Chapter 22: Making a Difference

Allison was waiting in the glade when I arrived; making notes on the tablet PC she used to keep track of things.

"Oh good, you're back," she said as I walked up to the blanket she was sitting on. "I'm starting a chart so we can keep track of who's who and who knows whom. What do you think?"

I examined the chart and saw that she had Samantha at the hub of a group of circles. Surrounding her were other circles containing the names and pictures of her parents, Megan of course, Doctor Hendricks, the man with no face, several other girls and adults, most of the adults didn't have names. Most were connected to Samantha, others, like Essex, were not. Yeah, that was a surprise too; the ones that Jasmine had showed me had already been added.

"It's a good start," I said. "Let's color code the circles, use different colors to identify who is voluntarily participating and who was being coerced. You can add Jasmine over here and connect her to Megan and Samantha." Her computer immediately added the appropriate circles and connections as I spoke, including coloring the circles. The one's we were not certain about remained black, Essex's circle was red as it was clear she was a more than willing player, Jasmine's circle was blue, Hendricks' circle was composed of alternating red and blue dashes because we weren't sure. Samantha may suspect he was being blackmailed but until I could confirm that personally he was an unknown. Allison also left a dark background behind the photos of the ones I had not met with personally, which was most of them. Frank Watkins' circle was lit because while we had not actually 'met' with him, we had no doubt of where he stood. His wife Irene, by contrast was still dark because while she obviously knew what was going on, we really were not sure whether she encouraged the abuse of her own children or simply had no choice. Samantha had told Allison that her mother had frequently encouraged her daughters to cooperate. For instance during the nightly ritual where Samantha welcomed her father home she would whisper encouraging words to Rachel about how wonderful it would be when she was old enough to join in, as well as explaining the necessity of Samantha's 'encouragement' whenever she failed to please her Lord or made any kind of mistake. Punishment was never mentioned and Rachel never saw any of the more violent or painful acts of 'encouragement' that Samantha endured to help her learn the joys of proper service. It was horrifying to learn that little Rachel was looking forward to the day when she would be allowed to participate. She was also constantly reminded that only the most special girls were chosen and that she should never mention to others what she saw. It was all a special secret that only the chosen could know of, and she must never tell anyone, because if she did she would not be allowed to participate. I guess they thought telling her that she and the entire family would be slaughtered like sheep might be going a little too far.

I was staring blindly at the chart wondering what it would look like before it was finished and missed her next statement.

"I'm sorry," I said, shaking my brain back on track.

"I said I think you're going to need to go see her."

I closed my eyes and checked the clock in my room, "It's getting close to time to get up. I'll have to make it later in the week."

"Have you ever considered just synching the clock on your phone to real time?"

I gave her a look, "Have you ever considered not being so damn smart all the time?"

She gave me one of her 'I'm just a little angel' looks, complete with sunshine smile and ghost of a halo over her head. She gave a start when I grew a pair of little red horns out of her head.

"Hey!"

We just had time to kiss and make up before the alarm took me away. Allison woke up just long enough to kiss me before I went out for my morning run. I put my clothes in the bathroom before I left so I wouldn't have to wake her when I got back. Then it was time to pick up Mark and Shannon for school. Shannon had a very interesting expression on her face, but I had to wait until we got to school and Mark took off to say anything.

"So, you and Lizzy okay now?"

She gave a contented sigh, "Yeah, but I don't think I could take her in person. I don't know what it is about her, whether it's her gift or something else, but man, you get her started and she just doesn't stop. If that had been real I wouldn't be able to walk. See you at break."

I had a note in my first period class excusing me to from morning classes and instructing me to report to Mr. Dennis in the auditorium to get ready for the big assembly between Break and Lunch. When I got there I couldn't believe it. They had all the bleachers out and about two thirds of the floor filled with chairs. There was just enough room for the stage they had set up at one end. Behind the stage was a large movie screen. Steve was up on stage with several of the goonies as well as two officers from the local Police Department. I didn't recognize the woman but the guy looked familiar. He turned a little as I walked up the steps and I knew immediately who it was.

"Officer French," I said, reaching for his hand as I approached, "good to see you again."

He looked at me for a second then I saw the recognition dawn, "Matthews, isn't it? Yes, James Matthews, I took your statement after the incident at the mall last spring." He looked back at Steve, "is this our playmate for show and tell?"

Steve just shook his head, "Matthews, is there anybody you don't know?"

I turned to the female officer and reached for her hand, talking to Steve as I stared into her eyes and brought her hand up to kiss, "Yes, in fact I have never had the pleasure of meeting this lovely vision in blue. James Matthews, Officer..." I glanced at her name tag, "Biante? I hope I'm pronouncing that correctly, it's Italian isn't it?" I was fishing hard there, considering the blonde hair and stunningly blue eyes someone had to have married into the name somewhere along the line.

She rolled her eyes and looked past me at her partner, "You put him up to this?"

"My hand to God," French said, raising his right hand, "I had no idea who we were getting, or that he would be such an unconscionable flatterer."

