Difficult Lessons (13 page)

***

Mr. Hilliard, the head of the English department, stopped Sara on her way to the car. “Ms. Carson, may I speak to you a moment? I will make it quick. I know you want to get out of here.”

“Sure. What’s on your mind?” Sara thought she knew the answer, but she tried to shrug it off.

“I resigned today. I will not be returning next year.” Mr. Hilliard continued, “I talked it over with my partner last night and we decided that no one should work in an environment like this current situation. This is definitely not a good place for those of us who are gay.”

Sara was stunned. “You’re gay? I had no idea.”

“Not many people do know. I have never felt the need to let everyone know because it is my private life, not my professional life. It is not anyone else’s business.”

“I agree with you on that. Someone, however, felt the need to make it his business where I was concerned.  I wish you good luck with whatever you do, Mr. Hilliard. The school will suffer a great loss with you leaving”

“Thanks. You are a great teacher also, Ms. Carson.  Your leaving is going to be a great loss to this school too.”

“Thanks,” Sara said as she reached her car.

Chapter 21

Sara’s answering machine was flashing when they walked in from dinner. She dreaded playing it, but pushed the button anyway.

“Ms. Carson, this is Ms. Breeden. I was calling to see if there was any news in your case. Please get back with me.”

“I’ll take care of that tomorrow.”

“Sara, this is your mom. I haven’t heard from you in a couple days. Is everything okay? Call me and let me know.”

The third message was her Dad. He left virtually the same message as her mother.

The final message was Karen. “I just wanted to let you know that everyone has received the letter. I got the receipts back from the messenger service today where they signed for them. Maybe we will be hearing from them soon. I’ll call you back as soon as I know something more.  You and Cynthia take care of yourselves.”

“Well, things should get interesting now,” Sara said as she sat down on the sofa.  “I need to call Karen and tell her about the conversation with Shelly today. I can do that tomorrow though. I want to concentrate my energy on you tonight.” 

“I have made a decision, Sara.” Cynthia’s voice was serious. Sara turned to look at Cynthia as she sat down on the sofa. “I am going to resign from Mills. I am sure that they won’t mind, all things considered. There is a coaching position open at Cedar High. If I apply for it and get it, I can commute. It is only about twenty minutes away. I am going over there tomorrow. I could not, in good conscience, go to work at Mills after all of this. I saw where they also have a math position open. You should consider applying there also. We could car pool together to work. What do you think?”

“I may do that. I have all of my personal days that I can take and I do have to look for a job. What the hell! I’ll take tomorrow off and go with you. I’ll have to go in and leave some lesson plans, but that won’t take long. I can be out of there before 8:00,”

The phone rang as Sara finished her sentence.

“Hello?”

“Could I speak to Sara Carson?” The female voice on the other end sounded professional.

“Speaking.”

“Ms. Carson, this is Sandra Tatum. I am the principal at Cedar High School. How are you this evening?”

“I am fine. How are you?” Sara was a little taken aback, but hoped it did not come through in her voice.

“I am doing fine. I am sorry to bother you so late and at home, but I really wanted to talk with you and I had no idea how else to get in touch with you without contacting you at work.”

“That’s fine,” Sara said, still a little puzzled. 

“I will get right to the point. I had a parent come in today wanting to enroll her daughter in school. She was coming from Mills High. Her being out of district and it being so late in the year, I had to ask why she wanted her daughter in our school. She told me what was going on with you at Mills. She said that she did not want her daughter to be in an environment where such prejudices were being allowed to exist. She also told me what a fantastic teacher you have been for her daughter. I decided to check up on you. You have an outstanding record with your students. I also talked with a couple of people that know you and they could not say enough good things about you. Would you be interested in coming over to talk with me about a math position that I have open for next year?”

“This is such a coincidence. I was just sitting here talking to someone about that very thing. I was planning to take tomorrow off to come over and apply for the job.”

“Well, I am glad that I called. Go by the personnel office and fill out the application and then come directly to the high school. What time do you think you can be here?”

“I should be able to make it by 10:00. Is that acceptable?”

“That will be perfect. When you get here, I will call the board office and have them fax me your application and we can talk. I want to ask you one more thing before you hang up. I understand that your friend is supposed to be the new volleyball coach at Mills. Would she be interested in coming over and meeting with me also?”

“She is right here. You can talk with her if you would like.”

“Great.”

Sara handed the phone to Cynthia smiling. “Go ahead,” she whispered.

Cynthia took the phone with a questioning look. She spoke with Ms. Tatum for a few moments and handed it back to Sara.

“I guess we are all set for tomorrow then?” Sara asked taking the phone back.

“Yes ma’am. I will see you ladies around 10:00 in the morning. If you run a little late because of going by the personnel office, don’t worry. Just come on as soon as you can.” 

“We’ll see you then,” Sara said and hung up the phone. She turned to Cynthia. “That was weird.”

“Yeah, but a good weird,” Cynthia said laughing a little.

