. Please wake up; I need to talk to you.” Her voice was an urgent sharp whisper.
“What ... what’s the mat...” She put her hand over my mouth.
“Shh,” she whispered, “someone will hear you.”
I sat up and shook my head to clear the cobwebs and looked around. Martha was wearing the same clothing as the night before and the covers on her side of the bed were undisturbed.
“You haven’t been to bed at all have you?” She shook her head. “Dammit woman, tell me what the hell is going on,” I demanded.
“Just get dressed; we’re going for a walk on the beach.”
“Now? It’s not even dawn,” I sputtered, “I’m not going anywhere until I know what’s going on.”
Martha looked at me and there was fire in her eyes. “Marcus Martel; you and I have been married a half century. And you don’t know that I would never wake you like this unless it was pretty damned important? Quit wasting time and get your sorry old butt dressed.”
I don’t pretend to understand women in general and Martha in particular, but I have learned when not to argue with her, and this was definitely one of those times. I got myself out of bed and quickly dressed.
The beach was deserted and silent, except for the lap of waves, and the occasional raucous call of a seagull. In knew that in a few short hours the beach would be alive with vacationers, but for now it belonged to the two of us. The sky over the ocean was just beginning to lighten up in a rosy pink glow, but it was enough to silhouette a small flotilla of shrimp boats heading out. It was actually a wonderful time to be here. But I was all too aware that Martha had not brought me here to enjoy the sights.
“Now are you going to tell me what the Sam Hill is going on?” I demanded.
“Marcus, last night I overheard Elizabeth talking to her dad.”
“I believe that’s called eavesdropping. You know how I feel about respecting people’s privacy.”
“I wasn’t snooping if that’s what you think. I fell asleep on the couch in the front room. When I woke up I heard their voices through the window which Henry had opened to let in the breeze. I started to stick my head out and tell them good night but then I heard what they were talking about and decided I needed to listen.”
“And that is different from snooping?” I asked accusingly.
Martha stamped her foot in exasperation. “Dammit Marcus, this is serious. Please just shut the hell up for five minutes and let me talk. After that, if you still think I acted wrongly, I’ll stand here and let you lecture me till sunset if need be.”
I nodded. “OK, let’s hear what you found out that is so damned important.”
“Well first off, Elizabeth was lying. That woman did offer her the job as Headmistress.”
“Hell Martha, I knew that last night. Can I go back to bed now?”
Martha was crestfallen. “How did you know?”
“Well first off, if they had spent the day talking about curriculum she would have given us a lot more details. Probably wouldn’t have been able to shut her up. Curriculum planning is meat and potatoes to a principal, we actually find it interesting.
“Secondly Martha, I’m a high school principle. Being able to tell when someone is lying is a basic job skill. We get lied to more than anyone and some of the kids are really good at it. Elizabeth on the other hand, couldn’t lie her way out of a paper bag. She’s way too honest to have ever had the practice.”
“Well she was good enough to fool me,” Martha complained, “and I thought I could judge people.”
“She only took you in because you can judge people and you know that she’s an honest person; so the possibility that she wasn’t telling the truth never crossed your mind.”
“I still don’t understand why she felt she had to lie to us.”
“She didn’t want us to know she was taking a job here because she didn’t want to spoil our vacation, nothing more sinister than that I’m sure.”
Martha’s face registered her surprise at my words. “But that’s the whole point. She’s not going to take the job at Edisto Hall.”
Now it was my turn to show surprise. “What do you mean? Of course she’ll take it. She’d be a damn fool not to. The money, the prestige, living here, close to her family and friends; I don’t think she’d give that up for our little piss ant school in Otis.”
“Yes she will, Marcus. I heard her tell her Dad that she felt ethically bound to honor her contract, no matter what her personal wishes might be.”
“What did her Dad say?” I asked, “surely he was more practical minded.”
“Nope, two peas in a pod, honor and commitment above all. You’ve got to admire them. But she’s throwing her future away on matter of principal.”
“But what do you think we can do about it?” I asked. “She didn’t seek my advice so I’m not going to force her to take any. I’m not sure that she would. You say she seemed determined to fulfill her contract?”
“Adamant!”
“OK Martha, I talk to her if you want but I doubt if it will change her mind. She’s stubborn even pigheaded, especially when she thinks she is right; which is most of the time.”
“I know Marcus, I watched the two of you bump heads. And it wouldn’t change her attitude one iota. No, I’m not asking you to talk to her.”
I sighed in relief, arguing with Elizabeth was not how I wanted to spend my vacation. But my relief was very short lived.
“No, I want you to talk to Harold Barney.”
It took a minute before I grasped exactly what she wanted. “Now hold on there Martha. If you think I’m going to intervene with the board ... you can’t be serious.”
“Marcus,” she said quietly but in that measured low voice I most feared, “look at me. Do I look serious?”
They say that men lack the ability to see a person’s mood through just their eyes, but I sure as hell could read this one. It was a whole essay on my future happiness: but the take home message, as they say was DON’T FUCK WITH ME ON THIS.
“Martha,” I said soothingly. “You know I care for Elizabeth as though she was my own daughter. But be reasonable, what do you want me to ask Barney to do; just tear up her contract? Wait around all summer to find out if he has a principal? What exactly do you expect him to do?”
“I just want him to give her ten days to reconsider. That’s how long Edisto Hall is holding the job open for her. At the end of those ten days she will have to make a choice. But at least she will have made the choice herself.”
“Just why would Barney and the Board, because he will have to get the Board to back him; why would they do this-just because I ask them to? I’ll tell you quite frankly, the board is quite happy with things just as they are. They want Elizabeth to keep her contract. Why in hell would they take the chance of loosing her?”
Martha’s voice and manner took on a tone I hadn’t heard since our children where small and she was correcting them for something they’d done.
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