Coach Assistant

By: Tim
(© 2015-2017 by the author)

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

tim@tickiestories.us

Chapter 68 

“How?” one of us asked.  

“Well, very easy.    The board of education can’t criticize us if we’re getting educated, can it? If we make sure we’re being educated properly, that might just get us the positive press we need.”

“It might,” Jordan said, “But how?”

Over the next hour we discussed several options but they were all too weak to be convincing.    Simply put, none of them really involved a real education.

“OK.    Let’s do things in a logical order.    Who’s going to stay the night down here?”

That was something that, it seemed, no one had talked about before.   We’d all brought our lunch … but what about dinner and night arrangements?  Most kids would go home but we needed to defend the building.    The last thing we wanted was for the administration to sneak back in.   I’m not sure what happened over the next few hours as we left around 3 p.m., our normal departure time for that day.   I didn’t want to stay in the school.   I needed time to prepare for Thursday, but it seemed like they all accepted that.  

We went home and told dad about what had happened.   No one had told him what had been going on … not even any of the people we considered friends had called.  

He was happy and worried at the same time.   The sit-in would draw even more attention to the situation.   I slept OK that night but was tired the next morning.   Slowly I began to feel that things were becoming too much to handle.   The next few days could be crucial to the case … my testimony on the Thursday regarding the stuff that had happened in the hotel.   I would testify, then the lawyers would have the opportunity to cross examine me … then the prosecution would submit the sections that had been broadcast in the Internet.   We’d talked a long time about the broadcast, and I know my lawyer and (I think) my dad watched that material … before making the decision that it would support my testimony.   I was still not sure of the outcome, but we needed all the help we could get to convict them.   It’d mean that a lot of people would see it, especially Francis.   I wasn’t sure I’d be happy with that.   I might try to convince him to leave the courtroom for that part of the trial.   Yea, I needed to talk with him about that.  

Then there were things at school.   I had no idea what had been happening down there at the moment.   I think I’d heard Francis on the phone with some of them protesters late on the evening before I testified … but I didn’t know what had been said.   How we’d be able to pull this off was one big riddle to me at that time.  

It helped to know we had friends … lots of them … who were sticking up for the rights we all had.  

I went downstairs and found dad and Francis at the breakfast table.  

“So … what are your plans for today?” my dad asked.  

“I’m not sure.   I think I’ll stay home and then go to the shrink’s office around noon.   He’s taken the afternoon off to help me prepare for tomorrow.”

“Yea, that’s a good idea.    I don’t think the stress of going into school would help particularly this morning.”

“And I can keep you company until you leave, Nick,” Francis said.  

“Well, maybe … but you might go to school and see what’s happening so at least we know what they’re up to.”

“You going to be OK on your own, then?” my dad asked.   “I have an appointment with a union representative.”

“Oh, yea … I think so.”

“Well, if not, I can reschedule my meeting to this afternoon, I’m sure.”

“No … you go ahead.   I might go to the park and do some sketching again.”

“OK … well, call me if you need someone to talk.”

“I know, dad, but I’m OK … and, with the shrink’s help, it should be fine.”

“You think you can handle tomorrow, Nick?  You still can back off if you want.”

“No, I think I have to do this.   I want them locked up for as long as possible.”

“OK.   Is there anything else to arrange this morning, then?” dad asked.  

Maybe this would have been the time to bring it up … dad would support me.   I knew it’d not make Francis very happy but I had to do this.  

“Yea, I have to be honest,” I said quietly.  

I looked at Francis and said, “I don’t want you in the courtroom tomorrow, Francis.”

I saw a shocked expression on his face … even a bit of hurt.  

“I know you want to be there for me tomorrow … but I’m not sure I can tell the whole story in front of others again with you being there … or even want you around when they show the internet piece.”

“Oh!  Are you sure, Nick?” he asked.  

His response was not as bad as I thought it would be.   I looked him in his eyes and tried to bring into it as much love as I could.   “Yea, I hope you’re OK with it, but your being there will only make it more difficult.”

