บท 15: Chapter 15
Leigh went to school the next morning trying not to notice the hole in the door. Her class bubbled over with excitement over the success of the parent/teacher night.
"Dad thought you were so cool." Georgia bounced in excitement. "She couldn't believe that you didn't freak out or something. She said most people have no idea what to say. You just talked to her like a person."
"And that's good?" Leigh said.
"That's perfect!" Georgia gave her a hug.
They settled back into the routine of learning. Leigh noticed that Tom was quieter than usual. She asked him to stay in for a minute at recess.
"Are you OK, Tom?" she asked.
"Yeah, I guess so," he said.
"Your dad came to see me last night."
"He did?" Tom's face lit up. "What did he say?"
"He said that he was glad you were learning to read. He said he wished he could read."
"Wow," Tom said. "Dad's always hated school. He said the government took his dad off to school in the south and beat the Indian out of him. He says that's why nobody remembers how to be a proper Indian any more. Dad says that a real Cree should be able to hunt and fish and live off the land."
"So you're becoming a real Cree?"
"I was, but Mom and Dad had a big fight, and the police had to come and take him away. Now I'm not supposed to see him."
"That must be hard."
"Yeah," Tom said, "They've had fights before, but never this bad."
"If you need to talk about it, I'm here."
"Thanks Mrs. D." Tom said and ran out of the room.
Leigh sighed, it was so hard when her students had to deal with family issues. It was tough enough for adults, for children it was traumatic.
"Mrs. Dalrymple," Mr. Ryckle put his head in the door. "Please remember that you are a teacher, not a social worker."
"My students need to know that I will listen, Mr. Ryckle, but I know I can't fix their problems."
The principal didn't say anything, but he nodded his head and vanished. Leigh sighed. An improvement, but it would be nice to have an entire conversation with the man.
There was a knock at the door and Jim stuck his head in the room.
"Do you have a minute?" he said.
"For you, always," Leigh said, she looked at the clock, "in fact I can give you ten."
"Great," Jim walked the rest of the way into the room, "I wanted to update you on last night's incident."
"You found out something already?"
"Not really," Jim said, "a young man showed up at the station with a black eye and an apology."
"Really?"
"Yup, he was just having some fun, he said and got carried away. He's going to help me replace the door."
"How much did the black eye have to do with his apology?"
"A great deal, it turns out," Jim said, "Apparently while he was running away in triumph a big native man caught him by the arm and started yelling at him. The kid took a swing at the man and got a black eye for his trouble. A pretty nasty one too. Doctor Kwali said that his suborbital bone was cracked."
"Did the kid give a description of the man other than big and native?"
"Mean was the only other word that I am willing to repeat."
"I can imagine the other words," Leigh said, "Are you sure it's safe having him help with the door?"
"Well, he already knows where we live, and I will be there to impress on him the foolishness of messing with a cop's house."
"I will leave it up to you, then." Leigh said.
"He wants to apologize to you too. Are you up for it?
"If you're there with me, I can deal with it."
"OK then," Jim said, "I'll let him stay until you get home."
The bell rang and children poured back into the classroom.
"Hey," Jamie said, "You can't take our teacher away!"
Leigh laughed as the children surrounded Jim and pelted him with questions and accusations.
"OK class," Leigh said, "Take your seats and I'll introduce you to Constable Dalrymple."
"You're married to a cop?" Tom looked like she'd betrayed him.
"Does he wear his gun to bed?" asked a third-grade girl.
"Yes, I'm married to a police officer, and no he doesn't wear his gun in bed, not if I have anything to say about it."
"Is that your truck outside?" Macky asked.
"No, it belongs to the detachment, but I'm driving it right now."
"Have you ever had to shoot someone?" Steve asked.
"Thankfully, no I haven't," Jim said.
"Have you been shot?" Georgia said.
"Yes, but my vest stopped the bullet."
"Wow, and you're still a cop.? That's brave!"
"It's what I'm supposed to do with my life, I guess." Jim said. "I can't imagine not being a police officer."
"But you took my Dad away," Tom sounded more hurt than angry, but not excited like the rest of the class.
Jim looked over at Tom and went to his desk. He knelt so he was at eye level with Tom.
"Yes, I did, Tom. Your Mom was pretty scared."
"Dad was just a little drunk," Tom said.
"There are times when being a little drunk isn't bad, but there are times when it is. If being drunk makes you hurt people, then it isn't a good thing."
"I miss him, can you let him come back?"
"That's up to your mom," Jim said.
"If you see my dad, could you tell him that I'm not mad at him?"
"I'll tell him."
The questions seemed to have run out, so Leigh walked Jim to the door. He gave her a quick kiss and she heard the 'ooooo' from the children.
"I think it's time for math. Get your rulers out. We're going to review measurements..."
***
Leigh walked around the corner to their street. Jim knelt with a young man working on the door to their trailer. Her heart started pounding so she stopped and took a deep breath, then another. When she thought she was ready she walked the rest of the way to her home.
