Chapter 19
It was during her mid-morning break that Joyce Hale was summoned from the school cafeteria.
"Mr. Blake wants to see you," one of the elderly female members of the faculty told her.
She finished gulping down her coffee, then went to see Calvin Blake in his office. She wondered why the principal of the high school would be wanting to see her on such short notice.
When it was time for faculty evaluations, she would be notified at least one day in advance.
She knocked on the door apprehensively, and Calvin Blake waved her into the office a few seconds later.
"Sit down, Miss Hale," he said, a bit gruffly, she thought.
Joyce took her seat and looked up at the distinguished, white-haired principal.
"I've asked you here on a matter of the gravest importance," Blake got right to the point. "I have it on impeccable authority that you've been having sex with two of the students here, and with a father of one of the two students."
"Where did you hear that?" Joyce asked, her fingers and legs immediately beginning to tremble.
"It's utterly disgraceful," Blake shook his head. "Oh, poor Mrs. Douglas came home the other night from a women's club meeting and discovered her husband, her son Jeff, and a friend of Jeff's, Harry the football player, sprawled out naked on the rug. They were so high that she could hardly believe it, and they got to talking about the fact that you'd just been there. As a matter-of-fact, they couldn't quit talking. It's amazing how these drugs and booze can loosen up the tongue."
"They can also bring on hallucinations," Joyce quickly pointed out.
"That's possible, my dear, but I don't think any of them are quite that creative," the principal asserted. "On top of that, I majored in psychology a number of years ago, and I pride myself on being quite a student of it. I was able to detect from your reaction just how true Mrs. Douglas' assertions were. Yes, apparently you've been having sex with them for quite some time. Not only sex, but about the nastiest, most perverted type of sex imaginable. I mean, stuff that would curl my hair. My God, from what I understand, you were applying your tongue to their penises."
"The name is cocksucking," Joyce exploded. "Why should we try to hide the pretenses any longer?"
"That's just what I thought," Calvin Blake glared at her. "So you have been having sex with them."
"I'm proud of it."
"All of them?"
"Why the hell not? They've all got nice, stiff dicks, and I love going down on them."
"I understand that they also perform sodomy on you," Blake said.
"Fine, I'll plead guilty on that count too. I want to save you any unnecessary trouble."
"You're just utterly disgraceful," Blake shook his head, taken aback by her burst of candor. "I'm glad we found out now that you're not fit to teach at this school."
"I'm glad I found out I'm a nymphomaniac." She shook her head sadly.
"You need psychiatric help badly, but in the meantime I'm certainly not going to have you continue here as a teacher," Blake said.
"I'm sorry for flying off the handle," Joyce said.
Calvin Blake couldn't help but feel a measure of compassion for Joyce Hale as the tears began to surface in her eyes. He could see that she was a sick young woman.
"You've got to pull yourself together," Blake said. "I'll tell you what. I won't tell the whole truth in your report. I'll only say you were suspended for disciplinary reasons. That will give you a chance to obtain some psychiatric help. I'll say that you were nervous and couldn't take the pace. Frankly, I wonder if that was really what was responsible for your undoing."
"It was such a temptation," she sobbed. "There were all those handsome young guys. You know, I just hadn't had any satisfying sexual relationship. This was the problem, Mr. Blake, honest it was. When I flew off the handle a few minutes earlier, I really didn't know what I was doing. I had no reason to be lashing out at you. You've been decent to me. As for Mrs. Douglas, I wish you would relay my apologies to her."
"I will," Blake promised.
"I can see how she must feel. She must think I'm the worst slut in captivity."
"She naturally wasn't very happy, but she reserved the counter-attack for her husband. She felt that he had failed both his son and her."
"I just don't know what to say," she shook her head.
"As I said, you should seek out psychiatric help. It's nothing to be ashamed of. Lots of people crack under the stress of a new job. All you need is a little time to rest and think things out. As I said, I'll reserve final judgment until I see how you're coming along. Of course, I'll need an evaluation on the part of a psychiatrist or psychologist before I could ever permit you to resume any teaching."
"I understand," Joyce nodded.
Joyce rose stiffly from the chair, walking toward the door.
Calvin Blake wondered if he too hadn't been taken in by Joyce's overpowering beauty.
He had given Joyce a possible avenue of return once she satisfactorily ironed out her problems. Now, as far as the principal was concerned, it was up to her.