Chapter 45

Sunday morning came early (as it always does for farm kids). I was happy to see my foster brother come down the stairs just behind me. We made short work of the eggs and managed to milk the cows with plenty of time to spare to get cleaned up and to have a big breakfast, before we left for church.

After the first couple of weeks of Easter and school vacation being over, church was back on its normal schedule. Willie went to Sunday School for the first time today and I think he enjoyed it. Karl, Axel, Johnny, and I did Youth Group (that was called ‘Luther League’), which met for an hour before church started. Davy Pederson (the catcher on my baseball team) and his older sister, Laurel, were in Luther League with us too. Davy was in his first year, as he was just finishing with confirmation and Laurel was a year older than me (and was a freshman at East Chilton High). There were close to twenty kids between the ages of thirteen and seventeen. Mr. and Mrs. Richter were the adults who ran Luther. League. Aside from planning youth events and volunteer projects, they gave us a chance to ‘rap’ (talk) about things that troubled us.

Davy spent a good deal of time bragging about our team to Johnny and Pat Lister. Johnny and Lister were not only members of the church, but also members of my old team, the Elks. While Johnny was my friend, Lister was a ‘Class A Jerk’. I made sure that Davy did not get too disruptive because of my friendship with Johnny, but I loved seeing the sour expression on Lister’s face. Still, the Elks were in contention after upsetting the Cheetahs the previous day. If both our teams advanced on Tuesday, we would meet in the finals. Still, they would have their hands full with the Dalton Ford Eagles. We would have to beat my buddy Lionel’s Rotary Club Flyers for a third time to advance. It is never easy to beat a good team three times in a season.

After church, we decided to have a nice, quiet day as a family. Aside from a call to J Squared and a visit from Monique for supper, it was a quiet day for chores and homework. I did throw a baseball around with Willie and my father, after Dad found one of my old gloves. Dad enjoyed teaching Willie how to field ground balls the way he taught me. I could tell that Dad was happy to have a younger child to teach and Willie just wore a grin from ear to ear. I must have been smiling too because my face hurt. It was great having a kid brother!

My Monday morning came as usual. After chores and breakfast, I boarded the bus to see that Jacob Turner was sadly spouting his typical pack of lies and half-truths. Tim was too busy razzing David over the Elks victory over the Cheetahs to pay any attention and I did my best to ignore Jake, as I stuck my head in my ninth grade History text book. Then Jake crossed a bridge too far.

“Douglas is gonna get fired,” crowed Jake.

“Jake, for you to say something so stupid, you must be still feverish from the other day, so I’ll cut you some slack. Nobody is getting fired.”

“That’s not what I heard from Dan Ransom. He told me at church yesterday that his aunt gave him the scoop.”

I knew that Jake went to St. Timothy’s, which was the Episcopal Church in town. Despite knowing this, I had no idea who Dan Ransom was. Still, my guess was that he was probably related to Mrs. Douglas’ ‘babysitter/class monitor,’ Mrs. Ransom. Considering who Dan’s relative was, that troubled me. At least I could use Jake’s annoying attitude to help me.

“What exactly did Dan tell you, Jake?” I asked.

“He said Douglas broke school rules and maybe the law.”

“How would Dan know?”

“He told me his aunt told him,” grinned Jake.

Now I grinned. If Mrs. Ransom was gossiping about Mrs. Douglas, my father would want to know. This would not just be bad for Mrs. Ransom, but maybe for Principal Martin, as he shouldn’t be spreading Mrs. Douglas’ business to a temp. I smiled back at Jake, “Thanks Jake, you’ve been a big help.”

Jake frowned. “I have?”

“What are you talking about, Tommy?” asked Tim.

“Jake here has finally told me something I might find helpful.”

David laugh. “Well, it’s like my grandpa always says.”

“What?” asked Jake.

“Sometimes even a blind squirrel can find a nut.”

We spent the rest of the bus ride picking on Jake as he protested. David was particularly merciless, but I kind of understood why he was acting this way. David and Jake’s families merged their dairy farms into a cooperative. While Jake’s folks let him get away without helping on the farm much, David’s folks expected him to work about twenty hours a week (though they cut him some slack during baseball season). That was almost twice as much as I usually help Grandpa (though some parts of the year I might work that much or more). Whatever the comparison, it seems that Jake’s family spoiled him. The fact that he was an annoying gossip just made him even less likable. Still, I knew what I would need to do when I got to school.

Right off the bus, I made a beeline to the office and knocked on Vice-Principal Seiling’s door. After explaining what I heard from Jake, Mr. Seiling promised to call my dad and relay what Jake told me. Then, I quickly made my way to homeroom, just beating the bell.

When the second bell rang to dismiss us to first period, Johnny pulled me aside.

“Thank for not gloating too much at Luther League.”

I sighed. “Yeah, Davy was kind of over the top, but I still liked the look on Lister’s face.”

Johnny made a face like he was sucking a lemon. “Yeah, Lister’s an asshole who isn’t as good as he thinks he is. I wish Coach had kept you and cut his sorry butt.”

“Well, I can’t say I liked playing for Coach Jeffers last year. Coach Daniels is great. He even made it to the bigs.”

“No way!” exclaimed Johnny.

“Yep. He got called up by the Orioles at the end of the ‘77 season. He might have had a chance to have made the team at some point in ‘78, but he messed up his ankle, so he retired. Now he’s a teacher. He’ll be up at the high school next year.”

“Cool!” he said, as we parted ways and walked to our respective first period classes.

My first class used to be my favorite. It still had my girlfriends and Karl. It still had my favorite teacher and for the most part, I liked the subject matter (I love to read!). The problem was that it also had Principal Martin’s spy. When I walked into the classroom, I walked over and greeted J Squared, Laura and Angie. Then I heard an annoying voice. “Take your seat, young man.”

