| General Fiction posted March 6, 2024 | Chapters: |
...19 20 -21- 22... 
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Time to start over
A chapter in the book What We See
What We See - Chapters 17 & 18
by Jim Wile
| Background A high school teacher wrongly accused of sexual assault reinvents his life. |
Recap of Chapter 16: Alan goes home after a long night at the hospital. When he is sure Ginnie is home from working the night shift, he calls her to tell Tommy not to come in until the afternoon because he wants to get some sleep. She tells him that he won’t be back and that she found out last night they were living next door to a child molester. She had been talking to the nurse, who overheard Tina say, “The kicking killed our baby Mr. Phelps,” and misinterpreted this remark.
Alan is distraught and gets very angry when Ginnie then tells him he’s probably inventing a big lie to talk his way out of it. He then explains exactly what happened, and she doesn’t believe it but prefers to believe the gossip. Alan tells her to call Tina’s mother to verify his story, and he hangs up on her.
A few days later, Tommy is back at work and tells Alan that his mother wants to talk to him later.
Chapter 17
Dr. Gwen: Next is Alan from Mason, Indiana. Welcome to The Dr. Gwen Stewart Program, Alan.
Me: Hi, Dr. Gwen. I listen to your program often while I’m at work and love it.
Dr. Gwen: Thank you. What do you do, Alan?
Me: I own my own electrical equipment repair shop.
Dr. Gwen: The other day, my stand mixer stopped working. Should I get it fixed or buy a new one?
Me: I always believe in fixing things rather than throwing them away and buying new, as long as the repair won’t be more expensive than a new one.
Dr. Gwen: That philosophy keeps you in business, right? Keeps me in business too. What can I help you fix today, Alan?
Me: A lady I know keeps getting the wrong impression about me and later realizes she is wrong. This evening, she wants to come and apologize for her latest misunderstanding, and I’m not sure how I should respond.
Dr. Gwen: Is there any truth to the things she worries about with you?
Me: Absolutely none. She’s just too quick to judge me.
Dr. Gwen: Give me an example.
Me: She thought I was a child molester and possibly a killer. It was based solely on gossip she’d heard about me. The gossiper overheard a conversation and completely misinterpreted it and told this woman about it. And she believed it.
Dr. Gwen: Okay. Why do you think she doesn’t trust you?
Me: I honestly don’t know. I haven’t known her that long. I heard her son say to her, ‘You always think everyone’s a bad guy,’ so maybe it’s not just me. But I really like this woman, except for the mistrust.
Dr. Gwen: Why?
Me: She seems like a good person. She’s a great mother. She’s compassionate, thoughtful, likes baseball… I just really like her and would like to get to know her better, and her son is great. Should I give her another chance or just forget about her?
Dr. Gwen: I thought you liked to fix things, Alan, instead of throwing them away and buying new? Why do you think she has trust issues?
Me: I don’t know for sure. She mentioned something about her first husband being a drunk and getting killed after smashing into a tree.
Dr. Gwen: Well, that helps explain it. There’s probably more to it than that. Here’s what I would do. If you really want to pursue this relationship, you need to ask her tonight, when she comes to apologize for this latest misunderstanding, exactly why she has these trust issues. If they seem like legitimate reasons, then I would give her another chance. If they seem frivolous and petty, or she won’t tell you, she may not be the woman you think she is, and you might consider discarding her and getting a new model. Good luck, Alan.
Dr. Gwen: Now we have Mary from Hoboken, New Jersey. Hi, Mary. Welcome to The Dr. Gwen Stewart Program…
Chapter 18
“Alan, this is Ginnie. I was wondering if I could come over and talk to you if you aren’t busy. Would you have some time now?”
“Yes. I locked up the front door. Why don’t you come to the back door?”
“Okay. See you soon.”
She came over in five minutes, carrying a tray with what looked like two pieces of pie on it. I invited her in when she knocked on the backdoor.
“Let me take that from you. Hmm, what do we have here?” It looked like a slice of peach pie and a slice of pie that was dark brown or black in color, both the top crust and the filling.
“Yours is peach. Mine’s crow.”
I couldn’t keep the corners of my mouth from rising up into a partial smile.
“You were right about the crow. I called Susanna Cassidy like you suggested and asked her the question you suggested. I’ve come to apologize—again—for jumping to another wrong conclusion. I know what I said was very hurtful and completely unjustified, and I take full responsibility for it. I won’t blame my friend who told me the gossip. It was my choice to believe it. I am so very sorry, Alan, for not trusting you and for believing what she said about you. You can’t imagine how embarrassed I am, and I would understand if you can’t forgive me for it, and I won’t bother you again.”
She was so sad and contrite, standing there like that, that I actually felt sorry for her for putting herself in such a position as having to beg me for my forgiveness.
“I’m just curious as to why you thought the way you did about me. Why the distrust when I’ve never actually done anything wrong to make you doubt me?”
“Could we sit down? This may take a while.”
“Sure.” We each pulled out a kitchen chair and sat down at the table.
“Alright. As Tommy mumbled ‘You always think everyone’s a bad guy,’ that first night we met, he was right. My first inclination is to not trust people I don’t know. And I still don’t know you very well. What I know, I really like, but it’s a fear of the unknown that gets me.”
“And why do you think that is? Have you always been this way?”
