Max was startled as Liz came screaming from the cave...but the reason was obvious. Her hair appeared to be crawling with small scorpions and others were on her neck and the top of her chest.
Her problems had been made worse by her choice of clothes. The camisole top was actually quite attractive though Liz had her doubts about wearing it this morning. It was sort of revealing...although in truth, Liz had very little to reveal in any case. The problem was that it was sort of sheer, and she was afraid that it would cling to her body and attract attention.
Liz and Maria had both been there five weeks ago when Pamela Troy had worn the lycra tank top to the mall....and drawn comments from the passing sixth grade boys that clearly would not have been allowable in school under Principal Umbrage's discipline plan about sexual harassment...something about her getting bit on the chest by a mosquito...twice. Neither Maria nor Liz had as much to show as Pamela, but they nonetheless had talked their mothers into buying what was once known as a training bra but now was called a bralet. It was sort of like a small softly padded sports bra, but it smoothed out the small bumps under the cami top enough that they were at least indistinct, if not unnoticeable.
She'd worn a light shirt over the camisole top in the morning...but with the heat of the sun in the field and the desert wind being blocked by the sides of the arroyo, that shirt now was tied by its arms around her waist. Yes, the bralet had ensured the modesty of a young lady still smarting from her best friend kidding her about the comment she'd made in anger...where she'd said that it was OK with her if Max touched her...but it also funneled the mother scorpion and a half dozen of its offspring down onto her chest and held them there...all of them stinging like fury.
Max didn't think much...mostly he just reacted. He started pulling scorpions off Liz...everywhere he could see them. They stung his hands, of course, but his body reacted quickly to the neurotoxic venom. He had a huge advantage over Liz, as his body did molecular manipulation of the potent toxins...breaking them down in seconds into harmless amino acids. The stings were painful but brief...not at all like what Liz was going through.
For Liz it was much worse..as the mother and the six smaller scorpions flailed away with their telsons driving their stingers time and again into her tender flesh. With multiple envenomations in a small victim, pulmonary edema and respiratory arrest is very possible, and although not there yet...Liz was clearly headed in that direction and might possibly die before she got to a hospital.
Max was by her side as she started to pass out....from the pain...from the shock...from the horror of what was happening to her. She seemed feverish...having trouble breathing. Max pulled her out of the sun...back into the shade of the overhang. He didn't know what to do until he saw a small scorpion poke its head above the bra...saw the clearly abnormal movement under the cami itself. Quickly his hand went under her shirt and reached up under the bra...sweeping the seven arachnids off her chest, but even as he did so he felt the swelling in the soft tissue....no, not THAT swelling...well maybe that swelling too actually, but the one that most concerned him was the angry swelling over her sternum...the swelling right under a copper and silver pendant she was wearing under her shirt.
Max knew he could heal her...but to do that he'd have to connect with her...and if he did that she'd know. He'd do that, he knew, if he had to...realizing he'd lose her as a friend forever...realizing that he and Isabel would then have to run...hide...Isabel would lose the home she had. But perhaps there was another way. He could manipulate the venom in the skin of her chest...neutralize it...without really connecting. If he did that she might recover quickly...before things got worse. He placed his hand over her sternum and concentrated...feeling with his mind for the small pockets of venom....breaking them down while leaving the rest alone, just as his own body had broken down the venom in his own stings.
Liz wasn't sure where she was at first...it seemed like she was underwater....looking out through some membrane in a pod of some kind at the interior of a cave. Wherever it was, the mental pain was crushing...she had never been so lonely. It was like she spent years of isolation..never knowing a mother's touch...never knowing her father's voice...just floating. The loneliness was crushing...mind numbing....like all the love in the world had been sucked out of it.
And then she felt her body and her mind moving toward the warmth...and it could not have been more different. Her breathing came easier..the pain was gone from her chest...and in it's place a kind of glow that warmed her to the core...just the opposite of her previous sensation of isolation...a glow of concern and loving that in it's own way ..took her breath away almost as much as the stings had.
As she opened her eyes she saw the amber eyes looking back at her...the concern obvious on his face...the desperate fear for her welfare that radiated from him ...the concern that she seemed to feel to her very soul.
She was lost in those eyes momentarily...nothing mattered to her but those eyes...not the strange memory of floating in the pod...not the sting from her finger...not the rocks under her back....not even that his hand was under her bra...causing a feeling like a warm glow between her two small small breast buds.
She was lost in the moment as she looked into those eyes...as she somehow seemed to feel just how badly her being hurt had scared Max...and how much he really did care for her. Of course, the moment couldn't last. It was shattered by the shout from the entrance to the cave.....
"MR. EVANS," said Principal Umbrage. "STOP THAT AT ONCE!"
Falling (AU, M/L Teen) Complete
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“MR. EVANS..WHAT ON EARTH DO YOU THINK YOU ARE DOING?”
The word’s echoed in Max’s mind. While Max was very intelligent, in all fairness, his social skills were more than a little suspect…having only come out of the pod four years previously. What’s more, he didn’t precisely know the answer. A lot of the powers that he and Isabel had were kind of intuitive. He’d been reading up on such things…trying to understand better what really made his powers work…but he was pretty sure that telling Principal Umbrage, ‘I’m using telekinetic energy at the molecular and sub-molecular to hydrolyze potent scorpion neurotoxins into harmless amino acids…..,’ well, that was unlikely to get him out of trouble, even if he really was sure that was what he was doing. Besides....he was now done.
But even with his paltry social skills…he knew he was in trouble. So instead he just quickly pulled his hand away from Liz…as if he had just been burned, and said…
“Nothing…”
Liz felt the warmth leave as he took his hand away…and was amazed at the sudden sense of loss. It wasn’t just that Liz blushed easily if you teased her…but she was indeed modest. She felt in her mind that she should be shocked or embarrassed by what Max had done….even though she was grateful to him for getting the scorpions away…but what shocked her was the sense of loss….the sense that having him close had somehow been…..right. But her social skills were somewhat better than his, and she quickly turned to the problem at hand.
“I got scorpions on me…in my hair…down my….my neck. They were stinging me…I think I passed out. Max just got them out.”
“Scorpions?” the principal asked skeptically. “I don’t see any scorpions.”
And she probably didn’t either Liz decided, realizing the principal was still standing in the bright desert sunshine, her eyes not yet adapted to the shadow of the shallow cavern. “Well they were here…and Max saved me from them. I must have been stung a dozen times.”
“Humphhh!” said Umbrage. “You two come with me…NOW!”
Five minutes later the schoolbus driver had three passengers…carrying them back to Monterrery Elementary school.
The nine mile trip took less than twenty minutes…mostly over the highway. Max was sat down on a bench in the administrative office with orders not to move. Liz was trotted down to the nurse’s office by the principal.
“This young lady claims she was stung repeatedly along the neck and chest by scorpions,” Umbrage told Mrs. Reynolds…the school nurse. “Perhaps you’d better check her over.”
“I’d better give her parents a call…get their permission…,” said Mrs. Reynolds.
“Oh, I would think that this might be an emergency…if she really did get stung that many times. Why don’t you examine her first. I’ll call her mother and get her to come down here to pick her up… Bring her up to the office when you are done. ”
”You’re probably right,” said the nurse…, “…no sense taking chances. Come in to the exam room, Liz…”
”Really…I feel alright now…”
”Well,” said the nurse, “…let’s do it anyway...just to be sure.”
A stern-faced principal watched then go in to the room. ‘Indeed…,’ she thought to herself. ‘No sense taking chances…’
With that she turned on her heels to go back to the office and contact the parents of both children.
The word’s echoed in Max’s mind. While Max was very intelligent, in all fairness, his social skills were more than a little suspect…having only come out of the pod four years previously. What’s more, he didn’t precisely know the answer. A lot of the powers that he and Isabel had were kind of intuitive. He’d been reading up on such things…trying to understand better what really made his powers work…but he was pretty sure that telling Principal Umbrage, ‘I’m using telekinetic energy at the molecular and sub-molecular to hydrolyze potent scorpion neurotoxins into harmless amino acids…..,’ well, that was unlikely to get him out of trouble, even if he really was sure that was what he was doing. Besides....he was now done.
But even with his paltry social skills…he knew he was in trouble. So instead he just quickly pulled his hand away from Liz…as if he had just been burned, and said…
“Nothing…”
Liz felt the warmth leave as he took his hand away…and was amazed at the sudden sense of loss. It wasn’t just that Liz blushed easily if you teased her…but she was indeed modest. She felt in her mind that she should be shocked or embarrassed by what Max had done….even though she was grateful to him for getting the scorpions away…but what shocked her was the sense of loss….the sense that having him close had somehow been…..right. But her social skills were somewhat better than his, and she quickly turned to the problem at hand.
“I got scorpions on me…in my hair…down my….my neck. They were stinging me…I think I passed out. Max just got them out.”
“Scorpions?” the principal asked skeptically. “I don’t see any scorpions.”
And she probably didn’t either Liz decided, realizing the principal was still standing in the bright desert sunshine, her eyes not yet adapted to the shadow of the shallow cavern. “Well they were here…and Max saved me from them. I must have been stung a dozen times.”
“Humphhh!” said Umbrage. “You two come with me…NOW!”
