The new school principal is investigating why young Kane is like a plague to the faculty and staff and why Kane’s destiny is so great that the Shadow Men keep him fragile.
Excerpt
INITIATION DAY
1
“Kick him in the junk, kick him in the junk,” a young freckled boy around the age of ten coached excitedly. He did not care that his books fell as the two brawlers backed into him. Other children cheered as the two boys wrestled.
There was not much to watch, at least to Penelope. Her friend was much smaller than the other and looked scared to death. Was it one or two minutes that passed as he tried to scurry away? She could not tell. She begged to get kids to break it up but no one would. To the others, there was nothing cooler than a pair of kids duking it out on the playground.
From out of nowhere a scrawny kid about the same age charged foot first at the bigger boy. It caught the boy by surprise and allowed the thinner kid, Timmy, a chance to escape.
Penelope hurried to her friend and attempted to stop his bleeding lip with her light blue dress. She did not know where the teachers were and hoped that the wheezing that sounded in her friend’s breath was not a sign of a broken rib.
The bigger kid got up and shook the look of shock off of his face. “Somebody’s gonna pay,” he insisted with fists in a ball and not much sweat on his brows.
The laughter of children filled the air as they realized who the “hero” was: Kane. Kane always tried to stop fights and defend the innocent. Penelope was the only one other than her friend who was glad that it stopped.
The heavy set kid laughed as he realized his enemy’s rescuer was the scrawny kid that always failed miserably to protect others, the kid who had no other redeeming quality. “Well, look who is here to save the day, Kane the Turd Pain.
“So, Weenie Boy, you think you can take me on? You can’t fight your way out of a wet paper sack.”
Kane was used to the insults. In fact, he was used to always getting brutally trashed by everyone he tried to fight. It never stopped him though. He could never let someone be hurt if he was around, mostly because no one ever tried to protect him. Hopefully, he could change that someday although his life never hinted to such a possibility.
“I’m not scared of you, Brian,” Kane said with dorky conviction. His uncombed bangs got in his face a lot and he had to push them away several times to get a better look at his adversary.
“I don’t know if I can flatten a pancake any flatter, but I’ll try,” the bully said and charged.
Surprisingly, Kane moved out of the way to avoid a head on straight punch. After a dozen or more fights Kane learned that body punches were not much good so he took what little might he had and slammed a fist hard at the back of Brian’s head. It caught Brian well but the cracking in his frail hand sounded dangerous.
Brian let out a brief “ow” and rubbed the back of his head as he spun around. Kane was excited although the pain in his hand was immense. Sadly, his excitement drained when Brian laughed and punched Kane hard in the face, busting his nose open. He then pinned Kane by sitting on him and started to punch the sides of Kane’s head. Luckily, Kane switched his arms and hands from side to side to catch most of the blows. Only four connected to his head before the new principal of the school scooped up the larger boy to put an end to the punch festival.
“Break this up right now,” Principal Kinner demanded. He looked down at Kane and noticed the blood from his nose, the immediate clusters of black and blue along his wrists and forearms, and what looked to be a dislocated right thumb.
The kids on the playground started to walk away giggling about another one of Kane’s famous failed attempts at breaking up a fight. Like every other time they would talk for days about the abuse Kane took and how feeble he was. That would follow with jokes and put downs about how poor he looked, how ugly he was and how uneducated he seemed to be. Then, they would wonder why Kane only changed his nothingness ways when someone else was getting beat up.
“What is wrong with you?” the principal yelled at the large boy. “Look at that boy! You could have killed him.” The statement was not entirely exaggerated.
Brian put his head down even though he had a smile on his face. “It ain’t my fault he’s a scrawny weakling.”
Kinner wanted badly to slap Brian across his chubby face. He could not stand the injustice of bullies picking on weaklings. He was mature enough not to get physical with Brian but still thought of how satisfying a good punch in his mouth would be.
Feet from the area where Kane was mauled the boys gym teacher stood with hands behind his back. He was another one that enjoyed school fights. Kinner saw him and shoved a disgusted look in his direction. With a voice of unapproval he told the gym teacher to take the bully to his office.
