Chapter 9

The big dyke called me into her office. Once I was seated she gave me one of those looks. Like the look a surgeon gets right before he tells you about the amputation of your leg. "Marc, as you know, gossip around here is endemic. I think it's because there is so little to do that people amuse themselves with it. But sometimes, things come to my attention that I can't ignore. I have to think of the good of the Academy."

I leaned back and said, "Grace, I have to agree." Now you have to know that no one called the Big Dyke by her first name. I had just staked out a position of equality and she knew it. Her eyes widened for a second and then they narrowed and assumed an intense, dangerous look. I continued, "I think it is in everyone's best interests that certain gossip is suppressed and other gossip just be ignored. You know I'm sure that some gossip hangs around, year after year, until it virtually becomes part of the fabric of the Academy, kind of like the walls themselves. Everyone knows it's there but you don't really notice it."

I had raised the ante. Would she be willing to match it? "There are certain things that can be ignored and others that can't. What we can't have is certain things being talked about," she said levelly. "And certain things being done."

I leaned forward and spoke in a conspiratorial tone. "I know. The worst thing that could happen is to have an investigation come here." Then I pulled the big gun. I was sure that the girls in the dyke dorm had known little Lauren had walked the other side and the big dyke was mad. But she didn't know what I knew. "The danger is someone who has learned facts from one of the girls going to an investigator. Someone like a disgruntled former employee. A former employee who doesn't have anything to lose anymore. That's the danger. You know how those things work. They have a report about one girl. Maybe one of the brand new girls, the young ones might not know when to hold their tongues. The investigators come in, use their knowledge to wring a few confessions, playing one girl against the others, before you know it, the whole thing takes on a life of its own. Everybody is telling things. That's what we can't take a chance of happening."

Miss Halliday leaned back in her chair and stared at me. She was getting it. She was in danger. I knew about Susie. The Dyke couldn't take a chance with that getting beyond the walls - her having sex with a thirteen-year-old.

"Neither of us has to worry about gossip. It's facts that we have to worry about. As long as it is nothing but gossip, it will just be ephemeral, just like it has been for years." I looked at her and waited.

"But what if someone else..." she asked.

"Grace, that has been a possibility for years and nothing has happened. Nobody wants to close the Academy. Well, maybe the girls, but they are here for being liars, thieves and sluts anyway so who's going to believe them. We have a great thing here and no one wants to upset the apple cart. We'd all lose," I finished.

She was quiet for a minute. Would she want to take the bait? Would she believe I would go to the authorities if she fired me? Would she agree to let me have my girls? She could have all of the little dykettes and I could handle the girls who wanted to walk the other side of the street. "It would be important that certain boundaries not be crossed," she said. In other words, keep your filthy male hands off my dykes. I don't want to eat used pussy.

"I agree completely," I said smiling. I conceded to ease the sting of defeat. It had to hard for the big dyke who had always run the place as a medieval fief. "I will be more careful in the future. I certainly don't want to upset the apple cart either." I'll leave the dykettes to you.

She said, "Marc, I'm glad we had this talk. Gossip can be ignored as long as we know there isn't any factual information behind it."

"Absolutely. It is in all of our interests to make sure that is true. I'll support you 100 percent. Is there anything else I can do, Grace?" Just so she knew I hadn't missed the equality inherent in the new situation.

"No Marc. You have done enough I think," she said. "I am left with a problem. It appears that Lauren Miller wants to return to the regular dorms."

Oops. "My fault. It won't happen again. As to the current problem, you could punish her and then expel her to the regular dorm. If you are expelling her it would change the nature of the situation."