Читать книгу Miss Liz's Passion - Sherryl Woods, Sherryl Woods - Страница 7

The bite mark was an angry red, only one shade darker than Teri Lynn’s face as she howled at the top of her lungs and clutched her injured arm. Breathless from streaking across the grassy playground to break up the fight, Liz Gentry knelt between the crying girl and her eight-year-old tormentor.

“Kevin, what is the meaning of this?” Liz demanded as she wiped away Teri Lynn’s tears with a lace-edged, lavender-scented handkerchief.

The towheaded boy she addressed stared sullenly at the ground, scuffing the toe of his sneaker back and forth in the dirt. She put a firm hand on his chin and forced him to meet her gaze. “Kevin?”

She sighed as he remained obstinately silent.

“He bit me, Mrs. Gentry. For no reason, he just bit me,” Teri Lynn said between sobs.

“Did not,” Kevin muttered defiantly.

“Did, too,” Teri Lynn insisted with a sniff as she inched closer to Liz’s side.

“Kevin, if you didn’t do it, who did?” Liz asked impatiently, then sighed again.

Of course, Kevin had done it. She’d seen him herself. One minute he and Teri Lynn had been tossing a ball back and forth on the playground. Seconds later he had flown at her in a rage. Half a dozen shocked classmates had stared on silently, while others, seemingly immune to Kevin’s displays of temper, continued with their noisy games.

So much for her hopes for an uneventful recess, she thought as she comforted Teri Lynn. Thanks to Kevin, at the rate the school year was going, she would have had a quieter time of it in the Marines.

As the bell rang ending recess, she surveyed the combatants. Both of them had cuts and scrapes, but that bite mark on Teri Lynn’s arm was the worst injury.

“Okay, we won’t argue about it now. Teri Lynn, I’ll take you to the school nurse as soon as I get the rest of the class inside. Kevin, you and I will discuss this after school. In the meantime, you will go to the principal’s office and wait for me.”

Her tone left no room for argument. Not that Kevin would have given her one. He simply nodded as he always did. Inside the building, as she watched, he walked down the deserted hall and turned into the office. She knew from experience she would find him there at the end of the school day, sitting on a bench, his expression stoic. Only the telltale traces of tears on his cheeks ever offered any indication that he’d found the recurring incidents of misbehavior or the punishment upsetting.

The last hours of school dragged on interminably. She tried to listen as the students read their English assignments aloud, but she couldn’t get her mind off Kevin. Despite his troublesome behavior, something about the child’s lost, world-weary expression tugged at her heart. She cared about all of her students. She loved the challenge of making them respond, of making learning exciting for them. With Kevin the challenge had been doubled because her usual methods had failed so miserably. Whether it was her own ego or Kevin’s apparent need, he had gotten to her in a way that none of the other students had.

But how on earth was she going to handle this ongoing behavior problem? No matter how compassionately she felt toward Kevin, his conduct had to be corrected. There was a fight or a temper tantrum, or a sulking retreat almost every day. The child clearly needed help, more help than she could possibly offer him in a room crowded with thirty-five energetic third-graders.

It was only the first month of school and already she had repeatedly sent notes home to his father, who had sole custody for reasons not made clear in the file. No mention was made of the mother. In her first letter to Todd Lewis she had explained Kevin’s behavior problems in depth, detailing her suspicions about the cause and requesting a meeting to discuss solutions. The second note and the third had been a little more impatient, a little more concise. Admittedly, the last one had been barely polite.

Todd Lewis had yet to call, much less appear, which told her quite a lot about the man’s indifference to his son’s wellbeing and left her thoroughly frustrated. Reaching him by phone had been no more successful. With an increasing sense of urgency, she had left at least half a dozen messages on his home answering machine in the last two days. If he had a business number, or cell phone number, she couldn’t find it. The emergency number in the file had turned out to belong to a neighbor, who looked out for Kevin after school. Liz had been unwilling to draw the woman into the midst of the problem. She had asked her only to relay a message asking Todd Lewis to call. The woman had agreed readily enough, but admitted she rarely saw him.

Liz resolved to try just once more to arrange a meeting. If the man failed to show up yet again, she would have to resort to stronger action. There were authorities she could ask to intercede. Filled with indignation on Kevin’s behalf, she dismissed the class, asked the teacher next door to get her students to their buses, then wrote the harshest note yet, hoping to shake Todd Lewis from his parental apathy.