“No. As a young kid, I was just like most young kids; I trusted adults—until they proved they weren’t to be trusted. My father was one such man. He was very sweet to me, but he ended up disappointing me in so many ways. When I got older and started playing softball, he would always promise to come watch me play, but he never did. Not once. He cheated on my mom too. He was a salesman, and he traveled a lot, sometimes on extended trips. He was gone about half the time. Turns out he had another family in the next state, and he would split his time between us. His other family, including his kids by the other woman, knew about us, but we never knew about them until my mother discovered it one day. She threw him out.
“After that, she divorced him, and he moved in with the other family and completely forgot about me. I never got a birthday card again after that, and he never again acknowledged me in any way. Didn’t come to graduation, doesn’t know about Tommy, nothing. I used to write to him, but he didn’t write back. It’s like I never existed for him. Do you know how hard that is?”
“I can imagine. That’s awful.”
“And then there was my husband. Tommy was not the easiest baby. He had colic and cried a lot the first few months. His father was easily frustrated and couldn’t take the noise, so he began to go out drinking with his work buddies after work to delay coming home as long as he could. Things weren’t going so well for him at work either. At first, he would stop at the bar a couple times a week, then it grew to every day after work. He would stagger in at 6:00 or 7:00 each evening and demand his dinner. With taking care of a crying baby, it wasn’t always ready right when he got home. I never quite knew when that would be anyway. He began to get abusive toward me and even shook Tommy a few times when he wouldn’t stop crying. By the time Tommy grew out of it, my husband was already a raging alcoholic. Then, when Tommy was three, he didn’t come home one night. I got a visit from the cops, who told me he’d smashed into a tree and died at the scene. It’s terrible, but I felt more relief than anything else.
“There was another boyfriend once who also let me down. I guess that’s why I have trust issues when it comes to men.” She paused for a few seconds. “And now, I finally meet a good one, and I push him away.” She choked that last part out and began crying then.
I stood up and walked over to her chair and looked down at her. She stood up too, and I folded her into my arms and started patting her back as she began sobbing in my arms. Her whole body was shaking.
After a while, between sobs, she managed to say, “I hate this about myself. I don’t want to be like this.”
She continued to sob for another minute while I held her. Gradually, the sobs began slowing down and finally stopped.
I released her then and got her a box of tissues, and she wiped her tears and blew her nose.
“Feels good to get that out, doesn’t it?” I said to her.
“It helps.”
“Now I want to tell you about what’s been going on in my life for the past few months and lay it all out for you so there’ll be no secrets between us anymore.”
We sat back down. I began with the day Tina came to my house, and over the next ten minutes, I related the entire story to her. Toward the end, as I got to the part about my phone call to her in which she said Tommy wouldn’t be working for me anymore and told me why, I began getting choked up, and a tear or two rolled down my face. “Look at me now. We’re both a mess,” I said, and the two of us chuckled wryly.
“I can see why you wouldn’t have wanted to tell me about any of this sooner, particularly until you found out what was behind it all. I may not have believed you because I didn’t know you that well.”
“Yes, it ate at me not telling you anything about it, but you’re right. I wasn’t sure you’d believe me until you got to know me way better.”
“So, should I call you David now or Alan?”
“We’re both used to Alan, so why don’t you keep calling me that?”
“What are we gonna do now, Alan?”
“Why don’t we just begin trusting each other and play it by ear? And we’ll just let whatever happens happen.”
“I like that.”
“So, are we going to eat this pie? You don’t have to eat yours. It looks disgusting. I’ll share mine with you.”
“No, that’s okay. It’s only a combination of food colors to make brown and black. It’s just peach pie like yours. I see you’ve got a microwave. Do you have any vanilla ice cream?”
“You bet.”
 Recognized |
CHARACTERS
David (later Alan) Phelps: The narrator of the story. He is a 28-year-old high school physics and natural science teacher in Grantham, Indiana in 1985.
Earl Pinkham: The principal of Grove Park High School where David teaches
Suzie Cassidy: The school secretary and mother of Tina Cassidy
Tina Cassidy: A 16-year-old high school sophomore in David Phelps's class
Bobby Harken: David's friend and fellow teacher
Archie: David's orange tabby cat
Tommy Boardman: Alan's 12-year-old next door neighbor. He is dyslexic like Alan.
Ginnie Boardman: Tommy's mother. She is 30 years old and is an ICU nurse.
Artie Intintoli: Tommy's friend who also lives on Loser St.
Ida Beeman: Alan's first customer. She is a nice old lady who lives on Loser Street.
Tony Armand: Tina Cassidy's boyfriend and the father of her baby. He is a star football player at Grove Park High.
Pays
one point
and 2 member cents. David (later Alan) Phelps: The narrator of the story. He is a 28-year-old high school physics and natural science teacher in Grantham, Indiana in 1985.
Earl Pinkham: The principal of Grove Park High School where David teaches
Suzie Cassidy: The school secretary and mother of Tina Cassidy
Tina Cassidy: A 16-year-old high school sophomore in David Phelps's class
Bobby Harken: David's friend and fellow teacher
Archie: David's orange tabby cat
Tommy Boardman: Alan's 12-year-old next door neighbor. He is dyslexic like Alan.
Ginnie Boardman: Tommy's mother. She is 30 years old and is an ICU nurse.
Artie Intintoli: Tommy's friend who also lives on Loser St.
Ida Beeman: Alan's first customer. She is a nice old lady who lives on Loser Street.
Tony Armand: Tina Cassidy's boyfriend and the father of her baby. He is a star football player at Grove Park High.
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