| General Fiction posted January 7, 2024 | Chapters: |
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Accused!
A chapter in the book What We See
What We See - Chapter 1
by Jim Wile
| Background A high school teacher wrongly accused of sexual assault reinvents his life. |
The bell had just rung, signaling the end of the day, and as the kids stood and began slinging on backpacks and getting ready to leave for the weekend, I said, “Don’t forget your projects are due by next Friday. You should all be putting the finishing touches on them by now and preparing your presentations.”
“Bye, Mr. Phelps,” came a chorus of parting farewells from the kids in my 8th period 11th grade physics class. Soon after the last one left, I heard the tone of the intercom and the voice from the office say, “Mr. Phelps, please come to the office. Mr. Pinkham would like to see you now.”
The clipped tone of this was very uncharacteristic of Susanna Cassidy, or Suzie, as she likes to be called—one of the school secretaries. Normally friendly and, to me, somewhat flirtatious, a little warning bell went off when I heard the tone of her request.
“Okay, I’ll be right there.” I had an inkling of what this could be about, and it unnerved me for a moment.
As I headed down the hall to the office to meet with Earl Pinkham, Grove Park High School’s principal, I glanced at the display case where the trophy we had won last year was proudly displayed:
1984 Indiana Regional Baseball Champions
North Central Region
Grove Park High School Vikings
Grove Park High School Vikings
I was the coach of the team, and practice would be starting in just a few weeks. When I arrived at the office, I caught Suzie’s eye. She didn’t say anything; she just gestured with her head toward Mr. Pinkham’s office. My heart skipped a beat, and I grimaced—an old tic of mine from my youth. I had a strong feeling this wasn’t going to be good news.
Pinkham’s door was open, so I headed in. “Hi, Earl. You wanted to see me?”
“Please close the door, David, and take a seat.” The tone of his voice was stern. He was 50ish, with a florid face and a full head of salt-and-pepper hair. Normally, he greets me with a handshake and a smile, but he wasn’t smiling now.
“David, it has come to my attention that Tina Cassidy, who you know is Suzie’s daughter, is a student of yours.”
“Yes. She’s in my 10th grade natural science class. Is there something wrong?”
“She’s a very attractive girl, as is her mother; wouldn’t you agree?”
Where was he going with this? I had a suspicion, and my heart began speeding up. “I would, yes.” I waited for him to continue, but he seemed to be having trouble with his next words.
“Have you ever spent time alone with her outside of school?”
This was what I feared when I heard that clipped tone of Suzie’s when she summoned me to the office. My throat began getting dry, and I took a moment to answer.
“A couple nights ago, she came to my house. I was alone, grading papers, when she rang the doorbell. She claimed that she was having trouble with a few concepts in the class and needed help. I told her I could meet her after school the next day—at school—and I could help her then, but she said it concerned the test I was giving the next day, and that would be too late. She was not doing well in the class and pleaded for my help. Against my better judgment, I let her in, but I called Suzie to make sure she knew that her daughter was here and why she’d come, but there was no answer and no answering machine to leave a message on.”
Pinkham took this in and paused for a few moments to digest it. I began perspiring and took out a handkerchief to wipe my brow. I could feel that grimace again as I sat there waiting for his next question.
“Tell me what happened then.”
“Nothing happened, Earl. What is she saying happened?” My heart started racing.
“Please just tell me in your own words what came next.”
I waited for a moment to let my heart slow as I prepared what I would say. I could sense his trepidation. It seemed like he didn’t want to be talking about this any more than I did.
“Earl, I’ve got to tell you, this is making me very nervous. I’ve done nothing wrong except possibly that I neglected to tell you about this sooner. She was dressed very inappropriately for a meeting of this sort, wearing a very short skirt and a tight sweater, and when we sat down at the table, she laid her notebook down and put her hand on top of mine that was resting on the table. I immediately pulled my hand away and said, ‘Why have you come here, Tina?’
“She said, ‘Don’t you know, David?’
“I told her to please address me as Mr. Phelps. She just smiled and said, ‘What does it take for me to get your attention, David? I’ve talked with you after class, and you always seem so pleasant but awfully proper. You don’t seem to want to flirt with me.’
“’That’s right,’ I told her. ‘That would be totally wrong for me to do that.’ I said, ‘Look, Tina, you’re a nice girl, but it’s against school policy and my own moral code for teachers to fraternize with students. You need to find a boy your own age.’
“I asked her to leave then. She made one or two more attempts to change my mind, but I continued to rebuff her. Finally, she left in a huff, and as she was walking out the door, she turned and said, ‘You don’t realize what you’re giving up here, Mr. Phelps. I’m very mature for my age. I… just forget it!’ and she slammed the door behind her.
