“Take a load off, Buzz!” Miss Carswell said, opening the car
door for me. I felt embarrassed since the polite thing would have been for
me to open the door for her. I dropped into the passenger seat.
“
You look like you need a trip to the emergency room,” she said.
“
I’m okay,” I lied.
“
No, you’re not,” she said calmly, “but it’s your
choice.” She turned the key in the ignition and sighed. “Congratulations
on keeping your tutoring gig!”
“
Speaking of that,” I replied, reaching into my pocket for the envelope
Mrs. Ellis had given me, “this is yours, I guess.” I handed it
to her. She took it, but extracted just one bill.
“
I’ll take twenty this time,” she said, handing the envelope back
to me. “I got two estimates on the window. Both were ridiculously expensive.
So I asked Johnny Weiss if he could fix it. He’ll repair the crack
to keep out the cold and will charge me sixty. A new window would have been
almost two hundred.”
I nodded again.
“
Twenty a week and you’ll have paid your debt to society in three weeks,” she
said with a chuckle. “The rest of the money is yours free and clear.”
“
Not exactly,” I grumbled.
She gave me a quick, sidelong glance. “No?”
“
My parents know I’m tutoring, and my dad says I have to turn over everything
I earn to my mother.”
“
What does your mother have to say?”
I shrugged. “Nothing. She never says anything. Hardly ever anyway.
She knows better than to argue with him.” I sighed and the effort made
me cough. “She needs the money anyway. He doesn’t earn much now
that he’s doing the Lord’s work.”
She cleared her throat, but didn’t comment.
“
That was a phenomenal story you made up about Millie’s dog. You really
got Susie’s attention,” I said. “You’re a great teacher.”
She raised an eyebrow. “I didn’t make it up.”
“
You didn’t…” I began, then stopped and shook my head. “A
pretty convenient coincidence.”
“
Yes,” she said. “I hope I can get Millie to come to tea on Sunday.”
I chuckled until it hurt too much to continue. “I think Susie would
rather meet the dog.”
“
Can’t have Hershey at my house because of my cats,” Miss Carswell
said.
I shook my head. “Here I thought I was learning something about how
to make math seem relevant to everyday life, and …” I began.
“
You were,” she said firmly, cutting me off. “Events that can
serve as the basis for a math lesson happen more often than you realize.
You will find plenty once you are on the lookout. I advise against making
up stories and pretending they’re true. Once children find out that
you’ve lied, you’ve lost them.”
I gingerly sat back in my seat. “I suppose so,” I said.
“
So what did you think?” she asked after a minute.
“
About what?” I ventured cautiously, feeling as if I ought to know.
“
About whom?” she corrected. “Judy Barrows, of course. Do you
think you can cooperate with her?”
“
I don’t know.” I paused. “I can try.”
“
So what did you think of her?” Miss Carswell asked again.
I hedged. “I guess I expected a lot worse from all Susie’s complaining.”
“
She’s young and attractive,” Miss Carswell observed, “and
she flirted with you,”
“
Yeah,” I said, blushing. “That flirtation bit didn’t seem
right to me.”
She smirked. “But you didn’t really mind.”
I shrugged. “I minded when she tried to get me replaced by her nephew.”
Miss Carswell nodded. “I’m sure you did.”
“
Susie calls her Pigface,” I said, “so I guess I expected an old
battle-ax.”
“
But Susie took a real liking to the only old battle-ax present,” she
chuckled.
I blushed again. “You’re not,” I protested. “You’re
pretty neat for an old-timer.”
“
Thank you, I think” Miss Carswell replied, but she wasn’t distracted
from her question. “I want to hear what else you observed,” she
persisted.
Out of the blue, I began, “I think Mrs. Barrows is really conventional
and she wants to control her class.”
Miss Carswell nodded encouragingly, so I went on. “And I think Susie
doesn’t like that. I know kids are supposed to like limits and all
that, but sometimes it seems like adults make up rules just to control kids.
The rules don’t serve any other purpose.”
Miss Carswell didn’t say anything.
“
I get the feeling that Mrs. Barrows isn’t really good at math,” I
added. “So she can only teach it one way and she will only allow kids in
her class to do the math her way. Susie is a bright kid. I mean, she is a brat,
but a smart brat. She has a good sense of how to solve numerical problems, but
she doesn’t follow the rules.”
“
You’re correct on all counts,” Miss Carswell said. She looked over
at me and grinned. “And Susie really likes you.”
I shook my head. “She’s such a goofy kid.” I intended the comment
to sound judgmental, but it didn’t.
Miss Carswell drove me right up to my house. “Hop out!” she said. “We’re
going in together.”
I had opened the door and stuck out one foot, but I stopped. “Uh…I
don’t think that’s a good idea,” I said, imagining how my father
would react if Miss Carswell came into his house.
“
I need to talk to your mother,” she said. “Your father’s not
here.”
“
How do you know?” I asked dubiously.
Johnny Weiss told me he has an appointment with your father to take a look at
the leak in the church roof. So get a move on.”
I got out of the car and followed Miss Carswell right in through the front door.