When she’d finished the note, she went to get Kevin. As she’d expected, he was sitting on the wooden bench in the office, his short legs sticking out in front of him, his hands folded in his lap. He didn’t even look up as she sat down beside him. She was torn between wanting to hug him or shake him. He looked as though he desperately needed a hug.

“Okay, Kevin. Let’s talk about this for a few minutes before you catch the school bus. Tell me what happened out there this afternoon,” she began quietly.

He shook his head, his expression hopeless. That look broke her heart. No child of eight should have eyes that devoid of hope.

“Why not?” she probed.

“Doesn’t matter,” he said in a voice so soft she had to lean down to hear him.

“It does matter. Fighting is no way to settle an argument.”

“Teri Lynn started it,” he said with more spirit.

“Kevin, I was watching. I saw you knock her down.”

“Only because—”

“Because what?”

His chin set stubbornly.

“Kevin?”

“She said something,” he mumbled.

“What?”

He shook his head again.

“Kevin, this is not the first fight you’ve had. I can’t help, if you won’t tell me what the fights are about. I don’t want to recommend that you be suspended, but that’s where you’re heading.”

Blue eyes shimmering with tears blinked wide at her stern tone. Liz felt her heart constrict. If only she could get to the bottom of this. Her voice softened. “Honey, please, what did she say that made you so mad?”

His lower lip trembled. Liz waited as he started to speak, swallowed hard, then tried again. “She-she…said…”

“Come on, sweetheart. You can tell me.”

His shoulders slumped and tears spilled down his cheeks. “She said I was a…a d-dummy.”

Liz felt the sting of salty tears in her own eyes at the note of despair she heard in his voice. He believed it! This bright, outgoing child believed he was a failure because of the cruel taunts of a classmate and her own inability to find teaching methods that would reach him.

Kevin needed diagnostic testing. He needed special classes. Most of all, he needed a father who loved him enough to see that the answers to his learning dilemma were found before Kevin withdrew into himself entirely. Damn Todd Lewis!

More than ever, she was glad that this latest note had been worded so strongly. The man’s indifference was appalling. Furious, she decided if he failed to respond this time it would be the last. She renewed her vow to set in motion whatever regulations were necessary to see that Kevin got the help that would enable him to learn. More important, she would see that something was done to restore his rapidly deteriorating self-esteem.

“Kevin, you are not a dummy,” she said with every ounce of conviction she could manage. “You are a very smart little boy.”

He regarded her doubtfully. “But you’re always correcting me. That’s why Teri Lynn said it. She says you don’t like me, that nobody likes me because I always make mistakes.” He sighed heavily. “And I do. I can’t get nothing right.”

“Anything,” she corrected instinctively, then could have bitten her tongue. Why just this once couldn’t she have let a mistake slide? “Honey, I do like you. I know this is hard for you to understand, but I believe that the reason you make mistakes is not because you’re not very, very smart, but because you have something called a learning disability. That’s what I want to talk to your father about. I think we should do some tests to find out why it’s so hard for you to learn.”

“Is that what the note says?” he asked, fingering the sealed envelope suspiciously.

She considered the note’s indignant comments. For a fleeting instant she was almost grateful that Kevin had difficulty reading. “More or less,” she said wryly. “Kevin, is there some reason your father hasn’t been able to come in when I’ve asked him to?”

He stared at the floor and shook his head. “I don’t know. He’s pretty busy, I guess.” There was an obvious note of pride in his voice as he added, “He works real hard.”

“You just tell him that I expect to see him tomorrow. Okay?”

“I’ll tell him.” He frowned. “You’re not gonna be mad at him for not coming before, are you?”

Liz struggled to keep her tone impassive. “Don’t worry about that. We’ll work things out and once your dad and I talk I’m sure things will get better for you. Now run along before you miss the early bus again today.”

He was on his feet at once, his natural exuberance restored.

“Kevin!”

He glanced back at her. “We’ll discuss your apology to Teri Lynn in the morning.”

He nodded once, shot her a cheerful grin and was out the door, leaving her to ponder exactly how many years she would spend in jail if she tarred and feathered Todd Lewis.