NOWHERE MAN !

» - - - - - - he's as blind as he can be
JUST SEES WHAT HE WANTS TO SEE - - - - - - - - - - «

The whole week had been hell on Henry just because one of the teachers had an addiction to writing referrals it seemed. Of course, Henry was required to take all referrals seriously and he did. Each student was sent to his office and he had a word with each of them. These students all seemed apologetic, though Henry knew better than to expect as much from them. All of them seemed to have the same story. Their teacher was a slave driver. She was horrible, mean, tyrannical, and way too strict. Judging by who they were talking about Henry had absolutely no doubt that she was like that. Dr. Carolyn Porter had been the bane of Henry’s existence while he was at Lincoln. It seemed sometimes that she had nothing better to do than write students up. Sometimes Henry was left wondering if she focused so much on finding out what the students were doing wrong, that she forgot to teach them how to do it right. After receiving a notice of yet another referral Henry was about to get fed up. No, take that back, he was fed up. He had attempted to send her an email. Henry hated his computer.

Email was usually a last resort for Henry. He didn’t feel as if he needed to leave his office and he didn’t want to cause a scene. The bad thing about it was that Henry was horrible with technology. It took him ten minutes nearly to get the email page up. He mumbled the whole time about how technology was destroying humanity as he typed away at the email asking Dr. Porter to come to his office. She better damn well come too. Henry did have the power to fire people and it wasn’t like he hadn’t done it before. He would have no problem writing her absence off as insubordination if she were to choose not to come after he requested her attendance. The only reason Henry had to think of that was because Dr. Porter would be the very one who would do that to him and more than likely laugh about it in the process. Unprofessionally, Henry thought of Dr. Porter as a frigid bitch. Professionally, he just figured that she let her doctorate go to her head. Either way she was a woman and all women had that frigid bitch part of them. Henry was absolutely sure of that. They were all conniving, horrid creatures who took the truth and bent it to their liking. Not a single word from a woman could be trusted.

When the fifth and hopefully final student was shown into Henry’s office he leaned back in his swivel chair, his dark eyes resting on the boy. Like most students who were sent into Henry’s office, this boy was nervous, slightly intimidated. I suppose you know why you’re in here. Henry said firmly. The boy nodded. Tell me the reason why you’re sitting there, Mr. Jordan. The kid shifted uncomfortably before mumbling that Dr. Porter had said he was disrespectful. Henry nodded slowly as he crossed his arms. Do you think that’s a fair assessment? Naturally the kid wasn’t going to answer either way. He only shrugged. Hm, well, Mr. Jordan, I do expect you to learn from this. Dr. Porter is strict, so I’ve been told anyway, but hopefully you are well aware of this now and will save me the trouble of the paper work from now on. You’ve got one day of in-school suspension to reflect, Mr. Jordan. Now head back to class. Henry had honestly just thrown in the ISS thing to make sure Porter wouldn’t have much else to bitch about.

The student wasted no time with taking off. Henry stood, walking to the door of his office. Hold my calls for a little while. Henry told his secretary before he moved into his office once more and shut the door. His secretary knew already that when his door was shut he was not to be bothered with anything. Henry moved behind his desk, sitting back down in his swivel chair. He sighed as he pulled out his cell phone. It would probably be a lost cause to try and get a hold of his daughter. Henry dialed the number and waited patiently as the phone rang. The ring continued for a while before it stopped, moving to his daughter’s voice mail. Hi, it’s Susan Kinkead. Leave a message and I’ll try and get back to you. Henry closed his eyes, taking in his daughter’s voice. That wasn’t weird to him at all considering he didn’t get to hear her voice too often. Upon hearing the beep Henry opened his eyes, Hey, Susie-Q, just calling to see if things were going well for you… I’d like to talk to you so, um, if you’d give me a call back… yeah… bye, Susan. Henry pressed end on his phone feeling like a jackass.

Henry never knew what kind of message to leave his daughter. How do you leave a message to someone who hated your guts? Henry shook his head, pocketing his cell phone as he stood and moved over to push his door open. No one at the school knew about how he had gone through a relatively devastating divorce. No one knew that he had gone mad and threatened suicide. This was a good thing. It was all about starting fresh… getting a new start on life. Henry had been urged to keep contacting his daughter, try and convince her that he’s changed. It didn’t seem to be working. As many times as Henry called there was never a return. He thought it was shit how his fucking ex wife could just go about taking his daughter away from him like that. Henry had done nothing but loved and cared for his daughter. He wanted the best for her and stupid… Emily… just ripped all of that away from him. God, women were horrible creatures. That’s what they were. They were creatures. Vile, disgraceful creatures who did nothing but tear apart hopes and dreams and families.

No more had Henry said down at his desk than he heard the chilling voice of the one teacher who got on his nerves the most. Well, no, actually Bradley Glenn got on his nerves the most, but Dr. Porter ran a very close second to him. Quiet down and take a seat, Dr. Porter. Henry said, his voice firm. Henry didn’t like to leave much room for disobedience. I’m perfectly aware that you have more of an authoritarian teaching style. Surely you have to know that after five referrals in two days I have to question things. It was Henry’s job to get down to the bottom of things. He had to be sure that Dr. Porter was being fair, though he was fairly sure already that she gave her students hell because she was just a bitch anyway. Despite Henry’s prejudices, which he hid pretty well, he had to hear her out as well as the students. Start with the first student and tell me exactly what each of them did to warrant a referral. Don’t start with me about it being on the referral. I want to hear it from you in person.