Chapter 1

Jane Pringle was thirty-five years old and single. She had been married once, very briefly in June 1944. Her husband, Joe, died two weeks later on the beaches of Normandy fighting with the US Marine Corp. It was now 1961 and she was living and working in a little town called Winchester next to the Owl creek mountains in Wyoming.

What was remarkable about Jane wasn’t that she was beautiful, and she certainly was, no, it was that she had remained celibate all that time. Not once had she let another man near her sexually, she just couldn’t, she had loved Joe so much it felt like a betrayal to even contemplate such a thing. Of course, she had offers, she was stunning and every man that met her wanted her, they couldn’t help it.

Jane would be polite but that was all, as soon as she realised they wanted more, she would end the conversation and most likely the friendship as well. Jane was 5ft 5’’ with shoulder length blond hair and Emerald green eyes that could seduce even the most cynical of men. And when she smiled, her perfect white teeth added another layer of beauty to the many already on display. If any man had been lucky enough to see her naked, they would have sworn they were looking at a Hollywood movie star, such was her figure. Her breasts were big but not so big that they drew the eye unnecessarily, and her legs went on forever, strong yet very sexy.

Jane Pringle would walk in the mountains for hours and sometimes even days, pushing herself to the limit, liking how it kept her body in great shape and gave her mind the solitude it craved. She needed no one and being alone and miles from civilization gave her this. Sometimes, especially when it was warm, she would strip completely and play with herself, remembering the two weeks she had with Joe, cumming loudly and wishing more than anything he was still here to fuck her. But he wasn’t and she continued to honor the pledge she made to him as he was leaving for France.

Her job helped with the loneliness; teaching had given her the strength to carry on after she got notice of Joe’s death. Her parents were never overly affectionate, barely ever touching her and never hugging, even at Joe’ funeral, when she needed one more than anything. No, she was on her own after he died and moved away as soon as the opportunity arose, more or less cutting her parents out of her life, bar the odd Christmas card.

Everybody liked her, she was wonderful with both the kids and the other teachers, nobody had a bad word to say about her. She had been at the school for fifteen years, teaching math and English, happy in her classroom with the pupils and even turning down the offer of being deputy head mistress. She just liked doing what she had always done, keeping it simple and quiet. She occasionally went out for dinner with her colleagues, always bumping into an ex-pupil who wanted to thank her and tell her how she had changed their life. Her life was simple and that’s how she liked it, she had accepted she would spend it alone and was happy with that. On the few occasions she did need sexual release, she did it herself, with her fingers.

In the fall of 1961, things started to change for Jane. Tom Bower joined the school as the new science teacher. He was two years older than Jane and the first time she saw him, at the teachers’ meeting a week before the new term, she thought how much he looked like her Joe. For a few minutes she couldn’t stop staring at him, her friend Sally elbowing her to break her stare.

‘Hey, are you alright? Why are you staring at him?’ Sally asked.

Jane quickly regained her composure, looking away from the new teacher and at Sally, smiling.

‘He reminds me of my Joe, same hair and build ... and ... well, just looks very familiar. Do you know anything about him?’ Jane enquired.

‘No, not really, sorry.’

The head introduced Tom, saying he was from New York and that he was very happy he had joined the team. Tom then got up and said a quick hello, sitting back down next to the head straight away. The meeting proceeded as normal, the head outlining his plans for the year and asking everyone to work hard and make sure we put the children first, as he always did. At the end, everybody had coffee and biscuits, chatting and telling each other what they had done during the summer. It was all very normal, nothing had really changed over the years, this always happened.

Jane said hello to Tom but nothing more, she didn’t want to appear interested in him in any way and when she got closer, she realised he wasn’t that much like her Joe, definitely not as handsome. Her friend Sally on the other hand, was more than interested, especially once he told her he was single. Within weeks, they were dating, Sally falling for him big time.

When Jane found out he didn’t serve because he was in Mexico, and didn’t come back to enlist, she took a distinct dislike for him. How dare he not fight for his country, what kind of a man let’s others go to war while he hides in a foreign land? What made it worse was her friend loved him and wouldn’t hear a bad word against him. Jane began to pull away from Sally, not wanting to be near them, it made her angry every time she saw them together. Sally noticed this and asked Jane about it, getting upset when Jane told her how she felt. After this they only spoke when it was necessary, both avoiding the other.

Sally of course told Tom, explaining about Jane and Joe, not wanting him to say anything. But he did, cornering Jane in the corridor one day.

‘I’m sorry about your husband but what I did during the war shouldn’t matter to you and I think the way you are treating Jane is just wrong.’ He told her, sharply.

‘Well thank you, Tom, but I think when a man let’s other men die for his freedom and does nothing, well, he’s a coward.’ She replied, staring into his eyes so he was left in no doubt of her contempt.

