The Word of a Child. Janice Kay Johnson

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СКАЧАТЬ stood long enough to grab a box of tissues and hand her several.

      Tracy blew her nose.

      “He made you fondle him.”

      “And…and put my mouth on him. He tasted…it was really gross. Especially when he…”

      Mariah hid her shudder.

      “Did anything more happen?” she asked quietly.

      “Last time he…” She stole a look up. “He made me have sex. It hurt so bad! And I’m afraid I’ll be pregnant!” With her face puffy and wet, she looked like a frightened eight-year-old, not the teen she was.

      Mariah took her hands and squeezed them. “How long ago did you have sex?”

      Tracy snuffled. “It was…it was the day before yesterday.”

      “There are morning-after drugs to keep you from being pregnant. That’s the first thing we’ll have to see to.”

      Her voice lightened. “You mean, I don’t have to be pregnant?”

      “No, you don’t have to be pregnant.” Mariah hesitated. “Tracy, is this man related to you?”

      Her head ducked immediately, but she shook it no.

      Actually, to the best of Mariah’s knowledge, Tracy’s biological father wasn’t in the picture. On the two occasions when Mariah had called the mother in for a conference, she had left a different unsavory-looking boyfriend lurking in the hall. Mariah wasn’t as surprised as she wished she could be that one of them, or another just like them, had molested the pretty young girl who dressed in tiny miniskirts and baby Ts that showed rapidly ripening breasts to superb advantage.

      “Will you tell me who he is?”

      “Will he have to know?” she whispered.

      “If he’s an adult, he should be punished. In the eyes of the law, you’re a child. He cannot force you, or even persuade you, to have sexual relations. You did say he’s older?”

      Fresh tears flowed. “He’s a teacher.”

      Mariah’s heart sank even as her mouth made an O of surprise. Not one of the boyfriends.

      A teacher. This was going to be ugly, and she wanted no part in it. Teachers were so vulnerable to these accusations. Look at her now: alone in the room with Tracy, the door closed. A student could say anything happened, and how would it be disproved?

      “Oh dear,” she said weakly.

      “He…he told me he’d give me a good grade if I…you know. And if I didn’t, he’d flunk me.”

      “I wish you’d reported him then and asked to be transferred from the class.” She immediately regretted saying even that; she didn’t want poor Tracy to feel as if what happened—assuming it had happened—was her fault in any way.

      Tracy’s head went down again. In a choked mumble, she said, “I thought it was kind of cool that he liked me. Even though he’s old.”

      Mariah squeezed her hands again. “Who is it, Tracy?”

      The seventh-grader murmured something.

      “I’m sorry. I couldn’t hear you.”

      “Mr. Tanner.”

      Mariah couldn’t suppress an, “Oh, no.”

      Tracy’s chin shot up. “Do you think I’m lying?”

      “Did I say that?”

      She yanked her hands away. “You sound like it!”

      “No. I’m only…sorry. I thought he was a well-liked teacher.”

      “You mean, well-liked by you,” the girl said spitefully.

      “Tracy, I know him only as a colleague. We aren’t personal friends. I’m on your side. I won’t abuse your trust, I promise.”

      The flash of fear and anger faded. “Oh.”

      “Can you repeat your story for Mrs. Patterson?”

      “The principal?” she said in dismay.

      “She’ll have to hear it, you know. And then I’m afraid you’ll have to tell the police or a social worker. You may even have to testify in court.”

      “In court?” Tracy shrank back. “They can’t just fire him?”

      “It’s not that simple. How can he be fired on the basis of one student saying he did something? He’ll likely be suspended while an investigation goes on, but unless he admits to having relations with you, he may have to be convicted of a crime before he can be fired.”

      The teenager looked genuinely frightened now. “But…what if I won’t talk in court?”

      Mariah hated having to tell the poor girl what she’d set in motion by choosing to come to a teacher.

      “Now that you’ve told me,” she said sympathetically, “I have to report your story. That’s the law for teachers. It would certainly be hard to convict Mr. Tanner if you won’t testify. That would leave him free to molest other girls. Do you want that?” She gave Tracy a moment to reflect, then levered herself out of the student desk. “I’m going to call Mrs. Patterson to come here right now. Please stay and tell her, just like you did me. The worst is over, Tracy. It’ll be easier this time, I promise.”

      Tracy sat hunched and small while they waited. Feeling out of her depth, Mariah talked gently about boys and how nice kisses were when both parties wanted them and how inexcusable it was for an adult to compel a child to have intercourse.

      Noreen Patterson was a plump woman of perhaps forty filled with good cheer that didn’t disguise her willingness to command.

      The good humor faded the moment Mariah said gravely, “Tracy has something to tell you.”

      Tracy did haltingly tell her story for the principal. Afterward Noreen hugged her and said, “I’ll call your mother. We need to talk to her.”

      “Will you fire him?”

      The principal explained again about the necessity for an investigation, which Tracy took as an insult.

      “You don’t believe me!”

      As Mariah had a class, Mrs. Patterson took Tracy away. She paused to murmur, “Will you come to my office at the end of the day?”

      “Yes, of course.”

      Her seventh-graders were reading As You Like It aloud, stumbling over unfamiliar words and requiring constant explanations of Shakespearean language. Perhaps Shakespeare was too difficult for them, she thought, but then a student would read a passage with sudden understanding and relish for the rich language, and she would decide she’d been right to challenge them.

      Today СКАЧАТЬ