Chapter 7

CHAPTER 7

Priest

Somebody’s pounding on my door when I step out of the shower on Wednesday after work, so I grab a towel, wrap it around me, and throw open the door. “What the… Hey, baby!”

“Hi! Bet you thought I was somebody else,” she says and leans in to kiss me.

“I did! I thought you were one of the guys. Come on in! Whatcha doin’ here?”

“Thought I’d come out and have dinner with you. Audrey told me to come anytime I want, so―”

“Yep. Anytime. Want something to drink? I just stocked up the fridge this morning.”

“Don’t mind if I do.” I can hear her in the kitchen, but I’ve stepped into the bedroom, dropped my towel, and started digging in my drawer for underwear. “Oh, lawd, that’s smokin’ hot,” I hear her say from the doorway, so I turn until she can get a full frontal. “Oh, yeah. That’s what I’m talkin’ ’bout!”

“We’ve gotta get to dinner, so don’t go gettin’ any ideas, girl,” I tell her.

“Oh, I got me some ideas,” she purrs, leaning against the door jamb.

“Dinner first,” I scold again.

“But I’ll be havin’ them ideas all durin’ dinner, just so’s you know.” And she winks. My cock gives a little jump. “Uh-huh. Yo sausage got some ideas too, I see.”

“My sausage has always got some ideas, but it keeps ’em for later when it actually has time to do something with ’em.”

“Great self-control it’s got there.” I let out a chuckle at that. She has no idea how little self-control I actually have. It’s miniscule. It’s taking everything I have to not jump her bones right now. But… dinner first.

“What made you decide to come out?” I ask as we walk across the lawn toward the kitchen, hands joined and swinging between us.

“Just thinking about you and how you need support.”

“Me? You need support even more. You’re out there in the trenches every day, working with kids. I don’t know how you do it.”

“It’s what I do. I don’t even think about it anymore. I can’t imagine not doing it.”

“My job looks easy in comparison.”

“It’s not harder or easier. It’s just a job. Your job looks easy to you because you know how to do it. Mine looks easy to me because I’ve been doing it for a long time.”

Dinner is delicious, three huge pans of lasagna, fresh, hot, soft bread, and a big Caesar salad. Audrey could put any internationally-known chef to shame, and we’re so fortunate to have her. Penny and Izzy fuss around with drinks, and Mavis is busy slicing the bread. Poor Tinsley is miserable and it shows. It seems like she can’t even find a way to get comfortable sitting there. Surely that baby will be here soon.

After Aggie has helped with cleanup, we wander back toward my cottage, but I take her hand and lead her toward the creek. The bench down there is anything but comfortable, but it’s a place to sit. “It’s so pretty out here,” she says, gazing around at the trees, shrubs, grasses, and water.

“It is. Peaceful too. I love it for that reason.” When we reach the bench, I motion toward it, so she sits. I drop down beside her. “Would you ever consider living out here?”

“I’d love to live out here. Your cottage isn’t a lot smaller than my apartment but it’s laid out way better, and you’ve got room out here. I haven’t had a yard since I was a kid. I mean, I have one, but it’s just a little plot of grass. Nothing I could do anything with.”

“We’re hoping to have a big garden next year.”

“That’s what you said. I’d love to work in a garden. I find it so relaxing.”

“Me too. Look, let’s not completely lose our minds here and jump into something head-first without really thinking it through, but I’d love it if you were out here, and it’s not that much farther from your work than where you live now.”

“No. Not really.”

“But it would be a big adjustment, living with somebody.”

“Yeah, but a good one.”

I shake my head. “I’ll be the first to admit that sometimes I really enjoy the fact that I’m in that cottage by myself. There’s nobody else around. After living in a cell all those years and having zero privacy, sometimes it’s nice to know that I can do what I want and there’s nobody looking at me.”

“I get that. Really, I do. I’m not offended by it. And there’s the lodge. If one of us feels like we really, really need to be alone, somebody can stay there.”

