Chapter 67: Mr. Oldham Gets Tough

William Lester taunted me about my pronunciation of certain words, especially those beginning or ending with 'th', but I tuned him out. I was having trouble concentrating on my study and didn't need any more distractions. What Jeannie had said about she and Cindy being grounded had given me a jolt. What Mr. Baldwin said about me no longer being welcome in their home had really rocked me. As far as I was concerned William Lester could go fuck himself. I wasn't in the mood to joust with him.

All I could think of was that Cindy was grounded and I was banned from the Baldwin house. What the fuck had happened to cause this? Mr. Baldwin had specifically said that I was not to speak with his daughters. Did he mean Cindy and Jeannie or was Jessica included? Had he found out about Jessica and me? Hell that was well over a year ago.

I felt lonely. I had a problem and there was no one I wanted to discuss it with, not even Russell. It would be Saturday before I would get a chance to talk with Ned. It would be Friday before I would have a chance to talk to Cindy. It was going to be a long week.

The locker room was filled with jubilant talk of our win over Pinehurst as we changed into our practice uniforms on Monday afternoon. I took a lot of good-natured ribbing for being injured by a finger. I was still favoring the right side of my mouth and couldn't overcome the lisp that I had developed. They wanted to hear me say words like 'tenth' and 'truth.' Coach Krown interrupted the fun with a stern warning. "Anyone not on the field in three minutes runs fifty laps." Two minutes later we were out of the locker room, some of us carrying our shoes and socks.

Coach Sterling took me aside after warm-up exercises. "There's going to be no disciplinary action for your ejection from the Pinehurst game but we don't want you hitting until Mr. Bigalow clears you for practice."

This was good news and bad. While I had not considered being disciplined for my attack on the Pinehurst running back I was not looking forward to Coach Krown's promise to 'deal, ' with our ejection from the game. Being withheld from practice until Mr. Bigalow cleared me was a blow I had not anticipated. Aside from an occasional sharp pain when my tongue grazed the inside of my cheek, I was fine. I must have run fifty laps around the field that day, hoping to see Mr. Bigalow at the end of practice. It wasn't to be.

Tuesday was a repeat of Monday. On Wednesday I was called out of math class to report to Colonel Travis. By the time I returned the class was ending. Mr. Sterling got my attention on the pretence of giving me the homework assignment.

"What happened?" he asked.

I handed him a copy of a letter the Colonel had given me.

Monday, October 5, 1987

Dear Colonel Travis,

I hereby acknowledge receipt of your letter dated Saturday, October 3, 1987 in which you demand an apology for what you describe as the despicable conduct of one of our players.

It pleases me to inform you, Colonel that I have met with the young man and received his assurance that he did nothing to provoke your player to take the aggressive action that resulted in our young man suffering a broken hand, temporary unconsciousness and two of your players being ejected from the game. At your suggestion, I personally inspected the young man's fingernails and found them to be neatly trimmed and clean. Colonel, your accusation that our player intentionally caused bodily harm to the inside of your player's mouth is unfounded.

I therefore advise you that no apology is forthcoming. Furthermore, as a matter of coutesy I hereby advise you that the parents of our player are beginning legal action against Cromwell Military Academy and one Samuel K. Oldham. A lawsuit is already underway to collect damages for medical expenses in addition to monetary damages for pain and suffering.

Sincerely,

Cary Crawford

Principal, PinehurstHigh School

"Holy crap!" Mr. Sterling exclaimed as he handed the letter back to me. "Did Colonel mention if Cary is a male or female?"

"No Sir," I said.

There was concern in Mr. Sterling's eyes as I rushed out of the room to get to my next class. I didn't have time to explain that there was nothing to worry about. I had never seen the Colonel in such a congenial mood. He explained that he had already taken steps to secure affidavits from Mr. Bigalow, and the referees, who would substantiate my claim that the kid's fingernails were excessively long. I gave him the name of the doctor who treated me at the emergency room and he said he would also secure an affidavit from him.

"Cadet Oldham, are you going to be able to reign in that temper or am I going to have to bench you the next time we play Pinehurst?" he asked.

"No Sir. You won't have to bench me," I said and thought I saw a twinkle in his eyes.

"No more broken hands?"

