Seattle.

1980.

POPULAR PROFESSOR, AND SEA HORSE CONSERVATIONIST QUESTIONED IN STUDENT'S DISAPPEARANCE. So screamed the front page headlines of the April 3rd edition of the Seattle Sound newspaper. Heralding the proclamation, it quickly flew off the stands at all its local delivery points.

Broadcasted for all the world to hear, it appeared, on all the local television and radio stations, as well, the news traveled faster than greased lightning, and roared louder than booming thunder.

Professor Robert Dungston had led several expeditions for the Foundation For The Ethical Treatment Of Sea Horses to study the habitat of the four varieties of these gentle creatures that make their homes in the Pacific Ocean.

Most of the time they went off without any hitches. He would escort his colleagues, and several advanced students, onto the university's trolling vessel, the Pygmy Satomi, that was named for the world's smallest species of sea horses. And, they would sail out to the site he had been exploring for eight years.

In the blue waters, they would conduct a series of experiments and studies, then return. In all the years of making these journeys no glitches had ever occurred, at least, none on the scale he now found himself wrapped up in.

After having spent six excruciating hours being grilled by the Seattle Police Department's Missing Persons Unit, and publication of these headlines, Professor Dungston felt the weight of the controversy closing in on him from all sides.

His thirteen-year-old son Jonathan, was having problems of his own. Ones he knew would soon compact once the phone call was made. He just sat on the edge of his chair, stewing.

The white haired Resource Officer shot him a cat-eating-canary glance and dialed the number off Jonathan's school record. He seemed to take a special delight in his task at hand. Jonathan knew what the fall-out of this call would be.

The telephone on the other end rang three times. Maybe it would not be answered. The Resource Officer looked over at Jonathan again. He slowly twirled the cap of his pen around in his lips.

On the fifth ring the call was finally answered. It was Velma Dungston, Jonathan's mother, who picked the phone up at the busy Pediatric Ward nursing station. What the Resource Officer told her could not be true. Her son had been arrested.

"You can collect him in the Resource Office at Seahawk Middle School," she was told, "he's been charged with felonious assault on a school official."

"What on earth!" Velma Dungston about screamed the words loud enough for the small crowd of doctors, patients, and other nurses gathered on the floor to distinctly hear.

Then, she could not believe the story she was told. Jonathan had never done anything, even remotely close, to what she was hearing the Resource Officer telling her.

Velma Dungston's day definitely was not a good one. First, the circumstances involving her husband had circulated around the hospital like a raging wildfire, in the form of misinformed rumors. Now, this.

A little nip of gin, from the bottle she kept locked away in the bottom drawer of her workstation desk, would soon be calling her name.

She steadied her nerves as best she could, and listened to what the Resource Officer told her landed Jonathan in so much hot water.

As she listened to what O'Malley, the Resource Officer, said to his mother, Jonathan felt the heart and soul inside him fall. However, except for one minor detail, he felt no remorse for what he had done.

In his eyes he was in the right all the way. He had woken up as soon as his alarm clock rang at six o'clock that morning. Made his bed. Taken his shower. Brushed his teeth. Dressed conservatively. Eaten his breakfast, all of it. And, ridden his two-wheeler to school, arriving in plenty of time so as to not be late.

What more could a well behaved boy do?

If only he had not gone to his first period class. He did not like Math any way. But, that was not the issue. Carlton Slater was.

Now, because of a kid who could not keep his otherwise big mouth shut, and mind his own affairs, Teen Court was in Jonathan's near future.

Big and dumb as a lad can come, Carlton Slater was a known troublemaker, and a bully. His only purpose in attending school, it seemed, was to create problems with other students. Even the teachers, who encountered him daily, had difficulties handling him while he was in their classrooms.

Possessing bad intentions on his mind. Carlton Slater had arrived to Math class a few minutes before the bell. His only desire was to stir up the other students before Jonathan Dungston arrived.

The Seattle Sounds headlines, and the news he heard on the truck radio as his father transported him to school that morning, were all he needed to know.

Miss Cauthen, the 23-year-old, first year teacher of the class had approached the blackboard. Chalk in hand. Awaiting the bell to begin class. As soon as Jonathan entered the classroom Carlton Slater dropped his heaviest artillery.

He coldly glanced at Jonathan, and in a loud voice, asked the students circled around him, "You hear about Dungston's murdering dad? It's all over the news today!"

Of course, that was a comment Jonathan could not let pass by. He stopped before reaching his seat in the back of the room. There, he dropped his backpack full of books and assorted school supplies.

"What's the matter, Dungston?" Carlton Slater continued, staring him down all the while, "You know your old man ain't gonna get away with killing that chick!"

Jonathan did not move. Carlton Slater then added, "Course, from what I hear, the dumbass has done it before, too!"

That flat out lie was more than Jonathan could tolerate, and the fight was on. Carlton Slater had crossed way over the line.

Now, sitting on a chair in the Resource Office, Jonathan uneasily shifted his position. The rest of the story is what landed him in handcuffs.

On the other end of the telephone Velma Dungston listened intently to what she was being told. Hearing, but, at the same time, not wanting this nightmare to continue.

From the far side of the room, where his desk was located, Jonathan bolted across the front of the classroom. In his haste, he inadvertently brushed Miss Cauthen to get to Carlton Slater.

Miss Cauthen ran, in tears, to push the panic button on the wall, summoning help. Jonathan landed a right cross to Carlton Slater's nose. Drawing blood. Two hooks to the midsection doubled the boy over, struggling to breathe, and a second right cross landed flush on his mouth, busting both lips.

Jonathan had never been so angry. And, never been in a fight at school before. It took three teachers, the Principal, and the Resource Officer to subdue him, and restore order to the excited class.

Students were buzzing about the whole confrontation. They had never seen Carlton Slater lose a fight, and there had been many of them. However, it was Jonathan's actions that caused the most comments from them.

Jonathan was escorted out of the classroom, and his backpack retrieved. He was taken to the Resource Office to be held. School rules dictated he, and Carlton Slater, were both to be suspended for fighting.

Because he had accidentally touched Miss Cauthen, and she decided to press charges to make an example out of Jonathan for all other students to learn from, he had been arrested as well.

Velma Dungston, trying hard to fight back her tears, hung up the phone. She grabbed her purse and hastily retreated off her assigned floor. She found the nearest elevator and entered it. She pressed a button, sending it down four levels to the parking garage. She climbed into her Acura and raced to the school. She would call her husband enroute.

Upon being notified of the fight involving their precious, little, innocent boy Carlton Slater, his parents threatened to sue the school for all the pain, suffering, and medical expenses he had experienced at the hands of this hideous monster known as Jonathan Dungston.

They were also pleased as punch with the fact he had been arrested, going as far as to make the comment, "Like father, like son. The apple never falls far from the tree. Now the two common criminals can share the same jail cell. Where they belong!"

Sitting in the cafeteria, more playing with his food than eating any of the flavorless grub, Kyle Jenner was not a happy camper. He was boiling over the fact the whole episode happened involving Jonathan. And plotting...plotting his retaliation.

Quiet, reserved, and studious, Kyle Jenner did not like injustices. Especially when they involved his very best friend.

On the way to Seahawk Middle School, through heavy traffic, Velma Dungston downed a pint from the bottle she kept hidden under her front seat, to calm her shaking nerves. Jonathan's bad day had only begun.

That she vowed, menacingly fuming, "You just wait until I get my hands on you, Young Man! You just wait!"




@October 16, 2015 by Brett Matthew West
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