“I think Nick is right, Francis.   It’s something he needs to do on his own, and I’ll be there if he needs me.”

“I know,” he said softly.   But there was no smile on his face.  

“OK, that’s settled.   I have to go in a moment so who is going to help me clear the dishes?”

“I will, then Nick can go and get his stuff to sketch.   We can then walk to the park together.”

Oh, he wasn’t ready to give in!  I knew he’d want to talk about it when we were in private.  

I got my stuff and waited for him to join me.   To my surprise, Francis didn’t raise the subject; he seemed to accept my point of view.   We spend the morning around the park, I sat down on the bank, overlooking the water and, at some point, I heard Francis playing with some dogs that were running around the park.  

Just after lunch we split up.   I wasn’t too sure but I just assumed he might go home while I went to the shrink.   It was quiet in the office.   I didn’t see the assistant … so I guessed she had the afternoon off.  

“Ah!  There you are, Nick … come on in.”

The rest of the afternoon went by in a blur.   I got upset with myself several times.   In the end I felt stronger about it all … the shrink had been tough on me … but no tougher than the defense lawyers would be tomorrow … but I didn’t budge.   Now I just had to hope I wouldn’t collapse tomorrow.  

That evening was spent quietly.   None of us felt the need to speak.   David was still staying at Kathy’s place but I knew he’d be there tomorrow.   I had a short phone call from Steve who wanted to know if I was still OK … and whether he could put the last piece out on Friday as planned.  

And if you think that the Wednesday evening was quiet … well, Thursday morning, you could cut the tension with a knife, it was so thick.   I got a hug from Francis just before we got in the car … it said more than a thousand words could have.   I smiled at him and said quietly, “I’ll be OK.”

I wasn’t sure what he was going to do that day but I hoped he’d go to school and meet with the others.   I knew he’d talked with Jordan on Wednesday evening and Francis had told me that nothing had changed at school.  

Nervous as a leaf that was about to fall off its tree, I got ready to take the stand for the second part of my testimony.   More journalist than before had turned up and I thought I’d counted more cameras outside than before.   I knew that Steve was there.   I’d seen some teachers, too.   I guess they hadn’t had anything else to do today.  

{I’m not going to bore you with what happened, as you already know.   I got the chance to tell my story, from the moment that I was captured by Mike until the moment I was rescued from the hotel bedroom.   I hadn’t looked once at Mike or the doctors as I didn’t dare do that …but I could hear the gasps from the audience.    Yea, I told them more than I had last time … in greater detail … and I knew how it affected them … just as it had affected me.  }

My lawyer smiled positively at me when he went back to his seat.   I felt sweat starting to pore out of me.   I could sense that the defense lawyer was ready for me, that he’d eat me alive.   I felt worse as he came closer.  

“So, Nick … you want us to believe this fantasy of yours?”

Even the suggestion that it was all made up forced me to raise my head and I looked him straight in the eyes.   I saw fright in them because I knew he hadn’t expected that reaction.   I continued to look him in his eyes and said, “That was no fantasy; it was, real, every bit of it.   Couldn’t you feel it?” I said, not yelling but speaking very softly, very firmly, trying to stay as calm as I could. 

“So you’re saying that all of this is real, not some story cooked up by your teenage hormones boiling over?”

“No, sir … and you, Mike and the doctors know that very well,” I said. 

I still kept calm. 

“Really?  And you think it’s possible for a male to orgasm that many times in just one night?”

“Oh, absolutely … but I wouldn’t suggest that any of you try it … it’s quite painful.” 

I was so relaxed, so at ease with it all.   Well, not at ease ...  I’d just made up my mind that I’d stay calm and relaxed.   He’d not get to me, not this time. 

My lawyer stood up.   “Your honor, I have no idea where counsel is going with his line of questioning but we heard Nick’s testimony a moment ago.”

“He has a point,” the judge noted. 

