Chapter 11

"Mr. Randahl, I'd like to speak to you."

Oh, shit. What did Adams think I'd done now? "Yes, sir?"

"In my office, Mr. Randahl." Oops, this was serious.

Once in Adams' office, he sat down behind his desk and just stared at me. He was trying to psych me out, but I'd been through this enough times to be able to just stand there and stare back at him. Eventually he must have realized intimidation wasn't working.

"Mr. Randahl, I thought I'd warned you about your behavior but you chose to ignore me and continue to attempt to disrupt the order of this school."

I had? I knew from past experience not to comment until Adams asked for a reply so I just stood there.

"Don't you have anything to say for yourself?"

How do you politely say WTF?

"Um, I'm sorry, but I don't understand. What did I do?"

"You know very well you've been telling all your classmates all about the disgusting things you did during vacation and I'm not going to let you continue to disrupt the morals of this school. I'm surprised Miss Jones is willing to tell anyone of your sordid carrying on."

Sordid? Who, us?

"Consider this a warning Mr. Randahl. I don't want to hear any more bragging about what happened while you were gone. Now get back to class."

I got.

As we walked into the lunchroom I told Beth what Adams said.

"He said WHAT?"

"I know. It didn't make any sense to me either. I think he's losing it."

As our usual gang joined us for lunch I noticed Adams staring at me from across the room. I nudged Beth and looked in Adam's direction and then had to put my hand on her arm as she started to get up. I'd seen that look too often and it didn't make any sense to have both of us on Adams' shit list.

"Just leave it alone. It's too close to graduation."

"But how can you sit there and let him bad-mouth us?" Beth was really steamed.

"I'm just counting the days until I can ignore him and his hang-ups."

Beth just growled. I probably shouldn't have told her what he said, but I wanted her to know she was in his sights too.

"I wonder what 'disgusting things' he was talking about? The only thing I can think of that we told the gang was about getting an all-over tan and that certainly wasn't disgusting!"

My lady snickered. "What do you think he'd do if he knew about showering with Sue?"

"Probably stroke out ... You want to tell him or should I?"

We made it through the rest of the week without incurring any more of Adams' wrath and then it was Saturday. Prom night here we come!

This year wasn't going to be a repeat of last year's weekend-long celebration. Beth's dad said he wouldn't be supplying the transportation and lodging this year. "I figure by now Beth has you pretty well hooked, no more bait needed!"

I was about ready to unload on him about having to bribe me when I saw the smirk. I was beginning to see where Beth got her sense of humor.

Greg and I tossed for who was driving Saturday night and I lost. Time to clean out and wash the beast again.

Saturday evening I drove to Beth's and spent a few minute talking to her folks. Turned out they were going on a weekend vacation and wouldn't be back until Monday. Convenient or planned? I wasn't going to ask!

Beth came down the stairs dressed in a strapless blue dress that left me speechless. As I got up, her dad said, "Have fun kids and don't do anything we wouldn't!" Having known Beth and her folks for over a year I'd heard a lot of stories of Chuck and Bev's youth—including things like what happened in the back parking lot at the Pizza Palace—so I didn't think following Chuck's instructions would be a problem!

I escorted Beth out to the beatermobile. "Sorry it's not a BMW," I said.

"Tommy, stop it! You know I don't care about stuff like that!" It was true, for someone who had the advantages she had Beth didn't seem to think possessions meant that much.

After we picked up Greg we drove to Cindy's and Greg got out to walk up to her front door. Just as he got to the steps Cindy came rushing out and almost knocked him over with her greeting kiss. I'm sure the amount of cleavage exposed by her strapless dress had nothing to do with his stunned expression.

We got to the hotel and turned the car over to a valet whose sneer was an almost palpable thing. We found our table, and while the girls dissected what everyone was wearing, Greg and I grabbed Cokes for the four of us.

As usual we sat out the fast stuff, but the first slow dance found me with my arms around my lady, swaying to the music, and there wasn't anybody else in the room.

Then the music was over and suddenly the dance floor was crowded. How does that work anyway?

After a few more turns around the floor Greg cut in, leaving me no choice but to dance with Cindy. Ah, the sacrifices we make.

After our dance I started looking around to see how many of our lunch table gang were there. I saw Sharon Thomas and Chris Hanson. Sharon was with Phil, the same guy from the school band she'd been seeing since last summer, but Chris was with a guy I didn't recognize. Later I found out he was a freshman at one of the local private colleges. Chris took a lot of ribbing from our little gang over a senior dating a "freshman."

I had a chance to dance with both girls while my lady shared the floor with Phil and Jim, Chris's freshman.

The evening was pretty much like last year's dance, except for one surprise. The band had just started a slow song and I stood up to take my lady out on the floor when a husky voice behind me said, "Beth, can I borrow your guy?" I turned around and at first didn't recognize the girl standing behind me. Then it hit me. "Gracie! You look great!" And she did.

Gracie was the first of Beth's mice I'd done pictures for. She had been a girl with a beautiful face on the body of a Russian lady wrestler. I'd noticed she had started eating smaller lunches and her clothes were starting to look a bit baggy, but I had no idea just how much she'd lost until I saw her in her dress. The white strapless dress fit her like it was sprayed on and she looked wonderful. I saw Joey standing behind her looking like he was dreaming.