Five minutes later the schoolbus driver had three passengers…carrying them back to Monterrery Elementary school.
The nine mile trip took less than twenty minutes…mostly over the highway. Max was sat down on a bench in the administrative office with orders not to move. Liz was trotted down to the nurse’s office by the principal.
“This young lady claims she was stung repeatedly along the neck and chest by scorpions,” Umbrage told Mrs. Reynolds…the school nurse. “Perhaps you’d better check her over.”
“I’d better give her parents a call…get their permission…,” said Mrs. Reynolds.
“Oh, I would think that this might be an emergency…if she really did get stung that many times. Why don’t you examine her first. I’ll call her mother and get her to come down here to pick her up… Bring her up to the office when you are done. ”
”You’re probably right,” said the nurse…, “…no sense taking chances. Come in to the exam room, Liz…”
”Really…I feel alright now…”
”Well,” said the nurse, “…let’s do it anyway...just to be sure.”
A stern-faced principal watched then go in to the room. ‘Indeed…,’ she thought to herself. ‘No sense taking chances…’
With that she turned on her heels to go back to the office and contact the parents of both children.
It was 2:15 on a Friday afternoon in the Monterrey Elementary school principal’s office and the principal was not a happy camper. Max and Liz were sitting on benches in the outer office…on opposite sides of the room, as Nurse Reynolds and Mary Umbrage were discussing things in the inner office.
“WHAT DO YOU MEAN, you can’t tell if she was stung or not?” demanded the principal.
Janet Reynolds looked at the principal with thinly disguised hostility. The aging of the baby boomers had created a nursing shortage in the United States and for that reason nurses were hired centrally by the district. Janet had worked for Chaves county Public Health Department for twenty-five years while raising three kids of her own. She’d retired from the county health department three years ago when her last child had gone off to college, and now worked for the school district like her husband…an English teacher up at West Roswell High. Janet didn’t need this job and both she and the school district knew it. She’d taken it to avoid sitting alone in an empty house while her husband was at work, but it gave her the same holidays off and summer vacation that her husband had so they could go visit the kids…and their one (so far) grandchild. No, the principal hadn’t hired her, and she couldn’t fire her either…and both women knew that as well. Of all the people who worked at the elementary school, Janet Reynold was the one who had the least to fear from the principal's displeasure. And Janet did not appreciate it when Mary Umbrage shouted at her like she did at the second graders…
The truth was, this was only the most recent in a series of things that irritated Janet Reynolds about Mary Umbrage. The most serious was her continuing quest to get more money for the school budget from the state by having kids declared ‘special needs’ kids. It seemed to Janet that the principal would try to browbeat the parents of many of the younger kids into taking their kids to pediatricians to have them diagnosed as attention deficit disorder. It wasn’t that Nurse Reynolds didn’t believe in the disorder….she certainly did. One of her own kids had ADD. But too often it seemed like Mary Umbrage would take issue with second graders just being second graders and bully the parents into taking their children to a few busy “specialist” pediatricians in town….doctors who had scant time to do any real assessment, but would pretty much accept the opinion of the principal…as relayed through the parents, that the child had a behavioral or learning problem, and the child would wind up on Ritalin as a special needs child. Janet felt guilty dispensing these medications to these children, but once they were so labeled…it was difficult to get anyone to reassess them. Even worse, by making them ‘special needs’ that removed them from the standardized testing that would have detected real learning problems early, and gotten the students remedial help if they were truly having trouble.
But now it was even worse…the principal was pushing for her to make an assessment that Janet knew she was unqualified to make, either by training or experience, and Janet was balking.
“I MEAN,” Nurse Reynolds started….just to let the principal know that she could yell too, “..that Miss Parker says she was stung multiple times by scorpions, she describes being stung accurately….but except for her right index finger…I can’t say that I see any evidence of that. But I’m no expert on scorpion stings…I was never an emergency room nurse…. From what I read in my Merck’s Manual, different people react differently. Miss Parker seems like a totally reasonable young lady…and if she says she was stung by scorpions…well I certainly would be the last to call her a liar.”
“Well I can tell you, Mrs. Reynolds….I was there. There WERE NO SCORPIONS…and unless you can tell me that you found POSITIVE EVIDENCE of scorpion bites…”
“That would be stings…”
“WHATEVER…unless you can show positive evidence the girl was attacked by scorpions…then she IS a liar...and the only one she was attacked by was Max Evans.”
“I explained that what you are asking is something the textbooks say you just can’t do. If she had obvious welts from the stings…it’s easy to prove a positive, but she certainly could have been stung…and stung repeatedly…with no clinical evidence. You can’t prove a negative….it just isn’t possible to say medically that she WAS NOT stung by scorpions.”
“It’s easy enough for me to say that, Mrs. Reynolds…..I was there. And apparently I’ll have to deal with this with scant help from the School Nurse. I would assume you have …something…to do back in your office…and so do I.”
As soon as the nurse had left, Umbrage hit her intercom to talk to the administrative secretary.
“Mrs. Garcia….Mrs. Evans and Mrs. Parker will be coming in the office shortly….send them back to my office as soon as they arrive. I want to talk to them immediately…before they talk to their children if possible.”
“Yes, Principal Umbrage..”
“WHAT DO YOU MEAN, you can’t tell if she was stung or not?” demanded the principal.
Janet Reynolds looked at the principal with thinly disguised hostility. The aging of the baby boomers had created a nursing shortage in the United States and for that reason nurses were hired centrally by the district. Janet had worked for Chaves county Public Health Department for twenty-five years while raising three kids of her own. She’d retired from the county health department three years ago when her last child had gone off to college, and now worked for the school district like her husband…an English teacher up at West Roswell High. Janet didn’t need this job and both she and the school district knew it. She’d taken it to avoid sitting alone in an empty house while her husband was at work, but it gave her the same holidays off and summer vacation that her husband had so they could go visit the kids…and their one (so far) grandchild. No, the principal hadn’t hired her, and she couldn’t fire her either…and both women knew that as well. Of all the people who worked at the elementary school, Janet Reynold was the one who had the least to fear from the principal's displeasure. And Janet did not appreciate it when Mary Umbrage shouted at her like she did at the second graders…
The truth was, this was only the most recent in a series of things that irritated Janet Reynolds about Mary Umbrage. The most serious was her continuing quest to get more money for the school budget from the state by having kids declared ‘special needs’ kids. It seemed to Janet that the principal would try to browbeat the parents of many of the younger kids into taking their kids to pediatricians to have them diagnosed as attention deficit disorder. It wasn’t that Nurse Reynolds didn’t believe in the disorder….she certainly did. One of her own kids had ADD. But too often it seemed like Mary Umbrage would take issue with second graders just being second graders and bully the parents into taking their children to a few busy “specialist” pediatricians in town….doctors who had scant time to do any real assessment, but would pretty much accept the opinion of the principal…as relayed through the parents, that the child had a behavioral or learning problem, and the child would wind up on Ritalin as a special needs child. Janet felt guilty dispensing these medications to these children, but once they were so labeled…it was difficult to get anyone to reassess them. Even worse, by making them ‘special needs’ that removed them from the standardized testing that would have detected real learning problems early, and gotten the students remedial help if they were truly having trouble.
But now it was even worse…the principal was pushing for her to make an assessment that Janet knew she was unqualified to make, either by training or experience, and Janet was balking.
“I MEAN,” Nurse Reynolds started….just to let the principal know that she could yell too, “..that Miss Parker says she was stung multiple times by scorpions, she describes being stung accurately….but except for her right index finger…I can’t say that I see any evidence of that. But I’m no expert on scorpion stings…I was never an emergency room nurse…. From what I read in my Merck’s Manual, different people react differently. Miss Parker seems like a totally reasonable young lady…and if she says she was stung by scorpions…well I certainly would be the last to call her a liar.”
“Well I can tell you, Mrs. Reynolds….I was there. There WERE NO SCORPIONS…and unless you can tell me that you found POSITIVE EVIDENCE of scorpion bites…”
“That would be stings…”
“WHATEVER…unless you can show positive evidence the girl was attacked by scorpions…then she IS a liar...and the only one she was attacked by was Max Evans.”
“I explained that what you are asking is something the textbooks say you just can’t do. If she had obvious welts from the stings…it’s easy to prove a positive, but she certainly could have been stung…and stung repeatedly…with no clinical evidence. You can’t prove a negative….it just isn’t possible to say medically that she WAS NOT stung by scorpions.”
“It’s easy enough for me to say that, Mrs. Reynolds…..I was there. And apparently I’ll have to deal with this with scant help from the School Nurse. I would assume you have …something…to do back in your office…and so do I.”
As soon as the nurse had left, Umbrage hit her intercom to talk to the administrative secretary.
“Mrs. Garcia….Mrs. Evans and Mrs. Parker will be coming in the office shortly….send them back to my office as soon as they arrive. I want to talk to them immediately…before they talk to their children if possible.”
“Yes, Principal Umbrage..”
2:20 PM Friday The Monterrey Elementary School parking lot.
There were two spaces marked 'visitor' up in the front row. Diane noticed as she wheeled in to the nearest, that Nancy was parking in the other. As they got out of their cars their eyes met...and they rapidly walked over to the other.
"Call from the principal?"