As the gym teacher took Brian to Principal Kinner’s office he thought about Kane. The boy never said much, walked like he had no purpose, and looked as if carrying his books would kill him. On the rare days that the special education students would play in the gym he observed Kane as barely being able to dribble a basketball. No matter what Kane did in the gym he only had the attention to do it for a couple of minutes. After that he would get winded and sit the rest of the time. It was sad to him but finding out why Kane was that way was not worth his life.
Kane moaned and found the strength to sit up. It was the first time that school year that he went out at recess. That was only because his homeroom teacher’s assistant used a cleaner that made his chest wheeze. Every other time during recess he would rest his head on a desk and zone out.
Once Penelope had her friend on his feet they walked over to Kane. The boy did not really know Kane, only the jokes that people made about him. He would never talk to Kane again in his life but at that moment in time he was genuinely thankful.
“Thanks for saving me,” Timmy said to Kane and helped him to his feet.
Kane was in too much pain to talk so he nodded as best as he could. Of all seven hundred and forty three kids in the school Penelope was the only one who talked to Kane. She considered Kane a friend although the only contact they had with each other was art class. Even those who Kane jumped in to help did barely more than walk away.
“It’s not his fault,” Penelope explained to the principal as her teary eyes looked into his deep, blue ones. “Brian was picking on Timmy and Timmy called him a fatty so Brian grabbed him and started fighting him.”
“Okay Penelope,” Kinner believed, “I’ll take care of Brian Sherwell. I’ll help Kane to the Nurse’s office if you’ll help Timmy. It looks like he has a nasty cut too.”
On their slow trek to the School Nurse, Kinner recalled a similar event from his previous principal job in Charlotte, North Carolina. He had pulled off an amazing feat of gaining the respect and friendship of the middle school students there. When occasional fights would break out he would separate them and discuss the reasons it happened with them. If a kid still had a problem he allowed the kid to punch him in the stomach or spend a few minutes on a punching bag in the gym. Though only one had decided to use his stomach the sheer gesture made him cool to the kids.
“Not below the belt,” Kinner would warn and get his stomach ready. Although no muscles showed through his stomach not much fat layered over it. It was evident when he would lift his shirt up to punch his own stomach to show the kids that he could take a punch. In fact, his nickname was Not Below the Belt.
Kinner also had an infatuation with high school basketball. He would actively offer support and help out with the coach so that his students could achieve the best possible chance to go on through high school. Often times his son, who was in elementary school at that time, would be allowed to play with the middle schoolers due to his height which was obviously a gene passed from his mother, being a decent basketball player herself.
His thoughts temporarily turned to his life before his job at this school. The divorce was final, his bank account was back to zero, and having no children or family meant that he had to be alone finally. It made him scared to a degree but he would deal with it. Whenever he could get rid of enough hurt he would try to find another woman, hopefully without a son.
Why did things have to happen that way? Kinner thought. One simple mistake, one that other parents have made, caused his life to shift. For being such a great person with kids of all ages he should have been able to prevent that disastrous, life altering day with his son.
Kinner’s thoughts quickly turned to the condition of Kane. Kane had a “broken” look to him. What was the deal with his health, his family life, his school work, his parents, even his sleep patterns? A genuine sympathy for Kane swept over him.
The damaged crew finally made it to the School Nurse. At first he stared at her long, smooth legs that disappeared underneath her black skirt. The button down white top she wore looked brand new and it reminded him of a model he had seen not too long ago in a Playboy magazine. They had chatted only twice and the conversations were very light. Beauty intimidated him slightly so he had not talked to her much. Besides, the way she carried herself made him think that he was out of her league. Plus, she looked much younger than he was. Since their eyes met it reminded him of his ex-wife and it caused him to stare but not pursue.
After the school nurse took care of Kane’s wounds she let him rest and sent Penelope and Timmy back to their classes. It wasn’t the first time she had to tend to Kane’s wounds and was sure it wouldn’t be the last. In all honesty, she did not know how he came out of every severe fight with such an image of inner strength. It was contradictory to his regular condition.
“Anita,” Kinner called as Kane slouched in a cozy sofa. He motioned for her to follow him out into the hallway so that Kane could not hear. “That boy took quite a beating. I’m concerned.”
