Chapter 28

Frank Talbot stood by the windows of his physics classroom, looking out on the student parking lot. The final bell had just rung, and student were streaming out of the building and going to their cars to make their way to after-school jobs or to The Chattering Squirrel to get a snack. "I wonder how many of them are going home to basements of empty houses to engage in God knows what before their parents come home for the day..." Frank thought.
Frank hitched up his Dockers and smoothed his hair with both hands. He looked down at his greasy palms and wiped them on the seat of his pants. He brushed some dandruff from his shoulders, put his hands on his hips and continued to look out the window.
His gaze traveled over the jocks, the beauty queens and the brains, and finally settled on a group of freshmen Indian girls that sat in the grass under the tree. It wasn’t really spring yet, but it was warm for early April, and the sun was out, and they’d taken off their shoes and rolled up their pant to feel the warmth on their legs.
Talbot took in a shallow breath and squinted his eyes to determine which girls in the group were in his classes. He picked out three of the five, and noted that they were not pretty and not very confident. He could tell by the way they picked at the grass and avoided looking at anyone who passed that they were probably weak and wouldn’t resist. “Perfect,” he thought to himself.
He looked at his watch and noted the date. “Only 48 days,” he said to himself. “Only 48 more days…”
Suddenly, Talbot turned from the window and went back to his desk. He pulled out his student lists and noted which of his classes during the day each of the girls was within his influence. He checked their last names to see if he knew their parents from newspaper articles or school board meetings. He wondered how close they were as friends and if they would talk to each other. “I’ll have to think of a way to keep them from comparing notes,” he thought. Usually time worked to his advantage. Time that would allow for excused absences, truancy or dropping out. But he only had 48 days.
His thoughts turned to the Siren School Board and Jeff Howe. “Damn that asshole,” Frank thought. “How dare he demand that I retire?”
Actually, Jeff only suggested that Talbot might like to retire, stating he was of retirement age and the district needed to downsize. But in Talbot’s mind, it was a demand, close to a veiled threat. “But how did Howe know?” he wondered. “Unless that arrogant little bitch of a wife of his told him.”
Talbot thought back to his early missteps and began to pace. He remembered back to his early days of teaching when he didn't plan his moves, didn't do his homework, before he learned he had to be careful. He moved from the desk to the chalkboard, clapped two erasers three times, moved back to the window and then back to his desk. “What would she have told him, though?” he said out loud. “Nothing happened…nothing much.”
He thought back 24 years to when Karen was a freshman at Siren High, and he carelessly took an opportunity. He tried, he came so close, but Karen worked her way out of his grasp, pulled her ripped shirt back on and ran out the door. It was about two weeks later that he discovered Karen had a very wealthy and powerful father who asked no questions when she begged to go to a private boarding school in Milwaukee. Karen came back to Burnett County after graduating from Northwestern University and after marrying Jeff Howe, who continued to pursue her even though she was educated over the years in locations that were hundreds of miles away.
The first and last time Frank saw Karen Howe after that incident was at a school board reception for the new superintendent six years ago. She acted as if he didn’t even exist.
“What an arrogant little bitch…”