Chapter 30

DENNIS WAS RELEASED and hadn’t said a word the entire time he was in custody. He rode home in the back seat of his mother’s car with Lana holding him. Once he got home, he went to bed. His girlfriends got in with him, cutting classes for the day.

He got up about noon and kissed each of his girlfriends, muttering, “Sorry,” to them. When he got to the kitchen for breakfast/lunch, the doorbell rang and Drake Vining was ushered into the house.

“I hope I’m not too early. Your mother said you’d probably sleep until noon,” he said.

“I’m sorry I got you up so early this morning, Mr. Vining,” Dennis said.

“No problem. How are you doing?”

“Not good,” he answered abruptly. Natalie scooted her chair closer and put an arm around him.

“I was afraid of that. Have you talked to anyone? Told anyone how you feel? Have you even gone outside and screamed?”

Dennis shook his head.

“I’m not going to be the one you talk to about it. Eventually, you’ll have to answer most of the questions the DA was probing for this morning. But it will be in a formal trial or deposition in the case of the two guys who were sabotaging the building. That should give you time to come to grips with the experience,” Drake said. “For now, you have three beautiful girlfriends sitting with you. Talk to them. They want you to let them in. Don’t hold back.”

“I just wish people would stop the fuck shooting at me and stop the fuck putting me in handcuffs!” Dennis shouted abruptly. He broke down and started crying, leaning on Natalie for strength.

“Good. That’s a start. Now tell them all about it,” Drake said, standing to leave. The teens didn’t even notice as Brenda and Ardith entered when Drake left. They rushed to Dennis and held him with the other girls.

“I swear to God, the next time someone shoots at me, I’m going to kill him,” Dennis said as the five of them settled into the living room, all clustered tightly together.

“From what Tom told us, I’d say you nearly did,” Ardith said.

“Tom?”

“I called him to be sure it would be okay for me to come down to be with you this afternoon. He told me what had happened and that one of the vandals was still in serious condition in a guarded ward in Des Moines. The other—I guess one was shot—was treated and released into custody. He’s in jail.”

“What happened to the one in serious condition?” Natalie asked.

“Apparently, when he smashed out the window to break into the coaches’ office, he got caught on a piece of glass and severed his artery. A classic suicide cut. Medics got to him just before he’d bled out and managed to keep him alive until doctors could work on stitching up the artery and start pumping fluids. But he was in bad shape and is still being given fluids to stabilize his heart and blood level.”

They looked at Dennis and he shrugged.

“When he reached in to grab the doorknob, I grabbed his hand and twisted it. I don’t know what I thought I could do, but I didn’t realize they had guns at the time and thought I might be able to keep them from coming in. I heard him yell that I’d cut him and he pulled back. That’s when the other one stuck his hand in and fired shots. I hit the floor and crawled to the other side of the door. When he unlocked the door and started in, I kicked him in the gut. He fired wildly because he got hit by the deputy’s bullet at the same moment. Or close to it. He fell on his face and I kicked his gun away.”

Just reciting what had happened, trying to be unemotional about it, was a strain on Dennis. He could still see the gun swinging toward him when the thug shot.

“You’re the bravest man I’ve ever met,” Lana said. “I’d have just died.”

“I’m not brave!” Dennis cried. “I’m a kid! I just wanted to get my paper written. I didn’t want to find out any of the things I did or to stop the building from being sabotaged. I just fell asleep in the wrong place.”

“Hey, look at me, Dennis,” Ardith said. He looked up into her tear-filled eyes. “Do you think—any of you—that I’d fall in love with a mere kid?”

She put her hands on his face and brought her lips to his. They kissed tenderly for a moment and then with more passion. Ardith pulled away.

“Tom reminded me to follow the rules when I came to visit and that was just a bit beyond. I can wait out here if any of you want to fool around in the other room.”

“Don’t be silly, girlfriend,” Dennis said. “We’ll have time to fool around later if anyone is up to it. Right now, I just want to sit with you and hold your hand.”