Beth stood up. "Sure, why don't we trade for a dance?" She moved to Joey and I was afraid she was going to have to stamp on his foot to get his attention. Joey obviously had a serious case of Miss Wilson.

Gracie flowed into my arms where she fit very nicely. "You look great in that dress."

With a blush, she said, "It's all your doing, you know."

"Huh? Er, I mean, well, what do you mean?"

"It was the pictures you took. You showed me what I could ... should look like and I'll never be able to thank you enough!"

"I'm glad I could help. So how are you and Joey getting along?"

Her blush deepened which was answer enough. "Tommy, Joey's been great to me. Sex with him is unbelievable! I just can't stop coming when he ... oops. Um, we're getting along fine!" She stuttered to a stop.

"It's great isn't it?" I grinned at her. She just looked down at her feet and nodded.

"MR. RANDAHL! GET YOUR HANDS OFF THAT YOUNG LADY!"

What the ... I turned around to see Adams bearing down on me. What was he doing here? I knew Mr. Franks, Mrs. Anderson, and a couple of other teachers had volunteered to chaperone, but Adams wasn't on the list.

"You've defiled your last young lady! Get out of here NOW!" The look in his eye scared me. He looked ready to start foaming at the mouth and I didn't want to be the one to push him over the edge.

"Mr. Adams, what are you doing here?" I looked over to see Mr. Williams, our principal, walk up with a concerned look on his face. "I didn't see you on the list as a chaperone for tonight."

"I came here tonight to stop this, this sex maniac from defiling another innocent girl! It's bad enough what he's done to Miss Jones, but now he's moving on to other poor girls!"

Mr. Williams was motioning to Mr. Franks to call someone, the police I hoped, while Mrs. Anderson was trying to keep the thundering herd away from ground zero.

"Donald," Mr. Williams said in a very non-confrontational voice. "I'll make sure Tommy doesn't do anything to anyone. Why don't you go home and relax."

"I'm not leaving here! He's obviously got you conned into thinking he's harmless, but I know better!" About then two cops came into the ballroom. Mr. Williams motioned them over and pointed to Adams. When Adams saw them he pointed to me, "Arrest this pervert before he mauls another innocent girl!"

The cops started toward me when Mr. Williams stepped between us. "Officers, Tommy hasn't done anything, but Mr. Adams isn't feeling well and should probably be taken home." Taken TO a home was more like it!

One of the cops started talking to Adams and quickly motioned to his partner to call for backup. Adams was getting more and more agitated and I think the cop realized he was going to need help.

Suddenly Adams just collapsed. One second he was yelling at the cops and the next he was on the floor curled up, rocking back and forth, mumbling to himself.

I looked across the room and saw Ron Quigley, my favorite EMT, standing in the doorway and waved him over. One look at Adams and he was on his radio. A few seconds later his partner came in rolling a gurney.

As they loaded him up, I heard mumbles. "Bastard," "Christine," "Couldn't help," and some others I couldn't catch.

Most of the prom-goers were gathered in groups talking and doing a lot of pointing, some of it at me. I wasn't looking forward to Monday. Maybe I'd be lucky and catch beriberi or a three-day plague or something.

By the time everything was done the EMTs had taken Adams away. Where to we didn't know, but the whole incident had pretty much put an end to the evening.

I was talking to Greg and a couple of the other guys when a pair of hands slipped around me and a familiar chin rested on my shoulder.

"Tommy, can we go?" Beth asked.

I glanced at Greg and got a nod so we started making the rounds to say goodbye to our friends. Soon we were on our way to Beth's house.

"Tommy, did you tip that snob of a valet?" Cindy asked. I just nodded. He really didn't deserve it, but I guess one of my hang-ups was having people think I was cheap. I've been known to over-tip in restaurants too.

Once at Beth's we sat around and talked about the evening and Adams' behavior.

"What happened tonight?" Greg asked. "Why does he keep picking on you? I mean, he's always been a control freak, but this year he's gone over the edge. And tonight..."

"Yeah," Cindy added. "And who's Christine?"

"I wonder if that was his niece's name?" Beth mused.

"And maybe Beth reminds him of his niece. That may be why he's always coming down on you," Cindy said looking at me.

We continued the conversation for a while until Cindy yawned, stood up and motioned to Greg. Beth had set up the guest room for them and after they'd gone upstairs I helped Beth clean up until she looked at me.

"Tommy, can we just cuddle tonight?"

I took her hand as we went up the stairs. Somehow it seemed a good night for some shared bodily warmth.

I woke up the next morning spooned behind Beth, arm around her, my hand cradling one of her breasts. There's a lot to be said for tradition.

"I wonder what's going to happen to Mr. Adams?" Beth said as we sat around the table, amid the remains of breakfast.

"I don't know, but I don't think we'll be seeing him for the rest of the year," I said.

"You think they'll lock him up?" Greg asked.

"I don't know, but as touchy as the school is, I don't think the school board would be too happy having him around kids."