“True. I would hope it wouldn’t be like that, but life can get overwhelming sometimes. And like if I was out in the night and you had school the next day, I’d probably go over there to get some sleep instead of waking you up.”

“Not that I’d want that, but thanks for being considerate.” She stops for a second, then asks, “Hey, is this one of the nights Paddy has class?”

“Yeah. Mondays, Wednesdays, and Thursdays.”

“So he stays at Natalie’s then?”

“Yeah. Patch talked to his instructor. If there’s a big assignment, the guy gives it to him on Wednesday, and he stays at her house on Thursdays and works on stuff like that.”

“When he’s finished, is she moving out here?”

I shrug. “I guess. I dunno.”

“What if she doesn’t want to?”

That takes me a minute to digest. “Then he has the ability to leave.”

“He doesn’t have a contract or some parole officer requirement or something?”

“Nope. He served his sentence. If he wants to leave, he can.”

“But would he?”

“I would hope not, but it’s a possibility, I guess.”

“What do you think she’ll do?”

“I really don’t know, babe. I have no idea. I guess they’ll have to work that out together.” Thinking about the idea that Paddy might leave us makes my heart hurt, although it’s always a possibility, and we’ve known that from the very beginning. But he works closely with me, so now I think I’m going to ask him when he gets back.

We sit here awhile, listening to the creek running and holding hands, just me and my girl and nature. I love this. Chicago was all glass and steel and concrete, and even our parks looked contrived and artificial. This place is so peaceful and serene, and I think about the garden over where Audrey used to live. It’s an amazing space teeming with color and life and still very, very quiet and calm. That’s sacred to me. I never want to go back to all that caged-in mess I grew up in. Out here I can move around, breathe fresh air, and listen to the birds sing. It’s such a beautiful place that I can’t imagine being anywhere else.

When we get back to the cottage, I suddenly realize I didn’t see any bags. “Are you staying?”

“No, I was gonna go back home. But I was hopin’…”

“Oh, so this is a booty call?”

She laughs and, oh, god, I love the way that sounds! “I guess you could call it that, unless that offends your delicate sensibilities.”

“Girl, my sausage ain’t got no sensibilities. And it ain’t got no sense. Get on over here.” In seconds, she’s in my arms, and the feel of her softness makes me hard in a flash. “Go get in that bed,” I tell her and slap her ass. “And don’t put your fingers through those damn rungs!”

“Wouldn’t dream of it,” she says with a grin as she starts stripping. I have to give her credit, she’s not shy. There are clothes everywhere in the room except on her, and I like it that way.

We’ve been kissing and groping and yanking and tugging for ten minutes when I run my hand around her backside and slide a finger down to stroke around her back entrance. “You take an ass fuckin’?”

“Anything for my man,” she hums.

“Uh-huh. Lemme get this goin’ then.” The condom goes on and I reach for the bottle of lube I put in the drawer months ago. Once she’s up and on her hands and knees, I slather it down her cleft and then all over my hardness. “Can you reach your love button with one hand?”

“Want me to stroke it?”

“I do. While I stroke into you.” I press into her darkness, but she’s tight. “Let me in, girl,” I tell her and slap her ass.

“Oooo, do that again!” she says with a squeal, so I smack it again. “Ummm. Oh, yeah. Smack it.”

“I’m gonna smack that ass. You let me in, hear me?” I press harder and she cries out a little. “Go on. Let me in.” One more mighty shove and I force my way into her.

“Oh, damn, baby!”

“It’ll get better. I’m-a go to town on this beautiful ass, baby. Um-um-ummm. So pretty and round.” I watch my dick disappear all the way into her backside. “Oh, fuck me, that’s tight, baby.”

“It ain’t like anybody drives a truck up in there on a regular basis,” she barks back, panting.

“I’m gonna drive my Peterbilt right up in here and practice parking.” When I pull back and give her another thrust, she cries out again. “Ass gettin’ fucked, baby girl. That’s how it’s gonna be. You want out, better say something right now.”

“No. Give it to me, Darius. Give it to me hard.”