“Oh, don’t worry about Kane,” Anita said as she wiped her glasses with a handkerchief, “no matter the amount of pain inflicted on him, he pulls out of it every time.”
“So you’ve done this before with him?”
“More than I can count, Mr. Kinner,” she answered and observed his semi-narrow chin that jutted out for a second.
Kinner looked puzzled. After twisting his mouth in thought he said, “I want to know more about this kid. He doesn’t look like he’s in good shape at all. It’s like he’s malnutritioned. And dirty. What do you know about his parents?”
Anita quieted her voice and looked around as if it was dangerous to speak about him loudly. Her pulse quickened slightly and visible sweat dripped sparsely along the bangs of her long, dark hair. “I don’t know his parents at all. He is in bad shape. I don’t know if he is abused or not. He definitely is malnutritioned, he bruises easily, he has barely enough strength to lift his own school books and he doesn’t ever have lunch.”
Kinner’s mouth dropped open. “How is that possible? How can someone do that to their kid? Has anyone done anything about it? Has anyone investigated or talked to his parents?”
Kinner’s quick tempered reaction startled Anita. She hesitated to say anything and looked around again to make sure no one was around to listen. She had heard all sound leave the hall and a feeling of emptiness exploded all around them. In an almost whisper she said, “I don’t think you wanna go snoopin’ around, Mr. Kinner. Everyone who has pried into Kane’s life has come back scared speechless for days or wound up dead.”
Kinner looked puzzled. The thought of Kane’s family being aliens crossed his mind.
Anita paused, looked around once again and shivered twice before she spoke. “Everyone stopped talking about him. At first, those who did became, I don’t know, brain washed or something. If anyone does talk about him it is brief and very quiet. You know the Music teacher and the Janitor?”
Kinner never met the music teacher. He did think that the Janitor acted strange, as if his mind was not all there. He had thought that it was simply drugs.
“They are the only two left alive who talked about it and tried to do something about it. In fact, only Janice and I talk about it now and it is always in the open and quiet, and very brief. Even briefer than our conversation.” She shivered again and her voice began to crack as if the water in her body was about to dry up.
“Do you know the real reason you replaced the old Principal?” she allowed herself to ask. “He investigated Kane’s family. He went insane and tried to kill himself. He failed and stayed in the hospital for three days before he died. They say that every night he would scream until his voice gave out. The screams were so loud that often times it would scare other patients. The poor man was observed acting out what was happening to him in his nightmares. The cameras got his antics on tape. It was as if something was in the room with him, torturing his soul. But nothing appeared on the tapes. The way his body moved could not be done without someone else in there. The doctors had to use tranquilizers on him. On the third day he was found with his eyes opened, his mouth stretched unnaturally, and his body dried up like a raisin.”
Kinner had a hard time believing it. He was told that the other principal accepted a better job in Rhode Island. He even joked about it since he could not recall anything cool about Rhode Island. It was like one of the Dakota’s.
“Ms. Baker,” Kinner said politely, not realizing his voice was quiet also, “that’s far fetched. I am going to talk to Kane about this.”
“Oh, please, don’t,” Anita pleaded sincerely. “I put myself in danger by telling you about it. I simply wanted you to know these things so you will not wind up like everyone else who was too curious about Kane.”
Kinner smiled. “I’m a pretty tough guy. I’ll take my chances.â€
Anita looked heartbroken. She thought that she was talking to a dead man. “Mr. Kinner, I tried to warn you. Please do be careful.” Her voice had finally all but given out. The change in her voice, posture, and look of cleanliness had diminished greatly from what they were at the start of their conversation.
“I’ll be careful Ms. Baker,” Kinner assured. He was momentarily freaked out due to her contrast in appearance. He did not recall her loosen her shirt, play with her hair, or run a race to cause that much sweat. “Trust me. I’ll see to Kane now.”
Anita sighed and turned to walk away. She shrieked when she saw a water bug. Being the chivalrous guy that he was, Kinner squashed the bug under his mighty dress shoe as if it were an example of how he could handle whatever situation Kane might bring to him. Anita made an ugly face at the sight of the guts that piled from the bug and walked away.
