Chapter 14

Miss Appleton was not seen for several days and the substitute teacher was not nearly as pretty as she. Tim and Bennie began to grow restless. Perhaps something had gone wrong with the formula. Perhaps Miss Appleton was seriously ill. They knew that she would have had no recurrent action from the formula, not after the last one, the drug working itself away after a period of roughly twenty-four hours.

It was difficult to decide what to do, and the boys finally asked Mr. Boyse after chemistry class if he had spoken with the pretty English teacher.

"Miss Appleton? Oh yes, boys, she'll be up and about pretty soon. Bad touch of flu from what I understand." He himself had visited Alice earlier in the day, and she'd told him that she would attend the school picnic as planned if the splendid fall weather held. Ed Boyse refrained from telling the boys that Alice had refused to let him in the door, that in fact, she purported to loathe him for taking advantage of what she called her "illness" of the other day.

"Thanks, Mr. Boyse. You know things just don't seem the same without Miss Appleton."

"You're right about that, she certainly does add something by her presence among us." And I'd sure like to get a taste of that tight little ass of hers again too, he thought to himself, trying to figure out just how he could arrange it. Her illness indeed! he chortled to himself as he returned to the classroom to put away the experiment he'd been showing his class that day.

Tim and Bennie returned to their shared dorm room. That morning they would join the other boys outdoors for the picnic. Already as they lay resting upon their beds, the twins could hear the excited sounds of the other boys as they got ready to go outside. But other things were on their minds as they wondered whether or not Miss Appleton would appear.

As the time drew near, Tim started changing into his jeans and sneakers and sweatshirt, and Bennie followed suit. "We'd better take a dose of the formula along just in case," Tim muttered, while he tied the last knot of his sneaker.

"Yes... Alice may need a little of the hair of the dog!"

The California weather was splendid and some 350 boys spread over the hillside behind the private school, yelling and shouting and laughing at their freedom from the comparatively dreary walls of the classrooms and dorms. All the boys had a gym class every day, and some of the seniors got to have special sports privileges. There was a school football team and in spring a baseball team, badminton, tennis and field hockey as well as volley ball were practiced. Now at various spots some of these sports could be seen taking place, and later on there would be relay races and the broad jump and running jump competitions. The picnic lunch, provided by the school kitchen, would be brought out after the heat of the games, and consumed at long wooden tables set up for that purpose down by the little creek that bordered the vast school property.

Tim and Bennie wandered despondently from game to game, greeting the boys with whom they were friendly, and being greeted by their teachers, all of whom admired the twin honor students. Mr. Boyse was in charge of organizing the three-legged race, and the twins wandered past him without speaking. They felt slightly resentful that the best benefits of their experiment had gone to their chemistry teacher, especially when it looked as though they might never get another chance to complete their 'study'.

Just when things looked at their grimmest, and the despondent thirteen year old's were sitting at the top of a slope, hugging their knees and balefully surveying the joyful explosion of students, they spotted a familiar figure across the field. Automatically the twins jumped to their feet, as they watched the somberly attired Miss Appleton making her way through the cavorting students. They saw her avoid Mr. Boyse by several feet and continue walking toward the tennis lawn. The English teacher had been posted as one of the judges, and she had already missed one of the games, so she hurried along in her sensible brown loafers.

Even from where they sat the thirteen year olds could see that Alice Appleton was not herself. Instinctively Tim felt in his pocket for the small vial of formula he and his brother had prepared. Somehow that day the boys knew that they would find a way to administer it to their favorite teacher and subject. If they were successful this time it would be the last time, for they were uncertain of the long range effects of the formula on humans. Their guinea pigs were still thriving, but who knew what might happen with a real live human being, such as Miss Appleton?

Alice Appleton smiled wanly as she left the judge's stand. The picnic lunch was coming up, and Alice was glad. She hadn't been eating very well at all during the days of her illness. But now for the first time she was hungry and looking forward to eating something. She had been examined by the school doctor who had told her in essence that California was very hard hit at the moment by the London flu, and that it took various forms and sometimes lasted for a period of two weeks. He recommended complete bed rest, and aspirin, since antibiotics were not effective against the flu.

By the time the doctor had left her, Alice was almost convinced that it was the flu... the flu, of course, combined with her odd mental state. Somehow the combination must have had disastrous effects upon her nervous system. Yet there was one good thing, if it could be called that. At least Alice had finally admitted to herself her great loneliness. Something would have to be done so that she never ever had another of those terrible 'lapses'! She had done a lot of reading while confined to her apartment, most of it in the field of psychiatry and psychoanalysis. She'd read countless case histories, and in one case, somewhat similar to her own, the patient had been restored to full health by a lasting and permanent relationship with a new man.

For the first time Alice admitted to herself that she did not want to find someone, and that the only way that would happen would be through a defrosting of her attitude toward everyone she met!

The primary thing that concerned Miss Appleton however was the effect her erotic spell that day under the stairs might have had upon Tim and Bennie Larsen. And it was out of concern for them, that she made a specific effort to maintain her sanity and her self-assurance. No matter what happened, she must talk to the boys and try her best to negate the shameful actions that had taken place outside the school cafeteria! And if she felt that the boys needed some kind of special psychiatric treatment because of her, Miss Appleton was prepared to sacrifice her career to make sure that their lives weren't permanently ruined.

Therefore, it was with a great sense of anticipation that Alice went to the picnic ground, for she hoped to run into Tim and Bennie there.

She was not disappointed, for midway between her first and second bite of a double cheeseburger, the blond twins rushed up to her with effusive greetings.