"Uh-huh. You too?"
"I'm afraid so..what did she tell you?"
"That Liz had been assaulted again...that it was witnessed this time. That Liz had been...well...molested."
Diane sighed deeply. "Well that would figure, I guess. She told me that Max had been caught with his hand up a girl's blouse."
"Diane...this is probably just a false alarm...just like the first time. Max is .....well....shy. I can't really imagine him doing anything like that. And I can't believe he would ever do anything to hurt Lizzy."
Diane's face brightened a little. Of course, Nancy was undoubtedly right. Max was anything but assertive socially. It did seem far-fetched. But she also knew that she never had really gotten through to the boy. He was her son.....she knew that to the core of her being...but she also knew that he'd never really accepted her as his mom. Sure, he lived in the house...he was polite enough...and in his own way a very nice person. But he was doing it for Isabel, she was pretty sure. There was a bond between those two...almost as if they could read one another's minds sometimes. A bond like he'd never had with Diane or Philip.
It seemed silly to complain...he really was a great kid, but somehow Diane knew in her heart that it was like when she hugged him...there was never anyone hugging back. Whatever it was that was keeping him at a distance...had always kept him at a distance...well...it almost seemed that Liz Parker was able to cut through that barrier. Even Izzy noticed...and Diane wasn't sure if it was jealousy or what...but she couldn't help but think about what Isabel had said....that Max didn't just like Liz...but that he NEEDED her. Diane had thought that was just jealousy...it wasn't like Isabel had a lot of friends...she'd thought perhaps Izzy had just wanted to keep her brother for herself....but what if he Isabel was right? What if he really WAS obsessed by the young girl? I mean...Max...the boy who never engaged in life...but he'd risked his own life at least twice to save hers....Max who kept some secret locked away...she wasn't sure just what...but never sharing it with his parents...never really even accepting them as his parents...? Did Max harbor some secret obsession? Or did Liz really have some power over him....did she do something that somehow forced him to change from the shy kid he always was? All these things tormented Diane Evans as she went with her friend through the door into the administrative office.
Diane and Nancy saw their children...sitting at opposite ends of the room, each looking chastened. But before they could go to them, Mrs. Garcia noticed them and said, "The Principal said to go right in. She's waiting for you."
There were two spaces marked 'visitor' up in the front row. Diane noticed as she wheeled in to the nearest, that Nancy was parking in the other. As they got out of their cars their eyes met...and they rapidly walked over to the other.
"Call from the principal?"
"Uh-huh. You too?"
"I'm afraid so..what did she tell you?"
"That Liz had been assaulted again...that it was witnessed this time. That Liz had been...well...molested."
Diane sighed deeply. "Well that would figure, I guess. She told me that Max had been caught with his hand up a girl's blouse."
"Diane...this is probably just a false alarm...just like the first time. Max is .....well....shy. I can't really imagine him doing anything like that. And I can't believe he would ever do anything to hurt Lizzy."
Diane's face brightened a little. Of course, Nancy was undoubtedly right. Max was anything but assertive socially. It did seem far-fetched. But she also knew that she never had really gotten through to the boy. He was her son.....she knew that to the core of her being...but she also knew that he'd never really accepted her as his mom. Sure, he lived in the house...he was polite enough...and in his own way a very nice person. But he was doing it for Isabel, she was pretty sure. There was a bond between those two...almost as if they could read one another's minds sometimes. A bond like he'd never had with Diane or Philip.
It seemed silly to complain...he really was a great kid, but somehow Diane knew in her heart that it was like when she hugged him...there was never anyone hugging back. Whatever it was that was keeping him at a distance...had always kept him at a distance...well...it almost seemed that Liz Parker was able to cut through that barrier. Even Izzy noticed...and Diane wasn't sure if it was jealousy or what...but she couldn't help but think about what Isabel had said....that Max didn't just like Liz...but that he NEEDED her. Diane had thought that was just jealousy...it wasn't like Isabel had a lot of friends...she'd thought perhaps Izzy had just wanted to keep her brother for herself....but what if he Isabel was right? What if he really WAS obsessed by the young girl? I mean...Max...the boy who never engaged in life...but he'd risked his own life at least twice to save hers....Max who kept some secret locked away...she wasn't sure just what...but never sharing it with his parents...never really even accepting them as his parents...? Did Max harbor some secret obsession? Or did Liz really have some power over him....did she do something that somehow forced him to change from the shy kid he always was? All these things tormented Diane Evans as she went with her friend through the door into the administrative office.
Diane and Nancy saw their children...sitting at opposite ends of the room, each looking chastened. But before they could go to them, Mrs. Garcia noticed them and said, "The Principal said to go right in. She's waiting for you."
Mrs. Umbrage walked quickly from her desk and met the two parents almost before the door was closed behind them. "Mrs. Parker...Mrs. Evans...I'm so sorry we have to get together again under such circumstances....this really isn't pleasant for any of us. The important thing though, is to sit down and decide where we go from here....what's in the best interests of Miss Parker...and of course little Maxwell as well."
Nancy looked at Diane...and found her looking back at her. This really didn't seem like the same Mrs. Umbrage hardly. This one was empathetic...supportive. Already they felt more comfortable. Perhaps they'd just caught the woman on a bad day before. As they sat in the chairs before her desk she asked them, "Would either of you like a cup of tea. This discussion needn't be lengthy...but it's important we take our time with this...for the sake of the children."
"Mrs. Umbrage...," started Nancy.
"Mrs. Parker..," the Principal interrupted, holding up her hand, "...I want to reassure you...I was there myself...monitoring the first field trip of the new program...and when I heard you daughter's screams I was there almost immediately...before it went TOO far at least," she said with a reassuring pat to Nancy's hand. "In fact...the biggest problem with Liz actually came later...when I talked to her about what happened....and how it happened."
"What exactly did happen?" asked Diane.
"Well, as you might be aware...of course, you would be aware....you signed the consent slips...your children were on a field trip today...part of a new program for children particularly interested in science. Mr. Raff, the science teacher at Poco Mesa always has the children pair up...as a safety precaution. Max and Liz...well, they chose each other. And they were doing well...Mr. Raff was lavish with his praise of both of them. They found two quite lovely fossil specimens...but after those two were excavated....well, they were slightly ahead of the other children...and they went around a bend in the creek bed. They had been out of sight...oh...it couldn't have been much more than ten minutes...when I heard Liz screaming."
"Screaming?"
"My very thought...I ran toward the screams immediately of course...and that's when I saw...well, Elizabeth was laying down on the floor of an area where the creek had sort of undercut its bank...sort of a shallow cave really. She had the most wide-eyed look...frightened..lonely...almost terror-stricken and I'm afraid your son, Mrs. Evans...well, he had his hand up her shirt...and appeared to be fondling her..."
"Fondling...?"
"Oh yes....there was really no question...I mean, perhaps the cami top was an immodest choice...but there was no question where the hand was..under the top...under the bra. I saw it quite clearly."
"Max had his hand...?"
"Oh yes...I am afraid I screamed at him...asking him what he thought he was doing...he just pulled his hand out and said, 'nothing'....as if he really didn't consider that any big thing. Now...I'm reasonably sure that's as far as it went....the school nurse indicated that she didn't believe it had gone any further...you could I suppose have Elizabeth examined...but I really think that she is basically...well, intact."
"Did Lizzy say what happened? How this happened?" asked a clearly concerned Nancy Parker.
Umbrage sighed and shook her head. "Well, that's really the part that bothers me the most, Mrs. Parker. Elizabeth concocted this totally cockamamie story.....that she had been bitten by scorpions and Max's hand was just up there getting these scorpions out....except of course for the FACT that there were no scorpions...nor could the school nurse find any evidence of scorpion bites on her chest when she checked Elizabeth over, after we got them back to the school here."
"But...but why would Lizzy LIE about something like that..?" Nancy asked, shaking her head in bewilderment.
"Mrs. Parker...what do you know about...codependency?" asked the principal.
Nancy looked at Diane...and found her looking back at her. This really didn't seem like the same Mrs. Umbrage hardly. This one was empathetic...supportive. Already they felt more comfortable. Perhaps they'd just caught the woman on a bad day before. As they sat in the chairs before her desk she asked them, "Would either of you like a cup of tea. This discussion needn't be lengthy...but it's important we take our time with this...for the sake of the children."
"Mrs. Umbrage...," started Nancy.
"Mrs. Parker..," the Principal interrupted, holding up her hand, "...I want to reassure you...I was there myself...monitoring the first field trip of the new program...and when I heard you daughter's screams I was there almost immediately...before it went TOO far at least," she said with a reassuring pat to Nancy's hand. "In fact...the biggest problem with Liz actually came later...when I talked to her about what happened....and how it happened."
"What exactly did happen?" asked Diane.
"Well, as you might be aware...of course, you would be aware....you signed the consent slips...your children were on a field trip today...part of a new program for children particularly interested in science. Mr. Raff, the science teacher at Poco Mesa always has the children pair up...as a safety precaution. Max and Liz...well, they chose each other. And they were doing well...Mr. Raff was lavish with his praise of both of them. They found two quite lovely fossil specimens...but after those two were excavated....well, they were slightly ahead of the other children...and they went around a bend in the creek bed. They had been out of sight...oh...it couldn't have been much more than ten minutes...when I heard Liz screaming."
