The Dad Next Door. Virginia Myers

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СКАЧАТЬ had been done to his son. His eyes showed it.

      Kate glanced at Raymond. “You should have told him,” she said. “Well, Ian, I may as well give it to you straight.”

      “I’d like that,” Ian said with faint sarcasm, going over to the fireplace.

      “There seems to be some gang activity over at the middle school.”

      “You must be kidding.” He turned to look at her.

      “I only wish I were. As I get the story, three of the boys—bullies, really—were in some form of initiation. They had to ‘beat up’ someone to prove themselves. They chose Raymond. There were three of them, all bigger boys than he is.” In spite of her effort at control, her voice rose in anger.

      “That’s sick,” Ian said shortly. He was filled with seething rage. Kate could feel it.

      “I know how you feel,” she said.

      Tommy interrupted. “He didn’t have a chance, Ian. He was outnumbered. He was ambushed.”

      “I’ll go over to that school tomorrow,” Ian began grimly. “I’ll—”

      “No!” Raymond sprang out of his chair, wincing as he did so.

      Kate despaired. She was handling this badly. Later she would think of dozens of things she should have said. She often had long imaginary conversations in her head with Ian, in which she was clever, witty, intelligent and very composed. And he was always so appreciative and admiring. Now she moved forward and caught Raymond by the arm.

      “Listen to your father,” she said, pushing back his fair hair. Raymond calmed down and looked sullenly at Ian.

      Ian retreated. “Okay,” he said gently. “What do you want me to do?”

      “Well, first, just let it alone,” Raymond muttered.

      Joy piped up, climbing back into the big chair by the fireplace and smoothing her skirt down primly. “Raymond is never going to school again. He’s through.”

      “Through with school?” Ian asked.

      “That’s what he said,” Joy answered.

      Kate interposed. “He doesn’t really have to, you know.” She swallowed hard and braced herself.

      “Okay, I’m listening. Why doesn’t my twelve-year-old son need to go to school anymore?” Ian asked quietly.

      Her mouth was suddenly dry. “I was talking with Pastor Ledbetter earlier. This has been coming on for a while. We were talking about homeschooling and—”

      Ian didn’t let her finish. “Maybe we’d better have dinner first. It might calm us down. This looks like a long discussion coming up. And I think I heard Tommy say he was starving.”

      “I am,” Tommy said promptly, and both boys headed for the dining room, followed by Joy.

      Kate gave up and followed the children, with Ian beside her. He was anything but calm; she could sense it.

      Dinner was a disaster. Only the children could eat, and watching Raymond struggle to eat through his swollen lips made her sick with anger. She noted that Ian couldn’t do anything either but push the food around on his plate. Well, her precious roast of beef wouldn’t be wasted. She would use the leftovers for baked hash. The children loved it. When the endless meal was finally over Kate stopped herself from mentioning homework—after all, Raymond wasn’t going back to school anyhow.

      “I brought back a couple of videos. If you kids want to go watch them, they’re on the hall table,” Ian said. The children rushed out. And he added to Kate, “Want some help with this? You don’t have a dishwasher.”

      “I’m the dishwasher,” Kate murmured. Ian was being kind; he had never offered to help before. It probably meant he was going to reject the homeschooling idea and wanted to let her down easily. But Raymond couldn’t go back to that school. She had seen this coming. She should have acted sooner.

      In the kitchen, Ian waited until he was drying the last glass. Then he hung up the dish towel on the rack and turned to her. The sounds of cartoon voices and singing came to them from the boys’ bedroom.

      “Let’s stay in here, Kate. They’ll be busy for another hour at least.” He pulled out a kitchen chair for her and she sat down. He took the opposite chair. He was waiting politely for her to begin.

      She cleared her throat, trying to remember some of the things she had learned from Pastor Ledbetter. She wished Ian knew him better, but Ian was seldom in Seattle weekends and, although he had attended church with them a few times, it was not a priority with him.

      “You were talking with your pastor,” Ian prompted.

      “Earlier, about a month ago, this trouble started and I—Raymond and I—worked it out that I’d meet the bus, but this apparently happened at school. I’m worried about Tommy and Joy, too. They’re just in primary grades and, so far, things are going well, but I’m trying to prepare for their future, too. Pastor Ledbetter is a former teacher and he’s been advising me.”

      Ian was at least listening, she hoped with an open mind.

      “We can’t—just can’t—make Raymond go back there. Once those toughs have targeted him, they’ll show him no mercy. They’re bullies. And I don’t think it will do much good for you to go down. Schools don’t seem to pay much attention to parents anymore.”

      “So, tell me about this homeschooling.”

      “Pastor Ledbetter said that in a few years’ time over a million families will be homeschooling their children. There is a wealth of material available, for all grade levels, with loads of teaching aids. It started with Americans in Europe homeschooling their children. It’s a growing trend now, especially among Christians, very widespread.” She went on, remembering more and more of what Pastor Ledbetter had told her.

      “You’ve thought about this for quite a while, haven’t you?”

      “Ever since this trouble started. Today, with Raymond coming home like he did, that was the last straw. I realized that I’d have to do something.”

      “Would you do the teaching yourself?” Ian asked, and Kate could hear the doubt in his voice.

      “Oh, yes,” she said firmly.

      “I didn’t know you had a teaching credential.”

      “I haven’t. I don’t need one. The homeschooling materials are so well prepared—I mean, they are designed for use by nonteachers.”

      A silence lengthened between them. Finally Ian broke it.

      “That’s a wonderful offer, Kate. And you are a very kind and generous person to make it but, I have to ask it, how far did you go in school?”

      Kate felt her face getting hot. She knew that Ian had an M.B.A., as well as having had specialized training for his work.

      “I…had two years at community college, but Claude and I wanted to get married СКАЧАТЬ