"Flatterer?" I said questioningly. "Officer French, stating the obvious is never flattery. My dear has anyone ever pointed out how that uniform brings out the blue in your eyes?"

"Okay, that's it pal," she said, twisting her hand to grab my wrist and then turning it so that I was forced to spin in place. As I did she pulled the arm up behind me, "You're under arrest for being a threat to every female in the school. You have the right to remain silent..."

A voice from off stage interrupted "Biante, what is it with you and handcuffs? How many times do I have to tell you: you should always ask your partner before you bring out the hardware; sometimes they prefer ropes."

We all turned to find Coach Jenkins crossing the gym floor. Biante stepped behind me as we turned, keeping the grip on my arm and using her free hand on my left shoulder to turn me without applying more pressure, "Better stay back Mel, I'm telling you he's dangerous. I don't know if even you are safe around him. You didn't hear the line of crap he was just feeding me."

Melinda Jenkins is one of the girls' PE instructors; she also coached for both the Basketball and Volleyball teams. "Oh, he's full of it all right, no doubt about that, but you're wasting your time. You'll never make it stick and he's probably enjoying the way you're manhandling him. Never knew you were into the bondage scene Jimmy?"

"Always be open to new ideas Miss Jenkins, it's the secret to staying young." I glanced back over my shoulder at Biante, "Now, I get the full strip search and I get to tie you up next, right?"

Steve and French were doing their best to suppress their laughter as she released me, "In your dreams, hotshot. What are you teaching these kids, Mel?"

"Hey don't look at me; he's got the wrong equipment for any of my classes."

Steve looked at his watch and interrupted, "Okay, this is all fun but we need to run through all this while we have time. I've got to run up to the tech booth and make sure everything is up and running for the big show. You two need to take Jimmy through what to expect. We've got just over an hour before the kids start coming in." He reached for my hand, "Thanks again for volunteering, Jimmy."

"No problem, Mr. Dennis. Anything I can do to make sure we never have another Justin in this school is fine by me." I noticed French's face cloud over slightly at the mention of Justin but I let it go.

The whole thing started off with a video that a black comedian had done, I didn't catch the title but it was something like, "How to NOT get your butt kicked by the cops." It was hysterical but under the humor there was actually a lot of very valid information. Like always knowing who you're hanging around, or driving around with. My favorite part was when they talked about never being in the car with your wife when she was mad at you. The scene showed a guy getting pulled over and as he handed the officer his license and ID the woman starts screaming, "He got weed! He got weed!" After the laughter finally died down Steve stepped up to the podium and introduced himself and all of his staff. They had adopted a uniform for the New Year, yellow polo shirts with "Goonies" on the breast and back in a Halloween green color.

"As most of you are probably aware, we lost two students last year through circumstances that can only be described as tragic. One fell in with a bad crowd, stole a car, panicked when he was spotted by the police and died in the ensuing pursuit. The other was a case of someone panicking when confronted by officers for being in the wrong place at the wrong time. Justin was a good kid; but he happened to be in the area that the police were searching for an armed robbery suspect who was dressed in clothing similar to what Justin was wearing. When officers approached him, he too panicked, fleeing the scene with officers in pursuit. After a long foot chase he turned on the officers and reached for something behind his back. After chasing what they believed to be an armed suspect for over a mile on foot the officers, believing he was reaching for a weapon drew their side-arms and fired. We are here today to try and make sure that this doesn't ever happen again. Before we begin the rest of the program I would like to ask you all to rise and bow your heads in a moment of silence for our fallen classmates.

Everyone stood and you could have heard a pin drop in that room for the next sixty seconds.

"Thank you," Steve continued, "you may be seated."

He went on to talk about past problems around the school, and how he planned to address them in the coming year. Starting with the suggestions boxes placed around the campus which would be used for a variety of purposes throughout the year, but that could also be used to drop anonymous tips to the security staff regarding anything that anyone felt needed to be addressed. He then invited me, French, and Biante up onto the stage where we went through a variety of scenarios that may come up in the course of being questioned by officers. It wasn't all nice and peaceful, during several demonstrations I had been instructed to be argumentative or uncooperative. Explanations were made all throughout the process as to why things were done the way they were and how to avoid having a problem if confronted by officers. There were two separate demonstrations on following instructions given from a distance. There was an awful lot of conversation going on as everyone filed out at the end and on through lunch, I could even see some groups acting out some of the scenarios. The whole thing was the topic of discussion in Shannon's psychology class as well.

"It's just not realistic," one guy said, "you don't know what cops are like in the real world."

"Actually I do," I answered, "I've had them at my house taking a statement after my fight at the mall. And last Christmas when I was shopping, one of the mall cops helped diffuse a situation that was on the way to getting ugly with my date's ex-boyfriend."

"Mall cops are pussies," another one said.

"Ooh, now there's the one I've been waiting for," Bob said. "Juan, have you ever been in any kind of interaction with law enforcement where you didn't go into it with a hostile attitude and expecting trouble?"