The Collected Horrors of Tim Wellman (7 page)

"Yep, took 'em years to perfect their technique,
but they finally succeeded at creating the very worst food in the
country," he said.

"Fine, fine, you two seem to be hitting it off,"
the Principal said as he stopped by the table holding his tray.

"Oh, join us Mac," Steve said.

"And what was the conversation I interrupted all
about?" he said as he sat down at the table.

"Miss Crone here was just inquiring about why
her students eat lunch in their classroom instead of with the other
students," he said.

The Principal waved at someone across the room
and stood up. "Y'all excuse me, I gotta talk to Miss Johnson about
the Entrance Rally." He hurriedly walked away.

"Have you talked much to your girls, yet?" Steve
said. "Getting to know them?"

"Oh, I suppose so," she said. "One little girl,
Susan Napier and I had an interested conversation."

"Did she offer you a discount at the store?" he
said with a grin.

She smiled and nodded. "Yes. Yes she did."

"Susan is a good kid, she's just an only child
and never played much with others," He said. "Her father was very
strict and thought she should be better than all the other kids in
town so he kept her locked in the house most of her life. Now,
she's just over-compensating by trying to buy friends."

"Well, she said I couldn't have anything for
free
," Evelyn said and laughed.

"Well, she's still a
Napier
," he
said.

"What happened to her father? What changed?"

"Oh, he was with the boys," Steve said. "Didn't
Mac tell you?"

Evelyn shook her head. "No, just about what
happened to the boys."

"Larry Napier owned the old coke ovens and he
was riled up because the boys went inside without his permission,"
he said. "Got mad and ran his car right into one of the ovens. He
jumped out, apparently, and saw the thing starting to crumble, and
ran inside to try to get the boys out. But it all fell suddenly and
killed the boys and him."

"Tragic," she said. "I feel sorry for Susan now,
knowing she lost her father."

"I know," he said. "Especially 'cause she
watched it happen."

"She did?"

"Yeah, all the girls were there, they just
stayed outside while the boys went inside," he said. "A lot of the
kids who lost family or friends in the accident sorta resent them
for surviving."

"Oh," she said. She dropped her head and thought
for a moment. "So, that's why the girls eat in the classroom?"

He nodded. "Well, the wounds will heal," he
said. "Eventually people will forget. You gonna eat that other
dog?"

"You can have it," she said.

He grabbed it, poured packet of mustard on it,
and stood up. "I'll eat it on the way back to class," he said. "Got
some stuff I need to take care of."

She stood up. "Thanks for filling me in," she
said. "I've got a lot to learn about the kids and the people around
here."

"Well, don't be too nosy," he said. "Every small
town has secrets that should remain secret, especially from
outsiders."

She frowned. His voice had changed, not
drastically, but enough to make her feel slightly threatened by his
words. She mused it was just her imagination and smiled. "Right.
Well, I should get back to my girls. There's just enough time to go
over a few handouts before the Entrance Rally begins."

****

"Ah, Miss Crone, if you would, can you direct
your class to these seats here?" the Principal said. She couldn't
help but notice her girls were being separated, only slightly, but
distinctly, from the rest of the students.

"Okay, girls, lets file in here," she said and
waved her hand to the two rows of folding metal chairs. All of the
girls seemed to notice their chairs were set up a few feet away
from everyone else's, but no one said anything. They seemed to be
used to the segregation. Evelyn wasn't, and it was beginning to
niggle at her sense of fair play. They were being separated for
being fortunate, for being lucky, or perhaps for being protected,
but nonetheless, separated unfairly for something that wasn't their
fault.

But the speeches and introductions went by quick
enough, with the Principal keeping things moving along briskly. She
was introduced as the new teacher and walked to the small platform
to say a few words. She pretended not to notice a few of the other
teachers step off as she stepped on, but it was a little harder to
ignore them stepping
back
on when she stepped down. So, she
was one of her girls, now. Because she was their teacher, she had
taken on
their
stigma. In a perverse way, that made her
happy. If they were her students then why
shouldn't
she be
held in the same regard?