"Screaming?"
"My very thought...I ran toward the screams immediately of course...and that's when I saw...well, Elizabeth was laying down on the floor of an area where the creek had sort of undercut its bank...sort of a shallow cave really. She had the most wide-eyed look...frightened..lonely...almost terror-stricken and I'm afraid your son, Mrs. Evans...well, he had his hand up her shirt...and appeared to be fondling her..."
"Fondling...?"
"Oh yes....there was really no question...I mean, perhaps the cami top was an immodest choice...but there was no question where the hand was..under the top...under the bra. I saw it quite clearly."
"Max had his hand...?"
"Oh yes...I am afraid I screamed at him...asking him what he thought he was doing...he just pulled his hand out and said, 'nothing'....as if he really didn't consider that any big thing. Now...I'm reasonably sure that's as far as it went....the school nurse indicated that she didn't believe it had gone any further...you could I suppose have Elizabeth examined...but I really think that she is basically...well, intact."
"Did Lizzy say what happened? How this happened?" asked a clearly concerned Nancy Parker.
Umbrage sighed and shook her head. "Well, that's really the part that bothers me the most, Mrs. Parker. Elizabeth concocted this totally cockamamie story.....that she had been bitten by scorpions and Max's hand was just up there getting these scorpions out....except of course for the FACT that there were no scorpions...nor could the school nurse find any evidence of scorpion bites on her chest when she checked Elizabeth over, after we got them back to the school here."
"But...but why would Lizzy LIE about something like that..?" Nancy asked, shaking her head in bewilderment.
"Mrs. Parker...what do you know about...codependency?" asked the principal.
“I’m not sure I understand….codependency? How would that apply to the children?” asked Nancy.
“If you look at the records of the two children,” started the Principal, “…you’ll see that Liz is somewhat of a perfectionist…the Perfect Liz Parker… her past teachers have called her. Max…well….Max is immature…..barely socialized enough to get by. Oh, I’m not really blaming you Mrs. Evans…neither child was in much of a state when you adopted them…I’m sure you did your best the two years you home-schooled them…but both started way behind.”
“What has that to do with this ....codependency, you talk about?”” asked Nancy.
Umbrage turned toward Nancy and said, “I’m aware of what happened with Max and the dog…before school started. Liz…being Liz…clearly believes she owes something to Max. Max doesn’t really have the social skills to be in regular school…that’s why things like this happen with him. When he got in that fight…got suspended….it was Liz that came up with the excuse for him. It was she that came in and got herself suspended being disrespectful…that wasn’t at all like her. And later on…well, we can’t prove it of course, but the students all believe that the boy’s broken arm on the jungle gym was NOT an accident.
The first time he was rough with her…when she claimed he caught her as she fell….those were her words….Max didn’t say it happened that way until she thought of it. And even now…today. Max made no excuses for what I caught him doing. It was Liz who came up with this incredible story. I suppose Max now will agree with it….like with the others… but he’s not thinking up these things…she is.
No, I’m afraid what’s going on is fairly classic. Liz has somehow … 'bonded’.. to Maxwell. She believes she owes him so much that she is making excuses for him….it’s a rather classic situation for that. But by doing that….she’s enabling him….allowing his bad behavior to continue….in effect encouraging it. Even when he hurts her….it doesn’t matter to her…she just covers for him, like a wife covering her bruises…or the bruises of the children, when there is violence in a family. As long as she keeps making these excuses for his actions…well I’m afraid they will just keep getting worse. We must separate them.”
"Ms. Umbrage...before we talk about doing anything of the kind...I think we need to hear from the children...both of them," said Diane.
"Very well..." said Umbrage. She pushed the button on her intercom and said, "Mrs. Garcia....please send in Max Evans...."
“If you look at the records of the two children,” started the Principal, “…you’ll see that Liz is somewhat of a perfectionist…the Perfect Liz Parker… her past teachers have called her. Max…well….Max is immature…..barely socialized enough to get by. Oh, I’m not really blaming you Mrs. Evans…neither child was in much of a state when you adopted them…I’m sure you did your best the two years you home-schooled them…but both started way behind.”
“What has that to do with this ....codependency, you talk about?”” asked Nancy.
Umbrage turned toward Nancy and said, “I’m aware of what happened with Max and the dog…before school started. Liz…being Liz…clearly believes she owes something to Max. Max doesn’t really have the social skills to be in regular school…that’s why things like this happen with him. When he got in that fight…got suspended….it was Liz that came up with the excuse for him. It was she that came in and got herself suspended being disrespectful…that wasn’t at all like her. And later on…well, we can’t prove it of course, but the students all believe that the boy’s broken arm on the jungle gym was NOT an accident.
The first time he was rough with her…when she claimed he caught her as she fell….those were her words….Max didn’t say it happened that way until she thought of it. And even now…today. Max made no excuses for what I caught him doing. It was Liz who came up with this incredible story. I suppose Max now will agree with it….like with the others… but he’s not thinking up these things…she is.
No, I’m afraid what’s going on is fairly classic. Liz has somehow … 'bonded’.. to Maxwell. She believes she owes him so much that she is making excuses for him….it’s a rather classic situation for that. But by doing that….she’s enabling him….allowing his bad behavior to continue….in effect encouraging it. Even when he hurts her….it doesn’t matter to her…she just covers for him, like a wife covering her bruises…or the bruises of the children, when there is violence in a family. As long as she keeps making these excuses for his actions…well I’m afraid they will just keep getting worse. We must separate them.”
"Ms. Umbrage...before we talk about doing anything of the kind...I think we need to hear from the children...both of them," said Diane.
"Very well..." said Umbrage. She pushed the button on her intercom and said, "Mrs. Garcia....please send in Max Evans...."
Last edited by greywolf on Tue Aug 07, 2007 11:57 am, edited 1 time in total.
Max was quite uncomfortable as Mrs. Garcia ushered him into the office...and the three pairs of eyes looking at him as he entered did nothing to make him even less uncomfortable...not even the eyes of the woman who considered herself his mother. And the real problem hadn't even started yet. Max was pretty sure the principal really hadn't seen anything....by anything he meant the glow his hand would have made in the dim light of the shallow cave in the creek bed. He hadn't connected to Liz...not really....although somehow he seemed to have a memory of her in his mind from when she was very young...in a dress with cupcakes on it. But he hadn't really connected...he was sure of that. She might have a few memories like that...disjointed...but that would be all. And there was no way anyone could know....at least not anyone except Liz...just how badly Liz had been stung. And even Liz...well. she'd seemed almost disabled by the pain...Max was pretty sure she wouldn't remember the warmth of his hand as he'd manipulated the venom under her skin...and even if she did...she probably wouldn't link it to...well, to him being 'not of this Earth.' But sooner or later he was going to have to face Isabel...and there was little doubt she would put the pieces together. So after this terror...he had yet another one to face....and Izzy was going to give him Hell....he had no doubt about that.
"Please have a seat over here, Max..." said the principal, indicating a small seat next to her..where his face could be seen by all three women.
"Now Max," said Umbrage in a syrupy voice, "...we need to talk to you about what happened on the field trip...about when I came up to the front of the cave and saw you with Liz. She was laying on the ground crying...and you had your hand up her shirt...isn't that right Max?"
Max really was uncomfortable with the eyes of the women staring down at him intently. He tried to speak...his mouth suddenly as dry as the desert outside. Finally he just dumbly nodded an affirmative.
"So what were you doing there, Max...with you hand under Liz's shirt...under her bra...?"
He forced the word from his dry mouth the fear growing in him, "N..n...n..nothing," Had the principal seen something after all? He watched the women's eyes go back and forth to each other...wondering if they were somehow connected...and if so what thoughts they were sharing.
"Miss Parker claimed that she was bit there by scorpions, Max...but the nurse didn't find scorpion bites. Can you explain that Max?"
Well, yeah he could....but he sure wasn't going to. Not trusting himself to talk, Max took a sudden and intense interest in the tops of his sneakers as he shook his head slowly to indicate a negative. This wasn't going well...and if Mommy told Isabel....
"I'm sorry, Max. We didn't hear that. Could you speak up just a little? Could you explain why there were no bites?"
"Uh-uh..."
"So as I understand the situation Max, first I heard Liz screaming...when I come there I find her laying on her back in the cave crying with your hand under her blouse...and there are no scorpion bites....what should I think happened, Max?"
Max knew what happened...but right now, he didn't care what she thought...just as long as she didn't think that HE had made the scorpion stings go away... Max was totally flustered...looking for anything to say that wouldn't somehow incriminate him...
"Stings...."
"I beg your pardon?"
"Not bites....Liz said they were stings..."
"Oh LIZ said they were STINGS...thank you for correcting that, Max. Perhaps we ought to have you step out and have Liz come in...and she can tell us the STORY herself."
Max's command of English didn't really include sarcasm, ...Diane didn't teach him that. He missed the emphasis on the word 'story,' but he knew Liz was better with words than he was...even if he was better at word problems. And he wanted off the hotseat. He trusted Liz...trusted her more than any other human...maybe she could somehow get this situation under control, while he decided how to handle Isabel. Max nodded his head dumbly and started for the door. Diane stopped him.
