Chapter 25

Monday, April 8, 2002

I'm not sure why it is, but it is. You can go to school for weeks and weeks, and getting up in the morning is no big deal. Take a week off, and the first day, getting up is a big deal.

The alarm had been going off for a maybe a half minute before Jenny grumpily pushed it off. JR muttered something about she was "Going to sleep another few minutes while Jenny and you shower."

Jenny got up and told me that she was going to shower by herself, so I decided to be clever. Mom and Dad had their own bathroom, JR used the one downstairs. I hustled myself down there with my things, and then shook JR when I got back to the room.

She was curled up into a ball, obviously in a lot of pain. I went back downstairs and found Mom in the kitchen, getting things out for breakfast and told her. She went up to see to JR, while I took over the breakfast chores.

Shortly Mom was back, saying that JR wasn't going to school today. That wasn't a problem for me. A bit later I took Jenny over to Mary's, picking up Elizabeth and Shannon, getting a smile and a thanks from Mary for a reward. That worked!

I don't know how it is at other high schools, I just know what it's like at mine. You are supposed to be there at 8:15 in the morning; that's what's called first bell. That means you have five minutes to make it to Home Room. I guess the purpose is to give you a little warning; seems kind of dumb to me.

Then there's Home Room. My Home Room teacher is Mr. Miller, who teaches shop. That is both wood and auto shop; I have no idea what qualifies you to get that job, but as near as I can tell he's the most cynical person I've ever met. Second Bell is at 8:20. In Mr. Miller's Home Room you are in your seat then, because he takes attendance by putting an 'X' on the seating chart where there is an empty seat. It doesn't matter if you're actually there, but standing and talking to someone else; it doesn't matter if you come through the door just as the bell rings. Nope, what counts is being in your seat when he's marking attendance.

As a result, unlike some Home Rooms I've had in my two prior years in high school, Mr. Miller's room is settled and ready at Second Bell. Even after Spring Break, we were all in our seats, in various degrees of wishing we were elsewhere.

Mr. Miller is the one and only Home Room teacher I've seen who can actually get attendance done in the minute before the intercom pops and we listen to the daily announcements from Camilla Bowles, the Student Body President. Mr. Miller expects you to sit still through the announcements, then as far as he's concerned, he's done with us. At 8:30 is Third Bell, which is the start of the five minute passing period before the start of First Period, the first academic class of the day. Most of us get up as soon as the announcements are done and head to our first class. Why not?

So it was, just like usual. Bells, sitting down like good little robots, then announcements, then everyone started to get up, me included.

"Mr. Ferguson, may I see you for a moment?" Mr. Miller said as the room started to stand up.

I had no idea, none, what I'd done to earn his attention, so, being more curious than concerned, I walked up to his desk.

He handed me a folded note. "Doctor Stone would like to see you in his office at 11 AM this morning."

I opened the note; that's what it said. Just a simple, "Please report to the Principal's Office at 11:00 AM Monday, April 8th."

I'd never been in trouble in my life, so I simply shrugged and put the note in my pocket. I was unprepared when Mr. Miller spoke again.

"Tom, I've never had you in a class, but you're in my Home Room." That was self evident, so I shrugged. "You will probably want to call your parents and have one or both of them present when you report to the office. Dr. Stone intends to have your head."

I blinked, completely clueless.

"Why?"

"I'm a student of the Far East, Tom. I don't know a single culture over there that doesn't have the aphorism 'The nail that sticks up is hammered down.' You, Tom, have stuck out for the last couple of weeks. He can't do much of anything, and he's looking for a scapegoat."

It was Mr. Miller's turn to shrug. "I don't approve, but then, I'm not the principal."

"I haven't done anything!" It was simple, I thought. I hadn't done anything wrong, at least nothing that the school would be taking note of.

"Tom, call your parents."

I went out in the hall, now pretty much deserted and considered for a moment. Dad was a new vice president at his company. Mom had said earlier this morning the bank was upset because she'd missed so much time in the last two weeks. She had said they could just live with it, but she'd made a point of saying she was going to having a busy week, and planned on going every single day.

Mary was in worse shape than either of them, new at her job and Elizabeth had caused her to miss days, so had her husband. Uncle Craig was busy getting a move organized, Aunt Shirley was helping with that. In any case, I'd rather have a ten principals on my case than have to ask Uncle Craig for help.

So, I could go by myself, I could call the lawyers or do something else. Mr. Miller was sarcastic and cynical. He also had organized Home Room better than any other teacher I'd seen. He wasn't a fool, then. So, if he said I needed my parents there, he was serious.

