Chapter 1

Josh walked into school for the first day, and knew his new life had just begun. It was not the move to Georgia from New Jersey, or unpacking boxes that made him have this feeling. West Cole Middle School hired him over the phone before he had even packed a box. Now it was August and he was walking into a new life and job for the first time.

The sudden death of his Great Aunt Lonnie, forced Josh to make a drastic decision. He could have stayed in New Jersey and sold the estate that was left to him. He decided against it, and moved out of his one bedroom apartment into his Great Aunt's house. The choice was hard to make, and Josh hoped he did not make a huge life altering mistake, especially the way the property was vaguely described by an old friend of his Great Aunt.

He explained that he was a retired estate lawyer, and a friend of the family. Josh had a noticed quickly this family friend was stuck in his old ways. His old ways were to send all the pictures through the mail, instead of a simple email attachment. When Josh did get the pictures, they looked like they were taken thirty years ago. It did list that the property had 50 acres of land and contained five rental properties.

Josh was surprised about the rental properties. The rentals looked like one room shacks built hundreds of years ago. Two of the rentals were close to the house, one of which had a tenant. It also made no mention of rent collected or any other lease information. If the pictures were old, and showed dilapidated rentals back then, what did they look like now? Josh just thought he would tear them down if needed.

The main house fared no better, but had potential, and had been in the family for over a hundred years. Getting rid of it would be something his aunt did not want him to do. Josh also knew that his current apartment lease was going to include an increase in rent.

It did not take long to apply for a Georgia teaching license and box his belongings up. After the break up with his last girlfriend, most personal items were somewhat diminished anyway. He knew his Great Aunt had property and even remembered visiting her as a child, when he used to visit his Grandmother in Charleston. He also remembered that his Grandmother had a big fight with her and refused to speak with her, or even show up to the funeral. It had to be twenty years since the fight and his Aunt Lonnie even left her out of her will.

West Cole Middle was something he had never expected. The floors were freshly polished, and the rooms looked clean. This seemed weird because the surrounding area was very poor, and economically undesirable. The walls had a new coat of paint, and the ceiling had new tiles. Josh was expecting an inner city school or a small country school setting. When Josh met with the Principal, it brought his fantasies down to reality. Isaac West was a large black man who attained football fame years ago, but never finished playing after an injury in college. Awards and trophies filled his shelves and walls. Josh had a hard time breaking though the southern dialect, and slang as he read out the mission statement of the school. What he did walk away with, was the teacher's handbook of rules, and his keys to the school and classroom.

When Josh got to his classroom, he saw a bare walled classroom filled only with student desks, and one very old wooden teacher's desk. There were no book shelves, or cabinets for storage. There was a pile of ragged math books in the corner for Josh to pass out to the students. Just as Josh walked around the room to survey his new room, a knock on his door broke his daze.

"Hiya doin there neighbor."

Josh turned around to see an old large black man dressed in a vintage suit. "Hello."

With a big grin on his face, "You must be that new Yankee teacher. I'm Thomas Grist. I teach History right across the hall."

The heavy accent was hard to overcome but Josh was still going to be polite. "Hello, nice to meet you Mr. Grist."

Thomas handed him a booklet from a stack he carried in his arms. "This is your roster for the year. I will catch up with you when I am done handing these out."

Josh walked over to his ragged textbooks and sighed. He knew there was nothing he could do without getting supplies. He reached for his keys and headed out to the store to buy much needed supplies.

Getting school supplies, and setting up the classroom is an expensive daunting task. Josh was happy when it was over with and his room was setup just right. Not knowing what to expect, he prepared himself for the worst, and wished for the best. Staff meetings were very informal, but welcoming to the new teachers. Everyone back in Jersey told him that the Civil War was still being fought on a social level, and Northern Yankee Carpetbaggers were not welcomed. This idea seemed to be undone when the staff all introduced themselves to him.

After the first week of school, Josh was impressed with the manners the students showed in the school. Each sentence was finished with "Yes Sir, or No Ma'am". During class change the students were more interested in who was going out for what position in football. The normal adolescent behavior of Middle school seemed not to exist in this school.

What was noticed however, was a very distinct poverty problem. Every day the students would eat everything in front of them like they haven't eaten in days. Some students seemed to wear the same clothes every other day, or every day. Josh only assumed this students owned one or two changes of good clothes. Josh held back comments, and attitudes, and never said a word about the high poverty rate.

By the second month, Josh got the knack of how the school operated and was happy. Spare time was spent renovating the house or working on school projects. The low pay was hard to handle, but the money from the rental house helped. The rent came in cash in a marked envelope. Each envelope had the month and address of the property. It was only $150 per rental, and Josh never complained. He figured in his mind that he should be happy people are willing to live there at all.

Friday was a busy morning, instead of staying late Thursday; Josh came in early to run off copies. Walking to the back of the main office to the copy machine was easy when nobody was there. Not having the special key to turn the lights on meant working in the dark. The ambient light from the copier was all the light that lit the large room. Organizing papers with minimal light proved harder than expected.