"Fine, fine," the Principal said as he stepped
back up to the microphone. "Miss Crone is a nice person so every
student should feel comfortable going to her with any problems you
have. She's closer in age to all of you than the rest of us old
timers are." One of the teachers coughed behind him and he got
distracted for a moment. "Er... well, I think that about covers
everything. You can all go back to your classes and relax until the
bell rings." He started to walk away, but then seemed to remember
something. "But make sure you're all prepared to learn tomorrow!
Otherwise the board will be all over my ass if we have snow days
this winter and..." There was another cough from behind him. "OK,
fine, fine, well, welcome back and enjoy your year!"

"Okay girls," she spoke loudly so everyone
around her could hear, "let's get back to
our
classroom."
She stood up and ushered them out of their seats and together they
strolled the twenty feet or so back to the building entrance.

"You don't hate us?" one girl said.

"No, sweetheart, I don't," Evelyn said. "I don't
know everything that's going on around here, but none of it is your
faults; I'm sure of that." She opened the classroom door and
allowed them all to enter and then followed them in and closed the
door. "Get your seats."

Susan paused by Evelyn's desk and dropped a
small piece of paper. As she went on to her desk, Evelyn picked it
up and read it. "20% off." And it was signed by Susan.

"Miss Crone!"

She turned toward the young girl's voice, and
then checked her grade book for the name. "Yes, uh... Betsy?"

"Will you eat with us tomorrow?"

She smiled and nodded. "I will."

****

She walked across the small field, a more direct
route to the old dormitory than taking the winding stone path. It
was an old wooden house, probably built a hundred years ago as a
single residence, but had at some point, been divided into small
apartments. Her apartment was on the second of the three floors,
but as far as she knew, she was the only one living there. But, it
was comfortable, clean, and was actually the only place Evelyn had
lived besides her parents' house.

She dropped a big stack of papers on the table
by the door, kicked her shoes off, and then plopped down on the
sofa. "Well, it's
different
," she said. "And you thought
working in a small town would be boring."

Her cell phone rang. "Hello mom," she said
without looking at the number. "Because you're the only one who
ever calls me." She turned her laptop around on the coffee table,
opened it up and turned it on. "Yes, I'm fine. The school is great,
got a bit of a tragic story attached to it, so I'm told, but that
just makes it more interesting, right?" She clicked the web browser
open and went to a search engine. "No, just some kids got in an
accident at the end of the last school year. I don't remember
reading anything about it when I was checking everything out,
though." She typed in 'Ceres WV tragedy'. "Hmm, oh, there it is.
I'm emailing you a link." She started reading. "Hey, I gotta go, I
need to start dinner. No, but I have a microwave. Talk later. Yeah.
Bye."

****

"Oh, hello Steve," Evelyn said as she walked
into the hallway from outside. "Another bright and pleasant
morning, huh?"

"Hello Miss Crone," he said. He nodded, and then
walked away.

She stood frozen for a moment as her mind
processed the scene. What had just happened? She shrugged, and then
continued to her classroom. Maybe he was just having a bad day.

"Good morning, girls!" she said. She held up a
brown paper bag. "See, my lunch." All of the girls were quiet, a
couple seemed to have been crying. But they all appeared to be very
scared and upset. "What? What is it, girls? What's wrong?"

A few of the girls pointed to the chalkboard
behind her and as she turned to look, she cupped her hand over her
mouth and gasped is shock. Someone had drawn crosses all over the
board, hundreds of them, and then in the center, wrote, "Demons rot
in hell!"

"Did you see who did this?"

"It was like that when we got here," Susan
said.

"But... why would someone do this?" she shouted.
She walked to the door, opened it and shouted down the hallway.
"Who did this?!" There was no answer. She hadn't expected one. She
turned back to the girls. "Why do they hate you so much? You're the
victims!" She stomped her feet. "I'll be right back."

