Chapter 5: Persuasion Comes in Many Forms

Fletcher and his goon reentered the office. The goon had an almost feral smile now. Fletcher walked behind his desk. “Ok now? Clothes off.”

“Wait.”

“What? You said you’d undress after your five minute powwow.”

“No, sir, I said we needed time to discuss this between ourselves. Now that I have a complete picture—well, not complete but perhaps a sightly better one—I know what we need to make this work maybe a little better; at least for six of us. The other two are much more complicated.”

“Are you trying to negotiate? There’s no negotiation, son. If you don’t disrobe, Mr Abover will assist you. Start now.”

“You misunderstood, sir, I’m not negotiating, I’m telling you how this will proceed. I found out that last term you weren’t properly supervising the ‘Reasonable Requests’ gropers and allowing other major problems to happen. I’m going to suggest a change that isn’t against your rules but will make life more bearable for the participants.”

“I told you, boy, now Mr Abover will help you out of your clothes. Go ahead, Abover, undress him.”

I sighed and Denise began sobbing again. It happened very quickly. Abover, stepping lightly on the balls of his feet and keeping himself in an alert posture, moved deliberately toward me. Hmmmm, he knows how to move; I need to misdirect him. I made a clumsy shuffled half step toward him and he reacted predictably; his arm came up and grabbed my shoulder. That was all I needed legally; he just committed battery. I simply did a judo-like floating hip flip with a twist that put him solidly down on his face; then I dropped onto his back, knee digging into his lower spine, and got him into a bent arm lock, pushing up hard. He yelled in surprise.

Meanwhile, pandemonium erupted around me. Fletcher yelled at me, “Let him up; I’m calling the police.”

I looked up at him and said, “Please do that, I’d enjoy it. First, by grabbing me he committed the felony of battery and by ordering him to do that, you committed the felony of incitement to assault. There are seven witnesses present who saw it all. Shall we discuss matters more calmly now or with the police present? Maybe hearing how you failed to protect the innocent participants last year?”

Beads of sweat appeared on his brow.

See, I told you I should be a lawyer. Then the door opened and the secretary stuck her head in. She gasped at seeing the tableau.

“Uh, is everything ok? I heard what seemed to be a scream?”

“It’s ok, Shirley, Kevin is just demonstrating something to us. You can go.”

Smiles started to break out on the kids’ faces; they were finally beginning to enjoy themselves at the adults’ expense.

Abover was twisting around, struggling futilely. I increased the pressure on his arm and he croaked, “Ooowww. Fletcher, get him off me now.”

Fletcher said, “Kevin, you heard him...”

“With all due respect, sir, I always prefer that my discussions be made from a position of strength, and I’m quite comfortable here. As long as Mr Abover remains calm and doesn’t try another battery, he’ll be just fine.”

“Kevin, I just thought of this. You don’t have the legal authority to charge a Program official with battery. Only adults can do that. Let him up now and I’ll take this matter up with your parents. I think that being in the Program for the entire term might be a sufficient deterrent for anyone else who decides to do something stupid like you did.”

Abover tried to buck back then, so I pressed a knee firmly into his kidney and pushed his arm up again. He groaned loudly and his muscles went slack.

“Don’t try that again, Mr Abover ... Ah, sir, therein lies the rub. Clearly you didn’t look at my file. You brought it in with you. There are no parents, unfortunately; they died last month in a car-bomb attack.” Gasps from the kids and Fletcher winced. “And if you look at that legal-looking document with all the official stamps on it, that’s a copy of my declaration of an emancipated minor. You know, I could sue the district for real big bucks over this—violating my Fifth Amendment rights and making threats of assault, committing battery, but I’m basically a nice guy who just wants to go to school, graduate, go to college, and become a great lawyer.”

There, I said it. Do I mean it? Fletcher was reading. “Hmmm, this seems in order but I’ll need the district’s lawyer to check it out...”

I broke in, “Meanwhile, there’s the matter on the table—uh, the floor, actually. We still have a discussion to get to, but if you’d prefer that it be under a bit less confrontational circumstance, I suggest you let these really cooperative students return to class as they are right now and we can work out Program procedures that can be more palatable for the participants.”

Abover started to squirm and grunted something that sounded like “No,” but I pushed his arm up hard again and it came out like a squawk. Hmmmm, this guy does a really good intercom imitation.

“Don’t you agree too, Mr Abover?” I said sweetly while starting his arm up again.