"Poor man," Beth said.

"Poor man?" Cindy looked at Beth. "After everything he's done to you and Tommy? Well, I guess maybe we should feel sorry for him. I mean losing your only niece has to hit someone pretty hard."

"Just the same, I don't think anybody's going to miss having him around," Greg said.

Greg and Cindy left in the early afternoon and Beth and I just sat around talking about the prom.

By the time I got home Sunday night my folks had heard about what had happened so I had to go through the whole story.

Monday was as bad as I thought. The kids who hadn't been at the dance had heard about it from those who were and everybody knew, absolutely KNEW what had happened. So why was every story different? And why did everybody think I knew anything—just because Adams seemed to have it in for me?

Beth was standing at my locker before lunch.

"Are you going to tell me what happened Saturday night, too?" I growled.

"Whoa! You've had a good morning."

"I'm sorry, it's been a long day. How can so many people see the same thing and NOT see the same thing?" I'd been hearing everything from Adams had a gun to I attacked him.

"Have you told anyone about Mr. Adams' niece?"

"No. And that makes explaining things tough, but, I don't know, it just doesn't seem right to pass along gossip."

At least our lunch bunch didn't ask a lot of questions. A lot of them had been at the prom and had already talked about it.

As we were finishing lunch Gracie walked over. "How you doing, Tommy? I couldn't believe the way Mr. Adams unloaded on you. He's got some real problems.

"But I wanted to thank you for the dance ... and everything else!" She reached down and gave me a quick kiss. As she walked away I noticed her wardrobe had changed. No more outgrown—outshrunk?— clothes, just a t-shirt and jeans like everybody else.

As we walked out of school something that had been running around the back of my mind all day at school finally popped to the front: There had been no announcement about Adams! The one thing that was on everybody's mind and part of every conversation might never have happened for all the official notice it got. The lack of an announcement was such a null item it took me the whole day before I realized nothing had been said; nothing from the office, even the teachers had ignored it. Spooky.

Since Beth had invited me over for dinner I drove us directly to her house. As we walked in the door she turned and put her arms around me. "Tommy have I told you lately how much I love you?"

"No. But that's okay, I've seen it in your eyes enough times to know you do. If anyone's been bad when it comes to saying it, it's me. I do love you even if I forget to say it some times."

"Show me," she said quietly as she led me up the stairs.

After dinner we sat in the living room talking with her folks; surprisingly, nothing was mentioned about Saturday night, but we talked a lot about my photography. Just before I got ready to leave Beth's dad asked, "Tommy, have you considered filing a patent application?"

Patent application? "Uh, why would I need one of those?"

"Are you planning on making more of your tripod adapters?"

"I don't know. Joe at the photo shop just said he thought he could sell some of them. What does that have to do with a patent application?"

"If your adapter is a new idea you can patent it. With a patent it would be harder for someone to take your idea and profit from it."

"I haven't really thought about it. Do you think I could sell enough to make it worth the effort? I thought patents were just for big things."

"No. You can file a application for any new idea or design.

"Tommy, get me a set of drawings and I'll talk to a lawyer who's done some patent work for us."

"You have some patents?"

"Yeah, and they're not for 'big' things either."

"Um, sure, I'll run a set off when I get home."

"Something else, do you know about model releases and contracts? If you're going to have a business you're going to have to make sure you get all the documentation you need."

"I've got some blank releases, but I'm not sure of the other stuff. I know I'll be taking business courses in school, would they cover that sort of stuff?"

"Yes, I'm sure they will, but if you have any questions just ask me. If I don't know, I can put you in touch with someone who does."

"Thanks, Chuck. I knew photography was more than just taking pictures but I'm learning there's a lot more stuff I'm going to have to learn."

Beth walked out to the car with me. "Tommy, why don't I drive tomorrow? I think it's time to get the Healey out for a run."

How could I argue with that?

I was waiting in the driveway when Beth came around the corner the next morning. "'ello, 'ello, 'ello," I said in my best fake-British accent as I got in the car. It was warm enough to have the top down and I wished we could have just kept going instead of pulling into the school parking lot.

"Tommy, do you realize we've got less than a month of school left?"

"Yeah, and I'm not sure how I feel about that. On one hand I want to be through with high school, but on the other hand..."

"Yeah, me too. We've got a lot of changes coming up."

At least every conversation that day didn't involve what had happened at the prom.

As we walked out to the lot after school Beth handed me the keys. "Tommy," I heard that little-girl tone in my lady's voice. "Can we drive out to the farm? Please? I've even got a blanket in the boot."

As we pulled into the farm Beth leaned over and started whispering in my ear. I think I set a record getting the gate open.

I drove the Healey to our favorite spot and shut off the engine as Beth got out and pulled the blanket out of the trunk, er, boot.

I walked up behind her as she was bent over spreading the blanket, her perfect derrière an inviting target. I dropped to my knees, grabbed her hips and nipped at a cheek.

"Eek! Damn the bugs are getting bad around here!" My lady giggled as she pushed herself back into me until I over-balanced and fell to the ground, taking her with me. As we rolled together in the grass she looked at me.

"Guess what!"