I picked up my phone and pushed a quick dial number. "Eleanor, this is Tom Ferguson."

"Hello, Tom," she replied. "I hope nothing's come up, I told Marcus you'd be there tomorrow."

"That's still on, Eleanor, but I find I'm in need of your services."

There was a perceptible pause on the other end of the line. "Pardon?" she asked, confused.

"I'm supposed to go see the principal at eleven this morning. My Home Room teacher suggested I have my parents come along, that I was in major trouble. Eleanor, I don't know what your schedule is today, but I could sure use a helping hand."

"And your parents?"

"Have missed a lot of work the last couple of weeks, what with one thing and another."

"Tom, I know your father practically owns his company. I suspect your family could buy the bank your mother works for."

"Eleanor, they feel they owe their employers, no matter what, their best. They feel like they've taken too much time off lately, so while I could ask, and they would come, it wouldn't be good. I have no idea what this is about, and I can't help but think it's bogus, but it would be nice to have a friendly face in my corner. This is as a friend, not as Eleanor Johannsen, Children Services. Sister Mary Catherine, the Carmelite nun, instead."

"I can be there at eleven. North High, right?"

"That's right."

"I have court this afternoon, I can't be much later getting downtown than one."

"I can't imagine what this is about, so I don't figure it will amount to much." Ah, the voice of youth and inexperience!

The morning seemed to pass with glacial slowness. Finally I stood up in class, showed the note to the teacher, who reacted badly to the interruption, and I walked down the empty hallways towards the office.

I smiled at Eleanor, who was already in the office. I walked up to the school secretary's desk and told them who I was and that Principal Stone had asked to see me.

The secretary picked up a phone, and a moment later, Mr. Jones came out. I'd never met him, or Principal Stone; I'd seen them both at assemblies though. Mr. Jones was the Vice Principal, the person who normally was in charge of discipline.

"Mr. Ferguson?" he asked.

I nodded, and he waved to the office and I started forward, and Eleanor followed behind me. He blinked when she moved forward with me. "Ms. Johannsen?" he said, as confused as I was.

"Brad, Tom asked me to come along. I'm here as a friend."

He looked at her for a second, then we resumed the parade into the principal's office.

Doctor Stone, an occasional voice on the intercom, someone I'd seen at assemblies a couple of times. He was in his sixties, thin and balding, formerly blonde, I thought. What little hair he had left was colorless, not white. He waved me to a chair, and I decided then and there that if I was in a chair, he'd be in his element.

"I'll stand," I said mildly. "Sir, what can I do for you?"

"Mr. Ferguson, you are suspended for the rest of the week. Mr. Jones will give you the paperwork."

I'd been told, but I'd not believed.

"Sir, I think I should be told what rule or rules I've broken. I haven't done anything that I can think of, offhand."

"You were in an altercation a couple of weeks ago with Roger Parker. Blows were exchanged."

"No, sir," I said straight off, "that's not true. No blows were struck by either side. The teachers there did send Roger to the office; they didn't send me. No blows were struck, and Roger was back in class at the end of lunch."

"You were involved in a further altercation with Roger Parker a few days later at a basketball game. Friends of yours then kidnapped Parker and took him out into the desert."

That time, I really did blink. My friends? The football team? "I think, sir, that if you were to ask the members of the football team if I was their friend, you'd get a vast chorus of 'Who's he?'"

He ignored me. "You were involved with three young men who beat and raped a girl, one of whom subsequently committed murder."

I was unprepared again, when he stopped there. "Involved? You mean when Sam Reese put a pistol against my forehead, and I took it away from him, and pounded his face on the ground? Yeah, I did that. He'd just shot Janey Sussman, the Captain of our Cheerleading squad, I might add. Killed both of his parents, a few hours before."

He ignored me. "In short, Mr. Ferguson, you are an obvious trouble maker. This is a warning shot, putting you on notice that such behavior is not and will not be tolerated in this student body," he finished speaking, and I stood there for a second, my mouth agape, wondering what planet he was from.

"Funny thing about that. I was told by the police department detectives on the case, I'd been instrumental in saving a North High student from being killed, after she'd been assaulted and raped. They were profuse in their praise. I've not had much to do with Roger Parker, but I understand he's out on bail, having been charged with kidnap, rape, assault and conspiracy to commit murder. Keith Driscoll is still in jail, but hey, you know him a lot better than I do, because he's been in trouble as far back as I can remember."