I saw the lawyer look back at his clients.   This time I looked, too.   Mike had his head down and was looking at the table, while the doctors winked at their lawyer as he walked back to the defense table. 

“Maybe I can help,” my lawyer said.   “May we approach, your honor?”

I sat and waited.   I knew what he would enter as evidence.   Until now we’d kept secret that investigators had found sections of video of my sexual torture on the internet, so my lawyer would now cut their claims to shreds.   I saw their lawyer turn a bit pale as he walked back to speak to his clients. 

The judge then announced a 10 minute break and I was allowed to step down. 

I knew dad was there.   I just slumped in my chair.   The whole thing hadn’t taken more than an hour, I guess, and although the day was far from over, I already felt drained.   I knew what would come next, and I saw out of the corner of my eye that the court clerk was bringing a TV into the courtroom.   They would only show about a minute or two of the internet video but still it was more than enough. 

My lawyer came back to me just as we were about to start again.  “I think you might be in for a surprise after the video presentation,” he warned. 

I looked up at him but, before I could ask what, the judge asked him to continue. 

We watched the TV bit … well, everyone else watched as I was too scared even to look up.  I could still see it, step by cruel step, in my mind … there was no need to have the images of the TV added to it. 

“Is this it?” the judge asked my lawyer when it was finished. 

“No, sir.  We have one more witness.”

Oh, I thought.  What is this?

“No, sir.  A new witness contacted me during the break.  He is willing to testify and has some relevant information for this case.”

“A bit late, isn’t it?”

“I agree, your honor, but it’s not about the facts of Nick’s case.  He’s more a character witness.”

“For the alleged victim?” the judge asked. 

“May I approach, your honor?” my lawyer asked. 

“Yes, of course, let’s deal with this,” and he motioned to the defense lawyer as well. 

I looked up now, suddenly interested in this new development.  At first, I was afraid that Peter or Andrew would walk in to take the stand.  That was something that, despite everything that had happened to me, I wouldn’t want to see. 

It toOK them quite a bit of time and it seemed that the defense was not happy with the judge’s ruling at all. 

“We will hear the last witness and then take recess until next week for the defense to prepare its summation,” the judge ruled.  “You may call your next witness,” he added. 

“I call to the stand Randy Harrison.”

Shocked, I looked towards the back and there he was … Randy alias Justin … who proceeded to walk forward to the stand.  He looked at me and smiled gently. 

I turned towards my lawyer.  “You put him up to this”

“No, Nick, he came to see me this morning and said he wanted to help.” 

Damn, I thought … another life ruined. 

Well, you can guess what happened next.  Randy testified that I, Nick, hadn’t been the first victim who’d been blackmailed by the doctors.  He told them what had happened and he concluded with the words that he hoped that this would set him free from future blackmail as well.

The defense had the right to cross-examine him but we all knew they wouldn’t.  With Randy’s corroborating testimony, it looked to us like Mike and the doctors would surely be convicted.  I couldn’t think of anything that they could bring against us now. 

I hugged my dad, who smiled and asked, “Glad this is over, Nick?” 

“Definitely, dad, but I am tired.  This morning toOK quite a bit out of me.” 

“I thought it would.  You ready to go home then?” 

“Yea, we’d better meet the journalists and then get out of here.” 

My lawyer intervened.  “OK, let’s go.  By the way, Randy said he’d drop in later this afternoon.  He wanted to sneak out of here quietly if he could.” 

We left the building through a horde of journalist and a few cameras as well.  But we left the talking … well, saying “no comments” to our lawyer. 

When we came home we didn’t sneak in this time, as it was quiet in front of the house.  But then they all had been around the courthouse. 

“So you’re glad this is over, Nick?” my dad asked again for reassurance. 

“Well, it’s not over, dad, but at least he trial is nearly done.” 

“You think they won’t give up, even now?” 

“No idea.  I was surprised though that they handled it all so carefully this time … no hard attacks … nothing.” 

“Yea, it’s just as if they still have something up there sleeves.”