‘You fucking bitch, I’m glad he’s dead, I just hope he died slowly.’ He spat, squeezing her arm so she winced.

Jane recoiled in horror at his words, her arm hurting from his big hand tightening on it. She tried to slap his face with her other hand but he caught it and grinned.

‘You need a good fucking, loosen you up a bit. Jane reckons you aint had any since 44, is that true?’

‘Let me go or I’ll scream.’ Jane spat, trying to pull away.

Tom let her go, saying: ‘Come see me when you want a fuck.’

Jane marched off, seething and nearly in tears. How dare he speak to her that way, and about her Joe, who does he think he is? She asked herself, determined to get her own back.

Whether he told Sally of the encounter in the corridor didn’t matter, to Jane they were both the same now. She ignored Sally completely, not even answering her when she asked about a pupil. This went on until November, veterans’ day to be precise. Every year on this day Jane would wear black as a mark of respect for her husband and all those that fell in war. The school had a special assembly and those teachers that served or were widows, took special place on the stage. It was always a wonderful morning with the children singing and pledging allegiance to the flag, everything it should be.

As Jane made her way to the staff room that morning, she heard Tom’s voice, causing her to stop just outside, not wanting to go in and see him. She was about to turn and go the main hall when Tom spoke again.

‘And why does she wear black? Everybody knows she’s a widow, she’s always going on about it and how her wonderful husband died fighting for us all, Jesus, get over yourself.’

Jane heard some laughter, shocked her colleagues would react this way to his insult. She walked into the room, wanting to see who thought he was funny. There was three of them, all men, none of them ex-soldiers. She glared at them all, hurt one of them was Dean, the Geography teacher. She thought he was a friend; they had gone out to dinner on numerous occasions, both alone and with others. The other man was Terry, he worked in the office and was too young to have served.

Tom glared back at her, not caring she had heard him. The other two were really embarrassed, Dean apologizing, trying to explain himself. Jane didn’t wait, she left the room, knowing she had to bring Tom down.

After assembly, Jane returned to her class, still a little upset about what had happened, hoping it wouldn’t spoil her lesson. All her pupils liked her, especially the boys, most of them getting a hard-on at one time or another during her class. Jane never did anything to encourage them or in any way act inappropriately, always dressing conservatively. But no matter how she dressed, she couldn’t hide her beauty or her fantastic figure, it was always there, giving the boys hours of material for their fantasies.

The oldest in her class was fourteen and the youngest twelve, all of them very grateful to be lucky enough to get her as their teacher. A couple of the boys, Jerry and Hank, did everything they could to get in her good books, desperate to find a way of seeing her body or get her to like them, in that special way. They were both thirteen, soon to be fourteen and their hormones were running wild, forcing them to masturbate at least three times a day, sometimes more.

Jane was not oblivious to the needs of young boys and knew what they did to relieve themselves, occasionally catching one of them if they were silly enough to do it in the classroom or somewhere else where a teacher might go. When this happened, she was sensitive to their embarrassment and merely told them to wait until they were at home in their bed.

Jane was feeling warm as she began her lesson, the anger running through her veins making her sweat a little. She normally wore a jacket, including veterans’ day, but never took it off, always keeping it on to appear proper in front of her pupils. So when she did, and put it on the back of her chair, she didn’t realise how she looked in her tight white shirt. Her breasts looked so big as the shirt clung to her, the boys all staring at this unexpected treat, knowing they might not get this again.

Being distracted by the thought of getting back at Tom, Jane wandered the classroom unaware of the effect she was having on the boys. When she returned to the black board and started writing on it, she heard a few sniggers. She turned and looked at the boys, surprised by this, knowing they never normally acted this way. They all put their heads down and shut up, not wanting to give the game away. Jane carried on, blissfully unaware, finishing the lesson and letting the class go.

This unexpected treat gave Jerry and Hank the extra push they needed to find a way of getting what they wanted. Hank had been given a fancy new camera for his birthday, a Leica from Germany. He was a keen photographer and knew that was what he wanted to do once he left school. Jerry had come up with the idea of photographing Miss Pringle, secretly, trying to get one of her showing something or with her legs apart. Hank was very dubious about this but Jerry persuaded him, planting the seed of seeing her panties in his brain.

Hank started to bring the camera to school, pretending he wanted to improve his technique and take more of his friends and some action shots. Soon, no one took any notice of him, letting him take pictures whenever he wanted, even of the staff. The school let him develop his photos in their dark room, even though he wasn’t in the camera club. So, when they were given permission to come in on a Saturday morning, they took it gratefully, desperate to develop the film from the previous week. On the Wednesday, Hank had taken some from his chair in front of Miss Pringle’s desk, secretly of course.