"No Sir."

"You're dismissed, Cadet."

That's all there was to it. I was told to keep my temper in check and that afternoon I was cleared to practice with the team. If it weren't for Cindy being grounded I would have thought the dominos were falling my way.

"Is something wrong Sir?" Eddie asked that night as we took our walk after study and before lights out.

"Why do you ask?"

"You were off in another world while we were studying. I don't want to pry but if there is anything I can do..."

My first inclination was to reprimand him for being forward with me. I wasn't going to share my problems with him and even if I were inclined to let him help, what would I say? Cindy hadn't told me why she and Jeannie had been grounded. All I had to go on was Mr. Baldwin's short but curt statement that I was no longer welcome in his home. Had he found out that Cindy and I were sleeping together? Worse, had he found out that I had taken Jeannie's virginity? Not knowing the reason for the sisters being grounded was driving me insane.

"It's nothing Eddie but thanks for asking," I said. We were on the third floor because I was hoping to run into Josh. Perhaps he knew something.

"Only five minutes until lights out," he warned. Just then Josh appeared. The two freshmen exchanged small talk about one of the classes they were in together and Eddie excused himself, seeing that Josh and I wanted to talk privately.

"How was you birthday?" I asked as an opener.

"Fine, thank you. What did you do to Jeannie?"

"What do you mean? I didn't do anything," I said.

"She's grounded."

"I know but I didn't cause it. Did she say it was my fault? What did you hear?"

"I didn't get to talk to her. Mr. Baldwin talked to my mom. Jeannie may be pregnant. My mom told him it wasn't me. He's bullshit at both of us."

"How does your mom know it wasn't you?"

"I don't know. She just knows."

The lights flickered; indicating lights out was only seconds away. We said goodbye and I took the stairs three at a time so I could make it back to the room on time. Shit! I thought. Mr. Baldwin had spoken to Mrs. Ford. Shit!

Friday couldn't come soon enough for me but I played poorly the first half. Mr. Sterling told me to loosen up. "You're too tentative," he said to me. Russell told me to stop worrying about hurting someone. "You're going to get yourself hurt if you keep standing around with your finger up you butt," he said. I took their advice and played aggressively. We made up for some of the lost ground but not enough to win the game. When we came off the field Colonel Travis was there, smiling and shaking our hands. "Good job," he said to me.

"What the fuck got in to him?" Russell asked.

"He's happy that I didn't break any hands today," I joked. But the Colonel's demeanor puzzled me too. I couldn't explain his change toward me.

"I'm not supposed to dance with you," Cindy said as soon as we reached the dance floor.

"What happened? What's going on?"

"My dad overheard us arguing. It was awful Sammy, just awful."

"Is Jeannie really pregnant?"

She stopped moving and looked at me. "Where did you hear that?"

"That's what he told Mrs. Ford. He blamed Josh but she told him it wasn't Josh," I said, looking around to see if any instructors were watching us. Cindy responded to my touch and we began moving again.

"We can't dance again today. My dad may be watching. He's a wild man and my mom's not doing anything to calm him down. They're both livid at us."

"You've got to sneak out tonight. I've got to see you," I said as we parted.

"I'll try to call you," she said.

There was a line of Cadets waiting to dance with Marcy Cochran. "You're next," she yelled. Jeannie was dancing with Josh. They were so absorbed with their conversation that they didn't see me. I invited Gloria to dance.

"You're in deep shit this time, Sammy Oldham."

"What do you mean by that?" I asked.

"The whole school knows. They've been at it all week, blaming each other for letting their father find out what happened."

"What does the whole school know?"

She didn't answer. She was grinning giddily and waving at other girls like she hadn't seen them in weeks. I wondered how Spence held her attention for more than five seconds. I thanked her for the dance, thankful to be free of her. Jeannie was watching me but when I approached her she turned away, like she didn't know me.

With the exception of one dance with Marcy, I stood on the sidelines and watched the Baldwin sisters dance with other cadets. Lester leered at me as he danced with Cindy.

"Why so solemn?" Marcy asked. She was spry and seemed lighter in my arms than I recalled from the previous times we had danced. She was also in a carefree mood.