“That’s it. That’s all there was to it. I know I should have informed you about it right away, but you were gone to that conference all week. I should have written it all down in a memo to you, but I thought I would just wait to tell you when you returned. But I tend to be absent-minded, and I just forgot about it.”
“That’s a shame, David. I wish you had done that. As you may have guessed, I’m getting a totally different story about the incident from Tina and Suzie. You may have noticed Tina hasn’t been in your class at all this past week. On Monday, they came in together to tell me her version of what took place that night.”
He paused for a moment and looked at me with a brief shake of his head. He took a slow, deep breath and resumed, “According to Tina, she had stopped after class one day to ask you for some help since there was to be a test the next day. You told her you were busy right then but suggested she come to your house later that evening, and you’d be willing to help her then.”
“Never happened.”
“Please, David. I heard your story; now listen to theirs without interruption. Tina said she rang your doorbell, and you let her in. She could smell the odor of pot in your house.”
“I don’t smoke pot. Never have.”
“Please just let me continue. She said you sat down at the kitchen table together, and she opened her notebook with a list of questions, but that you weren’t really interested in explaining the orbits of the various planets but were more interested in looking at her legs. You told her she was a very pretty girl and asked her if she had a boyfriend. When she said yes, you asked her if he knew how to satisfy a girl like you. She said you told her you could show her some things she wouldn’t believe could feel so good and offered her some pot to ‘set the mood.’ She said this made her very uncomfortable, and she got up to leave then, and that’s when you stood up and grabbed her. When she struggled to get away, you grabbed her around the throat with both hands and began squeezing. She told me that she kneed you in the nuts, and that’s when she was able to escape from you, and she ran out the door, leaving her coat and notebook behind.”
My thoughts were racing now, and I continued to perspire. “Earl, I… that never happened. She made all that up. I never invited her to the house. I don’t smoke pot, and I certainly never grabbed her around the neck. It’s all a lie. I don’t know what game she’s playing or why she would say all that, but it didn’t happen that way.”
Pinkham opened his desk drawer and pulled out a photograph of Tina’s head and shoulders. There were clear bruises around both sides of her neck. “How do you explain this, David?”
I stared at the photo for several long seconds, then looked up at Earl. “I can’t. I don’t know who did this to her, but it wasn’t me.” I could feel my face grimacing over and over, and my heart was really pounding now. “I… she made it all up,” I finished lamely.
“David, I don’t know what to tell you. Tina and Suzie were very convincing. Suzie said that when she came home that night, Tina was in the shower. She said she could smell a faint odor of pot in the bathroom, and when she asked Tina if she had been smoking, she came out of the shower and told her this story. She said your house reeked of pot, and the odor had gotten into her hair and clothes. Suzie could see the bruises on her neck, and that’s when she told Tina to put on her night clothes, and she took the picture. So, I’ve got two versions of the story, and I don’t know who to believe.”
He just looked at me, waiting for me to reply. There were many things I could have said then, but what came out of my mouth shocked us both. I said, “Earl, I love Tina—No, I mean—”
“Stop!”
“No, let me finish. I—"
“David, I’ve heard enough. I’m going to decide how to proceed now, and I will call you this weekend and let you know. This meeting is over.” He said this with such finality, that I knew further pleading would be useless, so I got up from my chair, opened his door, and walked out. As I passed through the office with my head down, I heard Suzie say, “Pervert.” I left the office and headed back to my classroom.
 Recognized |
Those of you who've read my previous novels know that they have all concerned the game of golf. This one does not. This is my first draft and I will be writing it as I post it. Being primarily a "pantser," I only have the vaguest details of the plot currently worked out. As always, I appreciate all input, and sometimes your story ideas make it into the story. Feel free to fire away.
CHARACTERS
David Phelps: The narrator of the story. He is a 26-year-old high school physics and natural science teacher in Plymouth, Indiana in 1985.
Earl Pinkham: The principal of Grove Park High School where David teaches.
Susanna (Suzie) Cassidy: The school secretary and mother of Tina Cassidy.
Tina Cassidy: A 16-year-old high school sophomore in David Phelps's class.
Pays
one point
and 2 member cents. CHARACTERS
David Phelps: The narrator of the story. He is a 26-year-old high school physics and natural science teacher in Plymouth, Indiana in 1985.
Earl Pinkham: The principal of Grove Park High School where David teaches.
Susanna (Suzie) Cassidy: The school secretary and mother of Tina Cassidy.
Tina Cassidy: A 16-year-old high school sophomore in David Phelps's class.
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