Take My Hand. Ruth Scofield

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СКАЧАТЬ deny the label.

      “Sullivan’s Repair.”

      “Mr. Sullivan?” She jerked her thoughts back to the task at hand, activating her teacher’s voice. “This is Alexis Richmond. We need to see you as soon as possible. Can you come in this afternoon, right after the close of the school day?”

      “Middle of the afternoon? Can’t do it.”

      “Then, how about now, Mr. Sullivan? Immediately.”

      “Why? What’s the rush?”

      “Cliff’s behavior.” Calling on years of practice, she kept her tone nonjudgmental. “We need to discuss discipline.”

      “What’s he done?”

      “He hit another student. Hard. We cannot tolerate improper aggression of any degree, Mr. Sullivan. If you want your child to remain in public school, we must reach an understanding on how he is to be disciplined. There is a possibility that he could be facing an out-of-school suspension.”

      A short silence followed, then he said, “Got into a fight, did he?”

      “Not exactly.” In her opinion, a fight included participation from more than one person. Tyler, the other boy, hadn’t done much to defend himself. “Cliff over-reacted to a…verbal disagreement.”

      “Is that all? Can’t you just shake him or stand him in the corner?”

      Is that all the man could think of? To physically punish the boy? Pursing her lips, she mentally counted to ten.

      “His behavior management will be much more effective if we work as a team, Mr. Sullivan.” She put an effort into firming her tone. “Cliff needs to know we are in agreement, and I don’t really think he needs…”

      Alexis bit her tongue. She wanted to say the child needed love and hugs along with firm limitations. He needed years of parental companionship to teach him emotional balance and self-confidence. Plus a first-hand example of appropriate control of angry emotions. She suspected the child had missed out on all that.

      According to the sketchy report she’d read, perhaps the father had, too.

      Alexis changed her tactic. “Have you read your son’s paperwork, Mr. Sullivan?”

      “Haven’t had time.”

      Vexation flooded her thoughts, and she prayed for self-control. She brushed her hair behind her ear and shifted in her chair. How could a father be so uninterested? So what that he hadn’t been a part of his son’s life for years. He was the sole parent now!

      But it wouldn’t do to show less command of herself than she expected of her students, and this wasn’t the first time she’d run into a difficult parent. The kind of problems her students exhibited often extended to include a misguided parent, but she was beginning to understand that this set of problems covered J.D. and Cliff in a different way.

      So she spoke mildly. “I do hope you’ll take the time within the next day or so, Mr. Sullivan. Before we hold our IEP meeting.”

      The next moment of silence seemed full of unspoken sentiments. Had he caught her irritation in spite of her best efforts?

      “I’ll get to it,” he replied. “Meanwhile, Cliff can, um, just do without supper.”

      “That’s not really the way I’d choose to help Cliff face his offense….”

      Another pause. “All right. What do you want to do?”

      The door swung wide, and her students trailed in, Kathy in the rear. Kathy raised her brow, a silent question conveyed. Alexis nodded, and signaled her to get the kids seated.

      “I’ll give Cliff an after-school detention for now,” Alexis quickly said into the phone. “You can pick him up at four-thirty. Perhaps we can arrange for a meeting then?”

      “Guess I can’t avoid it. Okay, I’ll be there.”

      “Fine. I’ll expect you.”

      Breathing a sigh of thankfulness, Alexis glanced at her watch. There was just enough left of the school day to tackle a short math lesson.

      J.D. surprised her by arriving a few minutes early. Almost silently. She glanced up, and he was there, staring at her with a soft gaze.

      Cliff and two other students sat in her room. She’d taken after-school duty, trading another teacher for her time. Kathy had offered to stay, too, but she had put in a lot of overtime throughout the winter, so Alexis had declined.

      Cliff sat at his desk, refusing to look at her. For the past two hours he hadn’t looked at anyone. He’d sullenly refused to apologize to Tyler, insisting Tyler deserved his wrath. Tyler had laughed and made fun when Cliff missed hitting the ball in the softball game.

      J.D. advanced into the room. “Okay, I’m here, Miss Richmond. Now what?”

      “Why don’t you be seated, Mr. Sullivan, until I can dismiss the other students.” She briefly wondered what the “J.D.” stood for—she much preferred using complete names rather than initials. “Here, take this chair.”

      It didn’t matter. He was “Mr. Sullivan” to her.

      She went about closing out the day, knowing he watched everything she did. Grown men were a rarity in her classroom. From the corner of her eye, she noted J.D.’s long legs, clad in well-washed blue jeans, as he thrust them out in front of him and crossed his ankles. Her pulse quickened.

      In her specialty, parent-teacher talks were often filled with tension, but not usually this kind: male to female.

      What was wrong with her? She’d just broken off a two-year relationship that had been going nowhere, and she wanted time to recover from residual feelings. She was determined to give herself at least six months to a year before dating again. Heaven knows, a crush on a student’s father was certainly one thing she didn’t need right now. Or anytime, for that matter. Especially a careless lump who didn’t seem to have any natural instincts as a father.

      Then she caught his gaze. The way he looked at her indicated he certainly didn’t lack other natural instincts. He exhibited very basic ones without any problem.

      This would never do. She must be having a rebound reaction….

      Mentally shaking herself, Alexis stilled her riotous thoughts. She was still the teacher and she had a job to do. Turning a competent face to J.D., she murmured, “All right, now…”

      They talked with Cliff for fifteen minutes as Alexis explained her reasons for insisting the boy apologize to the child he’d whacked. “You need to own up to your actions, Cliff. That’s a part of growing up, you see. Learning to handle your anger correctly is tough, but I’m sure you can do it.”

      J.D. listened as attentively as his son, but he surprised her further when he backed her up.

      “If Miss Richmond says you have to apologize, then you have to. First thing Monday morning. Understand?”

      Cliff started to debate the issue, СКАЧАТЬ