Kinner noticed the bug crawl in desperation to the crack under the border. Instead of finishing it off he allowed it to crawl away and die in misery, much like he hoped Kane’s parents would do if they were the horrible people he had pegged them to be.
When Kinner walked into the room he noticed that Kane’s nose had stopped bleeding and he had better movement with his arms. The fact that Kane was stretching and yawning was proof.
“So Kane,” Kinner called with a smile as he sat next to him, “that was quite a beating you took. How are you feeling?”
Kane blinked rapidly as he tried to fight tiredness that slipped under his radar. “I’m feeling better.”
“Good, good,” Kinner nodded. “You know, jumping into a fight isn’t always the smart way to be a hero.”
Kane nodded his head in a fashion that led Kinner to believe he had been told that before. In fact, everyone told him that he was no hero of any sort. He wondered how that could possibly be true since he did, in fact, stop others from getting beat up.
“I will say that it was noble of you, to save someone who you don’t even know,” Kinner smiled. “Does heroics run in your family?”
Uncomfortable silence fell. Kinner shifted twice and wondered if Kane would answer him. He thought about what Anita had told him. Did Kane automatically shut down when anything about his family was mentioned? Finding out more about Kane would be harder than he thought.
Suddenly, a look of unquestionable sadness came over Kane’s face. Kinner got the impression that Kane thought about his question for a while instead of ignoring it.
“Actually,” Kane said, “it doesn’t. That’s why I do it.”
Kane’s voice gave the impression that he was constantly depressed and there was a detection of severe dehydration in his scratchy voice. When Kane spoke he seemed to stutter a bit which led Kinner to believe that Kane could not speak the words in his mind quick enough.
Due to Kane’s simple answer Kinner had deduced quite a bit of speculative information. Kane’s dad and mother didn’t seem to be protective on any level. It also seemed that Kane did not want to be like them in any way. Since Kane put himself in danger to help a stranger out it proved that he also cared about another’s well being.
Unexpectedly, Kane smiled at his principal. “I want to go back to class now,” he said with a slight bit of cheer to his voice. He was proud that he did what he did and that someone finally saw it his way. As out of the ordinary as it seemed, Kane might finally have a second friend in his life.
“If you’d like to talk some more I can keep you away from boring ol’ homework all day,” Kinner offered with a friendly smile back.
Kane kept some of his smile and looked down at his feet. “I ain’t too smart as it is, sir. I’d like to be like the other kids.”
Another wave of deep sympathy for the boy came over Kinner. It was clear to him that Kane needed a friend, a father figure, and a break. He had high hopes that he could give it to him.
“Besides,” Kane added, “I don’t want you to get hurt too.”
Kinner looked puzzled. “What do you mean?”
Kane ignored his question. “Can I please go back to class?”
Kinner frowned for a second and nodded his head slowly. “You may, Kane.”
Kane got up and headed for the door.
“I would just like to say,” Kinner suggested, “if you ever wanna talk about anything, want help in your schoolwork, or even how to avoid some punches, come to me anytime.”
Kane grabbed the door knob, turned his head with a hint of a smile and said, “Thanks.”
Kinner watched Kane exit the room and sighed. It was clear what his next order of business would be: use the restroom. Then, he would give Brian’s parents a call and conclude the afternoon by seeing what he could uncover about Kane, legally.
2
Art class was the only class that Penelope and Kane shared. They shared art supplies that the teacher, Mr. Adams, gave to them. At first, the only reason she would talk to Kane was because they had to sit next to each other and share the big table. She had always known that Kane was labeled a loser but after actually talking to him he didn’t seem like much of a loser at all. In fact, she admired his determination and let him know straight up that she would not make fun of him like everyone else. She even lost a brother when she was nine years old and had a trace of hope that maybe Kane could fill that position.
Kane enjoyed her company. He knew that she was poor as well and had a slight dirty look to her. It might simply have been because of how red her hair was. Most days she wore pigtails and even though some kids said that sponges were scared of her Kane thought nothing of it. She always wore dresses and they were either light blue or pink, nothing else. Although there were only two dresses that she owned she had matching shoes for each. Kane pointed that out and it actually made her feel better.