"Max...you and I will talk about this later....at considerable length. But before you go...perhaps Mrs. Parker would like to talk to you...ask you any questions she might have."
"Max...do you know why Liz would lie to us about the scorpion stings?"
Max was puzzled. Mrs. Parker was Liz's mom. She had to know that Liz didn't lie...not ever. He shook his head.
"So when Ms. Umbrage found you...were there really scorpions under Liz's blouse?"
"No...," he replied, "I'd gotten them all out..."
A look went between Diane and Nancy and then Diane said, "Go back and sit on the bench, Max. We'll talk about this later."
Umbrage punched the intercom button again and said, "Mrs. Garcia....please bring Miss Parker in to see us..."
"Please have a seat over here, Max..." said the principal, indicating a small seat next to her..where his face could be seen by all three women.
"Now Max," said Umbrage in a syrupy voice, "...we need to talk to you about what happened on the field trip...about when I came up to the front of the cave and saw you with Liz. She was laying on the ground crying...and you had your hand up her shirt...isn't that right Max?"
Max really was uncomfortable with the eyes of the women staring down at him intently. He tried to speak...his mouth suddenly as dry as the desert outside. Finally he just dumbly nodded an affirmative.
"So what were you doing there, Max...with you hand under Liz's shirt...under her bra...?"
He forced the word from his dry mouth the fear growing in him, "N..n...n..nothing," Had the principal seen something after all? He watched the women's eyes go back and forth to each other...wondering if they were somehow connected...and if so what thoughts they were sharing.
"Miss Parker claimed that she was bit there by scorpions, Max...but the nurse didn't find scorpion bites. Can you explain that Max?"
Well, yeah he could....but he sure wasn't going to. Not trusting himself to talk, Max took a sudden and intense interest in the tops of his sneakers as he shook his head slowly to indicate a negative. This wasn't going well...and if Mommy told Isabel....
"I'm sorry, Max. We didn't hear that. Could you speak up just a little? Could you explain why there were no bites?"
"Uh-uh..."
"So as I understand the situation Max, first I heard Liz screaming...when I come there I find her laying on her back in the cave crying with your hand under her blouse...and there are no scorpion bites....what should I think happened, Max?"
Max knew what happened...but right now, he didn't care what she thought...just as long as she didn't think that HE had made the scorpion stings go away... Max was totally flustered...looking for anything to say that wouldn't somehow incriminate him...
"Stings...."
"I beg your pardon?"
"Not bites....Liz said they were stings..."
"Oh LIZ said they were STINGS...thank you for correcting that, Max. Perhaps we ought to have you step out and have Liz come in...and she can tell us the STORY herself."
Max's command of English didn't really include sarcasm, ...Diane didn't teach him that. He missed the emphasis on the word 'story,' but he knew Liz was better with words than he was...even if he was better at word problems. And he wanted off the hotseat. He trusted Liz...trusted her more than any other human...maybe she could somehow get this situation under control, while he decided how to handle Isabel. Max nodded his head dumbly and started for the door. Diane stopped him.
"Max...you and I will talk about this later....at considerable length. But before you go...perhaps Mrs. Parker would like to talk to you...ask you any questions she might have."
"Max...do you know why Liz would lie to us about the scorpion stings?"
Max was puzzled. Mrs. Parker was Liz's mom. She had to know that Liz didn't lie...not ever. He shook his head.
"So when Ms. Umbrage found you...were there really scorpions under Liz's blouse?"
"No...," he replied, "I'd gotten them all out..."
A look went between Diane and Nancy and then Diane said, "Go back and sit on the bench, Max. We'll talk about this later."
Umbrage punched the intercom button again and said, "Mrs. Garcia....please bring Miss Parker in to see us..."
When Liz was called in to the office…and saw her mother there…she thought at last the principal would listen to reason. Max had done rather a lot for her in the last year or so…and the woman had been treating her friend pretty shabbily. But Liz probably couldn’t have been more wrong. Ms. Umbrage seemed to take control of the whole meeting….motioning her to sit in the small chair by her desk.
Liz looked up at her mother’s face for encouragement…but her mom’s face seemed unreadable. Max’s mom’s face wasn’t much better. But it was the principal who started the inquisition.
“Miss Parker…How did you meet Max Evans?”
Liz was a little taken aback…that really wasn’t the question she was expecting…or even the event she was expecting to talk about.
“Uh…out here on the playground…before school one summer ago. He saved me from a big dog…”
“So it would be fair to say that you are grateful to Max?”
“Well…yes, I guess so…”
“And so when Max attacked Billy Souto and got suspended…is that why you were mad at me? Disrespectful to me?”
“No. I said what I did because what you did was unfair…”
“Did Billy Souto attack Max? Did he do anything physical to Max, before Max attacked him.”
”No…but Billy attacked me…he hit me in the stomach…”
“But no one saw that…..did they? Why is it that only you noticed that?”
”Max noticed it….that’s why he did what he did…he was trying to keep me from being hurt.”
“So…you say you were hurt…..but then you blame it on Billy. And when Billy is hurt….well, that’s Billy’s fault too. It certainly seems like there is a lot of violence going on around Max…but apparently you are sure none of it is his fault.”
“It was Billy’s fault….Max didn’t start anything…”
“So when Billy broke his wrist….was that really an accident?”
Liz knew it wasn’t. Heck, she’d practically told her own father that Max had planned it… and she’d hinted it to her mother…
“Whatever happened to Billy…he had it coming,” said Liz.
“So I guess the common denominator here, Liz,…is that it’s never Max’s fault. Whatever violence he’s involved in…somehow you are there…somehow you see something that no one else sees…and somehow it’s always someone else’s fault.”
Liz just looked up in the principal’s eyes, trying not to glare…or to say what she was really thinking.
“Well apparently there was more violence today, Liz. I heard you screaming myself. I don’t suppose that was Max’s fault either.”
”That had nothing to do with Max…”
“How could it have been anyone else? There was no one else there?”
“I told you already…I was being stung by scorpions.”
“And why is it that I saw no scorpions when I got there?”
“Well..they WERE there. Maybe if you’d come earlier…before Max got them all off me…or if you’d come into the cave where the trilobite was…”
“And this trilobite….was it biting you as well??” Ms. Umbrage asked sarcastically.
“Principal…,” protested Diane..”You really should let her explain…”
“Very well, Miss Parker. Tell us about these scorpions and trilobites that were attacking you…”
“The trilobite wasn’t attacking me…it was a fossil. I found it in the ceiling of the cave. When I tried to loosen it…something stung my hand. Then the scorpions dropped from the ceiling…,” Liz shuddered involuntarily as she remembered the rain of stinging vicious arachnids. “That’s when I started screaming…when they started stinging me…”
“and then…?”
And to tell the truth, Liz wasn’t really sure what happened then. She’d run from the cave…remembered Max picking the scorpions off her with his own bare hands…remembered almost passing out from the pain. She remembered a cave with some machinery…a different cave…but she had to be just imagining that…. Then not much of anything until she’d awoke with the gentle warmth of his hand on her chest.
“Max was grabbing all the scorpions and tossing them away…then I sort of blacked out…That’s all I really remember.”
“Well do you recall me coming up and shouting to Mr. Evans to stop doing what he was doing to you?”
Liz nodded, remembering the moment…remembering the warmth on her chest…the warmth that even now she felt she could feel…if she really tried. The warmth and the sense that she was safe…and loved.
“So you do admit that Mr. Evans had his hand under your blouse?”
Liz nodded again, remembering, still puzzled why that didn’t bother her more. She was a modest person…and her mother had given her the lecture about good and bad touching…but there was nothing about the touching Max was doing that had seemed bad…or evil….almost as if nothing that happened between them could ever really be …..wrong.
“Oh yes, I recall…what you said... ‘Max can touch me all he wants…’,” said Umbrage.
The words startled Liz. She hadn’t meant them that way…but still the memory of that warmth haunted her… his touch hadn’t felt wrong…She shook her head to clear her mind….
“It was because of the scorpions…” she finally said.
“So were there scorpions under your bra…as well as under your blouse?”
Liz looked up at Ms. Umbrage angrily. “Yes…there HAD been. They were stinging me there when I fell down…almost passed out. Max must have gotten them all out.”
“Oh yes…those STINGS Miss Parker. Can you tell me why it is that the nurse didn’t find any stings on your chest? Perhaps you could show us a sting now?”
Liz held up her hand, showing the small area of swelling on her index finger.
“I wasn’t accusing you and Mr. Evans of holding hands, Miss Parker. Surely if you had dozens of scorpions biting your neck and chest….surely there must be some evidence. Doesn’t that seem reasonable to you?”
Liz knew there was no pain…no swelling…she’d seen that in the nurse’s office. But she had been stung…the pain had been too intense to have imagined it.
“I don’t know anything about scorpion stings….what they are supposed to look like. I just know that I was stung…and ..,” and as the memory came to her…the memory of the promise he’d made to her that day in the swimming pool,…she finished, “..and that Max would never ever harm me…or let anything bad happen to me.”
In the sudden silence that followed that statement, Diane Evans looked soberly at Liz, and then said, “Liz…Just because Max helped you with the dog…and helped pull you from in front of the car that day…you really aren’t doing him any favors if you don’t tell us the truth about what happened. You understand that, don’t you?”