“Well, we’ll just have to wait and see.  We’ll know more about their strategy if the journalists print more lies in tomorrow’s newspaper.” 

Francis wasn’t home and I missed him.  I wasn’t sure when he’d be back but he probably thought that today’s court session would last all day. 

An hour or so later, Randy showed up, not by the front door but through the garden.  It seemed that everybody now knew the back way in. 

“Hi!  Can I come in?” he asked. 

“Yea, of course you can,” I said. 

“Well, I wasn’t sure, as me being there must have been a bit of a surprise.” 

“You can say that again, Randy.  I just hope what you did today won’t ruin your career.  I have ruined enough people’s lives so far.” 

“Oh, I don’t think so, Nick, and I had to testify …  I wanted to end the chances of blackmail forever.” 

“I understand.  So, when did you decide to do it?” 

“Yesterday, after I talked with Alexei.   I had to be in town anyway for tomorrow, so I thought … what the heck … I can come in one day earlier.” 

“Well, I’m sure it wasn’t that easy a decision to make.” 

“No, it wasn’t Nick, but the situation forced my hand.  So what have you planned for your afternoon off?”

“Nothing.  To be honest, I was just wondering where Francis was.” 

“You’ve called him already?” 

“Yea, but it seems he doesn’t have his cell phone with him.” 

“Oh, that’s strange.” 

“Yea, he must have forgotten it somewhere.” 

“So what do you want to do this afternoon?” 

“Are you up for some sketching, Randy?”

“Yea, that sounds like a plan, Nick.  Where do you want to go?” 

“I’m not too sure.  Oh!  I know!  There’s a little lake just outside town.” 

“That sounds good.  We’d better dress up, though, as it’s getting colder.” 

Randy followed my directions, back towards that lake … the lake that had very nice memories for me, even though it now looked a lot different.  With the fall colors surrounding it, it even looked better than it did in the late spring time. 

“Wow, this is great!” enthused Randy. 

“Yea, I thought it would be a nice place for a good bit of drawing.” 

“You can say that again, Nick.  Is that a café down there?” 

“Yea, it’s a great place but it’s not open at this time of the year.” 

“OK!  Let’s get to work.” 

For the rest of the afternoon we made several drawings of the lakeshore.  I must admit that I learned several new techniques from Randy, stuff I picked up very quickly.  He was good at this. 

“So, you’re in town to film the next part of the QAF?” I asked him after a long period of silent work. 

“No … I’m here now by coincidence more than anything else.” 

“Yea … but that could be what the newspapers will say, Randy, about today.” 

“They won’t care … well, at least not in a negative way.  Oh, I’ll get some comment from one or two of them, but it’ll be positive comment, I’m betting.” 

“Well, maybe you should have told the public relations people for the program what you were going to do.” 

“It won’t matter.  It’s harder to talk about this to your loved ones than in court.  Is that why you didn’t want Francis to be in the courtroom today?” 

I blushed.  He’d caught me.  He was right.  It was difficult to talk about to start with but, with your loved ones around, it was even more difficult. 

“I guess you’re right about that, Randy.”

“So, we’ll just have to wait and see what happens during the next few days.  The series is in hiatus on TV at the moment, so I hope my testimony won’t attract too much attention in the media and the whole episode will blow over in a few days.”

We continued to draw a bit more. 

“Randy, can I ask you something?” 

“Always.  What is there to hide now, Nick?”

“I don’t know Randy, but this is kind of personal, you know.”

“Go ahead, Nick.” 

“Did they ever rape you?  Or … well … fuck you under threat?”

“Yea, that was part of it, too, Nick.”

“Sorry to stir up those memories but how did you deal with it?”

He looked at me but didn’t say anything. 

“I mean … well … you know … after that, with someone you loved, I presume you ….”  I started to color a bit as I was making a lot of assumptions now. 

“Don’t worry, I know what you mean as it has been quite a bit of a problem for me, too.  So far, I haven’t met anyone that I could trust enough to let him do that to me, Nick.” 