Just last Christmas Kane received the first Christmas present of his life that he could remember. It was a popcorn necklace that Penelope made for him. In return, Kane painted her blue shoes so they would look brand new. It worked for the most part. Sadly, when she asked what happened to his necklace he had to tell her the truth: a rat had eaten it while he slept. Over a course of a week of waking him up every night, the rat succeeded. However, he kept the string that it was on and left it in his desk so that it would not be misplaced at home. (The full truth was that Kane kept it hidden under his mattress. The one rare time he woke up in the middle of the night he put it on and accidently fell asleep. A rat did eat it though and left the droppings on his bedding to prove it which was a good thing. If his dad would have seen something like a necklace of any sort on his neck Kane would pay dearly for it).
The art assignment that the young teacher gave them to do was to draw a typical day in their life and express it with colors. He wanted them to focus on colors more than the objects. His idea was to see how they felt about their lives as opposed to what really goes on in them.
Penelope tore off a piece of paper from her sketch pad and slid it to Kane. “Thank you for saving Timmy today.”
Kane leaned forward and brought the piece of paper the rest of the way to him with very sore fingers. He straightened it and grabbed the bag of colored pencils. He looked up at her and said “you’re welcome.” He then stared at the pencils not knowing what color to pick to start his drawing.
Penelope could tell that Kane was in deep thought. His nose looked pretty bad and his hands seemed tender when he touched things. At least he still has all of his teeth, she thought.
Kane looked up at her when she asked him to give her a blue pencil. He handed her the whole bag and slouched forward. “I hate these stupid assignments,” he huffed.
Penelope smiled. “Well, I like them,” she smiled. “My mom said that when things look unhappy she draws stick people in her diary to help her be happy again. So, I think Mr. Adams has a good idea. You are hardly ever happy Kane. Maybe you should draw like that.”
Kane sighed. “I just ain’t happy, Penny. I don’t do anything. No one likes me and my dad is…”
Penelope looked intently at him. She knew there was something mean about his dad and hopefully he would finally spill something out about him.
“Only you make me happy,” Kane said instead not realizing it.
Penelope blushed. She didn’t have a crush on Kane but thought about asking him to go to a school dance with her so she wouldn’t be so bored. Knowing that little tidbit of information made her ponder a crush.
“Well, maybe you should draw with the colors I remind you of then,” she suggested with a smile.
Kane looked at her funny. He did not know what she meant. He had honestly not known he had said that out loud. For a moment he thought that she had read his mind. Then, as if a book was slammed shut next to his ears he jumped, receiving startled attention from half the class.
Penelope jumped as well but not near as noticeably. “What’s wrong?”
Kane did not know. He actually forgot the entire thought of her making him happy. “I don’t know.” His eyes were wide awake.
“You’re acting strange all of a sudden, Kane,” Penelope diagnosed. She took a light blue pencil from the bag and began to draw a horizon of an afternoon sky. In the sky she made squiggly lines in stretched, puffy patterns that represented white clouds. Then she filled in the rest of the sky leaving room for a bright yellow sun.
Even though Kane forgot about realizing that Penelope made him happy he remembered the assignment. He did not know what to draw and even less what colors he would choose. He wanted to do the assignment because he wanted to have grades like the other kids.
After five minutes of silence and barely controlled thought Kane found himself staring at Penelope. In his hand was a pink pencil. There was no memory of picking it up but he decided to doodle with it. No more than ten seconds passed before the tip broke. He sighed and grabbed the first color he could get his hand on which was a light blue pencil; the one Penelope drew her skyline with. Again, after about ten seconds the tip of it broke off. Aggravated, he grabbed another one which was a different shade of blue. For some reason it broke as well. Within two minutes the tips of all the colored pencils except the one Penelope gripped had broken.
Penelope looked up as Kane let out a word that sounded like a cuss word. She noticed that all the pencils were unusable. “What in the world are you doing Kane?”
She looked at his paper and noticed that there was a lot of light blue and pink and then a collage of other colors. The pink and blue looked like the color of her dresses but the others she was not sure about.
“I don’t know what happened, they just kept breaking,” Kane explained truthfully. Slight fear came over him not because of the unexplainable breaking of the pencil tips but because his project might be doomed. He opened a bigger, black bag to find all of his crayons had melted. It was strange to him because they were in perfect condition when he pulled the small bag of colored pencils out. The only thing left were regular pencils and black pens.