"Haven't you heard?" I asked. "Come on Marcy, tell me what you know. You're so popular this may be my only chance to dance with you."

Marcy must have seen the despair in my eyes. She became serious. Speaking candidly and confidentially, she told me about the battle that had been raging between the Baldwin sisters. Marcy didn't waste time telling me about the rumors but I got the impression that their feud had been the main source of entertainment at Speedwell over the past week. In short, they blamed one another for their father finding out about Jeannie losing her virginity. And for once, their mother had done nothing to calm his ranting. At first Mr. Baldwin had assumed Josh was the guilty party but Mrs. Ford had convinced him otherwise. She had pointed the finger at me. When neither Cindy nor Jeannie would confirm that it was me who had taken his youngest daughter's virginity Mr. Baldwin had grounded the two girls until they confirmed Mrs. Ford's accusation. When Mrs. Baldwin refused to intercede on their behalf the two girls began blaming one another. Mr. Baldwin immediately assumed that Jeannie could be pregnant and his daughters could not convince him otherwise.

"They're not going to like being locked up. It's just a matter of time until one of them cracks," Marcy warned me.

I knew she was right but hearing her predict that Cindy or Jeannie would admit I was to blame for Jeannie losing her cherry was upsetting. "It was Cindy's idea and Jeannie thanked me for doing it," I said, still unable to believe either of them would turn on me.

"There's one way you could make it easier for everyone," she suggested.

"What's that?" I asked.

"Apologize to Mr. Baldwin."

The music had ended and I was escorting her back to the Speedwell side of the room. "I couldn't do that. He would kill me."

"Think about it," Marcy said.

Suzanne sat in the back seat and Mr. Oldham let me drive his car. We talked about the football game, my promotion to Corporal and my driving test the next day, nothing about the predicament I was in until after we had eaten dinner. Suzanne excused herself and left the room as if on cue.

Mr. Oldham was setting up the chessboard when he spoke. "Carl Baldwin says you knocked his daughter up."

"Shit!" I said under my breath and looked up to see him watching me. He was sitting back in his chair, his gaze steady. "Mr. Baldwin doesn't know that. He doesn't know anything for sure. He jumped to the assumption that Jeannie's pregnant. He didn't accuse me, did he?" I asked.

"Jeannie? Is that the one he was talking about? I thought he was talking about Cindy."

"No Sir. Cindy's taking precautions but Jeannie's not," I said, thinking I had cleared things up. I didn't notice Suzanne had come back into the room until she spoke.

"Sammy! How could you? Jeannie's what, fifteen?" Suzanne asked as she took a seat across the room from us, making me wonder if it was intentional. I didn't know which one to answer first. I had to turn my head sideways to look at Suzanne and every time I turned back to Mr. Oldham he was staring at me, displaying a disappointed frown.

There was only one thing to do; level with them. I didn't like implicating Cindy, especially after hearing that she and Jeannie had refused to incriminate me. But being truthful was the only logical explanation for what I had done. I started with Cindy's argument that I would be doing Jeannie a favor, that if she were deflowered she would be more likely to go her way and this would give us freedom to do as we pleased. I didn't mention that Cindy had offered to 'keep Josh busy.'

The chess set sat untouched as Mr. Oldham caught up on the other things that had happened to me since we had been together. He wanted to know how my promotion came about. I told him it started with the Marcy Cochran rule. I couldn't explain why I had danced with Marcy. It may have been an attempt to show the Colonel how ridiculous the rule was but as I preferred to think, it was the right thing to do. As it turned out, my instincts paid off and I was promoted.

I told Mr. Oldham about the board of inquiry and their verdict that while I had done nothing wrong, they placed me on probation until further evidence was uncovered. Word of my troubles reached Speedwell and Marcy appealed to her brother for justice to be done. "Since then the Colonel has been a different person," I commented.

"I think you've judged him unfairly, Sammy. He was gracious and spoke highly of you," Suzanne spoke up from her corner of the room.

"Have you forgotten the trial?" Mr. Oldham asked Suzanne and turned back to me. "Tell us about the Pinehurst game," he ordered.

I could have described every play of the game, right down to the count when the ball was snapped, but it would have put Suzanne to sleep and I was anxious to see her reaction when I got to the part where I was spitting up blood.