Chapter 9
Miss Stevenson awoke the next morning quite late. She looked at the clock and raced out of the house. It was unlike her to be late. She hadn't arrived late even one day since she had started to work at Forrest Junior High School.
When she arrived at the school, she was stopped by Dr. Strong.
"Oh, Dr. Strong, I'm sorry to be late," she said breathlessly. "I'm really sorry."
"I think you'll be sorrier when you hear what news I have for you," he said. Her face turned white.
"What do you mean?" she asked. "What kind of news?"
"Well, I suppose I shouldn't beat around the bush," he said. "You are going to lose your job."
"What? But you promised, Dr. Strong. I haven't reneged on my commitment."
"This has nothing to do with me," he said. "I'm sorry. I really don't have any control over the situation."
"But why? What happened?"
"Well, you know who Frank's father is?"
"No." She was very curious as to what Dr. Strong was referring to.
"Well, Frank Hardy's father is Dr. Hardy. You've heard of him?"
"Dr. Hardy? The Board of Education's Dr. Hardy?"
"That's right. The one and the same."
"Well?"
"Well, apparently you went crazy over Frank last night. You really frightened him and his father demanded to know why."
"You mean because of what happened in the classroom yesterday?"
"No. You invited Frank to come over to your house last night, didn't you?"
"I did? I don't remember." Miss Stevenson was so deranged the previous evening, that she didn't have a single recollection of what had transpired. She had forgotten everything except that she and Douglas had vowed to become lovers. At least she had vowed to become lovers with Douglas.
"Yes. He called you to apologize to you and you asked him to come over. Well, of course he couldn't refuse, and when he came over to give his apologies to you in person, you proceeded to, well, I don't know of any other way to put it. You proceeded to rape him."
"What are you talking about, Dr. Strong? I did no such thing."
"Well you tried to rape him, didn't you? You must have some recollection about that."
"I really don't recall. I think I do remember speaking to him over the phone. Yes, he did come over, but I really don't remember anything at all after that."
"He insists that you tried to attack him. He said that he had to run out of the house to get away from you."
Miss Stevenson sank down in a chair. It was all coming back to her. She was now beginning to make out the picture of what had happened. "Yes, Frank did come over. I do remember that. I think I remember asking him to have sex with me, but what of that? He refused and left."
"You didn't want him to leave."
"No, of course I didn't," said Miss Stevenson. "But he left anyway."
"Not without a big fight from you. You screamed and carried on. He was terrified. He wasn't sure he would be able to get away alive."
"You must be joking, Dr. Strong. You aren't serious."
"Oh, yes I am," replied the principal. "I'm very serious. Dr. Hardy is planning to press charges against you. I think he will talk to the entire class, and they are going to say some things about you that you probably wouldn't want to be printed in the Daily Herald."
"Oh my God!" she gasped. "You mean it's going to come to that?"
"I'm afraid so," he said. "I really think it would be better if you were to resign your position here immediately and leave town. Dr. Hardy is after your ass, and not in the same way that I have been."
"I can't," she wailed. "I have no place else to go. I've got to stay here and continue to teach."
"You will be arrested and put in prison. Do you realize that these boys and girls are eleven and twelve years old? That's illegal, you know, to fuck and suck with children that age."
"But they all wanted to," she protested. "I didn't force anyone to do anything."
"That's what Dr. Hardy is trying to say is not so. He wants everyone to think that you raped all those boys and girls that you had sex with. Even the most liberal minded community doesn't like it when their pre-adolescents are tampered with."
"But these are very mature children. They aren't the naive little angels that everyone assumes them to be. Most of them have had more sexual experience than I have had."
"That may be true," said Dr. Strong, "but the community doesn't think so. They are going to be the ones who will be judging you."
"Oh, my God. Oh, my God!" Miss Stevenson began to cry. She didn't know what she was going to do. All she could think of was that she was alone and no one would care about her.
She quickly got up and rushed outside. She ran all the way home, her tears streaming down her face.
As soon as she entered her apartment, she closed all the blinds and drew the curtains. All the lights were turned off and she buried her face in her pillow on her bed. She couldn't face what was going to happen to her. Miss Stevenson couldn't deal with the scandal that was sure to follow.
Miss Stevenson fell asleep. That was a defense that always enabled her to escape from her troubles. This time she had plenty of troubles, and she slept for a very long time. She was awakened only by a phone call early in the evening.
"Hello?" she said groggily into the phone. "Who is it?"
"It's me," said a familiar voice. "Douglas."
"Oh, Douglas," she said, "how are you?" She didn't seem to care anymore about him. She just wanted to crawl into a hole and never escape.
"Look," he said. "I heard about what Frank's father is going to do. Can I come over?"
"I guess so," she said, not really caring anymore about what anyone, including herself, did or didn't do. "Yeah, come on over. It doesn't matter."
"Of course it matters" said Douglas. "I'm coming right over."