They were not the only ones in the school that morning, Miss Pringle was also there, picking up the homework she had forgotten the day before. As she walked past the science classrooms, she noticed Tom’s door open, which was unusual, all classrooms are normally locked or at least the doors closed. She stepped inside and looked around, making sure he or no one else was in there. Happy she was alone, she started nosing about, looking through his paperwork, wondering if she might find something to help her get back at him.

As Jane was looking in Tom’s desk, Hank and Jerry were just coming out of the darkroom two rooms down, heading her way. Hank saw her first, grabbing Jerry’s arm and putting his finger to his mouth, telling him to be quiet and pointing at Miss Pringle. They were both now watching her, wondering what she was doing, Hank getting his camera from its bag and putting a new roll in it.

Jane knew a little about chemistry, having taught it when the school had no science teacher years ago. So, reading Tom’s lesson plan for next week and seeing he was intending to show how certain chemicals when mixed became volatile, she decided to have some fun at his expense and mislabel some of the chemicals he was intending on using.

Hank and Jerry couldn’t believe their eyes, here was the straightest teacher in the school mucking about with another teacher’s things. They watched and took photos as she took labels off jars and put new ones on, writing on them as she did so. When she was done, she left, smiling to herself, knowing he would get in real trouble for what was going to happen.

The boys hid as she left, returning to the darkroom once it was safe and developing the photos. For the rest of the weekend the boys debated the reasons for their teacher’s behaviour, not really coming up with a plausible reason. They decided to wait and see, sure all would be revealed.

On Monday morning, around eleven o’clock, all hell broke loose in the science room. Pupils were running in the corridor coughing and choking, some even being sick, it was chaos. Miss Pringle was down the hall from the science room, but such was the commotion it affected her class as well. Within minutes the whole school was evacuated and the fire brigade called.

The fireman went in and opened all the windows, letting out the noxious gasses that had caused all the trouble. Eventually, everybody was let back in, much to the children’s disappointment. Mr Bower was called to the heads office and asked to explain what had happened, though at the time he didn’t know. The only thing he did know was he had made a number of children sick. They were all checked out at the hospital and luckily let go with nothing more than an upset tummy and a headache.

Tom went back to the science room and tried to work out what had happened, discovering the wrong chemicals in the wrong jars. He reported back to the head, telling him what he had found and assuring him someone must have tampered with the jars. The head was very dubious and warned Tom any recurrence of this and he would have to let him go. Tom tried to argue his case but was told to go and check every jar in the science room.

Jane was more than happy, Tom’s fuck up was the talk of the school and even the town. She wanted to gloat but restrained herself, knowing she couldn’t give any hint that it was her. Instead, she satisfied herself with a nice meal in town. The boys sat on Hank’s bed that evening and talked of nothing else, knowing it must have been Miss Pringle who switched the chemicals around. They also knew they had evidence of this as they looked through the photos, giggling like little girls. They couldn’t believe she was so bad, secretly admiring her, telling themselves he must have done something to her to deserve it.

It was Jerry who came up with the idea of sending her the photos and asking for something, but it was Hank who thought of asking her for something naughty.

‘We could ask her for a kiss.’ Hank said, kissing his hand as if it was Jane’s mouth.

Jerry laughed at his antics, kissing his hand, too.

‘Or, we could demand she let us see her boobies.’ Jerry suddenly gasped, thinking he was a genius.

‘Oh my, can you imagine seeing those, in the flesh?’ Hank sighed.

‘She wouldn’t but it would be fun asking, to see her reaction. Maybe we could ger better grades.’ Jerry said, looking at the photos again.

‘No, the more I think about it, the more I’m sure she would do anything to stop these being sent to the headmaster or the police. She would definitely get the sack and maybe even prosecuted; don’t you think?’ Hank asked, looking pleased with himself.

‘I don’t know, she’s been there forever and everyone loves her.’ Jerry replied.

They both agreed to send them with a letter and put them on her desk early before she got in, in an envelope. Hank was the better student and decided he would compose the letter, saying he would compose it that night and show Jerry in the morning before school.

Jerry was waiting outside school early, his young mind in a whirl as he went through all the different things that might happen, none of them involved Miss Pringle doing as they asked. He was convinced she would have them up before the head, their parents brought in to witness their humiliation and severe punishment. When Hank arrived, he was ready to stop this madness, not wanting to risk his school career.

But Hank was not so worried, smiling broadly as he handed Jerry the letter they would be sending Miss. Jerry took it, not telling Hank of his fears, wanting to read the letter first. He opened it and read.

‘Dear Miss Pringle,

As you can see, we have irrefutable evidence of you sabotaging Mr Bower’s class and causing the dangerous release of poisonous gases into the school on Monday. By some miracle no one was killed but that was more by luck than design. If these photos were to be sent to the headmaster and the police; two things would happen. First, you would undoubtedly lose your career, dismissed on the spot. Second, you would be charged with attempted murder and possibly spend years rotting in jail.