“Oh, I’d hoped you could have given me some pointers on dealing with it.” 

“You trust Francis, don’t you?”

“Yea, he would never hurt me … with my head I know that but ….” 

We remained silent again for a bit. 

“Maybe it’s not about trusting Francis, Nick.  I sometimes think it’s about trusting me again.  Trusting myself to be able to enjoy it again, trusting myself not get flashback images, even though I hardly ever get them any more.  If I were in your place, I’d be scared, too.  So maybe that worries you ... the fear of your own reaction.” 

“Could be.  I just want to so much but, yea, being afraid of it is a big part.” 

“Yea, but wouldn’t he stop immediately if you said so?  It’s not like before … if you say NO, he’d immediately stop.  You trust him enough for that.” 

“Oh, yea.  He’d never do anything to hurt me.  That is out of the question.” 

“I thought so.  So maybe you should just try it.  Make sure you are in a safe setting and let him know what might happen so he’s prepared, too.” 

“Yea … well, we’ll see.”

“You’re really getting good at this, did you know that, Nick?” 

I saw him looking at my drawings.  “I guess I’m not bad.” 

“I don’t know if you have a lot of work completed, but I think that I might know someone who’d be interested in putting them in a show.” 

“You think so?  No way!  I’m not that good.” 

“Oh, I think you’d be surprised, Nick.” 

“Well, I only have a few so far … so I don’t have enough anyway … and they’re not all as good as this one either.” 

“If I can take this one with me to show him, he might contact you.” 

He saw me hesitate.  I had enough things to deal with at the moment, I thought. 

“What have you got to lose, Nick?”

He was right about that. 

“OK, I guess you’ve got me there.  I’ve nothing to lose.”

At the end of the afternoon, we went back to the house.  I expected Francis to be there but he wasn’t and also my dad was not there. 

“Well, it seems it’s just the two of us.  You want to have a bite to eat, Randy?” 

“Could do, if you don’t mind me hanging around, that is?” 

“No, it’s nice.  I don’t want to be alone at the moment.” 

Around 7 the phone rang. 

“Hello, Nick speaking.” 

“Hey!  At last, it’s good to hear your voice, Nick.  How are you doing?”  What a relief!  It was Francis. 

“I’m OK but where are you and why didn’t you take your phone with you?  I’ve been trying to call you.” 

“Yea, I forgot it.  I did try to call you earlier but you weren’t home, although your dad said the trial ended early.” 

“Oh, did you go to school?” 

“No, I spend most of the day with my mom and, since 5 p.m., I’ve been with Jordan and the other guys.  But I’ll fill you in on all of that when I get back in about an hour.  Is that OK?” 

“Yea, I’m looking forward to that.  I’ll ask Randy to keep me company till then.” 

“Oh!  Is he there?  We wondered where he was.  Tell him to give Jordan a ring when he gets back to his hotel room.” 

“OK!  Will do!  See you in an hour.” 

“Love you, Nick.” 

I hung up the phone and looked at Randy.  “I’m not sure what’s going on or that I want to know but Jordan wants you to ring him when you get back to the hotel.” 

“Oh, was that Francis?”

“Yea.  We’ll find out more in detail when he gets back.” 

“So you’re not going to tell me anything?” 

He was saved by the bell as they say as the phone rang again. 

“Nick,” I said. 

“Hi, Nick.  This is Steve.” 

“Hey!  How are you?” 

“Doing OK.  I just finished the article for tomorrow and wanted to ask you if you could read through it.” 

“Yea, that’s fine.  Could you e-mail it to me?” 

“Yep.  Go and read it and then call me … although there’s not a lot of surprises in it, I think.” 

“OK, I’ll send it right back.” 

“That was Steve, Randy.  He send me an e-mail he wants me to read, so can food wait for a bit?” 

“Of course … go ahead.” 

Upstairs I started up the computer and opened the mail. 

His message said, “Here is the piece for the newspaper tomorrow, Nick.  Let me know if you are OK with it, although I didn’t need to add a lot today.”

