Date: Sun, 16 Oct 2005 07:18:36 -0700 From: fritz@nehalemtel.net Subject: I Love Corey, Chapter Sixty-eight This routine is getting old. I mean as soon as one chapter is done, another of these stupid warnings has to be written. Of course I could just quit writing chapters and that would solve the problem, but I hate leaving something unfinished. Therefore, all people, who have not attained their majority, leave immediately. Nothing else will be acceptable. After all, society is just trying to see that you have a healthy place to grow up in and they are afraid that stories, such as this one, will cause you to become some kind of monster. Now you have to understand that since I don't believe in witchcraft, I have a real problem with how some words are going to change you into Godzilla or something like that. I can't even figure out how to sneak through cyberspace and bite your neck to turn you into a vampire. Besides, my teeth are becoming fewer and I don't think gumming you is supposed to work. Well actually, gumming might work pretty well but it won't turn you into a vampire. For those homophobes who accidentally stumbled onto this site, quickly leaving is a good idea. That way you will not become upset at what you read. By not becoming upset, your blood pressure will remain lower and you will have less chance of a stroke. Please don't confuse stroke, a rupture of a blood vessel in the brain, with stroke, the action required for self-stimulation. The first is bad, the second is fun. Then there are the areas in which some people have decided to become the thought patrol. You know the type of areas I mean. They are places where the powers that be have decided to protect all people from things like this story and politically incorrect thoughts. They shout it is for your own good that they have passed such laws. They attempt to ban such books as Tarzan because there is no mention that Tarzan and Jane ever married. They preach that some people are lesser people for some perceived reason. The sad thing is that history tells us there have been others who tried to turn societies into one ideal. They had names such as Hitler and Mao. They killed and are still killing people because of their race, religion, political affiliation, or sexual orientation, all in the name of protecting you. Their legion is many and we need to stand up to them wherever we can. They use hatred and fear as their weapons, hatred of anyone who is different, and fear of those differences. Their backgrounds and beliefs are many, but they are all intolerant of others. They fear truth and depend upon emotion and lies to advance their ideas. I could write chapters on this subject but hopefully you get the idea. To those who have made it this far, the characters in the story do not exist and the actions portrayed never happened. To believe otherwise is a mistake. I got out my whip and cracked it over poor Don's back, causing him much labor. After the whip cracking, he reluctantly continued his fine work of proofreading this story. I've had him laboring away for a while, without much fanfare, so everyone reading this story, give him a rousing cheer for his fine work. Just look up into cyberspace and shout, "Thanks Don." All those good wishes will wash over him and sooth him far more than my humble thanks ever could. Feel free to read and hopefully enjoy the story. Just credit me for any quotes and don't use it in a commercial manner. If you have any comments, questions, suggestions, or complaints go ahead and write with them. Email such items to fritz@nehalemtel.net I try to answer all such emails. With that, I hope you enjoy the following chapter. Fritz I Love Corey, chapter sixty-eight Corey was curled up in his favorite position, and I was trying to think of how to tell him that it was acceptable to be afraid. We all have fears, but we just can't let them stop us from living. Thankfully he now seemed to understand just how much I loved him. The fact that he no longer worried about the other boys taking his place told me he was comfortable with his place in my heart. Not only that, he had gone from worrying about his place to worrying about helping others find their own place. The fact that he had finally been willing to tell me his fears made me understand just how comfortable he was with his situation. If nothing else, that gave me a warm glow. He knew I loved him. No matter how many times a person says something, you never know if another person truly believes it. I no longer had to worry about Corey thinking I might not love him. He had finally accepted that I loved him and him only. The other boys occupied a different place and were no threat to him. The love I felt for them was a totally different kind of love. As I lay there I started thinking about the whole weekend. It had gone really well. The boys had been thrilled with it and I had to laugh to myself at the way JJ and LT were opening up. Their little jabs back and forth about Derrick and some of the other people at the party had been side splitting. Both of them were starting to say things that would lead you to believe they belonged to each other. I mean really, comments like the only ass you get to feel is mine are pretty much a dead giveaway. When LT had said that, JJ had been speechless while that rest of us roared. Well Kyle and Mark might not have roared but Corey and I sure did. Then there was the conversation after dinner