My mom came to greet us. She seemed a little afraid of Miss Carswell but she
offered her coffee and a seat in the kitchen. Given my father’s attitude
toward Miss Carswell, I was surprised my mother sat companionably with her at
the table, as if she were an acquaintance from church.
Miss Carswell folded her hands on the kitchen table. “I want to speak with
you about Buzz.”
“
Why? What’s he done now?”
Miss Carswell smiled. “He hasn’t done anything wrong.”
“
That’s good,” my mother said hastily. “Clarence is awfully
strict, so…” She sighed glumly.
“
Buzz is tutoring, Mrs. Haynes,” Miss Carswell began, “and he’ll
be earning a bit of money. What will happen to it? I don’t intend for it
to get wasted on your husband’s ramshackle church.”
My mother bristled. “I don’t see that it’s really any of your
business.”
Miss Carswell looked neutral. “It isn’t, except for the fact that
I arranged for Buzz to get the job, and I can arrange for it to be given to someone
else. The money should go for Buzz’s education. He’s gifted.”
My mother blinked. “Buzz is gifted? Gifted at troublemaking if you ask
his teachers. They don’t like him one bit.”
Miss Carswell chuckled. “They don’t have to like him. They just have
to teach him.”
My mother shook her head. “You have to be able to get along with people.
That’s Clarence’s problem too. He picked a fight with Reverend Westerman.
It was right after their falling out that God spoke to him and told him to found
his own church.”
Miss Carswell looked impatient. “Well, Buzz isn’t going to found
a church. He’s going to tutor, and the money should go into a college fund.
I want you to start an account for him. As a minor, Buzz needs a parent or guardian
to sign off on a bank account.”
“
It’s not what my husband wants. He feels Buzz should do his part. After
all, we feed him and clothe him and put a roof over his head.” My mother
shrugged. “I’m sorry, but I can’t help you.”
“You can’t help Buzz, you mean,” Miss Carswell said. “Very
well then. I guess I’ll get someone else for the tutoring job.”
She sounded completely sincere, and for a moment I felt a jolt of panic. Then
I caught her eye and realized she was bluffing.
“
Well, that’s up to you,” my mother replied. “I can’t
go against my husband.”
Miss Carswell stood up. “Buzz, would you step outside with me for a moment?”
“Just wait a minute,” my mother said angrily, but I followed Miss
Carswell out the door. She held out her hand, and I gave her the envelope.
She smiled. “There will be an account held in trust for you at the bank,” she
said softly. “This isn’t the way I wanted it to be, but it will
have to do. I’ll have Jill Ellis turn your money over to me and I’ll
deposit it. When you’re ready for college, the money will be ready for
you.” She gave me a very earnest look. “I’ll have papers
drawn up so that if I die before you finish high school, the money goes to
you upon your graduation.”
I felt my eyes tear but tried not to let her see.
“
If you prefer, you can take some of the money each week for your personal expenses,
of course,” she said. “But I hope you’ll save for college,
Buzz.”
I took a deep breath and nodded. “I’d like ten dollars a week for
spending money,” I said, “if you think that’s all right.”
She nodded. “If you have the time, there’s someone else I know
who could use a math tutor. His father will pay ten dollars an hour. And you’d
be able to keep on tutoring Susie because he can only be tutored on the weekend.”
I shrugged. “I need to settle things with the Razors first. You know,” I
explained, seeing her incomprehension, “my friends?”
She took a deep breath. “What is there to settle, Buzz? Payback for the
beating won’t settle anything.”
I gently flexed my sore ankle. “I know that. But they’re planning
something dangerous—I haven’t heard what it is yet. They want me
to be part of the action.” I felt my face twist into a grimace. “I
have to know what it is.”
She looked alarmed. “Once you know you can’t just walk away, Buzz.
They’ll never allow that.”
“
I know,” I said. “But maybe I can talk them out of it.”
She shook her head, but then said, “Maybe.” It was nice of her
not to point out that until now I hadn’t been able to talk them out of
anything.
My mother stuck her head out the door. “Buzz, your father will be home
in ten minutes. Come in and wash up.”
“
When will you find out?” Miss Carswell asked.
“
Tonight. We usually meet around nine.” I smiled at her. “I’ll
call you tomorrow morning, if that’s okay. I may need your help.”
She nodded. “All right, Buzz. I’ll talk to you tomorrow.”
I didn’t know my mother had overheard the last part of my conversation
with Miss Carswell until she asked. “Buzz, who are the Razors?”
“
My friends,” I replied, washing my hands.
“
Those bums? They’re bad news.”
I nodded.
“
You used to have nice friends,” she observed a little sadly. “That
all changed when your dad started the church, didn’t it?”
“
It’s not Dad’s fault,” I said and was surprised to find I
believed it. “I’m responsible for the friends I pick.”
She looked surprised. “So why did you pick them?”
“
They’re the guys everyone looks up to. No one makes fun of them because
they are so tough. But they’re messed up, mom. They like violence.”
“
What are you going to do?” she asked. “Miss Carswell is right.
They’re not going to let you go once you know what they’re up to.”
I didn’t have an answer. My father walked in. “What are you two
standing around for?” he demanded. “Let’s say grace and eat.”
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