I draw back and slam into her, then repeat it. Pretty soon, I’m jacking into her like a reciprocating saw, and she’s crying out and slapping one hand on the mattress. The other is working her nub. “Oh, damn. Oh, damn, Darius. Oh, fuck, baby. Fuck me, baby. Fuck my ass, baby. Oh, yeah. Little more lube?” I pull back, trickle some on, and shove back in. “Oh, damn. Oh, oh, oh, oh god! Oh, fuck, fuck, fuck!” I can feel her trembling under me, and then she’s convulsing. Uh-huh. She got herself off, so now I feel like I can get off too.

She’s still rocking under me when I feel myself readying. “Oh, fuck. Gonna come. Gonna come for sure. Oh, god, yeah. Ohhhh, yeahhhhhh…” I mutter as my balls shoot their contents straight into her. “Oh, damn,” I whisper as I still. Fuck, that’s a beautiful sight, my cock buried in her backside, and I’m sorry that I’m going soft, because I’d sure love to keep going.

As soon as I pull out, she topples over, and I drop beside her, facing her. “Holy shit, that was amazing,” I whisper to her and give her a kiss.

“Yeah, I ain’t never had my ass rode like that before.”

“I ain’t never had an ass that beautiful to ride before. Damn, woman, you just keep me all tore up.”

She drags her index finger down my cheek to my lips and smiles when I kiss its tip. “I wanna keep you all tore up so you’ll keep comin’ back for more.”

“I ain’t goin’ no place else lookin’, mama. You my only girl.” The kiss I give her gets returned, and before I know it, we’re right back at it. “Hey, hey, hey, let me go get this condom off and clean up a bit, okay?”

“Yeah, you do that.”

As I stand from the bed, she leans out and slaps my ass. “Oh, hell no. You gonna get it for that, baby girl.”

“Come and get it, stud,” she answers, laughing, and I’m laughing too as I retreat to the bathroom.

Two hours later, I think I’ve created a couple of new positions and she looks like she’s been fucked every which way but Thursday. “You ’bout had enough?”

She’s grinning. “Yeah. I think I need some rest.”

“But you’re not staying.”

“Nope. But I can lie here with you for a few minutes, can’t I?”

“You do that and you’ll never leave.”

“You might be right.” When she scoots up against me, I wrap my arms around her and hold her tightly. I love these moments, just us and the sound of the wind in the trees and the peepers singing their songs. We lie here for about thirty minutes, during which time I may or may not drift off a bit, and then she rouses. “I guess I should get home.”

“Wish you didn’t have to.”

“Yeah. I wish I didn’t have to either, but I’ve got school in the morning. I’ll shower when I get home. I’d rather wear the scent of you on my way there.”

“Oh, you like that badussy perfume, huh?”

And I get smacked in the face by the bra she just threw at me. “Don’t ever say that again! Gah! You sound like a prepubescent boy trying to be a dickhead!” I’m laughing so hard that I can’t breathe. “What, you think that’s funny? I’ll take my badussy self home and keep this badussy body to myself.”

“Oh, no, mama, you ain’t doin’ nothin’ of the sort. I’m just messin’ with ya.”

“You’d better be. You ain’t makin’ no friends or influencin’ no people talkin’ like that.” She’s grinning too, so I know she’s not mad. “Badussy perfume. Next thing I know you’ll be wantin’ to serve me dick licker popsicles. Damn men. Think they’s so funny.”

“Yeah, we funny. Funny as hell.” I’m pulling on my underwear and my jeans as she’s ranting. “You know you like it. Admit it. You like it.”

“I don’t like it. I love it. Kiss me goodbye.” She’s all dressed and standing at the door, and I hate it. I want her to stay, but I know she has to work. “Weekend’s comin’, and we’ll have all kinds of time.”

“Yeah. And you comin’ here, right?”

“I am. Maybe I’ll see you tomorrow night.” She cocks her head slightly. “I guess it just depends.”

“On what?”

“On if I can wash all the badussy off me.” I start laughing again. “Love you, baby.”