this evening. Corey, JJ, and LT had acted like I wasn't even there for a while. I suppose I should take it as a compliment that they were now comfortable enough around me that they weren't afraid to talk about any subject, but it had surprised me. Well, surprised and embarrassed me. Still, I was thrilled that they felt that way, and also that they wanted to help others. I finally fell asleep while trying to figure out what would be a good answer to that discussion. They were right, and we really needed to figure out some way to try to make sure no one felt there was no one to talk with. The only question was, how to do that. The workweek got off to its usual start. Some boys alert, and others walking zombies. Not only that, it was going to be a busy week. The boy's bedrooms were supposed to be done today and the new bed frames were supposed to be done and delivered on Thursday. They would each have a queen-sized bed as the lower, and a full-sized bed as an upper. At least that should satisfy Children's Services, even if the uppers were never used. I had even remembered to get a bunch of bedding, for full-sized beds, while we were shopping. I left the boys finishing off their oatmeal and headed for work. It looked like Mark and Corey would get the other three organized by the time the bus showed up. JJ, LT, and Kyle were definitely not morning people. Noon people, maybe? Things rolled right along until practice. Phil had called and asked if we could delay the joint practice until Tuesday so it was just my team. We made it through the warm-up exercises and part way through practice before I noticed one of the pitchers trying to throw curve balls. Since they had orders not to throw curve balls, that presented a problem. I was trying to watch both the infielders practice and the pitching practice when I noticed it. I really hate things like that. I was going to have to make sure all the kids understood that there were rules and you had to obey them. I strolled over to where Justin was standing and confronted him about it. Justin Laski was one of those students whom I'd never had in class. I knew him only slightly. Most of the kids, that I'd had in class, understood that when I said something was going to be a certain way, that was the way it was going to be. The class might be in an uproar, but there were rules and you had to obey them. I'd always tried to explain any rules and why I had them, and had done so on the subject of curve balls. "Justin, could I talk with you a minute?" He started blushing and hung his head when I asked him that. I led him off where the others couldn't hear what we were saying before I continued. "Justin, didn't you listen when we talked about not throwing curve balls and why I didn't want you throwing them?" I expected some mumbling and something about I forgot but that wasn't what I got. Instead I got some mumbling about he was going to throw whatever he wanted to. He finished up by telling me he was the best pitcher I had, and that he knew how to pitch, even if I didn't. He was probably right in that he was one of the better, if not the best pitcher on the team. However, that didn't solve the problem. I'd heard that he was headstrong from other teachers, but didn't really expect this. "Look Justin, there are rules and everyone has to obey them. It's like anything else. If there's a stop sign, everyone has to stop. Rules aren't just for someone else. I said no curve balls and I meant it." "I don't care what you said. I'll throw whatever I want to," he mumbled. He wouldn't look at me, but instead said it to the ground. This was only the second time I had encountered out and out defiance when coaching. The first time had been the first year of coaching the football team and had resulted in suspending the student from the team until he was willing to agree to follow all the rules. That defiance had lasted until he got home and his folks found out about it. Then I got a phone call, with him apologizing, and a promise never to do it again. I also got quite a long conversation from his parents telling me that he would no longer act that way and that they were sorry he had. He was somewhat sullen for a week or two, but soon got over it. In fact he even worked hard enough to make the starting lineup and had a pretty good year. He was a starter on the high school team last year, and had been one of the anchors of their defense. "Well Justin, you don't leave me much of a choice. If you agree to follow the rules you can get back to practice. If not, you might just as well turn in your gear and get ready to go home. I won't have someone on the team who feels he is above the rules. However, if you agree to follow the rules and then break that agreement, you're off the team for good. No second chances this year. Next year, maybe, but only if you agree to follow whatever rules are laid down." "You can't do that!" This time he raised his head and was glaring at me. He also was no longer mumbling. I sighed. This wasn't going like I had hoped it would. "Look, I can't have someone, who thinks he can break the rules, on the team. There are rules all through life and we all have to follow them. There are lots of rules that I don't like but I still have to follow them. Things I don't like might be the speed limit in some areas, or maybe I don't like the tax laws, but just because I don't like them doesn't mean that I can disobey them. I still have to