She Never Knew (6 page)

Rhonda came
bounding down the stairs and smiled broadly when she saw Kat. “What did you
feed your child for breakfast this morning?”

“Same thing you
fed yours, apparently.” Kat retorted. Both women laughed as they marveled over
the mess the boys had made.

“Guess what just
arrived?” Kat said, motioning to her house through the window.

“The crafts?” Rhonda
gushed, raising her eyebrows. “Wow, that was fast!”

Kat nodded in
agreement and said, “When do you want to make the models?” Rhonda was the
director of vacation bible school and Kat was the designated crafts leader. For
their upcoming training session, Rhonda wanted to have a display of the crafts
all students would be making so the classroom teachers could explain how the
crafts related to the assigned bible stories.

“Soon. You can
help me put together everybody’s training folders too.”

“Sounds like a
plan.” Kat agreed.

 “Mommy, can Eli
come over to our house?” Tyler interrupted, looking up at his mother with
pleading blue eyes.

 “That’s fine
with me.” Kat looked at Rhonda, who was bobbing her head vigorously. The boys
shouted with glee as they raced around to look for their sandals.

“Thank you for
taking them. I have a ton of paperwork I need to do and I’ve got some errands I
need to run.” When Robert traveled on business, Rhonda took over bookkeeping
for their private delivery business.

 “Well, in that
case, Eli can stay for dinner and I’ll bring him home afterwards.” Kat smiled
as she watched Tyler and Eli hurry to put their sandals on. “They can keep each
other occupied as I sort through the contents of the packages.”

As Kat and the
boys helped Rhonda clean up, the women made a plan to build craft models and
organize training manuals at the end of the week. Training was scheduled for
the following week and both women wanted to be prepared.

After goodbyes
were exchanged, Kat and the boys walked back across the street. The boys ran
inside Kat’s house as she detoured to her mailbox. When she thumbed through the
pile, she saw that she had a new issue of Student Matters, a magazine published
quarterly from the University of Millstone. She paused to flip through it and
after a few moments, she found what she was looking for. She sighed heavily.

A year after she
moved into her house, Kat was hired as an Associate Faculty to facilitate
online courses for the University of Millstone. This meant she could teach from
her home computer without ever having to leave her home. She preferred the
anonymity online teaching provided and it allowed her to remain at home with
Tyler. As a security measure, she used her maiden name and set her online
profile to read as Kate Richards.

Kat taught at Aremid
College, one of the nine colleges of University of Millstone. She specifically
instructed Critical Thinking and loved helping her students reach their
potential. Courses lasted seven weeks in length and she had just finished up a
course, having posted final grades the week before. She was solicited to teach
two new classes the following month, so Kat was looking forward to the time
off. She had several church activities that needed her attention and she wanted
to be prepared without the added stress of meeting facilitation obligations.

It had been a
stressful seven weeks for two reasons. She had been publicly recognized for her
professional contributions to the University of Millstone. She agreed to an
interview but was dismayed to learn that her consultation was chosen for
publication in the university’s Student Matters magazine that was mailed to
thousands of students across the nation. She was a bit nervous about people
knowing what she did yet she never advertised where she lived. Her rapist had never
been caught and Kat preferred to keep a low profile.

Kat also had a
problem student throughout the course who had plagiarized both his midterm and
final exams. He had begged her to award points after administration upheld her
decision to sanction zeroes for both assignments. At first he played the
sympathy card, telling her how financially strapped he was, and that his wife
spent too much money. He had explained in numerous emails that his job was
extremely stressful and a promotion depended on him earning a degree.
Therefore, he needed her to reconsider; he needed her to give him a second
chance to earn a passing grade so that he could continue to receive financial
aid. At the beginning of class, Kat had made it very clear in her syllabus that
no resubmissions would be accepted. When she wouldn’t budge, the student’s
postings became increasingly belligerent in nature to the point where he was
borderline insubordinate. He simply refused to accept responsibility for
cheating.

Finally, she had
tendered a copy of the Student Code of Conduct in her final warning to him. If
he did not communicate with her in a more respectful tone, she would have no
choice but to file a behavioral violation charge. She had closed her message by
stating she would no longer correspond with him and encouraged him to discuss
his options with his academic counselor.

Her student never
responded but Kat continued to fret over it, wondering why her student couldn’t
see that he had only himself to blame for his indiscretions. Kat always
provided irrefutable proof so that her students could not deny their actions.

When Kat checked
her faculty mail the evening before, she saw that she had a message from
Academic Affairs. It was a copy of an academic violation charge letter
addressed to her student, informing him that his actions were in violation of
the Student Code of Academic Integrity. The letter made mention of the fact
that since the student did not respond within 10 days to the plagiarism charges
made against his midterm, in addition to the new charges filed against his
final exam results, he was now expelled from the university. Further, the
violations would be reflected on his transcript.

Kat had no
tolerance for cheating and she didn’t feel sorry for those who failed because
of it. She refused to let cheaters believe they could earn a degree in this
manner. She wasn’t about to let anyone undermine her years of hard work earning
her own degrees. She wished her student well but was glad he would not get away
with cheating.

Once inside the
house, Kat set her mail on the kitchen table. The boys went to Tyler’s room to
play so Kat used the opportunity to carry her packages inside the house. She
had ordered over 20 different crafts in various quantities and wanted to ensure
nothing was missing. She retrieved her checklist and got to work.

