Part 15 (1/2)
”I'll just take some fries and mayo, thanks.”
”One trip to Europe and you're eatin' like a frog?”
”Ribbet.”
He called in the order.
”Your little charges giving you heartaches again? You're frowning, my dear. Bad form in a bar.”
She hadn't been aware of it.
”They're not so bad.”
”Boys still checking out that cute b.u.t.t of yours?”
”I took a shot at dressing more or less like a nun. But nothing seems to work.”
”You should be glad it doesn't. Keeps them interested.”
”Right. But interested in what?”
”They have my complete and utter sympathy. I guarantee I wouldn't be able to tell a triangle from a square if I was a kid and you were bending over your daily lesson plan.”
”Sweet, Andrew. You think if I told them which way I swing it would dampen things down a bit?”
”Honey, that'd only make it worse. What's with the paper?”
She hadn't been aware of fingering the note in front of her either.
”A phone number. Parents of one of my students. I'm pretty positive this girl is pregnant.”
”Ouch. So you're telling the parents?”
”Shouldn't I?”
”That's a toughy, Genevieve. Could make things worse for her.”
”You think so?”
”I'd say that nine times out of ten if they don't know already and some outsider does does know she's gonna have h.e.l.l to pay at the family hearth and home.” know she's gonna have h.e.l.l to pay at the family hearth and home.”
”But it's going to be very obvious very soon.”
He shrugged. ”Hey, it's your call. My dad always told me not to try and change a woman's mind once she's set on something. Think I'll heed the old man on this one.”
Down the bar Ginger held up her empty winegla.s.s and he moved away.
She sipped her scotch and considered.
She'd left her cell phone in her desk at school again. Maybe that was a sign.
And maybe not.
Andrew was right, she knew, to think this might be a mistake. It amounted to interfering. But she wished back then and still did that somebody had interfered with Dorothy, a gifted pianist and her first lover - their brief high school affair an experiment for both of them. Dorothy had gone off to college with a double major in music and psychology only to get herself pregnant by her music teacher, who then got scared of f.u.c.king a student and dumped her.
Dorothy was just then showing according to what she heard, when they found her naked, face-up on the floor of her dormitory bathroom.
Her wrists slashed the right right way. way.
She heard the ding ding of the call bell behind her and knew that would be her french fries but by then she was already on the move toward the pay phone by the rest rooms in back, paper in hand. of the call bell behind her and knew that would be her french fries but by then she was already on the move toward the pay phone by the rest rooms in back, paper in hand.
”Ah, h.e.l.l,” her father said. ”Never fails at dinnertime. Peg, you want to go see who that is?”
She got up from her chair and walked down the hall to the phone and waited for the answering machine to kick in.
h.e.l.lo, was what she heard. was what she heard. This is Genevieve Raton and this message is for Mr. or Mrs. Cleek. Peggy is a student in my geometry cl... This is Genevieve Raton and this message is for Mr. or Mrs. Cleek. Peggy is a student in my geometry cl...
She cut off the message. Deleted it. Erased the number from caller ID.
Good G.o.d.
She walked back to the kitchen and sat down in front of her salad.
”Wrong number,” she said.
Genevieve hung up the phone and wondered if she should try again. She'd heard the message on the machine - it was the father's voice. Somebody had heard hers too. Somebody had hung up on her.
She was still wondering when she returned to the bar and her french fries.
Andrew set a fresh Dewars rocks in front of her.
”You're up to your buy-back,” he said.
”Thanks.”