obey them, along with everyone else. I get traffic citations if I break the speed laws, and can end up in jail for breaking the tax law. Rules or laws, it doesn't make much difference. You're still going to have to learn to live with them. If fact, laws are just rules with the weight of government behind them. They don't just apply to someone else. If you can't follow them, you can't be on the team and you're going to have a lot of problems with life. Understand, I not only can kick you off the team, I will if you can't follow the rules. In the case of this rule, it's for your own protection. The reason for it is to keep you from injuring your arm. Until your arm matures enough, throwing curve balls can injure it and leave you unable to pitch. I don't want to kick you off the team but you have to obey the rules, just like any other member of the team. Sorry but that's the way it is. The decision is yours." "Fuck you and your team!" he shouted as he turned around and stormed off. I just stood there for a few seconds, thinking that hadn't gone as well as I'd hoped it would when I started it. I gave a few directions for practice and headed for the office. Jerry normally stuck around after school was out, and hopefully he was still in his office. He was and I filled him in on what had happened. He said he would make sure that Justin got home safely. I was worried that he might not wait for the activities bus. With that, it was pretty much out of my hands, for the time being, so I hurried back out to practice. I got there just as they were setting up for batting practice. Most of the team was doing better at batting, but there were a couple of kids that were having some real problems. I got them aside and set up a T-ball stand and had them try to hit that way. That wasn't really helping. As I watched I started to wonder if they were seeing the ball very well. I mean it was a real joke the way they were missing the ball. I finally tried something. I had them try to hit with one eye closed. Bingo. As far as that went, they weren't doing very well in school. I wondered if I was on to something. I knew all the kids were supposed to have eye tests, but those tests were just simple checks and really didn't tell as much as they should. I started talking with them and then asked them to read a little of the rulebook to me. The way they kept moving the book, trying to read it, told me that I was on to something. That really upset me. If I was right, they needed to have glasses and the lack of them had undoubtedly affected their grades and a lot of other things. I got their phone numbers and we finally finished practice. Things were kind of quiet in the locker room, but soon everyone was showered and ready to leave. One of the real nice things about the district was that when they had built the new middle school, just before I was hired, they had constructed a bunch of locker rooms. We were using the same one I had used with the football team and we did not have to share it. That way all the practices could end at the same time and there were plenty of both girls and boys locker rooms. The new high school was under construction, and it would be the same when finished. I remember that my school had only had two locker rooms, one for boys and one for girls. Well actually they had four but the other two were for visiting teams. That made them crowded and harder to keep track of things. I ended up explaining what had happened with Justin. It was nice that there was no other team here to interfere with that. Then it was time to go home. The boys didn't have much to say on the way home. We stopped and bought some groceries but they seemed uninterested in what was for dinner. That puzzled me. I started trying to find out what the problem was. Just as we pulled up to the door LT finally said they were worried that I was mad. "Mad, about what?" "Well, you know, about uh Justin," he replied. "Even if I was angry at Justin, what difference would that make?" I asked. "Well, ah, we just didn't want to upset you." "Look guys, you don't need to worry. Even if I was mad at Justin it wouldn't make any difference to you. You didn't have anything to do with it." About that time we got the door open and Dog needed greeting. Between greeting Dog and getting the groceries packed in it was a little while before I could finish what I wanted to say. We all crashed in the living room and I had Dog on my lap, scratching his belly before I continued. I tried to explain that I wasn't mad at any of them and really wasn't mad at Justin. I was disappointed with him, but that was about all. They seemed to understand and Dog finally thought his belly was sufficiently scratched to where I could go start dinner. But first we had to check out the remodeled bedrooms. It made a big difference in the way they looked to have them painted. While we had all checked them out before, it was always hard to visualize just how they would look when finished. They really looked nice. They still had the odor of fresh paint but the crew had cleaned them up and they just sparkled. The trim was done and the new bathrooms were ready to go. As we looked them over I suggested that they wait to move their stuff back in until the new beds were installed. Corey did point out one thing I had forgotten. The curtains would have to be replaced. Changing the color of the rooms from a soft green to a pale creamy yellow meant that they