Pinochle
by: E Walk

(© 2007 by the Author)
Editor: Will B
 

The author retains all rights. No reproductions are allowed without the author's consent. Comments are appreciated at...

Chapter 58
Not Again

This is Brian.

I need to tell about what happened when John drove me to school.  I rather left out some interesting information that is going to have an effect on what is going to happen the rest of the day.  By the time John drove into the parking lot, I could tell he was hurting bad.  “John, do you want to go home.  Do you have your pills with you?”

He nodded, “Brian, I’m nervous about what people will think and it’s starting to ache.  I’ll take a pain pill when I get to a water fountain.”

We hadn’t even got to the door when it started.  “Hey, Waters, what happened to you?  You look like death warmed over?”

I turned around and there was a group of guys behind us.  I didn’t know the guys’ names, but I recognized some of them as football players.  I yelled back “He got run over by a runaway skateboard when he was trying to do a twisty turn on the skateboard and the skateboard won.  Score: Skateboard 1 and the John 0.”

The group of guys started to laugh and John moaned, “Thanks a lot Brian.  Now I’ll be the laughing stock of the school.”

“Would you rather I told them what really happened to you?”

John shook his head and I took his things to his locker and he went to take a pill.  I went to my locker which was in a different hallway and put my gym bag in my locker along with my backpack.

You already know what happened in my first hour class when I wrote the gay story.  When I got to biology, Lindsay was waiting.  When we saw each other we started to giggle.  Lindsay smiled, “So much for being suspended and on probation.  What’s going to happen during seventh hour?”

I laughed, “Lindsay, I’ll probably be suspended again by then.”

In Algebra, Chris and I were laughing about what happened.  When I got to Government class, John was already there.  I went and sat down next to him and whispered, “Johnny, how are you holding up?”

John looked, “Brian, don’t even try to make me laugh.  It hurts too much.  You were smart to tell those guys this morning that I had a run-in with a skateboard.  They spread it all over school so I haven’t been questioned to death by everyone.  Everyone has been giving me a hard time though.”

Mr. Cox came in, plopped a note on my desk and didn’t say a word.  I looked at it and started to laugh.  I showed the note to John.

Brian,

Great story.  Rod and I will go through it and edit it in a few places and we’ll send it to you so can submit it to one of the sites.  Please give me your email address.

Keep writing.  You have a natural flair for drawing the reader into your story. 

H.C.

I whispered, “I'll explain at home tonight.”

As we were leaving the classroom I handed Mr. Cox my email address.  “Thanks, I guess it was pretty bad. Huh?”

He just winked at me.

John was starting to hurt again as we were walking to the cafeteria, I took his book bag and put it on an empty table and went to help him through the line.  I carried his tray and mine to the table.  We were soon joined by eight other people.  One of the other seniors started on me, “Benson, I thought you were suspended.”

I told them what had happened and the rest of the table was really laughing when we were approached by someone I couldn’t see.  “What’s going on here?  There is too much noise coming from this table.  You’re supposed to be eating.”

I recognized the voice. “Principal Grover, I was just telling them how you suspended me and Superintendent Black unsuspended me.  Now, if you will excuse me, I need to go get ready for art.”

Principal Grover turned white and walked away and John whispered.  “I don’t think that man likes us too much.  I need to go too.”

John followed me to the locker room where I changed my clothes.  I stripped down and put on a tight jock strap and then pulled on a Speedo swimsuit that almost was the same color as my skin with the tan.  I pulled on a warm up suit and some sandals.  My parents would probably have had a hemorrhage if they saw me.

John had been watching me, “Brian, would you please tell me what is happening?  Why are you dressed like that?”

“Johnny, I'm going to be the model for today’s art class.  Now let’s go before I’m late.”

John and I were walking down the hall and I walked into the art room.  John had followed me.  “Brian, I gotta see what’s happening.  It’s a good thing I have study hall now.  I’ll sit in the back and watch and take a nap while you are modeling.”