“I don’t get you sometimes,” Penelope said as she rolled her eyes. She was done at that time and Kane saw her picture.
“What’d you draw?” Kane asked looking for some inspiration.
She described it to him. The clear blue sky with a bright yellow sun and two white, puffy clouds transcended over a patch of light green grass where a pink blanket laid. On the blanket were two brown baskets and a sidewalk led from it to a simple red house. Standing next to the blanket were her parents and a younger male figure who was her dead brother. She drew herself on there as well with three arms so she could hold each of their hands. In the distance was the school with a bunch of heads filled with black. The heads represented all the mean people at school and was distant because she puts it out of her head as far as she can when she’s at home with her family.
“So what is yours about?” she asked Kane with a weird look on her face.
Kane shrugged his shoulders. “I don’t know. I tried doodling to see what came out but they all broke.”
She giggled. “Well you better hurry; class is over in twenty minutes.” She picked her paper up and took it to the teacher.
Kane was extremely nervous. None of the other kids would let him use their stuff and he was too embarrassed to ask the teacher. A wave of depression hit him.
The second hand on the clock grabbed his attention and passed filling his nerves with daggers each time it ticked. He did not want to fail another assignment. Sure, some of the other kids in the class were “special” but he did not have a handicap other than his learning. But he was the only one failing. It was art class, for crying out loud, the only class normal and special students attended together.
Ten minutes had passed before he pulled himself from looking at the clock. Penelope and several others were playing board games and he had nothing. He did not know what happened to the time.
Then, an idea hit him. He grabbed some clear tape from his bag and his pad of construction paper, followed by some scissors. He cut out a thin rectangle from a brown sheet of paper, a thinner rectangle out of white, a small circle out of a piece of light pink paper and taped them to a black piece of construction paper. He then cut three cloud shapes out of the white paper and taped them onto the black as well. In the white clouds he took a pen and put the letter Z three times in each. When he finished he took it to the teacher.
Mr. Adams looked up from his book when Kane put his assignment on his desk. He greeted Kane with a smile and picked it up. A strange look came over his face and out of respect he did not laugh. Instead he asked, “What exactly is it that I’m looking at? It looks like a boy sleeping in a bed at night. Am I right?”
Kane nodded and smiled. “I broke all my colored pencils and my crayons melted so this is what I had to work with.”
Mr. Adams finally laughed a small spurt. If Kane’s story was true then his assignment was truly clever. “So, is this you?”
Kane thought that it was a dumb question. “Yes.”
Mr. Adams nodded. “What does it represent?”
Kane sighed. “The only time I don’t feel like a dummy is when I’m asleep. I don’t remember my dreams but I know that I am safe while I dream.”
Mr. Adams smiled and suddenly felt sick to his stomach. He quickly put the paper down and tried to hide the ache with a smile. He was actually impressed with how Kane was able to come up with a backup plan for his dilemma. However, he felt that he was prying on Kane’s life and didn’t want to end up like the others who asked too many questions. He didn’t think about that when he gave the assignment.
“What’s wrong?” Kane asked not realizing it either.
“Nothing,” Mr. Adams lied. “I think your project is the most creative I’ve seen. I’ll give it an…” He wanted to give him an A but didn’t want any flack to come from it. Instead he gave it a “C-”
Kane had a happy look come across his face. It was the highest grade he had ever received in his life. What made the smile last for a few seconds was the fact that his project was something he thought of suddenly when his pencils broke. He was forced to do something quick and succeeded with good results.
After those few seconds of smiling a pain started to fill his head and he had to stop. He turned and went back to his table. He had to rest his head in his hands and wondered if the pain was from his sore nose.
A minute before the bell rang Penelope went back to the table and asked what his grade was.
“I got a C minus,” he said attempting a smile through his pain.
“Wow,” she chimed in with a smile of her own. “That’s good for you. I got an A+. But what did you draw?”
Kane quickly explained the predicament, how he fixed it and what his project was. She had slight hope that it involved pink and blue.