I grab her and kiss her hard. “Love you too, baby girl. I’ll call you later.”

“You’d better. Badussy perfume,” she’s mumbling as she climbs into her car. I’m still laughing when she throws me a wave and drives off.

That had to be the absolute best booty call ever, and I didn’t even have to make the call.

Aggie

It’s Thursday morning and I’m five minutes into the lesson when the door opens and LashelleMobley tiptoes in to takes her seat. I’m not going to disrupt the entire classroom to talk to her, but I will afterward. Throughout the class, she never looks up, and she doesn’t participate, instead sitting there with a pencil, doodling something in her notebook. While I’m talking, I wander through the classroom, and when I get close enough, I take a peek at her doodles. Holy shit.

As soon as the bell rings, I call out, “Lashelle, would you wait here for just a minute, please?” I see the look of panic on her face, but I ignore it. I’ll get to the bottom of this and it won’t take me long. Instead of rising, she just sits there in her seat, so as soon as the last student is through the doorway, I go straight toward her. “Lashelle, you were late for class, but I saw you get off the bus this morning out front. Where were you?”

“I was in the bathroom. I didn’t feel good.”

“And is that what we’re going to see on the cameras in the hallway?”

For the first time, her eyes rotate upward to face mine and she says, “No, ma’am,” her tone defiant.

“So again, where were you?”

“I was out back.”

“Out back where?”

“Out back. Behind the school.”

“Doing what?”

“Just talkin’ to somebody.”

“I don’t know for sure who that somebody is, but I have a feeling they’re not supposed to be on this campus. You need to tell them to stay away. Do you understand?”

“Yes, ma’am,” she answers, but I can tell from her tone that she’s planning to do nothing of the sort.

“Okay. You can go. But don’t be late to my class again.”

“Yes, ma’am,” she mutters as she hurries past me. As soon as I know she’s gone, I head down the hallway.

The door to Michael’s office is open and I knock on the door jamb. His head pops up and he smiles. “Hey, MissHenry.”

“Got a minute?”

“Sure!” I point toward the door and he nods, so I close it and sit down. “This looks serious.”

“It is. LashelleMobley was late for my class.”

“Did she say why?”

“I just asked her and she said she was out back of the school talking to somebody. I told her I didn’t know for sure who she was talking to, but I had a feeling they didn’t belong on this campus and to tell them to stay away.”

His eyebrows hike up. “Oh?”

“Yeah. She wasn’t paying attention in class, just doodling in her notebook, so while I was teaching, I wandered through the classroom and caught a look at her doodles.”

“Yeah?”

“Yeah. Penises. With kisses on them. One of them had a bow tied around the base right above the testicles. And a name written all over the page.”

“Oh, shit. Whose?”

“Clifford McGuire.”

Michael throws his pencil down on the desktop. “That little son of a bitch.” I knew he’d have that reaction. Just last year a girl here turned up pregnant, a thirteen-year-old, and it was his. She wouldn’t admit it, but we caught her with him at least once.

He’s nineteen.

“So she doesn’t know you know?”

“No. I didn’t tell her that’s who I thought it was, but I’m pretty damn sure. I mean, how many Cliffords are there in KnottCounty? In that age range? Who are still students at the high school?” Yeah. That’s right. The little bastard never has graduated. He just keeps hanging on like the predatory dingleberry that he is.

I know what you’re thinking. It seems strange that I, an educator who cares about kids, would have such a visceral reaction to a teenager. But this kid has been nothing but trouble in our school system. Back when he was young enough to get away with it, he hit teachers and principals. Peed on one vice-principal’s shoes. Then he went into junior high and tried to rape a teacher. He’s been in and out of special ed and alternative school while they tried to find a place to put him where he could do the least amount of harm, and so far, every time we’ve found what seems to be a solution, he either finds a way out, or his parents get him a public defender and they’re all over us, blaming us for everything that’s happened.