no longer went with the color. I could see JJ and LT eyeing the big shower in their bathroom. They'd leer at each other when they thought no one was watching. Somehow I suspected there might be some shared showers. One of the nice things was each bathroom had its own water heater. They were the tankless kind. It might take a lot of propane, but they could stay in the shower as long as they wanted and not run out of hot water. Putting those in had also taken the load off the main water heater and that meant that Corey and I were unlikely to run out of hot water. All of a sudden I really had a desire to take a long hot shower with Corey. About that time the call of food was too much. Suddenly they were interested in dinner. The rooms could wait. In fact everything could wait except for my cooking. At least they were no longer being quiet. They decided they could survive with a couple bags of chip and some cans of pop while I cooked. When the boys were sated with food, it was time to make some calls. I sent them off to do their homework and started in. Billy Jensen's parents were easy to talk with and they were surprised that Billy might have a vision problem. I pointed out that as people grew, sometimes their eyes changed and even though they might not have needed glasses earlier, perhaps they now did. Mrs. Jensen promised to get Billy an appointment and have him checked. One down and only one more to go. I was somewhat put off by Mr. Wilson, Charlie's father. He questioned whether or not I had any idea what I was talking about but finally agreed to have Charlie's eyes tested. He was rather short with me and certainly less than polite. Towards the end of the conversation he let drop that he supposed either he or his wife could manage to get enough time off to take Charlie. I suggested that if they could make the appointment, I could probably arrange to see that he got there. We talked a little more and he agreed to try to make the appointment so that I could take Charlie during one of my free periods, preferably the one before lunch. That way, if the examination ran a little long, it would only run into lunch hour. Still he wasn't very polite. I got the impression he thought I was interfering with his right to raise his child. Hopefully I hadn't created any problems for Charlie. I could have gone through the school and had a note sent to the boys' parents, but that would have taken a couple of days longer so I had elected to do it this way. Maybe I needed to talk about this in the morning meeting. I might have handled it wrong but I'd never heard of any policy regarding how something like this should be handled. The boys got their homework done and spent some time moving some of their clothes, and other things, into the remodeled bedrooms. I suggested that they not put too much of their stuff in the rooms because that would make it harder to set up the new beds when they were delivered. They listened but didn't seem to hear. Oh well, let them fight it on Thursday. I was sure they would have to move everything they were putting in the rooms about ten times before they were satisfied with where it was. The clothes they were putting in the closets shouldn't be a problem but the rest of the stuff looked like it would be in the way. I was somewhat surprised that I hadn't heard anything from Justin or his parents by bedtime. Somehow I had thought they would call. I had nothing to base that on other than a hunch, but still it surprised me. Maybe Justin had calmed down and would agree to follow the rules; at least I hoped that was what would happen. If he did apologize, and agree to follow the rules, I would need to come up with some mild punishment for his swearing at me, but perhaps a few laps would cover it. If he hadn't shouted, I could have overlooked it, but with everyone having heard it, there had to be some punishment. I brought up the question of the eye exams and my conversations with the boys' parents at the morning meeting. We all kicked it around for a while and Jerry suggested that we all think about it and he would bring it up later in the week. I had been right in that there was no policy on how to handle things like that. While we were discussing it, a couple of other teachers mentioned that now that I had brought it up, they remembered seeing things that confirmed my observation. We all agreed to pay more attention and see if we could spot other students that might have the same problem. Jerry said he was going to go over the records and see if he could figure out how Charlie and Billy had managed to fall through the cracks. Things like that were not supposed to happen. Mrs. Williams, the geography teacher, pointed out that Charlie had been going to a private school and that might account for his case, but Billy had been in our school district ever since kindergarten. In fact she knew his parents and said they were real nice people. They lived about two blocks from her and even went to the same church. There were a few comments about Justin, and more especially Mr. Laski. I was warned that he could be a little on the abrasive side. As for Mr. Wilson, nobody knew much about him so I would just have to play him by ear. I finally just decided he had been having a bad evening, and let it go at that. About half way through the first class I was handed a note saying that Mr. Wilson had arranged an appointment for Charlie and it was today at 11:15. That