“So you really only feel good when you sleep?” She questioned. “How do you know that you feel good if you’re asleep?”
Kane leaned back in his chair and put his hands on his pants. “Actually, I don’t. I just know that I’m not unhappy.”
Penelope shifted in her chair and looked uncomfortable. Her mouth opened like she wanted to say something else but stopped.
“What is it?” Kane asked confused.
Quickly, Penelope asked nervously, “Would you want to walk me home today?” Kane’s comment about her being the only one that made her happy sparked something deeper in her than she knew. She did not like to not act on things like that.
Kane was shocked. He didn’t know what to think of it. His response was slow and came after the sound of the bell.
“I don’t know if I can,” Kane truthfully told. “I don’t want to get in trouble if I’m not home right after school.”
Penelope sighed. She predicted the answer but hoped anyway. “That’s okay, I understand. I’ll see you tomorrow then.”
She quickly walked away and Kane pondered her request for a few seconds. He actually wanted to but didn’t want something bad to happen to her for being around him. He sighed heavily, picked up his bag and waved good-bye to his art teacher. He walked slowly to his Homeroom for the last class of the day, barely able to keep a grip on his bag due to his sore arms.
3
Principal Kinner returned from his successful restroom visit and took a seat at his desk. He secured a phone conversation with the bully’s parents that resulted in a course of action that made him happy. Next, he grabbed a notebook from his second drawer and took his fancy, gold and black pen out of his pen holder next to his matching name plate. The first order of business was to make an action plan for investigating Kane’s history.
He was able to jot down three notes; talk to Janitor, talk to music teacher, and talk to the Special Ed teacher. Before he could jot another note there was a knock at his door. He closed his notebook and leaned back in his chair.
He fixed his black tie and straightened his light blue dress shirt. His appearance never mattered much to him although he realized that people in the business that he was in took a wardrobe as a sure sign of how a person was. The stereotype sickened him. If he had it his way it would be a loose tank top, blue jeans and flip flops, not that his extra few pounds would look good in a tank top. His ex-wife used to say that he was not overweight and he truly was not. He was always intimidated by the construction workers he used to work with before his new life as the principal of Pleasure Ridge. Hopefully, this second principal job would be more forgiving than the last.
“You may enter,” he politely greeted.
A tall, muscular looking man with a light, stone gray business suit opened the door. Kinner glanced at the man’s white shirt underneath the coat with blue pinstripes and a matching tie. His black dress shoes made loud noises with each footstep as he approached.
“Mr. Kinner?” the man asked with a deep, intimidating voice as he took off his sunglasses exposing dark brown eyes that were only two shades lighter than his very tanned skin. He slipped them onto the top of his clean shaven head where a tattoo that looked like an insect was painted. The big man looked at Kinner with no smile. “Mill Andrew Kinner?”
Kinner had lost his smile almost entirely but stood up to greet the man with a handshake that was not accepted. “That’s me. Mill’s a stupid name though so I go by Andrew or Andy for short. My parents wanted a girl instead of a boy so they changed the name from Milly to Mill. I just told you that in case you cared.”
“Mr. Kinner,” the stranger reiterated showing no sign of accepting his hand shake, “My name is Albert Rice, from the Board of Education. I know that you are new to this school and wanted to welcome you aboard since I was not at the meeting or the interview.”
Kinner looked at his own outstretched hand and wondered, then, why it was not accepted by the burly stranger. He put it down finally and said “then how do you do that, seeing how you don’t shake hands?”
Albert looked at him with no expression and answered simply, “by saying welcome aboard.”
Kinner laughed. His first impression of the oversized bastard was not good but now he was sure there was no way to like the man. “Well let me say thank you by telling you to leave now.”
Again, there was no expression from the steroid infested man. “Mr. Kinner, our school is a public school. Our money comes from the number of kids we have, and the number of days they attend.”
“I am aware of that,” Kinner interrupted. “We have the best attendance record in the state at this school.”
“The school also receives money to help the slower learning kids with passing the annual aptitude test,” Rice continued.
Again the principal interrupted, “Those scores are not bad by any means.”
Mr. Rice sighed at that interruption with slight agitation in his voice. “We feel that if the scores were lower more money would come into the school to help funding for other projects.”