Here is the text of his story:

“In my last piece, I wrote that that Thursday had been my hardest day as a journalist.  Lots of things have happened since then, but I’m still standing behind what I wrote and have been doing since then.  Yesterday was the hardest day in my life not as a journalist but as a person.  It is incredible that people are able to hurt other people on purpose.  More than ever, I have an incredible respect for the way that Nick was able to tell what happened.  After his testimony, the internet images which were presented later on were not really necessary in order to give an adequate description of the deeds of the accused.  I don’t see any other option than that they will be convicted.   I think even the defense lawyer came to that conclusion today as his questioning of Nick was a lot less aggressive and hostile than it had been earlier. 

Everything that has been presented in court has also put the story that Nick had frankly and fully told me in interviews in a broader perspective.  Here is the last bit of the interview that I had with him before the trial started:

[Steve then quoted sections of my earlier interview, which were consistent with what I testified to in court.]

So, hopefully, to conclude this sad but true story I can only say two things about our current school situation.  The first is the negative angle: I didn’t think that people who were responsible for the development of children into young adults with a full understanding of principles such as a respect and understanding of human rights could be so easily influenced by a little group of very narrow minded people whose views are not one bit better than those of any extremist who wants to impose his views onto someone else without reason, respect or understanding.

The second conclusion is one relating to me: that I will never be persuaded to write untruthful rubbish for money or under any threat.  I’ve seen the hurt and anguish caused by the writings of some other “writers” using the name of journalist.  I’ve come to understand the dangers to independent news when it is based simply on making money and being successful by destroying the reputations of others.

To conclude I can only say that I’ve been impressed with Nick’s strength and authority as a person, the way he’s handled the whole situation and the way he’s stood up for his rights as a citizen of the United States. 

*******

Well, that looked good to me.  I had nothing to change although I did think that that last bit was a little much but, then again, they were his words and not mine. 

I send him a reply letting him know that I was OK with the piece.  Although it wouldn’t be in the school newspaper this time but in a real one, the article looked good enough to me. 

When I came down, I looked at Randy.  “So why do you need to call Jordan?” 

“Oh, that has something to do with what I need to do tomorrow.  Let’s see what he has to tell me.” 

He got out his mobile and I saw the number was in his address boOK as he pressed just one button before he starting talking.  I tried to listen in but was disturbed when the back door opened. 

“Hi, Nick!  How are you, love?” 

“Missing you, Francis.” 

“Yea, I know that feeling.  I was glad to hear that you were with Randy, though.” 

“We went out drawing at the lake.” 

He smiled and said, “Good!  I hope that brought back some positive thoughts.” 

“Oh, definitely.  And you were right; it was good to talk with Randy.” 

“You weren’t mad at him any more?” 

“Well, how could I, after his testimony this morning?” 

“He was afraid you would still be upset.  I had him on the phone this morning before his testimony.  He said he’d wanted to contact you but wasn’t sure how you’d respond to it.” 

“We’ve talked it through now, so that’s good.  So what is this all about, the call to Jordan?  What are they up to, Francis?” 

“I think they might have found a way to circumvent the education board while still occupying the school and preventing others from getting things through.  Not sure it will work, but they have done an awful lot of arranging, as far as I know.” 

“So what has that got to do with Randy?”

“Oh I think he and Alexei have something to do with it … I’m not sure what their role is.” 

“We’ll see if Randy can explain a bit more.” 

“Well, they might not want to say anything as they’re not sure their plan will work.” 

Randy was still on the phone so we just waited for him to finish. 

He ended with the words “OK, I’ll be there in 20 minutes.  No, if you don’t want me to say anything, I won’t.” 

We looked at each other and knew that he wouldn’t be able to tell us a lot. 

“Sorry, guys,” he said.  “I overheard the last bit of the conversation you had and I guess you overheard mine, so you know I can’t tell you a lot more than Francis already knows.  But I’m sure I’ll see you around tomorrow at some point.” 

To be continued...