Liz looked up in disbelief. She had sensed that there was something that wasn’t quite right between Max and his mother….that somehow he kept her at arm’s length. But she had to know…didn’t she? To know how nice her own son was? Liz wasn’t sure if the tears were of anger or sadness as they rolled down her cheeks. “Max isn’t like that….you should know…you’re his mother. Max is kind and good….and, “she sobbed openly, “…he would never hurt me.”
The words stung Diane. She loved Max…had from the very first…but she knew in her heart that it wasn’t the same with him as it was with Isabel.
Max somehow had always held himself at arm’s length….like there was some gulf between the two of them that could never quite be bridged…that the house they lived in could never really be his home…like there was….some secret that he could never tell her.
Still, it hurt for a fourth grade girl to appear to rub it in….to make the point that somehow her and Max had never really had the relationship that she wanted….that Max had never really been able to be fully open with his own mother. And maybe that’s why she started to rationalize…to make herself believe it was Max’s classmate that was too close…too obsessed with Max, rather than admit her own failings as a mother.
“Liz…it’s not that Max is bad…it’s that sometimes he just might not completely understand what he should and shouldn’t do…..so it’s important we make him understand… not let him keep doing something that might be wrong. That’s all.”
Nancy was surprised by Liz’s outburst…and her harsh words towards Diane. Neither was really like ‘the perfect Miss Parker’ she knew. Nancy wasn’t convinced that anything all that bad had happened….but it did seem like Liz was overly emotional when it came to Max…and that could be a problem. Liz was normally such a modest kid….but she didn’t even seem upset that Max had touched her. The memory replayed itself in her mind, when Liz had said that Max could touch her all he wanted. Nancy didn’t believe she’d meant it…not really. But perhaps Max did. And if he had…and she’d screamed and the principal seen them…maybe it was just her own embarrassment…or maybe she was covering for Max….it really didn’t matter. It would have to be dealt with.
“Liz…I think you owe Mrs. Evans an apology. You don’t talk like that to adults…not any adults.”
Liz looked from her mother to Diane Evans. She hadn’t meant it to sound like that…it was just all so unfair. How could anyone think that Max might be bad? Still, she was Max’s mother… “I’m sorry Mrs. Evans….”
“Liz,” said Nancy Parker, “I’d like you to go sit back on the bench where you were. I think Ms. Umbrage and Mrs. Evans and I need to discuss things for a few minutes..”
“Yes, Mommy…”
As the door closed, Nancy Parker shook her head. “I have to admit…I don’t exactly know what to think. This is just so unlike Lizzy…”
“That’s precisely the point….that’s what codependency is….acting out of character to enable the bad behavior of another,” said Mary Umbrage.
“Well, we really haven’t established what that bad behavior was though…,” said Nancy.
“Nancy…,” said Diane. “If Max really was….well…fondling Liz…there really is no excuse for it. He has his problems socially….I won’t deny that….but he knows better than that.”
”I know Diane, ….we can’t let this go….we have to do something….but I can’t help but think that Liz may have contributed to the problem….Max might have misunderstood her statement about it being OK to touch her. I just can’t picture Max taking advantage of Liz…”
Diane knew the problem…they’d watched through a window and seen their children almost die…Liz because she’d been thrown off the bike into traffic…Max because he’d run into the street to rescue her. Neither was really objective…and this was all happening so fast.
“Perhaps we ought to get together tomorrow….after we’ve both talked it over with our husbands…and the kids….decide where to go from here,” said Diane.
Nancy nodded her head. “I think that would be a great idea. Let me talk to Liz…and to Jeff….why don’t you come down to the restaurant for breakfast, just you and Philip. Maybe we can decide what to do then….”
“I am afraid this also involves the school,” said Ms. Umbrage. There have been several serious violations….improper touching…lying…I am suspending both of the students for a week. I’ll be talking to the district psychologist…but I’m afraid that both children will require extensive counseling before we can allow them back into the school….and I believe your son will likely be required to attend a different school as well,” she said to Diane. “It’s just not safe to have those two together in the same school.”
Both Diane and Nancy looked disturbed. “I think we should hold off on that…” said Nancy.
“Yes…until we’ve at least had the weekend to talk this over…” agreed Diane.
As her phone started to ring, Ms Umbrage shook her head. “I’m afraid my decision is final,” she said as she answered it.
“A call from Mr. Raff on the schoolbus,” said Mrs. Garcia.
“Excuse me for a moment,” said the principal, before speaking in the phone.
“Mr Umbrage? Mr. Raff. I just called up to see how the two students are. We’ll be a little late getting back in the bus…and I wanted to make sure they were alright.”
“Don’t worry, Mr. Raff. I’m taking care of them right now…”
“That’s great…when the two students who were on the rim of the arroyo came running to me saying that Liz was being attacked by scorpions, I almost panicked. Without prompt treatment, that can really be serious for a child that size. I’m glad to hear that she’s in good hands..”
“Yes…well…please come see me as soon as the bus is back…we have some issues to discuss…,” she said as she put down the phone.
“Let’s see, now where were we?”
“We wanted to talk to you about putting off your decision on punishing the kids until we’d had more time to talk things over…see if they understand…if they are sorry for what they’ve done…,” said Nancy.
“I’m afraid not. The rules must be enforced. I’ll get written letters out to you on Monday explaining just what you will need to do before your children can be returned to school…Good day Mrs. Parker…Mrs. Evans…”
Liz looked up at her mother’s face for encouragement…but her mom’s face seemed unreadable. Max’s mom’s face wasn’t much better. But it was the principal who started the inquisition.
“Miss Parker…How did you meet Max Evans?”
Liz was a little taken aback…that really wasn’t the question she was expecting…or even the event she was expecting to talk about.
“Uh…out here on the playground…before school one summer ago. He saved me from a big dog…”
“So it would be fair to say that you are grateful to Max?”
“Well…yes, I guess so…”
“And so when Max attacked Billy Souto and got suspended…is that why you were mad at me? Disrespectful to me?”
“No. I said what I did because what you did was unfair…”
“Did Billy Souto attack Max? Did he do anything physical to Max, before Max attacked him.”
”No…but Billy attacked me…he hit me in the stomach…”
“But no one saw that…..did they? Why is it that only you noticed that?”
”Max noticed it….that’s why he did what he did…he was trying to keep me from being hurt.”
“So…you say you were hurt…..but then you blame it on Billy. And when Billy is hurt….well, that’s Billy’s fault too. It certainly seems like there is a lot of violence going on around Max…but apparently you are sure none of it is his fault.”
“It was Billy’s fault….Max didn’t start anything…”
“So when Billy broke his wrist….was that really an accident?”
Liz knew it wasn’t. Heck, she’d practically told her own father that Max had planned it… and she’d hinted it to her mother…
“Whatever happened to Billy…he had it coming,” said Liz.
“So I guess the common denominator here, Liz,…is that it’s never Max’s fault. Whatever violence he’s involved in…somehow you are there…somehow you see something that no one else sees…and somehow it’s always someone else’s fault.”
Liz just looked up in the principal’s eyes, trying not to glare…or to say what she was really thinking.
“Well apparently there was more violence today, Liz. I heard you screaming myself. I don’t suppose that was Max’s fault either.”
”That had nothing to do with Max…”
“How could it have been anyone else? There was no one else there?”
“I told you already…I was being stung by scorpions.”
“And why is it that I saw no scorpions when I got there?”
“Well..they WERE there. Maybe if you’d come earlier…before Max got them all off me…or if you’d come into the cave where the trilobite was…”
“And this trilobite….was it biting you as well??” Ms. Umbrage asked sarcastically.
“Principal…,” protested Diane..”You really should let her explain…”
“Very well, Miss Parker. Tell us about these scorpions and trilobites that were attacking you…”
“The trilobite wasn’t attacking me…it was a fossil. I found it in the ceiling of the cave. When I tried to loosen it…something stung my hand. Then the scorpions dropped from the ceiling…,” Liz shuddered involuntarily as she remembered the rain of stinging vicious arachnids. “That’s when I started screaming…when they started stinging me…”
“and then…?”
And to tell the truth, Liz wasn’t really sure what happened then. She’d run from the cave…remembered Max picking the scorpions off her with his own bare hands…remembered almost passing out from the pain. She remembered a cave with some machinery…a different cave…but she had to be just imagining that…. Then not much of anything until she’d awoke with the gentle warmth of his hand on her chest.
“Max was grabbing all the scorpions and tossing them away…then I sort of blacked out…That’s all I really remember.”
“Well do you recall me coming up and shouting to Mr. Evans to stop doing what he was doing to you?”
Liz nodded, remembering the moment…remembering the warmth on her chest…the warmth that even now she felt she could feel…if she really tried. The warmth and the sense that she was safe…and loved.
“So you do admit that Mr. Evans had his hand under your blouse?”
Liz nodded again, remembering, still puzzled why that didn’t bother her more. She was a modest person…and her mother had given her the lecture about good and bad touching…but there was nothing about the touching Max was doing that had seemed bad…or evil….almost as if nothing that happened between them could ever really be …..wrong.
“Oh yes, I recall…what you said... ‘Max can touch me all he wants…’,” said Umbrage.