"Well," she said "that's looking better."
Jim just looked up, but the young man jumped to his feet and looked at Leigh.
"I'm sorry I scared you and wrecked your door," he said.
"You're Jamie's brother, aren't you?"
"Yes, ma'am."
"What would Jamie say if he knew you put an ax in my door?"
"He'd be pissed, ma'am. He likes you."
"Are you going to do something like this again?"
"I don't know, I do stupid things when I'm high."
"Then why get high?" Leigh forgot he'd scared her half to death. He looked to be in as much pain as her.
"What else is there to do in this shit hole?" Dan waved his hands around to take in the town.
"Dan..." Jim said.
"Sorry ma'am."
"So what kind of things do you like to do?"
"Stuff like this, building and sh... "
"So why not look for a job?"
Dan laughed bitterly. "Would you hire me? To do what?"
"I might need a shed," Leigh said, "Would you be able to build one?"
"Do you need a shed?" Dan's voice had a little bit of hope in it.
Leigh looked at Jim, he gave a little shrug.
"Come back tomorrow, Dan." Leigh said, "Bring me a plan for a shed you might build me. Something to put tools in, or plants. We'll talk about it some more."
"OK ma'am," Dan went back to helping Jim.
"Do you know what you are getting yourself into?" Jim asked later after Dan had gone home.
"Not really," Leigh said, "but I couldn't just stand there and watch that poor boy be lost and hopeless."
"There are a lot of lost and hopeless people in the town. Are you going to give all of them jobs?"
"No, I can't."
"But you're going to give Dan a job, and the others will be jealous. You could get hurt, or Dan could."
"So what do I do?"
"I don't know, but whatever you do, be careful."
Dan didn't come by the next day, or the day after. Leigh was relieved, and then felt bad for feeling relieved. Dan deserved better than that, she just didn't know what to do.
She hadn't visited the coffee shop for a while. Since she'd got back to work she'd gone straight home every day. Leigh decided it was time to go and be seen in public again. She asked Fran to join her at lunch.
"Don't want to go out alone?" Fran said, "I could hardly blame you."
"Well, I thought if you were seen having tea with me, that people might decide that I'm not that dangerous."
"You're a teacher." Fran grinned and patted Leigh on the shoulder. "You're supposed to be dangerous. Sure, I'll come have tea with you. It'll be fun."
They walked around from the school doors to the mall and to the coffee shop.
Mr. Henry waved at her as she came in and Anna's kohkom nodded her head. I'm moving up in the world, the Spruce Bay royalty has acknowledged me.
They got their tea and sat. They didn't get much chance to talk as people came by to say hello. Leigh had forgotten how many people came through the mall. After the parent/teacher evening, she knew a lot more of the people. Then she saw Dan walking past.
"Dan," she called out. At first she didn't think he was going to stop, then he turned and dragged his feet over to her.
"Yes'm" he said.
"I haven't seen you for a few days."
"I asked the shop teacher for plans for a shed," Dan said, "He said I didn't know how to build a shed."
"So you're giving up?"
"I can't build a shed," Dan said, "I don't know how, I don't have tools. It's a waste of time."
"I want you to go ask your shop teacher to teach you how to build a shed," Leigh said.
"But, how long will that take?"
"As long as it takes, Dan." Leigh pointed at herself. "I had to work hard to become a teacher. Jim had to work to become a police officer. You have to work at becoming what you want to be."
"So you're going to wait until I learn to build a shed?"
"Yes."
"Why?"
"Why not? Is it better to build stuff or break stuff?"
"Build stuff, I guess."
"Well, what I do is build people. Or rather, I help them build themselves. You go talk to your teacher. And when you are ready to build my shed, you come and talk to me."
"OK," Dan walked away, but Leigh thought he was standing just a little bit taller.
"I thought people were exaggerating when they said you were crazy." Fran sipped her tea. "But I don't think they were. We could use a little more of your kind of crazy." She clinked her cup on Leigh's and they went back to watching the people go by.
At lunch the next day, the shop teacher from the high school came by the elementary staff room.
"Hi," he said, "you Mrs. Dalrymple?"
"That would be me," Leigh said.
"Dan came in this morning and asked me to teach him to build a shed."
"Did he now?"
"I told him last week that he didn't have the tools or the knowledge to build a shed."
"Yes?"
"He didn't," the shop teacher said, "but by the time I'm done with him, he and every other kid in that class will know how to build a shed."
"If they can build sheds, then they will be able to build other things too, right?"
"They have to know how to build a stud wall, put in windows, hang doors, figure out roofing joists. Yeah, they'll be able to build almost anything they want."
"Good."
"David Collins," the shop teacher said, and held out his hand. "Thanks, I've been trying to motivate that class for ages. Whatever you said to Dan, it worked. He's got his friends interested. So, I've got a class that wants to learn, I'd better not waste the opportunity. I've got to get a budget set for the lumber I'll need." He waved and left the room. Fran gave Leigh a thumbs up from where she stood waiting for the kettle to boil.
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