"Parker is here today. One of the purposes of this meeting is to make sure the two of you don't have an opportunity to get into it again."

My jaw hit the floor, I mean for a second all I could see was red. I'd had a little experience being angry, but never like this. Nothing like this.

"I have never 'gotten into it' with Roger Parker. Once, I asked him to stop trying to feel up a girl at lunch, here at school. None of you were around. He tried to hit me, but like everything else he does, it wasn't very good. There were attempted blows on his part, but none of them landed. This is the same Roger Parker your football team did indeed take into the desert; not because of anything I'd asked them to do, but because Parker was being obnoxious to cheerleaders and some of their girlfriends. And now, you're telling me I'm being expelled, so the two of us don't meet? How about not letting him back, since he's an imminent threat to any girl at school?"

"See Mr. Jones for the paperwork, Mr. Ferguson. Return to this office next Monday morning, and if you've behaved, I'll consider letting you back. One option I have, is to extend the suspension indefinitely; which is something I will do, if you don't show an improvement in your attitude."

"Brad," Eleanor spoke quietly. The Vice Principal looked at her, then looked away.

"You know me, have known me since we were in first grade together at St. Gregory's."

"I know you, Eleanor."

"I came here as Tom's friend, not wearing my official hat. In fact, I made a point of signing out when I left the office."

"Eleanor..."

Eleanor turned to Dr. Stone. "Tom's said it all; you've just ignored him. I'm a CSD case worker, Doctor Stone. I've been involved with this whole sorry affair. Sir, if you persist in this, there is nothing at all I can do. File a report, that's about it."

She turned to the Vice Principal. "You've told me you like your job."

"I do. I'm making a difference. Not every day, in every way, but I make a difference."

"Expel Tom Ferguson, and a week from now, you will be suspended. A few weeks later, the union rep will tell you to quietly take retirement or lose everything. Is that what you want?"

"Tom Ferguson is a trouble maker. He's been the center of any number of incidents."

"Brad, when we were in third grade, the two of us raced to see who could finish The Wizard of Oz first. Do you remember that?"

He nodded, and Eleanor went on. "Dorothy was the center of a Kansas cyclone, Brad. It wasn't her fault. Nor was it her fault that when she landed, she turned the wicked witch into powder; for all that Dorothy had been in the 'center' of things. Nor was it an entirely bad thing."

"Eleanor, we have a responsibility to the district to deal with troublemakers."

"Then deal with them. How many times has Tom Ferguson been in this office?"

"Never before. But we both know that with high school students, behavior can change overnight."

I spoke up for the first time in a while. "How much will you take for the whole thing? The school? The buildings, grounds, teachers, staff. How much is it worth?"

"Tom!" Eleanor barked at me, and I subsided. It really had been a dumb idea.

"I think, Dr. Stone, you should take another look at this. I think you should do a little checking up on Tom Ferguson, and Tom Ferguson's family. I think you should talk to the police, to the fire department. I'm obviously, prejudiced, but it wouldn't hurt for you to hear me out."

The Vice Principal waved at the door. "Why don't the two of you go outside and let us talk this over?"

We walked outside, into the waiting room of the school office. I was torn, there was no other way to say it. Part of me was the dutiful student, appalled that I'd done something that I could get expelled for. That was a real, real, small part of me. The rest of me was simply coldly furious about what morons they were.

Eleanor saw my black fury, and laughed. "Chill, Tom."

"They are stupid."

"They are. But you need to think, Tom. Don Quixote tilted at windmills. You want to do a little better than that. There's nothing wrong with dreams and aspirations. But you do yourself and everyone else a disservice if you let the Lilliputians keep you down."

I nodded. I contemplated everything, then picked my phone off my belt, and dialed the lawyers.

Bill Carstairs appeared to have returned from wherever it was he'd been; he took my call. "Mr. Carstairs, Tom Ferguson."

"Hello Tom. The secretary said you have a problem?"

"My high school principal just had me into his office; they want to expel me."

"What for?" he asked.

"Preventing rape and murder. What I'd like you to do is get in contact with Phoenix Union High School District and North High and explain to them the facts of life. Not the least of which is that I've done good, not bad."

"I'm on it. I'll take care of it, I promise."

Shortly, the Vice Principal came out, and told me that 'pending appeal' I was free to continue to come to school. I thanked Eleanor, then I left, still seething.

It was nearly lunch, and I went straight to the usual table and sat down, even though I was the first; in and of itself a first.

A while later, the usual gang was there, including Elizabeth now, as well as Shannon.