The words startled Liz. She hadn’t meant them that way…but still the memory of that warmth haunted her… his touch hadn’t felt wrong…She shook her head to clear her mind….
“It was because of the scorpions…” she finally said.
“So were there scorpions under your bra…as well as under your blouse?”
Liz looked up at Ms. Umbrage angrily. “Yes…there HAD been. They were stinging me there when I fell down…almost passed out. Max must have gotten them all out.”
“Oh yes…those STINGS Miss Parker. Can you tell me why it is that the nurse didn’t find any stings on your chest? Perhaps you could show us a sting now?”
Liz held up her hand, showing the small area of swelling on her index finger.
“I wasn’t accusing you and Mr. Evans of holding hands, Miss Parker. Surely if you had dozens of scorpions biting your neck and chest….surely there must be some evidence. Doesn’t that seem reasonable to you?”
Liz knew there was no pain…no swelling…she’d seen that in the nurse’s office. But she had been stung…the pain had been too intense to have imagined it.
“I don’t know anything about scorpion stings….what they are supposed to look like. I just know that I was stung…and ..,” and as the memory came to her…the memory of the promise he’d made to her that day in the swimming pool,…she finished, “..and that Max would never ever harm me…or let anything bad happen to me.”
In the sudden silence that followed that statement, Diane Evans looked soberly at Liz, and then said, “Liz…Just because Max helped you with the dog…and helped pull you from in front of the car that day…you really aren’t doing him any favors if you don’t tell us the truth about what happened. You understand that, don’t you?”
Liz looked up in disbelief. She had sensed that there was something that wasn’t quite right between Max and his mother….that somehow he kept her at arm’s length. But she had to know…didn’t she? To know how nice her own son was? Liz wasn’t sure if the tears were of anger or sadness as they rolled down her cheeks. “Max isn’t like that….you should know…you’re his mother. Max is kind and good….and, “she sobbed openly, “…he would never hurt me.”
The words stung Diane. She loved Max…had from the very first…but she knew in her heart that it wasn’t the same with him as it was with Isabel.
Max somehow had always held himself at arm’s length….like there was some gulf between the two of them that could never quite be bridged…that the house they lived in could never really be his home…like there was….some secret that he could never tell her.
Still, it hurt for a fourth grade girl to appear to rub it in….to make the point that somehow her and Max had never really had the relationship that she wanted….that Max had never really been able to be fully open with his own mother. And maybe that’s why she started to rationalize…to make herself believe it was Max’s classmate that was too close…too obsessed with Max, rather than admit her own failings as a mother.
“Liz…it’s not that Max is bad…it’s that sometimes he just might not completely understand what he should and shouldn’t do…..so it’s important we make him understand… not let him keep doing something that might be wrong. That’s all.”
Nancy was surprised by Liz’s outburst…and her harsh words towards Diane. Neither was really like ‘the perfect Miss Parker’ she knew. Nancy wasn’t convinced that anything all that bad had happened….but it did seem like Liz was overly emotional when it came to Max…and that could be a problem. Liz was normally such a modest kid….but she didn’t even seem upset that Max had touched her. The memory replayed itself in her mind, when Liz had said that Max could touch her all he wanted. Nancy didn’t believe she’d meant it…not really. But perhaps Max did. And if he had…and she’d screamed and the principal seen them…maybe it was just her own embarrassment…or maybe she was covering for Max….it really didn’t matter. It would have to be dealt with.
“Liz…I think you owe Mrs. Evans an apology. You don’t talk like that to adults…not any adults.”
Liz looked from her mother to Diane Evans. She hadn’t meant it to sound like that…it was just all so unfair. How could anyone think that Max might be bad? Still, she was Max’s mother… “I’m sorry Mrs. Evans….”
“Liz,” said Nancy Parker, “I’d like you to go sit back on the bench where you were. I think Ms. Umbrage and Mrs. Evans and I need to discuss things for a few minutes..”
“Yes, Mommy…”
As the door closed, Nancy Parker shook her head. “I have to admit…I don’t exactly know what to think. This is just so unlike Lizzy…”
“That’s precisely the point….that’s what codependency is….acting out of character to enable the bad behavior of another,” said Mary Umbrage.
“Well, we really haven’t established what that bad behavior was though…,” said Nancy.
“Nancy…,” said Diane. “If Max really was….well…fondling Liz…there really is no excuse for it. He has his problems socially….I won’t deny that….but he knows better than that.”
”I know Diane, ….we can’t let this go….we have to do something….but I can’t help but think that Liz may have contributed to the problem….Max might have misunderstood her statement about it being OK to touch her. I just can’t picture Max taking advantage of Liz…”
Diane knew the problem…they’d watched through a window and seen their children almost die…Liz because she’d been thrown off the bike into traffic…Max because he’d run into the street to rescue her. Neither was really objective…and this was all happening so fast.
“Perhaps we ought to get together tomorrow….after we’ve both talked it over with our husbands…and the kids….decide where to go from here,” said Diane.
Nancy nodded her head. “I think that would be a great idea. Let me talk to Liz…and to Jeff….why don’t you come down to the restaurant for breakfast, just you and Philip. Maybe we can decide what to do then….”
“I am afraid this also involves the school,” said Ms. Umbrage. There have been several serious violations….improper touching…lying…I am suspending both of the students for a week. I’ll be talking to the district psychologist…but I’m afraid that both children will require extensive counseling before we can allow them back into the school….and I believe your son will likely be required to attend a different school as well,” she said to Diane. “It’s just not safe to have those two together in the same school.”
Both Diane and Nancy looked disturbed. “I think we should hold off on that…” said Nancy.
“Yes…until we’ve at least had the weekend to talk this over…” agreed Diane.
As her phone started to ring, Ms Umbrage shook her head. “I’m afraid my decision is final,” she said as she answered it.
“A call from Mr. Raff on the schoolbus,” said Mrs. Garcia.
“Excuse me for a moment,” said the principal, before speaking in the phone.
“Mr Umbrage? Mr. Raff. I just called up to see how the two students are. We’ll be a little late getting back in the bus…and I wanted to make sure they were alright.”
“Don’t worry, Mr. Raff. I’m taking care of them right now…”
“That’s great…when the two students who were on the rim of the arroyo came running to me saying that Liz was being attacked by scorpions, I almost panicked. Without prompt treatment, that can really be serious for a child that size. I’m glad to hear that she’s in good hands..”
“Yes…well…please come see me as soon as the bus is back…we have some issues to discuss…,” she said as she put down the phone.
“Let’s see, now where were we?”
“We wanted to talk to you about putting off your decision on punishing the kids until we’d had more time to talk things over…see if they understand…if they are sorry for what they’ve done…,” said Nancy.
“I’m afraid not. The rules must be enforced. I’ll get written letters out to you on Monday explaining just what you will need to do before your children can be returned to school…Good day Mrs. Parker…Mrs. Evans…”
As Diane and Nancy left the principal’s office they stood side by side as they looked at their children.
“Well,” said Nancy, “…no one ever said that having a child would be easy…or raising them either for that matter.”
“Well I wouldn’t know about the first part…I found mine walking along the road….but I honestly didn’t think fourth grade would be this much of a challenge.”
“Well, see what you can find out tonight and talk it over with Philip. I’ll do the same and talk it over with Jeff. Maybe things will seem a little easier after we’ve all had a night to sleep on it….”
”Yeah…if we can get to sleep that is….”
Nancy went over to the bench Liz was sitting on and told her, “Lizzy…I want you to go get your bicycle and bring it to the parking lot. We’ll put it in the trunk of the car, and you can ride home with me.”
“You don’t need to do that, Mommy. I can ride home…the same as always.”
“No…no you can’t, Lizzy. This isn’t over…you and I still have a lot of issues to talk about…and I’m sure your father is going to want to make his thoughts known on this whole….fiasco. And the last thing we need is for you to be trying to ride your bicycle in traffic while thinking up excuses…”
“Mom…I was telling the truth…”
”We’ll talk about that when we get home..”
Liz was angry…angry that no one believed her…but as she looked at Diane talking to Max…suddenly it was even worse. Max was in just as much trouble as she was….probably more. And all he’d done was help her….
Diane looked down at her son…wondering just what thoughts were going on behind those big brown eyes. Call it a mother’s intuition…call it anything you like…she knew that he’d never really let her in….she wondered if he would ever let her in.
And now this…. She found herself uncomfortable…wondering if what Max was always concealing was part of this. And what exactly was …this?
It was hard to believe that little Max would really…..molest…Liz. Philip had given him ‘the talk’ just as she had given it to Isabel. She’d asked Phil if Max had seemed to understand, and she’d been told he did….academically. He could repeat back the facts, Philip had said, but he did so in a way that made it obvious he really didn’t think any of it applied to him.
But Max was growing up….and so was Liz. Maybe what the young girl had said…about it being OK if he touched her…maybe he had simply misunderstood…. But that didn’t explain the rest…the way he kept her at arm’s length. The way he just never really accepted being a part of the family. ‘Is that why you find it difficult to believe him about this?’ she asked herself. She was a lawyer, and certainly the principal had nothing approaching an airtight case. But the problem was the lies....the lies and the this secret Max had always kept from her. If Liz was ready to lie for him about the stings…and Max was ready to go along with it...to keep secrets…how could they ever really trust them together? Perhaps the principal was right.