This is John.

I watched as Mrs. Kinloch had the class prepare to draw the human body.  Brian was a natural for the model.  He just shed his clothes and dropped them on the floor so that he was only wearing his Speedo swimming suit.  He climbed on the table that was in front of the room.  He draped his front leg over the edge of the table and put the other so it his knee was raised and he leaned back on his side and looked like he was basking in the sun.  If he hadn’t put on the jock strap there would be very little that was hidden from the other art students.

I watched as Mrs. Kinloch walked around and made suggestions to the other students.  I kept watching Brian, expecting him to change position, but he never moved; it was like he was asleep in a reclining position.  When the bell rang, Brian climbed down from the table and put his clothes back on and we started to our next classes.

As we were going to Spanish class, someone yelled, “Hey, Benson, I heard you were modeling in the nude today.  You must be proud of what you’re carrying around.”

Brian yelled back, “Up yours, Big Mouth.”

When we got to the room where we were to have Spanish, there was a big note on the board.  Spanish 1 students are requested to go the conference room in the Administrative Area.

Brian, Chris, Lindsay and I walked to the area with Diego and Maria.  When we walked in Mrs. Benson gave Brian a funny look as if to say why are you dressed like that?  We had just sat down when Mr. Benson came in and Mrs. Benson really looked a little surprised.

Mrs. Benson began the meeting with the Pledge of Allegiance.  When that was completed, Mrs. Benson started, “The sole purposes of this meeting today is to determine if the administrator’s of this district have the right to order parents and students to appear at specified times and to determine if they should have the right to suspend the students without a fair hearing.”

I was totally caught off guard when Mrs. Benson looked at me. “Mr. Waters, would you describe what happened yesterday in Spanish class, please?”

I stood and described what had happened as best as I could recall.  Mrs. Benson looked at Lindsay, “Miss Davis, can you add any details.”

Lindsay stood, “Ma’am, John described what happened rather accurately.  My parents are incensed that the principal, Mr. Grover, did what he did, and they are starting a petition to have him removed.”

That raised some eyebrows.  Mrs. Benson looked at Diego who had raised his hand, “Mr. Garcia, do you have something to add?”

“Yes, ma’am, everything that John and Lindsay said about yesterday was true.  I talked to my parents last night, and they told me I could drop the course if Ms. Castellano was going to teach it.  In fact they thought maybe I should transfer to a private school.”

Mrs. Benson looked up, “Does anyone else have anything to add?”

We looked around and Mr. Benson stood up, “Madam President, I have just received these reports.  They indicate that Mr. Grover is no more a doctor than Mr. Waters.  It seems that he falsified his records and he actually almost wasn’t able to get his administrative certification because of his test scores.  It would seem to me that he owes the district a large sum of money for what he has been paid.”

“Secondly, Ms. Castellano is not even certified.  She took two years of Spanish in college and does not even have her degree.  It seems that Mr. Grover has been keeping her on the side.  It seems he hired her on a technicality, because a qualified teacher couldn’t be recruited because of the low salaries.”

“Madame President, here are copies of the reports I have been able to obtain so far.”  Mr. Benson handed copies of the reports to each of the school board members.

This is Brian.

The members of the board were reading the reports and Mrs. Conroy, who was one of mother’s chief adversaries spoke up, “Madame President, I have several motions.”

“Go ahead Mrs. Conroy.”

“I move that any reference to this unfortunate incident be deleted from the students' folders.”

Mr. Hogan, another thorn for mother spoke, “I second the motion.”

Mother was so business like, “Ladies and gentlemen, you have heard the motion.  Rita, please take a roll call vote.”

Rita called each name of the board members and they all voted to approve the motion.

Mrs. Conroy continued, “Madam President, I also make a motion that Mr. Grover be suspended without pay until the district receives all monies that are due us, and that he be demoted to another position perhaps as a janitor, and I also think that Ms. Castellano’s contract should be made null and void even though I don’t even remember approving that she be hired.”

