Chapter 3

As it turned out, that morning was about the last chance I had to do much magazine reading while I was in the hospital. That afternoon Arlene and another nurse helped me get out of bed for the first time in weeks. I really was pretty weak, and it was all I could do to slowly go a few steps on crutches. It just about wore me out, since I hadn't had exercise of any kind in all that time. But at least I could manage to go to the bathroom, well, with a little help, and that meant that I didn't have to deal with a bedpan any longer, which is one of the most impossible things anyone ever tried to do. Dr. Bronson gave me a few exercises to build my muscles back up a little, and that was pretty tiring, too.

Later that afternoon, Mr. Corrigan showed up at my bedside again. "After I left here this morning, I sat down with Alex Groves, the high school principal," he said. "He's about as tickled to have someone for that position as I am."

"Well, I'm glad to hear that," I said. "I'm looking forward to meeting him."

"He's busy with some other things this afternoon, but he hopes to come by in the morning." Like I said, he didn't think very much of the guy we had teaching the auto shop courses, and neither did I. We were both pleased when he announced back at the first of the year that he was leaving for another district, so we had subs in both the classes for most of the rest of the year. I don't think the kids learned much of anything the whole second semester."

"That's not real good," I shook my head.

"I don't think so, either. We talked about setting up another class, sort of an Auto Shop one and a half, for the kids who feel like they got shorted, or we may have some of the Auto Shop I kids from last year sit in on your second semester. We're still working on it. He'll be dropping by later today with the textbooks that we use for auto shop, so I guess that'll about have to be what you build your lesson plans on. He thinks there may be some older lesson plans in the files someplace but he's doubtful."

"Well, darn," I shook my head. "I'd sort of hoped to have something to build on. It'll be a pain to put some together from scratch."

"That's true, but it also means that you don't have to fix someone else's mistakes. Anyway, we did some schedule shuffling. You're going to have three sections of Auto Shop I and one of Auto Shop II. Because you're scratch-building your courses, we decided to give you an hour of study hall supervision to go along with your conference hour. That'll give you a little time to figure out how you're going to stay ahead of your classes. Since we have a seven-hour schedule, that leaves one hour free, so you're going to have one section of U.S. History, that's a freshman level class. One of the teachers, Mrs. Hochstatter, has agreed to let you crib from her notes on lesson plans, so at least you'll have that going for you."

"Good, that'll be a big help," I told him. "I doubt that I can pull together all the lesson plans I'm going to need before school starts, but a month should give me a good head start."

"Somehow, I think you're going to do just fine with it. There's something about you, Mel, that makes me think that you're going to get along well with your classes and that your students are going to learn something useful from you. There's another issue I'd like to raise with you, even though it's a little early, but it's going to involve some preparation. Driver's education is a summer course here, and of course the pay is extra. When we lost the auto shop teacher last winter we also lost our driver's ed teacher. We had to bring in someone from Hawthorne and pay more than we wanted to so we could have the class this year. Would you be interested in taking that on, too? It involves a special certification, but you'd have all winter to get it."

"I suppose," I said. "I can't say as I've had a lot of experience with it, except for teaching people who already know more or less how to drive to turn left quickly. That's probably a skill you'd be just as glad that the average kid doesn't pick up."

"Well, true," he grinned. "But the thought crossed my mind that the way some of the teens hot rod around these days, it might be good to have someone who could give them an example of what can happen if they do."

"Could be," I said. "But you have to understand that driving fast involves driving carefully. There's a lot more to it than just standing on the gas."

"My point exactly, except that some of these young fools haven't learned that yet," he said. "I guess what I'm saying is that you may be able to jam some sense into their thick skulls."

"Teenage boys – don't depend on it," I laughed. "Let's just say that I'm willing to consider it, though I don't want to say yes or no until I know a little more about it, and that'll involve getting out of this bed."

"Understood," he nodded. "I'm probably pushing you a little bit as it is, but I've had to do hospital time, and I know how bored you can get with nothing to do."

"Car accident or something?" I asked.

"No, I was a Marine Reservist before the war, and I wound up in the First of the Sixth Marines on Guadalcanal. I got shot up some, and spent some time in a hospital in New Zealand and more here in the States before they discharged me. Are you a vet?"

"I was in Okinawa, but as a mechanic," I told him. "Arlene's seen more than I have; she was an Army nurse in a front-line hospital in Korea."

"You're both vets?" he said, a little surprised. "That's something you don't often see, a woman vet. After you get up and around, I'll have to introduce you around out at the Legion."

"I can't speak for her, but I'll be looking forward to it," I told him. "I've never had much to do with vets groups, but being in college and on the road kept me from it."

"I'll make a point of inviting her, too," he said. "Have you got her looking for a place for you to stay?"

"She was looking around some last night, I know that," I told him. "She didn't really find anything much that she liked. I might as well tell you that after you were here yesterday I asked her to marry me, and she said yes, so she's looking for a place for the both of us."

"Well, that's good news," he said. "I was afraid that an awkward situation might come up, but it looks like you're already solved it. Are you getting married soon?"

"It won't be until after I'm out of here, but probably not long after," I told him. "We really haven't talked about the details, but I don't have any family I'd care to have at a wedding, and she's not getting along too well with hers right now. They weren't too happy about her taking off to go racing with us."

"Well, I have to say that I wouldn't be very happy with my daughter if she announced that she wanted to drive a race car for a living," he shrugged. "But I don't think that would stop her, either. Anyway, if you like, I'll track your girl down before I leave. A friend of mine has a small house for sale not far up the street from the school. I know he wants to sell it, but I think he'd be willing to rent it out for a while."

"Sounds pretty good," I told him. "If she doesn't come in here before you leave, look her up and tell her about it. I told her to make up her own mind and I'd go along with it, since I can't do much else right now."

"When you're dealing with women, that's usually a good idea anyway," he smiled.

Mike Corrigan had seemed pretty stiff and formal the day before, although friendly enough; I guess that was because in his mind he was conducting an interview. Today he seemed a lot more open and relaxed, and we wound up just shooting the bull for quite a while. I told some racing stories, of course, but a few others, and he had a few to tell, too. While we didn't talk all that much about Bradford directly, I felt like I learned an awful lot about it from him that morning, about what the town was like and what the people in it were like. For the most part, it seemed to me that it had to be an awful lot like any other town, anywhere. When he finally left, I felt like I'd made a friend.