The thugs hadn’t had time to do much damage to the athletic pavilion. Investigators had found just two holes drilled in the roof before the storm hit. They managed to plug them before the rain started in earnest. The drill and extra-long bit had been found nearby. Then they’d found a loosened pipe and a set of tools in what was referred to as the boiler room, even though the use of a boiler to heat the facility was impractical. The HVAC system, water control and heating units, and electrical system were all located in what was still referred to as the boiler room.

It turned out that Dennis and his girlfriends were not the only ones cutting classes that Thursday. In fact, the school was closed. However, the track team all gathered for the trip to State for the indoor meet. The meet was run as efficiently as possible with several hundred participants lining up for races and recording their times. Ten girls went to the meet and Bartley would not participate in every event. Most of those going were basketball players. Several who were not going were listed as not ready to compete.

Track didn’t draw the numbers that other sports did, but until Bartley managed to get a golf team or a tennis team, it was the only spring sport option. Brenda and Ardith followed the team bus up to State to watch their girlfriends compete.

Several events were not held. There were no hurdle events or medley relays, and no discus. Every heat was a final with times recorded electronically. The longer races used waterfall starts with more runners on the track at one time than any of them were used to.

The university provided all equipment, so the team managers didn’t need to cart starting blocks or shots. There was relatively little to do while waiting for each runner’s turn at an event.

The only runners on the Bartley team who placed in the huge crowd were Janice Goodwin and Jaydyn Davis. Jaydyn repeated her State championship performance in the 200-meter dash by placing first. Janice raced to an eighth place finish in the 3000-meter run. But everyone else ran well and they all had times and distances to mark as their start-of-season condition.

Friday morning, there was an optional early event in the gym. A table was set up facing the bleachers and a photographer and reporter from the County Seat Recorder were present with lights and a microphone. The event was being recorded for later broadcast on the radio station.

“Students, faculty, parents, and guests,” Ms. Morris said calling the group of about fifty to attention. “This morning we are privileged to witness a signing ceremony for one of our athletes.” The Angelines in the bleachers set up a cheer and ruckus that the principal had to get quieted down before she could continue.

“Yes, this ceremony honors Natalie Armor, and will include another face that is familiar to many of you. I’d like to introduce formally Coach Ardith Graves of the Salter University Crusaders Women’s Basketball team. Ardith.”

“Thank you, Principal Morris. It is a pleasure to walk back onto the Bartley High School gym floor and to greet the State Champion Angelines.” More cheers. “I was recruited at mid-season to move to Salter U to guide the Crusaders to a berth in the Sweet Sixteen. I was able to recruit a mid-year transfer student and former Angeline, Brenda Grant. Sadly, our bid for a national championship ended in Boston last weekend. But we were just waiting for the right moment to come back here to Bartley and present this offer of a full academic scholarship to Natalie Armor to come to Salter and join the Crusaders next year.”

Natalie left the stands and joined Ardith at the table.

“Natalie, have you received your offer letter from Salter University?”

“Yes, Coach, I have.”

“And do you intend to commit to this offer?”

“Yes, Coach.”

“Then let’s have your coach Dennis Enders and your parents, Mr. and Mrs. John Armor come up to the table to sit with us as you sign your commitment letter.”

Dennis, John, and Lily joined Natalie and Ardith handed her the paper. Natalie looked at it and checked with her parents. They nodded and she signed the commitment letter. There were cheers and a lot of people needed to get into the picture with them. Natalie put on a Salter jersey with her own number 12 on it. She posed with her parents, the principal, the school board, and her teammates.

“I’m told we can make three other announcements this morning,” Ms. Morris said. “First, it should come as no surprise to any of you that our Angelines’ student coach, Dennis Enders, will also be joining Coach Graves and Natalie at Salter. Dennis has received financial support and has agreed to transfer in as the Crusaders’ Student Trainer.”

More cheers and stomping from the team.

“This next announcement came as a bit of a surprise to me, but after reviewing the records, I’ve agreed that two other students from the Angelines will have completed their required coursework to graduate this spring and have been accepted at Salter University. Juniors Amy Unger and Lana Brown accelerated their class schedules and with the conclusion of this term will have fulfilled the requirements for a diploma from Bartley High School. They have been admitted to Salter U as probationary students because they are not yet eighteen years of age. Let’s have all our Salter recruits with Coach Graves and their parents up here for a round of applause and photographs.”