Mr. Hogan spoke up again, “I second the motion.”

I was proud of Mother, she maintained her cool. “Members of the board, you have heard the motion and the second.  Rita, please do a roll call.”

Again the motion passed seven to nothing.

Before Mother could say anything, Mr. Hogan spoke, “Madam President, I have two motions.  First, the first is that we order the Superintendent’s office to verify the records of all employees and report back to the board at our next regular board meeting.  The second motion deals with the suspension policies of the district.  I do not think that the individual principals should have the prerogative to suspend on a whim.  I make a motion that the administration bring a proposed policy to the board at our next regularly scheduled meeting.”

Mr. Phipps, another board member, who sometimes gave Mother some grief, spoke,  “Madam President, I second Mr. Hogan’s motions.”

“Members of the Board, are you ready to vote?  We’ll take the motions in two parts.”  Both motions passed and the administration was beginning to realize that they were going to be monitored more carefully.

Mother looked around,  “Is there any more discussion on this matter?”  She looked around and the board members were shaking there heads no.  “Seeing none, I declare this meeting is over at 3:10.”

This is John.

Mr. and Mrs. Benson came up to me and Mr. Benson asked, “John, how are you doing?”

I looked at them and started to laugh, “Mr. and Mrs. Benson, Brian is like a mother hen.  He has more energy than you can imagine.  Wait until he gets home and he can tell you about his day.  I can’t even begin to keep up with him.”

Mrs. Benson looked concerned, “John, you should probably go to the house and rest.  Brian can get a ride home after practice.”

I shook my head no, “Mr. and Mrs. Benson, I’ll stay with Brian to make sure he doesn’t get into anymore trouble.”

Mr. Benson laughed, “Good luck, John.  We’ve been trying for 14 years and we ain’t succeeded yet.”

This is Brian. 

John was accompanying Chris and me to the locker room even though I tried to get John to go home.  As we were walking along, several students mentioned that they heard I had been posing nude today.  I just ignored them but John interjected, “You people are just dreaming.”

Chris was completely baffled, “Guys, what’s all this nude talk?”

John looked at Chris, “Man, you need to learn that this high school is a rumor mill about to explode.  Brian told some guys this morning that I had a skateboarding accident and the story was all over the school by lunchtime.  I don’t know what this nude talk is about, but I’m guessing it has something to do with the way Brian posed in art class.”

When we got to the practice field, the coach had us running which I didn’t mind.  Chris and I were running ahead of everyone else.  We got back first and I started to throw the ball to Chris and I would send little signals and he would respond. The coach had the team line up and put me at quarterback.  He looked at the guys, “I don’t want anyone to touch Benson.  Get in his face if you can and see what he can do.  After the first play, I realized that I wasn’t going to able to do anything unless I threw the defensive line off.  I called the offense together, “Look guys, we can’t score if the defense is  going to get in my face all the time.  Let’s confuse them with some razzle dazzle plays.  Chris, you come from the right side and Tory you come from the left.  Chris, I’ll hand the ball to you and you run toward Tory and hand it to him. Tory, Kyle and I’ll start down field.  Throw it to whichever of us is open.”

The play started and the line was keeping the defensive line away from me.  The play worked perfectly and Tory threw the ball to Kyle but it was so high that it bounced off his hands and I dove for it and caught it before it hit the ground.

I went back to the huddle and the defensive people were already confused about what was happening.  I figured the coaches would start yelling at me, but no one said a word.  I called the offense together and planned the next play and I looked to see my options and no one was open.  I sent a message to Chris, “Chris, come back toward me and then take off to your right after you catch the ball.”

I threw the ball even though there was a 200-plus pound defensive lineman in my face.  Chris caught the ball and ran toward the goal posts with no one even close to him.

The coach finally blew his whistle.  “Look, Benson, we’re a running team and everyone knows it.”