His parents are even worse. His sister’s got a baby that we’re all pretty sure is their dad’s kid, and both parents claim the baby is living with the mom’s sister in Delaware, but nobody’s been able to track the baby down. I think it’s dead. I think they killed it and disposed of the body. But now they’ve got a harassment charge against the KnottCounty Sheriff’s Department, so nobody wants to fool with them.

I’ve met Lashelle’s parents, and they’re not much better, but they’re not that bad. Almost like he’s reading my mind, Michael asks, “Do you want me to call Lashelle’s parents?”

“I dunno. Do you think it’ll actually help?”

He’s shaking his head and staring down at his blotter, and then he looks up at me. “I guess it’s worth a try.”

“Whatever you think. I’ll defer to your judgment.”

“Okay. I’ll give them a call.”

“Thanks.”

I rise and walk to the door, but his voice stops me as I reach for the knob. “Let’s just keep this between us for now, okay?” he says quietly.

The look I give him is most likely pretty forlorn, based on the way I feel. “Sure. No problem.”

I don’t see Lashelle in the hallways for the rest of the day. A check with a couple of other teachers who have her later in the day tells me that she wasn’t in class at all. Great.

By the time I pull in out at the farm, I’m fuming. Before I can even get to the door, Darius is out on the porch. “Hey, babe!”

“Hey.”

He grabs me by the upper arms and stares into my face. “Whoa-whoa-whoa! What’s goin’ on?”

“You won’t believe it. You just won’t. I’m so fucking pissed off…” There aren’t even words to finish that sentence.

“Come on in here and talk to me.” We’re going to be late for dinner, but I don’t think he cares, just opens the door and waits while I walk in. “Have a seat and a drink.” Instead of handing me a soft drink, he picks up a glass, pours two fingers of bourbon into it, and hands it to me.

I down it instantly, and his eyes go round as saucers. “Thanks. I needed that.”

“Damn, woman. What’s got you all riled up?”

The whole thing just pours out of me. To his credit, Darius says nothing, just listens and nods appropriately. When I’m finally finished, I say, “And I really don’t know how to save this kid from herself.”

“You can’t. All you can do is what you can do. She has to want to do better, and if she doesn’t, you can’t make her.”

“But she’s thirteen, Darius! Thirteen! We should be able to protect her from this monster!”

“Not if she doesn’t want to be protected. So you’re going to talk to her parents?”

“Yeah. Michael is calling them.”

“Okay. That’s something. Look. It’s Thursday night. Get through tomorrow and we’ll have a relaxing weekend, okay? Let Mr.Powell lead and do whatever he says. But don’t take this on yourself, hear me?”

“But this girl―”

“I know, I know. You want to protect her. But sometimes we’re our own worst enemies. You can’t protect her from herself, baby girl. It’s not possible.”

The bourbon is taking hold and I’m starting to feel a bit more mellow. “Yeah. I guess you’re right.”

“Okay. Let’s go eat dinner. Then we’ll talk some more. But honey, all you can do is all you can do. Don’t let this rattle you. You’ve got all these other kids to teach. You can’t afford to get too far down the rabbit hole with one who doesn’t want your help.”

I nod. “You’re right. I can’t.”

“Okay. Dinner. And then we’ll talk some more.”

“And fuck,” I blurt out.

“Nah. I don’t think you need to be thinkin’ ’bout that tonight. You might hurt me,” he says with a little laugh.

That makes me chuckle. “Yeah. I might!”

“Don’t need none-a that! C’mon. Food. Let’s go.”

Dinner is nice. Audrey made homemade chicken cordon bleu, none of that frozen stuff from the wholesale company, and we have asparagus casserole and sweet potatoes, plus a nice garden salad. Everybody’s having a good time, it appears, and I’m trying to get involved in a couple of conversations, but my mind keeps going back to Lashelle. I hear a voice say, “Aggie? You with us?” and I turn to find Penny staring my direction.

“Yeah. Sorry. Just a hard day.”

“It’s been a hard week.”

“Yeah. First Tim and now this… other stuff.” That’s when I remember something, and I turn to find Fiona sitting across from Tinsley and Bulldog, chattering away. “I need to talk to Fiona for a minute.”