I turned to see Mrs. Ransom glaring at me. I glared back. “I’m sorry, did the bell ring?”

Mrs. Ransom mouth opened, but no sound came out of it. I continued. “Did Mrs. Douglas change her policy about talking quietly before the bell?”

Mrs. Ransom seemed to have recovered from my boldness. I could almost see the smoke coming out of her ears. “I’m the adult here and you will listen to me! Take your seat!” she screamed.

“I’m sorry, what’s going on here?” asked Mrs. Douglas as she walked into the classroom.

“Mrs. Ransom was yelling at Tommy to take his seat, even though the bell hasn’t rung yet,” stated Laura, just before the bell actually did ring.

I saw my teacher get angry. “Was the student being disruptive?”

“Yes.” lied Mrs. Ransom.

“How?” asked Mrs. Douglas.

“I don’t answer to you...”

“Oh, yes, you do. This is MY classroom and I make the rules. You are an observer here and from what I witnessed the only disruptive person here is you!”

“How dare you?!” yelled Mrs. Ransom.

I couldn’t let her comment stand and she gave me the perfect opening to respond.

“Mrs. Ransom, I could ask you the same question. Apparently, from what I hear you had a lot to talk about at St. Timothy’s yesterday.”

I saw my Mrs. Ransom’s face go pale. “What ... what do you mean?”

Mrs. Douglas just grinned, before her face took on a defiant look. “Leave my classroom, right now!”

Mrs. Ransom stomped her foot. “I’m telling Perry...”

“Be my guest. I’m already planning to note your behavior and his when I talk to my lawyer tonight,” she said before turning to smile at me.

Mrs. Ransom turned on her heels, walked out of the room and slammed the door behind her. I stood there as dumbly as the rest of the class. You could hear a pin drop. I was awoken from my stupor by my teacher’s voice. “Tommy?”

“Uh ... yes, Mrs. Douglas?”

“Please take your seat. The bell has rung.”

The class chuckled as I quickly took a seat next to Karl. I could tell that he was enjoying what had to be a sheepish look on my face.

After taking a short test on what we covered last week, we spent the rest of the class reading and discussing twentieth century poetry. We started with the poems of Robert Frost and talked a bit about his life and experiences. The point Mrs. Douglas made was as with an artist who paints or draws landscapes or subjects in a particular place, a writer’s, or poet’s environment and experiences color their work. While born in San Francisco, Frost spent much of his life in New England and some of his most famous poems were a reflection of his experiences in New Hampshire. At the end of class, she told us that we would be in for an interesting experience when Langston Hughes introduced us to his world.

When the bell rang, Mrs. Douglas asked me to wait. I saw a look of concern in Janie and Jen’s eyes, but I asked them to save me a seat between them in U.S. History class, next period.

“You really riled her up, Tommy,” said Mrs. Douglas, shaking her head.

“I’m sorry, Mrs. Douglas, but I didn’t do anything wrong.”

Mrs. Douglas sighed. “I know, Tommy. I even saw you start walking back to your seat until you turned when you heard my voice,” she said before pausing and then continuing. “She really didn’t leave me any choice. I’m getting tired of her undermining my authority. She did it all last week and I just couldn’t take it anymore. She’s just an observer, not a teacher. I also had to shorten today’s test, which I was planning to give on Friday, because she completely wasted a day when she was subbing for me.”

“Based upon what you told her, I sense that you talked to my dad this morning?” I asked.

“Yes,” she admitted.

“I guess Mr. Seiling didn’t waste any time in calling him.”

My teacher nodded. “Jeff called me into his office, so your father could tell me during homeroom. Your father seemed happy to learn that Eugenia Ransom was running her mouth about my business in public. He said it should help my case. Thank you, Tommy, for finding that out for me.”

“Mrs. Douglas, you are not only my best teacher, I consider you to be a family friend. Everybody in your class loves you and we all think you are being treated unfairly.”

Sarah Douglas looked worried, but I just shook my head. “I haven’t told anyone anything, but kids have heard rumors. Aside from denying the rumors, I haven’t said anything. The kids just know you and like you. Between my denials and their belief in you, they are mad at people like Mrs. Ransom.”

“It was Laura who defended you and called out Mrs. Ransom for her disregarding my rules,” observed Mrs. Douglas.

“True,” I agreed.

Mrs. Douglas laughed. “Well I’m sure that Perry Martin is getting an earful from my minder.”

“Better him than me,” I grinned and Mrs. Douglas agreed. She then wrote me a pass and it was off to Mr. Crane’s class.

The rest of my morning flew. I did have another pop quiz in history, but was sure I aced it. Pre-Algebra and IPS went well. That brought me to my favorite class of the day: Lunch (growing boy!). These days, I especially enjoyed lunch as it contained a hoagie from my future mother-in-law. I know that might seem weird for a fourteen year-old boy to believe that he was already engaged (and in reality Jen could always change her mind or I could wake up and find that this was all just a dream), but I truly believed that Jen (and Janie and Monique for that matter) would spend the rest of our lives together.

“Hey, Tommy, Laura told me that Old Lady Ransom has been giving you trouble,” said Billy.

“Yeah. Do you know her?”

“Yeah, her husband is on the vestry of our church. She’s one of the worst busybodies,” he frowned.

Laura grinned. “She’s an observer in our class, but Mrs. Douglas kicked her out of class today,”

“Yeah. She was trying to undermine Mrs. Douglas,” added Janie.

Billy laughed. “Oh, she won’t like that.”

“What are you guys talking about?” asked Tim.

“Old Lady Ransom is making trouble at school.”

“She’s not a teacher!” complained Tim.

“She’s not,” I added. “You don’t seem to like her much either, Tim.”