Chapter 18

When I walked into the outer office, Mrs. Davis was behind the counter. She gave me a sad smile. “Principal Martin wants to see you.”

I saw Vice-Principal Thomas and Vice-Principal Seiling standing outside of their respective office doors as Mr. Martin’s door was shut. Mr. Thomas was the ‘administrative vice-principal’ nobody was ever sure what he really did. Supposedly, he handled faculty issues and substitutes. He eyed me like I was beyond contempt, but that seemed to be the normal expression he wore when he was seen by students (which was a fairly rare occurrence). Mr. Seiling was the ‘discipline Vice-Principal.’ He kept students in line, and had the reputation for being fair, but nobody ever wanted to cross him. After my problems last week, he seemed be willing to give me the benefit of the doubt. Still, at this moment I never felt more alone in my whole life.

Mr. Seiling nodded to me. “Tommy, when Principal Martin is done with you, please knock on my door.”

“Okay, thank you, Sir,” I said, trying to make my face as neutral as I could. To be honest, I wanted to cry.

Why was all this happening to me?

Mr. Seiling went back into his office, but Mr. Thomas continued to glare at me. I ignored him and turned toward Mr. Martin’s door and knocked.

“Come,” sounded the imperious voice on the other side of the door.

I opened the door and entered seeing Mr. Martin staring at some papers at his desk. He did not even bother to look up. I closed the door behind me. “You wanted to see me, Principal Martin?” I asked.

“You seem to have gotten yourself into some trouble Saturday night,” he said, not bothering to look up at me. I continued to stand because he had not offered me to sit.

I was ripping mad, but tried to hold me temper. “Just how does anything that happened over the weekend have any bearing on me as a student?” I asked, trying to keep my disdain out of my voice, but probably not succeeding.

Martin refused to look up. “I don’t like hooligans and I will not tolerate them at this school,” he then looked up at me. “Am I making myself clear, Mr. Matthews?”

“Actually, you’re not, Mr. Martin. Is there an accusation you want to make, or should I just call my father now and you can tell him what I’ve done wrong at school?”

“You are a very impertinent young man,” he glared.

“Actually, I’ve been a very patient young man. I’m not sure what you have against me, but I’m going to find out eventually.”

“You are a troublemaker, young man and if I find any evidence ... and I mean even a shred of evidence that you’ve broken any rules, then I’m going to kick you out of my school! You are dismissed!”

I turned on my heel, opened the door and walked out, leaving the door open. I felt a couple of hot tears run down my face, but quickly wiped them away. I couldn’t let them see me cry! Luckily nobody was in the office area, I took a couple deep breaths and then knocked on Mr. Seiling’s door. He opened it.

“Come in, Tommy,” he said with a smile.

“Hello, Sir,” I said trying to be brave, but shaking with both anger and frustration.

“Tommy, sit down and take a few minutes to get calm. I understand that you’re being treated unfairly and I’ve already called your father. He asked me to monitor the situation and if you needed him, he would come down to the school.”

“Don’t call him. I’ve got to handle this on my own.”

Mr. Seiling smiled. “You’re an exceptional young man, Tommy. I so badly misjudged you last week. You’ve never been a disciplinary problem. Your grades are exceptional. Your teachers love you. That’s why Vice-Principal Thomas is not thrilled about you.”

“Why?”

“I probably shouldn’t be saying this, but I’m getting tired of this garbage,” he sighed. “Principal Martin asked Mr. Thomas to find some dirt on you with your teachers, but everyone said that you were an outstanding student and a pleasure to have in class. That completely goes against the narrative that Mr. Martin is trying to build about you and why I’m involving myself.”

Wow! I knew that Mr. Seiling is cool, but I never realized he would go to bat for me against his boss. “Thank you, Mr. Seiling. That makes me feel better.”

“Tommy, when you came in, I could tell how distraught you were. Have you ever considered any of the various physical and mental disciplines? They are sometimes referred to as ‘martial arts’.”

“No. My father taught me how to box and my uncles taught me how to wrestle, but no judo or karate or anything like that.”

Mr. Seiling reached in his desk and pulled out a card and handed it to me. “Tommy, these arts of discipline are not just about violence. They are about mental and emotional discipline. They are about calming the mind and spirit and helping the mind and body relax even when engaging in physical activity. Disciplines like Tai Chi can do that for you. If you are interested in a defensive art, then something like Aikido, which uses agility and leverage to throw opponents, rather than strike them could be quite useful. I am certified to teach both and a number of others. I would be happy to work with you.”

I looked at the card. “Thank you, Mr. Seiling. I would be very interested. I have a lot on my plate right now, but I will talk to my father about the summer. Baseball will be over and outside of some farm chores and some work with my uncle I should have some time. Will that be okay?”

“That would be fine, Tommy. Your dad mentioned you were not a typical teenager from a commitments standpoint, so I’m heartened that you’re interested.” he said extending his hand and I shook it.

“I really appreciate you being in my corner, Sir. When I left Mr. Martin’s office, I felt as helpless as I’ve ever felt before.”

“You shouldn’t have to be going through this, Tommy, but I am keeping your dad aware of Mr. Martin’s antics. I don’t believe he’s acting on his own accord, but he shouldn’t be bullying students. If there’s one thing I hate, Tommy, it’s a bully.”