“Want me to call her over here?” Penny asks.

“Nah. I’ll wait until after dinner.”

We’re all finishing up when I see Fiona get up and head to the door, so I call out, “Hey, Fiona!” She wheels until she sees me waving, and she makes a beeline for me. “Hey, baby, can we talk for a minute?”

The eye roll was unexpected, and then she asks, “Okay. What did I do now?”

“Nothin’, honey!” I answer, laughing.

“I figured I was in trouble for something. I always am.”

“No you’re not. You’re a good girl. I heard about your grades. They were really good this quarter.”

“Thanks. I’m trying. I still don’t like being here that much, but I do have a couple of friends now. That helps.”

“That’s good. So I need to ask you about somebody. Do you know CliffordMcGuire?”

Her nose wrinkles in disgust. “Oh, damn, that fuckstick’s a piece of shit!”

Why scold her for cussing? What she said isn’t a lie. “I see you have the same opinion of him that everybody else does.”

“Right after I moved here, he saw me in the hall and said, ‘I’m gonna fuck you Friday night.’ I told him my dad is a retired Army helicopter pilot and he’d beat that piece of turd hugger into the ground if he so much as looked at me. He’s never spoken to me again, so somebody must’ve told him I wasn’t lying.”

“Wow. Yeah. Stay as far away from him as you can.”

“Oh, hell yeah. I don’t want to be downwind of that asshole. Talk about badussy.” Hearing the word come from her mouth makes me blush. “Oh, sorry. Didn’t mean to offend you.”

“Nah. I’m okay. So have you heard anything about him having a girlfriend?”

She sits there for a few seconds like she’s thinking. “Ummm… I heard he was bragging about how he’s gonna knock up some girl named Gayla?”

“Likely GaylaMoses. She’s probably a freshman now.”

“I don’t know her. And then there’s another girl… Michelle?”

“Maybe Lashelle?”

“Yeah! That’s it! He says she’s ‘young meat,’ whatever that means.”

“She’s in middle school.”

“Ugh. He’s a creeper for sure. I heard some of the guys talking and laughing about stuff he’d said about her.”

“Like …”

“Like one guy says, ‘Did you hear that dumbass CliffMcGuire? He said he’s got some girl over at the middle school with the tightest pussy he’s ever had.’ And this other boy says, ‘He’s such a liar. He ain’t had pussy since pussy had him.’ Then this other kid says, ‘Yeah, but his dad had his sister, so who knows?’ And they were all like, ‘Ugh. That’s gross. Ick. Yuck.’ So I dunno how much of it is true and how much is made up.”

Unfortunately, I’m afraid most of it is true. “I don’t know either, but thank you, honey. We’re trying to keep an eye on the situation. Please don’t tell anybody we’ve talked, okay?”

“Oh, no, I won’t, MissAggie. I would never do that.” I can tell she means that. “Is it okay that I tell my dad that we’ve talked? I mean, in case I need to talk to you again and tell you more?”

“Sure, baby. That’s fine. Just not around the other kids.”

“No problem. Anything else?”

“No. That’s all. But thank you again.”

“Okay. I’m going to read. See ya later!” With that, she hops up and takes off out the kitchen door. I’m glad she’s finally settling in. I’d heard that they had a lot of trouble with her at first, and that was a shame. Her daddy is a fine man, and I can tell Penny loves her like a mama. Fiona is lucky to have them.

We walk back to the cottage hand in hand. “Feeling any better?”

“Maybe a little, but Fiona confirmed my worst fears. That boy is taking advantage of that little girl.”

“Then you know what you’ve got to do,” he says.

Yes. Unfortunately, I do.

“MissHenry?” the secretary’s voice barks over my desk phone.

“Yes, ma’am?”

“Mr.Powell said he needs you in his office.” Uh-oh. Here we go. Before I can even stand up from my desk, the door opens and BernieceFields, one of the teaching assistants, steps in. She’s there to watch my class while I’m gone. I show her what we’re working on briefly and head out the door.

