Chapter 12

My car was crowded as I drove to school, Tami in the seat beside me and two cousins and an adopted cousin in the back seat. I was glad to have my Mustang back from Mom, but sometimes her minivan made more sense.

I smiled, listening to the conversation in the back seat. Wynter seemed thrilled to be going to high school, if only for the day. Hailey, the experienced freshman, wasn't nearly as impressed, and Cinnamon just took it in stride.

I just concentrated on my driving and how I was going to sell this to Mr. Reed.

Mrs. Hatcher, the school's secretary, wasn't at her desk when we walked in, Mrs. Mires was. It was a few minutes before first bell, so at least we didn't have to wade through a sea of students getting tardy slips.

"Hi, Mrs. Mires," I said stepping up to the counter. "Where's Mrs. Hatcher?"

Mrs. Mires looked at me like she'd just taken a big bite out of a particularly sour lemon. I think it was her version of a smile. "I wasn't aware that she needed your permission to miss work."

I smiled while counting to myself. 'One, two, three... ' I counted in English. Then Spanish, French, German, Russian, Swahili, Chinese, Hebrew. Finally Portugese, Croatian and Afrikaans. I was hoping to learn my numbers in Apache and Aztec next.

Mrs. Mires had sat watching me during my minute of silence.

I smiled. "Of course she doesn't need my permission, but since she's almost always here, I was hoping she wasn't sick or something. Tami and I have been gone a week."

Mrs. Mires nodded, looking like she'd just smelled a really pungent fart. "Her niece just had a baby," she admitted. "She'll be back on Wednesday."

I considered just taking the cousins to class and asking permission on Wednesday.

"Is Mr. Reed in his office?" I asked after Tami's hand in my back pocket gave my butt a squeeze. "Could he spare a minute?"

"Mr. Reed is a busy man. I'm sure he has no time for you." Her tone inserted three more words in front of her last one, 'for the likes of'. I remembered Mrs. Mires from the other times she'd filled in. She thought students should be seen and not heard.

"Could you check? I'd appreciate it."

"If you've been gone a week, wouldn't you be better off visiting your teachers and getting assignments instead of bothering a busy man like Mr. Reed?"

I decided that I was getting on the internet today and working on that Apache and Aztec. Maybe Incan and Eskimo too. "It was scheduled. We have all our homework. Could you... ?"

"Why's he, like, bothering with that bitch?" Hailey whispered a little too loudly.

There was a moment of complete silence.

"WHITNEY GWYNETH, YOU'RE..."

"QUIET!" I snapped, turning around to Cinnamon. "Bend over," I commanded Hailey.

"Why?"

"Now!" Hailey bent and I slapped her butt, hard. The sound echoed through the office. I turned back to Mrs. Mires. "I apologize Ma'am. Her parents don't beat her nearly enough."

Mrs. Mires face cracked in what I think may have been a smile. It scared me. "I'll see if Mr. Reed has a minute," she said, standing, then walking back to his office.

I turned back to the cousins. All three looked surprised.

"Remind me to kiss you later," I whispered to Hailey. "It usually takes at least five minutes longer to get past the palace guard."

"That hurt," Hailey whispered back rubbing her butt with an exaggerated motion.

I gave her a big smile. "Call anyone else a bitch today and it'll hurt worse."

I turned back to the counter as Mrs. Mires came back with Mr. Reed.

"The prodigal returns," he announced loudly.

"Prodigal?" I heard behind me. "Hey, is that football, like quarterback?"

Mr. Reed smiled even bigger. "Prodigal is a funny word. According to the dictionary, it means wasteful or a spendthrift. But when we talk about the prodigal or the prodigal son, we usually mean long lost, someone who's been gone a long time." He looked at me. "You've been recruiting. You've brought me fresh meat."

"For the day. These are my cousins. They're from the mountains in Colorado. I've been explaining to them that here in Washington we have a lot of newfangled ideas about education, like spelling riting with a W and rithmatic with an A and pens with the ink inside instead of in an inkwell."

"Oh, Tony," Tami moaned softly, shaking her head.

Mr. Reed's smile changed. "The mountains in Colorado. High county folk?"

I started to add something about taking goats and sheep to class, but Tami was firmly shaking her head.

"I'm guessing you don't know where I started teaching?"

Started teaching? What does that have to do with anything?

"Little town in the mountains west of Denver."

Oh oh!

"In fact..."

Life couldn't be that unfair.

" ... Griffin Middle School was brand new my first year."

I need a bigger world.

"You taught at Griffin?" Wynter asked. "Do you know Mr. Shelby?"

"Or Mr. Peters?" Cinnamon added.

Mr. Reed looked surprised. "Must be after my time. It was twenty years ago. I taught there my first two years, then moved to the on-base school at Ramstein Air Force Base in Germany."

"How about Mr. Tilman, the custodian?" Hailey asked. "He's been there forever."

"Bill Tilman?"

I looked back just as all three girls nodded.

"He's still there?"

They nodded again.

"Billy's still there," he mused. "He was always coming up with get-rich-quick schemes. Wanted to move to New York and live in a penthouse."

"He still wants to move to New York and live in a penthouse," Cinnamon said.

I looked back at Mr. Reed. "So Billy Tilman is still at Griffin," he mumbled. "So, Tony, what can I do for you this morning?"

"I wanted to ask a favor."

"A favor? I'd better sit down." He waved his arm toward the back of the office. "Come on back."

I pulled open the gate and let the four girls through just as the bell for first period rang.

"So what's this favor?" Mr. Reed asked when he was sitting behind his desk and we were standing in front of it.

"As I said, these are my cousins and I was hoping..."

"Mr. Reed..." Tami interrupted. "I don't know what it was like in the mountains when you were there, but now they actually let girls have individual names."