looked like it would present no problems, so I told Vera to tell Mr. Wilson that I would be happy to take Charlie to his appointment. She said she would call him right back and let him know. At the end of second period I gathered up some papers that needed grading, got Charlie out of class and we drove across town to the optometrist. While Charlie was being examined, I graded papers. I was about half done when the optometrist, Dr Blackmore, asked me to come into the examination room. He started explaining that Charlie needed glasses and wondered what kind he should prescribe. I had to explain that I was only a teacher who had volunteered to provide transportation. Once we got that straightened out, Dr. Blackmore called Mr. Wilson. A couple of minutes later he handed the phone to me. Mr. Wilson was much more pleasant, and he wanted to know what I recommended. I had no idea of what to tell him, but he also told me that his insurance would cover it, no matter what. In the end I was left to make the decision. Talk about getting into something I hadn't expected. The way Dr. Blackmore explained it, Charlie was too young to have surgery so the choice was between contacts and regular glasses. He was also surprised the vision problem had not been picked up sooner. I finally told Charlie it was his decision. He was the one that would have to wear whatever he decided. Dr. Blackmore spent quite a bit of time explaining the advantages of either. In the end Charlie decided to go with regular glasses to start with. That seemed to be what the doctor tried to gently steer him towards, and his reasons sounded good to me. He also recommended safety lenses because of the sports angle, and then there was the discussion about did he want lenses that changed tint so they could act as sunglasses. By the time everything was decided and ordered, lunch hour was about half over. On the way back to school we went past the local McDonalds. Charlie was happy as a clam, scarfing down his burger during the rest of the drive. We got back just before classes started again and I told him I would take him to pick his glasses up, if his folks wanted me to. The doctor had said they should be in by Friday and had set up an appointment to fit them. Apparently Mr. Wilson had given the doctor's receptionist all his insurance information because that was never even mentioned. The rest of the day went well until practice. Well actually, it was the period just before practice when it went downhill. I had last period free and was digging out the gear for practice when I was paged and told to come to the office. Since that wasn't unusual, I didn't think anything of it, and it was only when I walked in the door that I realized this was anything more than normal school business. Justin, Mr. Laski, and another gentleman, that I didn't recognize, were standing there along with Mr. Mathers. "Yes sir?" I said to Mr. Mathers. "Coach Lofton, Mr. Laski and his son would like to talk with you," Jerry told me with a neutral expression. While I'd never actually talked with Mr. Laski, I had seen him several times so I turned to him, stuck my hand out and said, "Good afternoon Mr. Laski. What can I do for you?" He ignored my outstretched hand and said, "I believe you kicked my son off the baseball team yesterday." "Mr. Laski, I'm sorry for the misunderstanding. I didn't kick Justin off. I told him he would have to agree to follow the team rules or I would be forced to suspend him from the team. At that point he left the field. He's welcome back as soon as he agrees to follow the rules, however, he will have to be suspended for a short while, owing to his having used profanity as he was leaving." Before I could continue I was interrupted. "That isn't what I heard!" "I'm sorry, but that is what happened. In fact, all of the students had to sign an agreement to follow team rules and one of those rules is that no curve balls shall be thrown, either in practice, or in a game. Your son signed that agreement on the first day and initialed the added clause, about curve balls, on last Wednesday. If you'd like, we can walk down to the locker room and I can show you those documents." For the first time in my life I was thankful that I had followed the advice of one of my instructors. I'd always thought those silly agreements were a waste of time, but it looked like they might not be so worthless after all. I continued, "In fact, copies of both the agreement and the clause were supplied to Justin to take home so you could read them." After I said that, there was a pause. In fact, quite a lengthy pause. Mr. Laski finally decided to respond. "That isn't what my son told me." "All I can say is that all of the team members signed the agreement and they would probably be happy to tell you so. Some of them may still have their copies of the documents and be able to show them to you." There really didn't seem much else to say so I stopped. "Are you calling my son a liar?" Now it was my turn to pause. I wanted to put this as diplomatically as possible. "Mr. Laski, I don't know. I don't know exactly what your son told you and I don't know if you understood him completely. It may just be a misunderstanding between you and your son, but as I said, I have the original documents and copies of them were given to each team member." "I don't believe you!" Now I was left wondering quite how to respond. I glanced at Jerry, trying to get some