Chapter 7

As the calendar turned to March, I was the happiest I ever felt in my life. I had sex three or four times a week with a beautiful woman. I had friendships with and respect from other teachers. I was popular and well-liked by the students.

As much as I loved my new life, there was a constant element of frustration. No matter how often I encouraged Chris to defend himself and refuse to take abuse, I constantly saw Tommy and Danny or other boys give him a hard time and I frequently saw Angela tease him and make him feel low.

I hoped something would have changed in Chris when we successively belt tested in April and advanced to yellow belt, but even though Master Kenji certified that Chris was competent in basic kicks, punches, and blocks he never used them in real life. I didn't know how to get through to him and I was him!

My conversations with Chris were not completely without progress or at least I thought so. I could always get him to talk by bringing up the latest music like Thomas Dolby or The Fixx and from there steer it onto other topics.

It was in early May that the conversation turned to girls.

I made a comment after martial arts class that the blocks were like from the Karate Kid.

"Wax on, wax off," I said.

"Huh?" was his reasonable reply.

"You'll understand in a few months," I said.

I saw the trailer for Karate Kid when I took Amy to see Spinal Tap. Amy hated Spinal Tap but it was as good as it ever was to me. I made up for it by taking her to Splash the next week. Daryl Hannah looked great back in the day.

I would take Chris to see Karate Kid during the summer.

It was when the song "52 Girls" by the B-52s played on the radio that gave an opening to talk about girls. It wasn't really an opening. I just jumped right in.

"So what girls at school do you think are cute?" I asked.

"I don't know," he nervously evaded.

"There are at least 52 girls I'd love to go out with if I could."

He smiled. I knew he felt the same.

"What about Jenny?" I asked. "Do you like her? She's really pretty."

"Yeah," he said quietly.

"Who else?" I probed. I thought Jenny was the perfect girl for Chris to go on his first date with but if it didn't work out I wanted to know some other names.

Chris shrugged.

"Julia?" I suggested the heavy girl as a joke.

"Nooo," he said, giving the traditional teenage eye roll.

"So who? Carrie? Tina? Donna?"

"I kind of like Tina," he admitted. Tina was kind of odd, so it made sense.

"What about the other two?"

"Not really," he said.

"Come on! I'm not going to tell anyone! I think Alicia is cute but don't tell anyone."

"She's okay," he said. "I kind of like Karen and Lisa and Kelly too."

"Who else?" I encouraged. Those three girls were kind of popular. Chris had to work his way up to those girls.

"Kim ... Wendy ... Denise."

They were three names I could use, so along with Tina and Jenny I had five possibilities.

All I had to do was convince Chris to stand up for himself so the girls could see he wasn't a little mouse. I internally sighed. It was a big challenge.

In mid May, I decided it was time to get it over with and tell my parents about the stock I bought in Chris's name. They were my parents but I still had no idea how they would react. If I was Chris's parent, it might freak me out a little. I was still basically a stranger though I talked to my mom a little every evening I picked up Chris. It was strange talking to Mom as a peer and not as my mother.

I sat at the dining room table across from my parents. I asked them to allow me to finish talking before they asked their questions.

"So the stock will rebound when he is about forty," I said. "At that time Chris can decide what to do with it. Selling it early in 2008 would be best. Thank you for patiently listening. I'm sure you have many questions."

"How can you know what will happen in twenty years?" Dad asked ever practical.

"I have long-term insider information."

"Why are you doing this?" Mom asked. It was more in line with the type of question I expected.

"I see a lot of Chris in me," I said. "He's a bit of a social misfit, but given a little help and some confidence he could really shine in life."

"I appreciate that," Mom said, "but why Chris? Why do you care?"

"I know. It doesn't make sense. The last five months of my life haven't made sense in so many ways which I can't get into but because of my own personal changes I know I needed to do something for one of my students that was beyond what is normal. Chris is a good kid, but he needs some help to succeed. It's why I'm taking him to martial arts and it's why I want to see him set up financially. Please accept it."

"Charles?" Mom said, looking at her husband, my dad.

"If you really want to do this..." he said. I could tell he knew it didn't make sense, but it certainly was no harm to spend my money on his son.

"I do," I quickly said.

"Okay," he agreed with a small shrug.

"Thank you," I let out a big sigh of relief. The conversation wasn't as hard or as difficult as I envisioned it would be.

It was a half day for the students on this rainy Friday, May 18th. After school was out, the teachers were crammed into the faculty lounge with Principal Simmons and Vice Principal Hughes.

"This is my annual plea for volunteers to teach summer school," Simmons said.

"Are they paying more this year?" Mr. Bell asked.

"In this district?" someone cracked. We all knew it was true.

It took time to learn many of the ins-and-outs of my teaching profession. I received many curious and strange looks from admin staff and other teachers when I asked questions that I should have already known. I still didn't feel like I had a full grasp, but I felt like I knew enough.

One thing I did know was that I could use the extra money teaching summer school. My monthly budget was tighter because of the martial arts class and an active dating and social life. I wouldn't give up any of it and I strongly felt a need to try to rebuild a financial savings cushion. It was something I would do as Chris Walker but it still made sense to do as John Coleman. Some things made sense whether you were confident or timid.

I didn't know what else I was going to do with myself this summer anyway. I might as well teach.

"The more important thing we have to do is plan Richard's retirement party," Simmons said.

The teachers applauded Mr. Rucker, the old U.S Government teacher and I joined in. I forgot that Rucker retired. I had Mr. Linwood for the class when I was a senior.

U.S. Government was a senior class! It was my solution to a problem I had.

As the end of the school year neared, I realized I would have no more interface with Chris in the classroom. I used my interactive teaching style to force Chris to do things in front of people. I forced all the students in one way or another, but Chris was the type of person who would most benefit from it. Most students weren't so painfully introverted. If I could convince Simmons to let me teach U.S. Government next year I would have more time to affect Chris's life because once he graduated I would have little influence on him. I didn't want to fail. I also grew rather attached to a lot of the other students, so I certainly would enjoy teaching them another year.

I approached Simmons after the meeting and told him my thoughts.

"Really?" he said surprised. "You had such a great last semester with U.S. history."

"I know, but the Government class starts with a lot of the same stuff I taught," I said. "Please let me do it this one year. After this year, you can switch me back. I feel I made a strong connection with a lot of the juniors and I want to hang with them one more year. This year only I promise."

"If you do a good job, you can have it permanently."

"I want to volunteer to teach summer school too," I said, hoping to earn brownie points.

Simmons laughed, "You really are a totally changed man, John. I wish whatever happened to you happened to other teachers. I never imagined the day you'd volunteer to teach over the summer. You always can't wait for the year to end."

"So can I teach it?"

"Who ya' gonna call? Ghostbusters!" Amy couldn't help but constantly sing on the drive from the movie theater to my apartment.