“Uh. Yes! Fletcher, send them out so I can deal with this punk,” he wheezed.

“Wait,” I said, “one more thing. My suggestions only apply to the six who were here when I arrived. I have some really major concerns about Miss, uh ... Denise, what’s your name? ... Roberts? Right?”

She looked at me hopefully, nodded, and barely whispered, “Yes.” I nodded back.

Fletcher said, “This is all irregular but we can sort it all out later. Students, you can go, Denise, please stay. But everyone, this in no way changes your Program responsibilities.”

“Um, Dr Fletcher, I did mention that nothing is off the table in our discussion? If not, that’s how it will be.”

They filed out, glancing at the prone goon, then at me, then grinning. The largest boy gave me a concealed “thumbs-up.”

Wow. It’s great to have the knowledge that I’ve got the financial resources to get legal help for the situation I’m in now. I know that money is power. Money gives you power to do what’s right. I sure learned that this summer. I eased up on Abover’s arm but kept the same pressure on his back, checking the position of his legs and arms and the muscle tension in his shoulders and lower back. I felt him tense his lower back. Gotta watch him, he’s getting ready for a leg sweep.

“Mr Abover, I’m going to get up now. Don’t try anything you’ll regret, right?”

He grunted. I quickly rose but instead of planting my feet near his (which is where they were), I swung them up over his body, vaulting myself up onto my feet over his head, out of his arm’s reach, because I knew it would take him a few minutes to regain their full use.

Predictably, he did try a leg sweep and was astounded that he didn’t connect with anything. He looked to see where I was—in front of him now—and he lunged forward to try to push me down. He moved so slowly I could see that one coming, so I grabbed his head up and planted my knee into his nose. Not very hard; a hard knee strike could drive his nose cartilage into his brain. Too messy. And permanent.

It was a nice knockout job. Denise was staring at me in shock; it looked like Fletcher had peed his pants, his face was so white. There were several chairs stacked in the corner next to a pile of boxes that I supposed were for the kids’ clothes; I grabbed two chairs and gave one to Denise, inviting her to sit down.

“How ... what ... wow...” she stuttered quietly.

“Later,” I whispered to her.

“Kevin, doesn’t Mr Abover need help...?”

I looked at Fletcher. “No, sir; he’s just stunned. I didn’t want to hurt him; he’ll wake up in a minute or two, but except for a headache and two black eyes, he’ll be fine. In case you’re wondering, in addition to being a legal adult, I have black belts in karate and taekwondo. I told him not to try anything but he attempted another battery against me. Just tell him to lay off.”

“I actually can’t order him to do anything, he’s a Program official and not under me.”

“I guessed as much. But this is still your school and you have primary responsibility for the safety and well-being of your students, Program or not, right?” He nodded. “Then use that responsibility. He can’t be allowed to use force; there are ways to get cooperation without it and everyone winds up happier. Sir.”

Fletcher changed the subject. “Ok now. Kevin, you seem to be a worthy adversary...”

I held up my hand and shook my head. “Sir, let’s keep to the issues, please; it’s cleaner.”

He shook his head to clear it and then Abover groaned and sat up.

“Damn ... what’s going on?” he muttered.

I stood up and watched him warily.

Fletcher looked at him and said, “A private discussion. If you can get up, please do, and leave us. You should have the nurse check out your nose.” It was bleeding.

“I’m not going anywhere, and this punk will pay for this...”

It came out like croaks. Yeah, the way his face hit the floor it must have stretched his trachea a bit.

“Mr Abover, I’ll tell you once more. Please leave, or Mr Coris might feel compelled to bring charges...”

Abover raised his hands and limped out of the room. Well, well, Fletcher has a spine after all. We have progress.

So I sat again and we got down to the issues.

“Dr Fletcher, forgive me for this, but for a moment please put aside that I’m a high school student of yours and listen with an open mind. Remember that I’m completely new, not only to the Program situation, but to American schools and even American life. So what I’ve seen and heard for the past few minutes I will interpret according to my own upbringing, and that gives my understanding of what I’ve heard a completely different perspective than yours. Like a fresh set of eyes for a problem? Ok?”

“Well, go on, and I’ll decide after I hear more.”

“Ok, then. First, I saw a bunch of uncomfortable and anxious kids in here when I came in. No, not just anxious, really frightened. And Denise was absolutely terrified, without even accounting for how she was dragged in here. No one ever deserves that kind of treatment, ever. Then I heard that this obscenity you call the Program allowed kids to sexually assault...”