As I make my way through the front office and down the hallway to Michael’s office, I notice the Mobleys sitting there. As soon as I step in and close the door, he looks up. “I guess you saw them out there.”

“Yeah, and I haven’t had a chance to talk to you, but I need to. Right now before we talk to them.”

“Okay. What’s going on?”

Everything Fiona told me the night before pours out, and he strokes his chin the whole time, sometimes shaking his head. When I finish, I give him a hard stare. “Now what?”

“If we don’t get anywhere with them, and even if we do, we’re going to have to notify children’s services. She’s thirteen. If we sit on this, knowing what we suspect, then we’re as culpable as the perpetrator.”

“Exactly my thinking.”

“Ready?”

I nod. “As ready as I’ll ever be.”

When Michael opens the door, I’m on my feet. “Mr. and Mrs.Mobley, welcome. I’m AggieHenry. I’m one of Lashelle’s teachers and I do some of the student counseling here.”

“Nice to meet you,” her dad says and shakes my hand, but her mother doesn’t look up at me. She doesn’t look at anybody. She’s just staring at the floor.

“Mr.Mobley, Mrs.Mobley, would you like something to drink?”

“No. We don’t want nothin’. What’s this about?” her dad asks.

“It’s come to our attention that Lashelle seems to be seeing a lot of a high school student, CliffordMcGuire.”

“Yeah? So what?” her dad asks.

“Sir, Cliff is nineteen, and your daughter is just thirteen.”

“So?” He points to his wife. “She were only fitteen when I knocked her up. I don’t see the problem.”

“You do realize that in the state of Kentucky it’s illegal for a nineteen-year-old to have relations with a thirteen-year-old,” Michael says.

“Who says they’re having relations? You know this for a fact? Seen ’em?”

“No, sir,” I answer. “But Lashelle is late to class. She says she’s out back talking to somebody, and I believe it’s Cliff. And we’ve gotten reports from the high school about Cliff bragging to the other kids about having sex with a girl here at the school, and the other students report that it’s Lashelle.”

“You believe everthin’ some kids say?” the man yells, and his wife cowers.

“Sir, the truth is, we’re going to have to call children’s protective services and have them investigate,” Michael says.

In a nanosecond, the man goes totally ballistic. “Call children’s protective services? You sayin’ I don’t know how to raise my own kid? Who the hell do you think you are?”

“We’re concerned educators, sir. We’re worried about your daughter’s―”

“My daughter’s what? My daughter’s pussy? Don’t you be worried ’bout my daughter’s pussy! At’s my concern!” Well, that completely takes my worry away for sure. Oh, yeah.

“Sir, what she does when she’s here is our responsibility, and if she’s having relations with this boy on school property, then―”

“It’ll be on you, not on me! Come on, Sally. We’re gettin’ the fuck outta here. These twatwads don’t know what the fuck they’re talkin’ ’bout. Assholes. Leave us alone!” I watch as he hops up, grabs his wife by the hand, and drags her out of the office. Worse yet, she’s visibly crying. I can’t even imagine what goes on in that household.

As soon as they’ve cleared the front door, the man screaming and cursing the whole way, Michael turns to me. “That went well, don’t you think?” he asks with a sigh.

“Oh, yeah. Peachy. Are you calling social services or am I?”

“I’ll call them, but they’ll want to talk to you too.”

“That’s fine. I don’t mind.” With one more sigh, I stand. “Guess I’ll go back to class.”

“Yeah. Try to salvage what you can of the rest of the day. We’ll pick this up again on Monday.”

“Will do.” Complete defeat. That’s what I feel. We have a young girl, a child, really, being taken advantage of by an adult male with multiple behavioral issues, and her parents don’t even care. I remember thinking about Darius saying he wants to be part of the community and now I wonder why. This is the part of the community that I wish didn’t exist.

At least it’s Friday. I have the weekend to spend with Darius, and that’ll be nice. Hell, anything is nicer than this.