I looked at the team and the guys and made up my mind, “Look Coach, if everyone thinks that this is a running team, then I choose not to be part of it.  Get your head out of the playbook.  If you would have the team do different things then the opposition wouldn’t know how to react.  You need to do things, to confuse the opposing teams and more importantly their coaches.  Now if you will excuse me, I don’t choose to play this stupid game.”

This is John.

Brian slammed down his helmet and started toward the locker room.  Everyone, and I mean everyone, looked like they were suspended in space.  I hobbled after Brian and found him in the locker room crying.  He looked at me.  “Johnny, I can’t seem to please anyone.”

I put my arm around him even though it hurt, “Brian, get into your warm up suit and let’s go to your house before anyone else can shout at you.  You can take a shower there.”

Brian shed all of his clothes and threw them into his locker and only pulled on his warm up suit.  He grabbed his gym bag and his backpack.  We didn’t say anything as we went to my jalopy as Brian called it.

We hadn’t even gotten into the house when Mr. and Mrs. Benson confronted Brian. Mrs. Benson started, “Brian, why in the world were you posing in the nude today in art class?”

That was the last straw.  Brian just threw down his backpack and gym bag and went up the stairs.  He yelled from the top of the stairs, “I’m sorry, I can’t be the perfect child, but I have done nothing wrong.  I’ll pack my things and leave.”

I looked at Mr. and Mrs. Benson and shook my head, “Mr. and Mrs. Benson, you just made a big mistake.  Brian did nothing wrong in art class today.  He had his body parts so concealed that no one, and I mean no one, could conceivably see them.  What the other members of the class imagined they saw is their problem, but Brian did nothing wrong.”

I guess I was getting hot, “I’ll take Brian wherever he wants to go.  Just when I started to think that you were the kind of people I wanted to be my parents, you blow it.   I don’t know your other children very well, but Brian is one of the most compassionate persons I have ever met.  The important thing is that he isn’t going to let anyone he cares for get hurt.  How many other fourteen year olds would wash some else’s body and not complain.”

I started up the stairs, but for some reason I turned back, “Please, go talk to him.

To be continued... 

 Feedback always welcome:     

Editor’s Comments:  How can the Bensons be so astute in business matters, and so ignorant in their dealings with Brian?  But, maybe, just maybe, it will turn out OK in the next chapter.  It had better, because I don’t want to be ‘putting a hurting’ on anyone!  So there!  Will

Darryl's Notes: Wow! I don't think I have ever known Beau and Becca to make quite that big a mistake. Poor Brian has had nothing but heartaches since he started High School. He needs his parents to believe in him, not take the word of school gossips. I am absolutely amazed that this would happen.

I remember when I was a kid and someone accused me of doing something wrong, my parents would at least listen to my side of the story.  I have to admit that most of the time, they believed the adults and not me, but I also have to admit that they at least gave me the chance to tell my version.  Why is it that adults, usually believe other adults, even when the person who is being accused is someone that, under other circumstances, they would trust completely.  What is so automatically trustworthy about a teacher or a principal that their word is to be automatically assumed to be the truth?

For Brian's parents to both accuse him of doing something like posing nude in art class, without checking the facts is just plain strange.

Beau has always been one of my favorite people, but this is not like him at all.  I know he can be hot headed but I am really disappointed in him and Becca. 

I certainly hope that Beau and Becca make this right with Brian.  No one has given him the credit he deserves, and that is just not fair.

Brian deserves to be treated fairly, and especially by his parents who have known him all his life and know he doesn't lie.  Certainly, Brian has pulled some pranks from time to time, but what youngster with any guts at all hasn't done something he shouldn't have at one time or another? That shouldn't mean that they should accuse him of doing something that silly without checking it out first.  Why not ask his art teacher?

As John said, he is a kind and generous person and would give you the shirt off his back if you needed it.

I want the next chapter soon so we can get this straightened out.

Darryl AKA The Radio Rancher. 

Posted: 10/10/08