idea of what to say next. That didn't produce any answers except he looked like he was having a hard time suppressing a grin. Justin was looking down and the other gentleman was maintaining a neutral expression. I decided to switch topics. "Mr. Laski, someone in your household had to sign a release form for Justin to play. I don't remember who signed his, but it contained most of the team rules. It also stated that any other rules would be explained and each student would be asked to sign off on them, and copies would be supplied to the student and mailed to the parents." I turned to Jerry. "Mr. Mathers, do you know if the copies have been mailed yet?" By now Jerry was making no effort to suppress his grin. "They were mailed out last Thursday." I certainly wasn't prepared for what happened next. Mr. Laski whirled and swung a roundhouse right at Justin, knocking him down. Before I could do anything, the punch was followed by a kick to the ribs, accompanied by Mr. Laski screaming something about lying sack of shit. About that time both Jerry and I were trying to get hold of Mr. Laski and control him. We managed to get him pulled away from Justin, but were having a hard time controlling him. I finally managed to get one of his arms behind him and got enough upward pressure on it to stop any further blows. However, that didn't stop the screaming and foul language. Out of the corner of my eye I could see one of the office personal grab a phone and make a call. Jerry started checking Justin and I was busy trying to keep Mr. Laski under control. However, I wasn't prepared for the kick to my shin that he delivered. It hurt like crazy so I just lifted harder. He tried kicking again so I really lifted and he let out a scream and after that, there was no more resistance. That scream had taken place at the same time his arm had suddenly gone up several inches more than it had been. In fact, it was now a lot higher than any arm should be, that is if you were planning on using that arm in the near future. The office staff was scurrying around and Jerry was busy checking Justin and I suddenly realized I couldn't see very well out of one eye. I rubbed at it with my free hand and it came away bloody. A little gentle checking and I figured out my eyebrow was bleeding. I must have caught an elbow or something when I was trying to get Mr. Laski away from Justin. About that time the gentleman, whom I still didn't know, handed me a handkerchief. A little daubing and I could see again. I thanked him. "You know you could let his arm down a little. I don't think he's going to do anything for a while." Those were the first words the gentleman had spoken. I was calming down a little. My heart was still pounding, but at least I was starting to notice things. While I looked around I could hear some sobbing. About then I realized it was Mr. Laski doing the sobbing. A little more thinking and I figured out his shoulder was probably sore. I had his wrist almost to the back of his neck and I somehow doubted, in a somewhat detached way, that he was normally that flexible. I eased off a little and he just sort of sagged down and against me. I eased down a little more, and he just kept sagging down. It was like his legs wouldn't hold him up. I just kept lowering his wrist and soon he was huddled in a heap, on the floor. By now two of the office ladies were hovering over Justin, along with Jerry. I thought about going over and checking it out, but suddenly I was tired and shaky. My heart was still pounding and I suddenly noticed I was panting, almost as hard as if I'd just run a race or something. It only took about five minutes for the police to show up, with sirens blazing, and the ambulance was only a minute or so behind them. People were asking questions and the next thing I noticed was that Justin was on a gurney, and two medics were pushing that gurney out the door. I managed to find a chair and sit down before I fell down. People were talking to me, but I was unable to understand them. I just lowered my head and tried to take a few deep breaths. Well I managed to take those few breaths, and then a few more. Suddenly everything snapped back into focus. I could understand the questions. I was still trembling but at least my mind was working again. I started answering the questions, and a couple of minutes later, another crew of medics came running in. One of them looked at my eye and told me I needed stitches and the other headed over to Mr. Laski. He moaned and sobbed a lot louder when they moved his arm from behind his back to the front of his body. They soon had him on another gurney and out the door they went with him. I was still answering questions when I heard Jerry announce there would be no baseball practice this afternoon. A few minutes later the final bell rang, and I was still trying to answer questions. There were policemen all over the place. There must have been at least a half dozen of them, but I was busy with two of them. The gentleman, who I still didn't know, came over and suggested that maybe they should wait with their questions until I had my eyebrow stitched up. I figured I'd just drive over to the hospital and get some stitches, but that wasn't quite the way it went. I was escorted to a police cruiser and chauffeured to the hospital. It was another of those hurry up and wait deals. The officer hurried to the hospital, and then we waited. At least I managed to