“I hate bullies too, Mr. Seiling,” I said before adding. “If you don’t believe me, just ask them.”

Mr. Seiling laughed. “Just make sure to keep it off school grounds, Mr. Matthews,” he said with a mock glare. “Seriously, don’t give the Principal and his cronies any excuse to get you in trouble.”

“I won’t, Sir,” I promised.

He then wrote me a pass and I was off to second period.

I missed the first ten minutes of History, but Janie promised to get me the notes of what Mr. Crane covered. The rest of the morning went smoothly.

I handed in my Algebra homework and Mr. Harris and he smiled at me. “I’ve spoken to your guidance counselor Mr. Schwartz, and he’s gotten permission for you to take an Algebra placement test. If you don’t have any complaints, I’ll schedule it after your last final.”

“That would be great, Mr. Harris.”

“You are one of three kids who will be taking the test.”

“Karl Faust and Axel Wilhelm, too?”

Mr. Harris laughed. “I can neither confirm nor deny.”

“You know, we kids talk, right?” I laughed back.

“I suppose you do, Tommy. I suppose you do.”

Lunch was a pleasure as I was surrounded by friends. I let Billy and Tim tell the story of ‘The Showdown at the Just-Okay Mall’. I just sat back and cuddled my girls as they fed me extra food that Natalie had packed for me and periodically downplayed my role. Janie just rolled her eyes when I did.

The afternoon was fine too. Spanish class was as easy as always. I finished most of my homework in study hall and we played volleyball in gym.

After school let out, Uncle Steve picked me up and we were off to the parts store.

“I wasn’t pleased with what I found at the Body Shop, Tommy. They had promoted a welder who had no supervisory experience to Manager, which was Blanton’s role. They had promoted the receptionist to Lisa’s role of Office Manager. I caught them playing ‘slap and tickle’ in the office. Of course they denied it and I can only go on what I thought I had seen, but the operation was nearly a week behind.”

“Did you fire them?” I asked.

“No. that’s really your place to make that decision. I would recommend firing the receptionist, demoting the welder and promote Chad to Manager. I have an excellent receptionist who could probably take on both other roles at the body shop at least temporarily.”

I nodded. “Sounds like a good plan.”

Uncle Steven sighed. “I’m worried about what we’ll find at the parts store. Believe it or not, it is a much bigger operation than what I have and the body shop combined. They have an office manager, a receptionist, three full-time office staff and a part-timer who does the books. They also have an inventory supervisor, two full time and four part-time parts retrieval/warehouse staff, two inventory clerks, a sales manager, three full-time salesmen and three part-timers.”

I whistled. “That does sound big.”

“Well, I’ll just have to go in there and rattle some cages if I think we’re getting the run-around. I expect your dad at about four-thirty, so he can help.”

When we got there, we were met by a pretty blond receptionist, who I guessed was in her mid-twenties.

“Hi, may I help you?”

“Yes. I’m Steven Johansson and I’m here representing The Pennsylvania Automotive Surety Company. I’m supposed to meet with Paul Whitaker. I believe I’m expected.”

“Please make yourself comfortable, Mr. Johansson. I will check with Mr. Whitaker.”

We waited for about twenty minutes and the receptionist did not return. I figured the best way to get people’s attention was to make a general nuisance of myself (hey, I’m a teenager, we’re born nuisance makers). Steve nodded his approval of my plan and I walked into the office area behind the waiting area. When I turned the corner, I saw two women working in a small room. One, was woman who looked like she could be about twenty-five, but might have been older. She had kind of mousy light brown hair. The other one was an attractive, young black woman who couldn’t have been twenty yet. She was wearing the cute look of someone deep in concentration as she was staring down at some kind of report with a pencil in her hand. I walked in and gave my best innocent smile.

“Can I help you?” said the older woman, after she looked up and saw me there. She wore a frustrated look on her face.

My older family members loved to correct me or make a joke when I asked that question. I figured I would be equally helpful. “Well, I don’t know. I was hoping that you could when I walked in here but don’t hold much hope that you can,” I smirked.

The older woman’s mouth looked like a fish, while the young black woman giggled.

I grinned. “Sorry, I couldn’t resist. My parents do that to me all the time.”

“It is rather rude to do that to an adult.”

“I know. That’s why I apologized. Are you going to forgive me or not?”

“I...” she started, her mouth taking on that fish look again.

“You know, Jesus tells us to forgive,” I said solemnly.

The young black woman was now thoroughly cracking up and I grinned at her. She grinned back.

The woman stomped out of the room and I could hear her say to herself, “We’ll see about this.”

I grinned as I watched her leave.

“Hi, I’m Monique,” I heard the voice so I turned to face the pretty girl.

“I’m Tommy. My father and uncle are here from PASCO, so I thought I’d tag along.”

“PASCO?” she asked.

“Can you keep a secret?”

She grinned at me and nodded.

“PASCO stands for The Pennsylvania Automotive Surety Corporation. It’s the outfit that bought this company from Edgar Blanton.”

“Really?” she asked, her eyes growing wide.

“Yep. My Uncle had an appointment with a Mr. Whitaker, but he left us in the waiting room for more than twenty minutes, so I thought I’d come back here and make some trouble.”