She walked back into the hallway and shouted.
"Principal Stevens!" She shouted again.

He eventually poked his head out of his door.
"Is there a problem, Miss Crone?"

"Yes! Yes there is!" she said. "Come here, I
want you to see this!"

He seemed clueless as he walked toward her and
entered the room. "Good morning, girls."

She grabbed his shoulder and turned him to face
the board. "This! This is the problem!"

"Oh my," he said. He turned back to the
students. "Did you girls do this?"

"Do you think they'd call
themselves
demons?!" Evelyn said.

"I assure you, Miss Crone, I'll get to the
bottom of this," he said. "The student responsible will be properly
punished! This is
completely
unacceptable behavior!"

"Thank you!" she said. "I hope you can find
whoever did it, sir."

"Fine, fine," he said. "Well, I've got to get
back to my office." He waved at the girls. "Don't worry, girls,
okay? Stay calm! I'll fix this!" He quickly walked out the
door.

"Can you girls in the front row come up here and
help me erase all of this?"

The girls were quickly at the chore, but Evelyn
noticed something. The girls seemed to realize it at the same time.
"We can't reach high enough to erase it all."

Neither could she. Though she was only a couple
of inches over five feet tall, if a student of any size had put the
graffiti on the board, she should have been able to reach it. "A
teacher did this?"

"They all hate us," someone said. "He makes them
hate us."

"He?" Evelyn said.

"They," another girl said.

"Susan, can I lift you up so you can erase the
rest?" she said.

"Sure!" Susan said. She turned her back to
Evelyn and she bent down and grabbed the child around her thighs
and hoisted her up in the air and together, as a team, they managed
to eliminate all traces of the hateful message.

She sat Susan down on her feet, and Susan turned
and grabbed her around the neck and hugged her. "It's okay,
sweetie," she said. "You're not alone." She looked up at the rest
of the class as Susan let her go. "None of you are alone." She took
a deep breath. "I'll get to the bottom of this." She shuffled some
papers and took a deep breath. "I want all of you to tell your
parents what happened when you get home. They need to get involved
in this whole problem."

****

The rest of the day had passed without incident.
The girls were attentive and quick learners and seemed to show
genuine respect for their teacher. And as promised, Evelyn stayed
with her girls in the classroom for lunch. Some of the girls had
been quiet but several were opening up, talking, laughing and
generally acting like any other third graders during their free
time.

"Betsy, and how many others need to go to the
bathroom?" she said. Several other girls raised their hands. "Okay,
we'll all go as a class." She motioned everyone to follow her and
then stood outside the bathroom door as everyone went inside.

"Oh, Miss Crone, can you come down to my
office?" the Principal said as he poked his head out of his door
and motioned to her.

"I'm waiting for my girls to come out, sir," she
said.

"Oh, I see," he said.

"Will only be a few minutes," she said. Then,
one by one, the girls started joining her. She did a quick
headcount. "Okay, that's everyone." She walked them back to the
classroom, quickly peering inside to make sure there were no
problems, and allowed the students back in. "Grab your seats," she
said. "The Principal needs to talk to me, so I'll be right
back."

Even before she got to the Principal's door he
looked out and motioned her toward him. "We have news," he said.
She walked through his door and saw a gruff looking man in his
forties, perhaps, wearing dirty jeans and a rock band t-shirt. He
was sitting in a plastic chair reading a newspaper. When he saw her
he nodded, but otherwise ignored her presence.

"This is Mister Allen, our maintenance man. Tell
her what you told me, Charlie," the Principal said.

He looked up from his paper. "I seen one of them
girls drawin' all that stuff on the chalkboard."

Evelyn stepped back. "What?"

"So, you see, I told you I'd get to the bottom
of it," the Principal said.

"Which girl?" she said.

"I don't know, one a them brats in your
room."

She narrowed her eyes. "Really, now," she said.
"You saw her?"

"Yep."