“I guess we should get some sleep. I will drop you off at home on my way to Mills in the morning and you can get ready while I am there putting things together for a substitute. I’ll come back and pick you up and we will head over there.”

“That sounds great,” she said as she put her arms around Sara and kissed her. 

Chapter 22

Sara left a message on the school voice-mail. “This is Sara Carson. I have something come up today and will not be in to work. I am leaving lesson plans on my desk for a substitute.”

The drive to the school board office took them about twenty-five minutes. Both of them thought that would be an easy commute to work.
There are p
eople in other cities
that
commute much farther. Not to mention, they would ride together. That would make the drive much more pleasant. 

The application took about thirty minutes to complete. They still had about an hour before they needed to be at the high school.

“Why don’t we grab a cup of coffee to kill some time?” Sara suggested. “There is a coffee shop on the way to the high school.”

“Sounds great.”

***

“I just cannot believe the coincidence of Ms. Tatum calling last night,” Sara said sipping her cappuccino. “Maybe this is a sign that things will turn out all right. I have been so worried that I would not be able to find a job and I would regret fighting this.”

“You should never regret standing up for yourself, Sara.” Cynthia was reassuring.  “You cannot let people manipulate you into what they want you to be. You have to be who you are. I found that out a long time ago.”

“I am just not used to rocking the boat though.” 

“Well you sure rocked my boat when I met you.” Cynthia smiled an evil smile and both of them laughed. 

“We should be going. It is 9:45 and I think the school is about ten minutes from here.” Sara said as she downed the last of her drink.

***

“Good Morning. I am Sara Carson. I have an appointment with Ms. Tatum.”

The receptionist picked up the phone. “Ms. Tatum, there is a Ms. Carson here to see you.”

“Is Ms. Wesley with her also?”

“Yes ma’am. Both of them are here.”

“Please show them in.”

As she hung up the phone, the receptionist stood. “You ladies can follow me.”  She led them through a long corridor and into a large office. 

There was a conference table just inside to the right. An enormous oak desk was on the left of the door. Ms. Tatum rose from behind the desk and walked over to greet them. She was an older woman of about 60 and very distinguished looking. Her blue suit was well tailored to her frame and her short hair was an even mixture of brown and gray. “I am Sandra Tatum, the principal here at Cedar High. Which one of you ladies is Ms. Carson?”

Sara extended her hand. “I am. It is a pleasure to meet you, Ms. Tatum.”

“Same here. You must be Ms. Wesley.” She turned to look at Cynthia and extended her hand.

“Yes ma’am.” Cynthia’s Alabama accent really came through when she spoke.  Sara had not noticed it being that heavy until now.

It must be nerves,
she thought. 

“Let’s sit at the table. I want this to be rather informal. I will be very up front with both of you. I have already checked you out. Both of you have outstanding records with your previous employers. I don’t normally recruit for teachers because we have quite a few applicants every year, but I feel I would be doing a disservice to my school if I let you two slip away without even talking to you. Ms. Carson, I know that you are leaving Mills, and I know why. Ms. Wesley, I assumed, maybe falsely, that you would not wish to remain employed there under the circumstances. How far off am I?”

“You are absolutely correct. I have seen first-hand how they have treated Sara, I mean Ms. Carson…”

“You can be informal with me, Ms. Wesley. I am pretty sure that I know your relationship.”

“All right. After what they have done to Sara, I really don’t think that I can work there. It would be very uncomfortable for me. I am certain that they won’t mind if I do decide to accept a job somewhere else.”

Ms. Tatum leaned forward on the table. “Have either one of you applied anywhere else yet?”

Sara spoke first. “No ma’am. We were just discussing this last night when you phoned. We had just become aware of the openings here. It really was a coincidence that you called.”

“Great. Don’t apply anywhere else. I am offering both of you the jobs. Ms. Carson, I have a full-time math position open and I think you would fit in great. The position is for sophomore and junior level courses. I also have a part-time math position available. I can offer that to you, Ms. Wesley, along with the coaching position. If you need to teach full-time, I can offer you a freshman physical education for two classes to give you a full load. Would you be interested?”

Sara and Cynthia looked at each other and answered simultaneously in the affirmative.

“I have a meeting that I have to be at in a few minutes. If you ladies have time, I will have one of the office staff give you the grand tour of the school and get you acquainted with some key people.”

Cynthia spoke for both of them. “We don’t have any other place to be today. Would love a tour.” 

“Wonderful. I will make my recommendation to hire you at the board meeting Monday night. Shortly after that, they will call you from human resources to come back over, get your background checks and fingerprints, and sign your contracts. If you ladies are still here when I get out of my meeting, I will find you and talk with you some more.  Oh and by the way, Ms. Peterson, the lady you spoke to this morning, is my partner. If you need anything at all, she will be glad to help you.”

***

“What a day!” Cynthia exclaimed as she plopped in the passenger seat of Sara’s car.