answer all his questions during the waiting. I even learned that the gentleman, who had furnished the handkerchief, was an attorney and his name was Art Mulkie. I suddenly wondered if I needed an attorney. I drew Dr. Logan and he told me I needed to learn to duck or quit leading with my head. By now I was calmed down and outside of a sore eyebrow, felt pretty good. However, Dr. Logan could have used some kind of anesthetic. Having your eyebrow swabbed out and stitched up, with no painkiller, isn't exactly fun. He even kidded me about having a nice shiner. Then the officer chauffeured me back to the school so I could get the Gator and go home. Needless to say there were some worried boys when I got home. They had heard the sirens and seen all the police cars and, with no practice, had nothing better to do than worry what was going on and what had happened to me. In fact, Corey was almost beside himself. He rushed me and we just hugged each other for a while. By the time I finished filling them in, I was suddenly exhausted. I just wanted to sit and maybe scratch Dog's head. That was about the limit of my ambition. The boys disappeared, and bless their pointy little heads, they decided to fix dinner. There was some hamburger and some buns, so they fired up the barbecue and fixed burgers. They even found a couple of cans of pork and beans to accompany the burgers. Wouldn't you know it though? Judy showed up, to fill out her monthly report, just as we started eating. She kidded me about the boys' diet. Then I had to show her the remodeled bedrooms and explain that the bed frames would be here Thursday. While she was interviewing the boys, I just sat back and relaxed. Dog put his head on my foot and it felt comforting, even though his muzzle was wet from just having a drink. It had been quite a day. When Judy had finished interviewing the boys, I had to fill her in on my stitches and what had happened at school. As I filled her in, her expression changed. Watching her face made me glad I was not the target of her anger. She even appeared angry that the police had not yet contacted her. I did learn all law enforcement agencies had orders to contact her anytime a child was injured and abuse was even suspected. About the time Judy left, I got to wondering how Justin was doing. I called Dr. Logan and learned that Justin had a broken cheekbone, a mild concussion, and some cracked ribs. Other than that, he was fine, according to Vince. That didn't sound fine to me, but I took it to mean that he would soon recover from his physical injuries. I also learned that Terry was getting much worse and wasn't expected to last much longer. While I was tired, I figured I'd better visit him while there was yet time. I knew I'd kick myself if I didn't. When I got to the hospital, Diane and the kids were visiting with Terry. I eavesdropped a few seconds before I knocked and was invited in. Terry looked even worse than the last time I'd seen him. I really regretted not visiting more often but the boys were keeping me busy. I vowed to myself to make more of an effort to see him in the future. We chatted a few minutes and then Terry dropped off to sleep. I managed to give him a couple more audio books I'd picked up last weekend. When he was asleep, Diane questioned me on my black eye. I gave her a somewhat abbreviated version of the story and, by the time I was done, visiting hours were over. I knew I could probably stay and not create any problems, but with Terry sleeping, there didn't seem to be much point in it. I said goodnight to Diane and her kids and hurried home to check the boys' homework. At least Diane and Terry seemed to have gotten over their differences. Kyle and Mark were really improving on their homework. They still had a way to go, but I had hopes that they might turn out to be pretty good students. Of course part of it might be because they were still a little afraid of how I might react to them not doing their homework, and not studying, but if they got in the habit of working hard in school, they might continue even after they got a little more comfortable around me. They got a few attaboys from me, and so did the others. Mark beamed and Kyle even looked somewhat happy. I couldn't find one mistake in any of the boys' homework. Corey was still somewhat upset when we made it to bed. He couldn't seem to quit worrying that I might have been seriously hurt. I tried to explain that there really was nothing to worry about and my injury had been one of those things that just sometimes happen. Mr. Laski hadn't even been swinging at me and it was only sheer bad luck that had allowed his elbow, or whatever, to hit my eye. He cuddled up in his favorite position and I rubbed his back until he went to sleep. It had been a busy day and not all that good of one. I was worried about what would happen to Justin, and for that matter, Mr. Laski. He definitely needed anger management classes. Judy had said she would look into the whole situation. I was left wondering how I always managed end up in the middle of things. All I really wanted to do was to teach and to love Corey, and now I had four other boys to look out for and things just seemed to keep happening to me. I swear I hadn't had a free minute since school had started this year. Still, having Corey in my life was worth it. In fact, I would do about anything to keep him with me. On that thought, I fell asleep. To be continued...