Diane got Max and went to the door to Isabel’s room to wait until the bell rang. No sense Izzy taking the bus…besides, it gave her time to think.
Isabel was surprised to find her mother and brother waiting outside the door. “Why are YOU here?”
“Your brother had some problems on the field trip. Nancy Parker and I had to go pick him and Liz up at the principal’s office.”
The thought of Max getting discovered was Isabel’s continuing nightmare.
“What did you DO..”
“Nothing.…”
“Max…I wouldn’t call getting caught with your hand under a girl’s blouse, ‘nothing’.”
“She was stung by scorpions…”
“Well, apparently the school nurse says otherwise…”
Isabel looked at her brother with horror. She had to get him alone and talk. ‘Please don’t let him have healed her…,’ she thought. ‘..because if he did…she must have seen things in the connection…. '
Liz Parker was already called Miss Scientist…if she saw something she didn’t understand she’d never let go….and somehow the girl had such a strange power over Max.
As she looked back in the rear view mirror, Diane saw Isabel looking at her brother. Diane had never seen Izzy look like that before. ‘Maybe Max really is guilty,’ she thought. ‘His sister certainly appears to think so…’
“Well,” said Nancy, “…no one ever said that having a child would be easy…or raising them either for that matter.”
“Well I wouldn’t know about the first part…I found mine walking along the road….but I honestly didn’t think fourth grade would be this much of a challenge.”
“Well, see what you can find out tonight and talk it over with Philip. I’ll do the same and talk it over with Jeff. Maybe things will seem a little easier after we’ve all had a night to sleep on it….”
”Yeah…if we can get to sleep that is….”
Nancy went over to the bench Liz was sitting on and told her, “Lizzy…I want you to go get your bicycle and bring it to the parking lot. We’ll put it in the trunk of the car, and you can ride home with me.”
“You don’t need to do that, Mommy. I can ride home…the same as always.”
“No…no you can’t, Lizzy. This isn’t over…you and I still have a lot of issues to talk about…and I’m sure your father is going to want to make his thoughts known on this whole….fiasco. And the last thing we need is for you to be trying to ride your bicycle in traffic while thinking up excuses…”
“Mom…I was telling the truth…”
”We’ll talk about that when we get home..”
Liz was angry…angry that no one believed her…but as she looked at Diane talking to Max…suddenly it was even worse. Max was in just as much trouble as she was….probably more. And all he’d done was help her….
Diane looked down at her son…wondering just what thoughts were going on behind those big brown eyes. Call it a mother’s intuition…call it anything you like…she knew that he’d never really let her in….she wondered if he would ever let her in.
And now this…. She found herself uncomfortable…wondering if what Max was always concealing was part of this. And what exactly was …this?
It was hard to believe that little Max would really…..molest…Liz. Philip had given him ‘the talk’ just as she had given it to Isabel. She’d asked Phil if Max had seemed to understand, and she’d been told he did….academically. He could repeat back the facts, Philip had said, but he did so in a way that made it obvious he really didn’t think any of it applied to him.
But Max was growing up….and so was Liz. Maybe what the young girl had said…about it being OK if he touched her…maybe he had simply misunderstood…. But that didn’t explain the rest…the way he kept her at arm’s length. The way he just never really accepted being a part of the family. ‘Is that why you find it difficult to believe him about this?’ she asked herself. She was a lawyer, and certainly the principal had nothing approaching an airtight case. But the problem was the lies....the lies and the this secret Max had always kept from her. If Liz was ready to lie for him about the stings…and Max was ready to go along with it...to keep secrets…how could they ever really trust them together? Perhaps the principal was right.
Diane got Max and went to the door to Isabel’s room to wait until the bell rang. No sense Izzy taking the bus…besides, it gave her time to think.
Isabel was surprised to find her mother and brother waiting outside the door. “Why are YOU here?”
“Your brother had some problems on the field trip. Nancy Parker and I had to go pick him and Liz up at the principal’s office.”
The thought of Max getting discovered was Isabel’s continuing nightmare.
“What did you DO..”
“Nothing.…”
“Max…I wouldn’t call getting caught with your hand under a girl’s blouse, ‘nothing’.”
“She was stung by scorpions…”
“Well, apparently the school nurse says otherwise…”
Isabel looked at her brother with horror. She had to get him alone and talk. ‘Please don’t let him have healed her…,’ she thought. ‘..because if he did…she must have seen things in the connection…. '
Liz Parker was already called Miss Scientist…if she saw something she didn’t understand she’d never let go….and somehow the girl had such a strange power over Max.
As she looked back in the rear view mirror, Diane saw Isabel looking at her brother. Diane had never seen Izzy look like that before. ‘Maybe Max really is guilty,’ she thought. ‘His sister certainly appears to think so…’
The knock on the door came at 3:15 PM.
“You wanted to see me, Ms. Umbrage?”
“Yes Mr. Raff…I did. Have a seat.”
“I wanted to thank you for your prompt action in taking care of those two children who were stung by the scorpions. The bus driver indicated that they seemed to be doing OK when you got them back. I’m glad…that could have been quite serious.”
“Well Mr. Raff….that’s part of what I wanted to talk to you about. I really wouldn’t expect you to see either of those children back in your class.”
“Why not? They were my two best students when it came to science.”
“Well, Max…I don’t know if you are aware of his background….his mother really believes he should be in special education due to his…well….emotional problems. You might have noticed he doesn’t go out to recess with the other children. He was adopted you see…and apparently abused before that. His mother thinks a more structured environment might better suit him…”
“That surprises me…I mean he seems to do so well…”
“Well…the other part of it is that his mother is a lawyer… in fact, both of his parents are. She’s…well…rather insistent….and while we are on the subject…both Mrs. Evans and Mrs. Parker were quite upset….something about venomous insects biting the students not being on the field trip permission slip. It appears that they may intend to sue the school district. I of course contacted the risk management office and they have asked that no one involved….especially you…contact the parents or make any comments concerning what happened…the school district attorney Mr. Anderson wants to be the single point of contact…He’s requested that you and I just say “No comment,” if we are asked.”
“Well surely he wouldn’t mind if I just called the kids up…told them I’m glad they are OK?”
“On the contrary…Mr. Anderson was most specific…we are not to contact them at all. I’m terribly sorry but he was most insistent.”
“Very well then. So Liz Parker isn’t coming back either?”
“No, I’m afraid her parents are most upset…perhaps they’ll get over it…but probably not this year…”
“Well…thanks again for seeing that they were taken care of, Ms. Umbrage. Once I heard what had happened…well, I was quite concerned.
They found an excellent specimen by the way...the trilobite…the adult scorpion had apparently made her nest right alongside it. It must have just rained scorpions on that poor young girl. We found a number of them crushed…the two students on the side of the arroyo above them said Max was picking them out of her hair and off her face and neck…apparently he crushed a number of them in his bare hands. That is one brave little boy…”
“Only too pleased to take care of the two of them…that’s what I’m here for.”
“You wanted to see me, Ms. Umbrage?”
“Yes Mr. Raff…I did. Have a seat.”
“I wanted to thank you for your prompt action in taking care of those two children who were stung by the scorpions. The bus driver indicated that they seemed to be doing OK when you got them back. I’m glad…that could have been quite serious.”
“Well Mr. Raff….that’s part of what I wanted to talk to you about. I really wouldn’t expect you to see either of those children back in your class.”
“Why not? They were my two best students when it came to science.”
“Well, Max…I don’t know if you are aware of his background….his mother really believes he should be in special education due to his…well….emotional problems. You might have noticed he doesn’t go out to recess with the other children. He was adopted you see…and apparently abused before that. His mother thinks a more structured environment might better suit him…”
“That surprises me…I mean he seems to do so well…”
“Well…the other part of it is that his mother is a lawyer… in fact, both of his parents are. She’s…well…rather insistent….and while we are on the subject…both Mrs. Evans and Mrs. Parker were quite upset….something about venomous insects biting the students not being on the field trip permission slip. It appears that they may intend to sue the school district. I of course contacted the risk management office and they have asked that no one involved….especially you…contact the parents or make any comments concerning what happened…the school district attorney Mr. Anderson wants to be the single point of contact…He’s requested that you and I just say “No comment,” if we are asked.”
“Well surely he wouldn’t mind if I just called the kids up…told them I’m glad they are OK?”
“On the contrary…Mr. Anderson was most specific…we are not to contact them at all. I’m terribly sorry but he was most insistent.”
“Very well then. So Liz Parker isn’t coming back either?”
“No, I’m afraid her parents are most upset…perhaps they’ll get over it…but probably not this year…”
“Well…thanks again for seeing that they were taken care of, Ms. Umbrage. Once I heard what had happened…well, I was quite concerned.
They found an excellent specimen by the way...the trilobite…the adult scorpion had apparently made her nest right alongside it. It must have just rained scorpions on that poor young girl. We found a number of them crushed…the two students on the side of the arroyo above them said Max was picking them out of her hair and off her face and neck…apparently he crushed a number of them in his bare hands. That is one brave little boy…”
“Only too pleased to take care of the two of them…that’s what I’m here for.”