The new principal of Pleasure Ridge School was appalled to hear that news. His face turned red and he found it hard to keep from yelling. “Are you telling me you want these kids to be dumber? That you want the progress of those who have helped this school be what it is to take a plunge? All in the name of more money? We have an excellent facility here! There is absolutely no reason to need any more money. Besides, I turned in a budget plan and ideas that would save this school one thousand dollars a year. One thousand dollars! Isn’t that enough? What the hell does this school need that much money for anyway?”
As Kinner said that his pointed finger emphasized the Phone Mate Answering Machine, the Model 400. When Kinner was first shown the ten pound machine he was stunned. Not only did the reel-to-reel tape hold twenty messages, it had an earphone that allowed for the retrieval of private messages. The school recently purchased it. The machine had only been out for close to a year. Surely, a secretary would have been a better investment. No one told him what happened to the old secretary. He would never know that she had helped the old principal investigate Kane and was dealt with accordingly.
His mind quickly thought of the security system in the school. The school had an advanced security camera system that had to be expensive since VHS tapes were not known to the general public very well. More money my ass, he gritted in thought.
Finally, a smile came across the greedy man’s face. He enjoyed the anger that the principal felt. It made him feel good.
“Mr. Kinner, you only have fourteen Special Ed students in a school of seven hundred and forty three. In fact, you have a student by the name of Goodman Kane Arthur who is the lowest scoring child in the nation.”
Kinner’s chest filled heavily, quickly and rapidly. “You mean Kane Arthur Goodman,” he corrected but it did little to make him feel better.
Albert turned his head slightly with a confused look and simply said “hmm.”
Kinner, still pissed beyond what a normal person could control interpreted, “Are you wanting me to have more of my students achieve those scores? Mr. Faggot Ass Rice, I intend to bring him up to par with the others, not have others fall to that level!”
Principal Kinner’s newest enemy rotated his shoulders like a weight lifter getting ready to max out a dead lift. “Mr. Kinner I am not asking you. I am telling you that it is in everyone’s best interest that young Kane remain the way he is and that the school needs to benefit from the funding that low test scores will bring. I might go as far as to say that lives may depend on it.”
“Is that a threat?” Kinner spit through closed teeth. “I would fight to the death then if it came to that.”
The evil Mr. Rice smiled. “You were a good choice after all, Mill Andrew Kinner.” He brought his sunglasses to his eyes once again. Before they were completely in their proper place Kinner could have swore that he saw Rice’s eyes flash red.
“Good day, Mr. Kinner,” Rice said as he exited the office calmly.
Mr. Kinner could not stand in place for long. He wanted to fight the inconsiderate man no matter what damage he would acquire. He had never been through something like that before and could not take it lightly. The deep breaths he took did not control his anger very well.
Barely more than twenty seconds passed before his anger got the best of him and he ran out of the door. “Hey you bastard,” he screamed loudly. “You get back here or I’m gonna kick your overstuffed ass!” He would have cussed more but he did not see the man. The hall was way too long for him to have gotten to the door that fast.
“Ass meat,” he cussed and ran down the other end and around the corner since it was the only other place Mr. Rice could have gone. As he rounded it he saw no one. For the next ten minutes he opened all the doors to all the classes asking if anyone has seen “A dinosaur of a man in an expensive suit.”
No one saw him.
Kinner did well not to alarm anyone. The only sign that gave a hint to the principal being upset was that he scratched his head through almost non existing hair. With no luck he returned to his office to call the Board of Education. Upsettingly, he had to leave a message and a bitter one he left.
When the phone was on its hook he stepped over to his personal water fountain and drank deeply. He decided to calm his nerves after kicking the air twice in disgust. It actually hurt his feelings that people existed out there who did not care about the well being of a child and their future. He decided to punch the wall and gave himself a mighty pain in his hand before he decided to continue his investigation on Kane. The recent episode fueled his desire to help Kane even more passionately and the music teacher would sing whatever notes he had left to sing in order to help him close the Kane mystery, right after the janitor gave him some answers.
Copyright 2008 Daniel C. Morrison. All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic, mechanical, recording or otherwise, without the prior written permission of the author.
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