How dare she do
this to me,
he
thought
.
The colossal nerve!
So what if he copied a few sentences
here and there on his final paper? That was no reason for her to fail him. It
was all her fault that he was expelled from the University of Millstone. He
eyed the official letter that sat on his kitchen table with contempt.

A year ago,
Darryl Baker enrolled in the Associate Degree online program with a
concentration in Business Management. He needed formal training to advance in
his line of work in telemarketing. He wanted to manage the department he was
in, not talk to idiotic people on the phone who constantly hung up on him. He
was tired of being rejected, tired of busting his butt to meet sales quotas for
meager pay, and most of all, tired of his wife incessantly nagging him about
not having enough money to pay the bills.

He knew the
assistant manager would be leaving his department permanently once she had
delivered her baby. He knew this because he had inadvertently overheard a private
conversation at work one day in the break room that she didn’t want to enroll
her baby in daycare and instead wanted to be a stay-at-home mother.

After learning
this valuable piece of information, Darryl had kept the news to himself. He
knew that if word leaked within the department, everyone would apply for
Vivian’s position. Everyone in Darryl’s department hated their jobs. No, it was
better to keep quiet and in his best interest to be prepared.

Feigning ignorance,
he went to see his boss one evening after his shift was over. He knew Matthew
liked him and used this to his advantage. He had told Matthew how much he
admired and respected Vivian’s dedication to the department. Privately, he knew
she was as lazy as they came. In his opinion, all she did was file her nails, gab
on the phone, and complain about morning sickness.

Darryl praised
Vivian in such a manner that would boost anyone’s ego. He could tell his boss
was truly impressed with the way he complimented her work ethic. In Matthew’s
eyes, Darryl looked for the positive traits in people and brought out the best
in them, which made him an asset to the company. To him, Darryl was a team
player.

One week later,
Darryl’s boss called him into his office. He asked Darryl where he saw himself
in the next five years and what he thought he could do to improve the
department.

Secretly pleased
with himself, Darryl provided answers that he felt Matthew wanted to hear. He
knew Matthew favored Vivian and he didn’t want to mess up any chance he had of
taking over her position one day.

Matthew revealed
that a position would be available in six months and that Darryl would be a
perfect candidate. However, there was one simple condition. Darryl needed a
college degree, one in the field of Business with a concentration in Marketing.

He explained to
Darryl that he would need to show evidence of enrollment in a business program
as a condition of his promotion. In addition, the company would be willing to
pay for half the cost of his education. All Darryl had to do was submit an
updated copy of his transcript each time he completed a course.

Darryl
considered this stipulation as only a slight setback. Getting a degree meant
studying after work hours. That meant having less time for himself and his
family. However, he liked the idea of the company writing him checks toward
tuition.

Darryl was
smart. He had researched his options before his initial meeting with his boss.
He knew he would need some kind of certification and had heard the University
of Millstone’s online program did not require a specific grade point average to
be accepted. While he was an average student in high school, had lots of
friends, and played on the football team, Darryl wasn’t anybody special.

Yet.

He had talked
with an admissions counselor over the phone and when the counselor directed him
to a financial advisor, Darryl learned he would pre-qualify for a student loan.
In other words, he wouldn’t have to worry about repaying his loans until one
year after graduation. The way he looked at it, he would be going to school for
free, getting checks from his employer, and earning a degree. If he played his
cards right, he would find a way to get out of having to pay off his student
loans. And he would get his wife off his back.

Darryl had it
all worked out. Of course, he had told his boss that he would need to discuss
the proposal with his wife, but that he would get back to him as soon as
possible. He found it rather amusing how easy it was for him to manipulate
Matthew. He didn’t give a darn about his job. All he wanted was to make more
money and do nothing like Vivian did nothing. He wanted to boss people around
and show them who was in charge. He would make his employees perform better
than ever, and in the end, Darryl would be a star. He would be the top guy.
Perhaps he would even be the CEO of the company he worked for.

But all of his
dreams were shot down because of Katherine Richards. She ruined any chance of
success he had in this world. Who did she think she was, getting him expelled
like that? Well, he wasn’t about to let her get away with it. He had complained
to his academic counselor that he would be reporting her. She was a lousy
instructor and her only goal was to see him suffer.
What happened in her
life that was so bad that she had to take it out on me,
he thought angrily
.
Well, I’ll show her who the boss is here. I’ll make her pay!
He slammed
his fist on the table, forming a crease in the center of his expulsion letter.

 “What do you think of this one?” Kat
asked Rhonda, holding up an assembled model of a stuffed apple. Two pieces of
heart-shaped red fabric were hand-sewn together and stuffed with crinkle paper.
The message behind the craft was for children at vacation bible school to give
away the apple as a gift to show their love for others.

“Wow.” Rhonda admired the craft as she
took it from Kat. She removed her glasses and set them on the table as she
leaned forward in her chair to inspect Kat’s handiwork. “These crafts look a
lot better in person than they do in the catalog, don’t they?”

“They sure do.” Kat replied, reaching
for the next craft. The women had been working together for an hour on crafts
and were about half way through. Assembled models sat on Rhonda’s kitchen table
in no particular order. Soon the women would break for lunch and finish their
afternoon by organizing training manuals.