Miss Stevenson got up. She didn't really want to see anyone but he had been very insistent. She supposed she shouldn't really spend the rest of the day in bed anyway.
She wondered why all this had come about. She still hadn't recalled what had happened with Frank, but she knew that something must have happened.
"Coming!" she shouted to the door as the bell rang. It was Douglas. He was quite impatient.
"Are you there?" he shouted into the door.
"Yes, hold on a minute." Miss Stevenson had taken a long time in answering the door. When she opened it Douglas could see that she had been crying.
"Hello," she said matter-of-factly.
"Hello," said Douglas. "I've got to speak to you."
"What aoout?"
"It's about this business with Dr. Hardy. I think I may have some news for you."
"What?"
"I've discovered that you can't be dismissed until there has been a hearing and all that. They just can't fire you."
"So?"
"So my father has some very good friends who are lawyers. I spoke to him and he said he would get one for you."
"I don't want one."
"What do you mean you don't want one? You've got to have a lawyer."
"No I don't," she said slowly. "I don't need an attorney."
"Why not?"
"Because it doesn't matter. I'm going to quit teaching. I'm never going to go back into a classroom again, and I mean it."
"But why?"
"Because I couldn't face the scandal. I don't want to have to deal with all this nonsense that would come out now, and I wouldn't want my past brought up anyplace else."
"What are you going to do?" he asked.
"I don't know. I'm going to leave this city," she said. "I'm going to go far away where no one will ever know who I am."
"You can't leave," he said. "What about me? I thought that the two of us were going to be together always."
"Well, you can come with me."
"I can't come with you," said Douglas, "you know that. You must know that I'm too young. They will get you for kidnapping."
"Only if they found us," said Miss Stevenson. "I know where we can go where no one will ever find us. They won't even know where to look, and if they did, they still wouldn't find us."
"Where is that?" he asked.
"I'll tell you only if you decide to go with me. I won't tell you otherwise because I wouldn't want you to tell anyone."
"I wouldn't tell, I promise."
"If you don't know, then you can't tell. I'm sorry, Douglas. Run away with me and we can spend the rest of our lives together."
"I don't know," he replied. "I don't think it's such a good idea."
"I want you to, please! I would really want you to come with me. We can have such good times together. We can be the best of friends. We can live as if you were my son until you were old enough to be married. Then we can move someplace and live like man and wife. Please, Douglas, I need you. I want you and I must have you."
Miss Stevenson began to hold on to Douglas. She couldn't let him go. She wanted to be with him for the rest of her life, and she was afraid that if she let go now, then he would be lost to her forever.
"I don't know," he said. "I would like to, but I don't think we can get away with it."
"Of course we can" she said. "I know how to do it."
"I don't want to," he said. "I really don't want to."
"But Douglas," she wailed, "you said that you always wanted to live with me. Now is your chance. Now is the perfect time to come away and live with me."
"But I can't," insisted Douglas. "I do love you, and I would like to stay with you, but you've got to remain here. You can't leave if you want me. I can't go with you, I just can't."
"Why? Please, Douglas, we've got to run off together. I can't stay here. You must realize that. I will be vilified by the community. They all think that you and all the others in the class are very young and innocent. Well, you're young, but you've all, or almost all, have had lots of sexual experience. Much more than I've had, but just try and convince the community of that."
"Yeah, I guess I see what you mean," said Douglas. "I've been fucking girls since I was eleven. I've fucked a lot of girls, but most people would be surprised at that."
"So you see that I just can't stay here. I would want to, Douglas, I would really want to."
"But couldn't I testify that I seduced you? I wouldn't get into any trouble. That would work, wouldn't it? I think that might be a possible solution."
"Don't you understand that I couldn't stand the scandal? Even if I were acquitted and allowed to resume teaching, I just couldn't go through with it. I couldn't bear to see my picture in the paper with the caption, "Child Molester on Trial."
"Yeah, I guess it is tough for you to stay. I really wish there were some way out of this mess. I do love you and I want to stay with you."
"Then please, for the last time, Douglas, come away with me. I want you, Douglas. I want you very much. I need you. Can't you see that I really need you?"
Douglas was very torn. He knew that he couldn't just pick up and run away with an older woman. His father would be upset, and that was wrong. And besides, suppose they were caught. She could be charged with kidnapping, and that would get them all in a lot of trouble.
"No," he said finally. "I just couldn't do it. I know it sounds mean, and you are very important to me, but I just couldn't go. I wouldn't be happy, even if I were with you. I just couldn't pick myself up and leave everything and everyone behind."
"Is that your final word on the subject?" she asked. "Are you absolutely sure that you couldn't come away with me?"
"Yes," he said. "I'm sure. I wish I weren't sure and that there really were some way that we could solve this problem, but I don't see how. I'm sorry. Perhaps I should go now."
"No," she said. "Don't go. I would like to have you around just a little bit longer. I still love you, Douglas, and I don't want to lose you a minute sooner than I really have to."
Then Miss Stevenson and her pupil had their final lesson together.