Tony showed up a little late, and promptly waved to me. "Gotta talk to you, Tom."

I figured he'd heard about the BS at the school office, so I went off a ways with him.

"After school, the team wants to talk with you."

"The team? The football team?" I asked.

"Yeah. This is about Darryl. And Gloria, but mainly about Darryl."

I couldn't help chuckling, and Tony looked at me, curious. "What's funny?"

"Dr. Stone wanted to expel me a while ago. Gloria, at least, didn't make his list of my transgressions." Gloria would have been, I thought, really unhappy about it, too, if she had.

Tony frowned. "I don't think I understand."

"I think the Gloria wants to put Darryl behind her, Tony."

"Sue Ellen told me he tried to rape her. He gave her a date rape drug, got her drunk and tried to stick it to her!" Tony was outraged, I realized.

"That's what he did," I agreed. "But I think if you were to ask Gloria, she'd tell you to let it go. If it gets back to her family, she's in big trouble. Big trouble, Tony. I met her father Friday evening, remember? The guy's a little whacko, Tony."

"Three o'clock, Tom. The PE locker room."

"Tony, then as a favor to me. I just came from Dr. Stone's office, Tony. They were going to suspend me for the week."

He stared at me in surprise. "What for?"

"Helping people. Roger Parker is back today, he doesn't want us 'to get into it.' His words, not mine." I felt my anger returning. "It's crazy, it's stupid, but I do not need the boat rocked right now, Tony. Please, please. If you guys do something to Darryl, they'll dump on you guys. Taking Roger out to the desert was one of the things Stone blamed me for."

"Blamed you for?" Obviously, Tony was having a hard time with it too.

He looked away for a second, then shook his head. "Three o'clock, the PE locker room, Tom. It won't be what you think."

Tony and I were too good of friends to butt heads; he said it wasn't what I thought, I'd accept that. I hoped he wasn't trying to snow me.

"Just one last thing, Tony. I'm the designated driver. I have to take Elizabeth and Shannon home, Jenny and probably Penny. I have to be downtown at four. It can't take very long."

"It won't."

Lunch period finished, the rest of the day dragged by. I managed to get in touch with everyone I was supposed to pick up to tell them I'd be a few minutes late, and to wait for me at the van. I handed Shannon the key after the last bell of the day, then headed off to the locker room.

It is always impressive to see so much flesh at once. Not that the football team was undressed, mind you. In fact, they were all duded up in their letter jackets. But two dozen clean shaven young men, who's average weight was close to two hundred pounds is a lot of flesh.

Tony stepped out, pointing to Darryl. "Darryl, you go stand next to Tom."

"What's this about?" Darryl was a little surly.

"Just what you were told, a team meeting," Tony replied.

"I thought you were off the team," Darryl sneered.

"Don't go there Darryl," the guy I knew was the current team captain said. "Shut up and move."

Darryl stood next to me, obviously curious.

Tony turned to face the team. "You all voted me Captain for next year. I told you then, and I'm telling you now, thanks. I can't think of anything that beats the honor.

"Coach has always allowed the team to vote on varsity letters. I talked to him earlier this afternoon, and he said that as far as he was concerned, that varsity letters were based on service and team spirit. You can't have one without the other.

"I move we take back Darryl's letter. All in favor, say Aye!"

There was a loud chorus of "Ayes!"

"Opposed?" It was very quick.

"What the hell is this," Darryl said, angry.

"Anyone opposed?" Tony waited a second, but Darryl was still sputtering. "Ayes have it then. Darryl, take off your jacket. If any of us see you wearing it again... you won't like it."

Darryl stood there, facing down two dozen team mates. He might have been pond scum, but he certainly knew it. "I was transferring to Central next year anyway. The coach there says I have real promise. I'll be a good fit for their running game."

"Promises, promises!" I didn't see which team member said it, but there was a chorus of laughter.

"That's all then, Darryl. Thanks for your time," Tony told him.

Darryl took off his jacket, sneered and walked out of the room.

"All in favor of asking Tom Ferguson to carry water next year?"

Another chorus of ayes. Tony smiled at me.

Deadpan, I smiled back. "I've been able to carry my water now, since I was three and a half."

There was laughter in the room; it was a stupid joke, but they seemed to like it.

"So, Tom. Next year, you will show up at practices, just like a regular team member. Coach will tell you what to do, but basically you're the refreshment manager. Make sure there is water, juice, Gatorade and the like at practices and the games. Lots and lots of ice."