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Ms. Minner sat up tall and proud as her visitor looked over the dozens of photos across her desk. She felt deep satisfaction knowing the "evidence" she had manufactured. She had grown up in the Bible Belt and was a deeply religious woman, a mystic, who actually hallucinated conversations with angels. She was convinced that the lovely Miss Annabelle was the work of Satan himself, for an angel had sent her that message from God, and she took personal responsibility to do whatever it took to get Miss Annabelle removed from her school...and from ever teaching children again if possible.
"You've got some extraordinary pictures here," her visitor said in a deep voice, taking his time looking at each one. He obviously took great pleasure in the pile of pictures. "How did you get them?"
With this," she answered, putting her new hard purse on the desk. "It's a camera that looks like a pocketbook."
"Good work!" he cried out in the little office, taking his eyes off the pictures for just a second to see the purse. Then his eyes turned right back to the pictures of Miss Annabelle affectionately hugging and, in some cases, kissing her students. "Maybe we've discovered why this pretty young thing has nothing to do with men. Once again, good work!"
"Thank you, Mr. Hammerschmidt."
*
Mr. Hammerschmidt privately, personally hired a private investigator to find out as much as he could about Miss Annabelle's past. He discovered that this pretty woman was the victim of domestic violence. Hammerschmidt read the hospital report and the brief article in the Buffalo News on the beating from her husband that nearly killed her.
The image of that little fearless lioness, being beaten into submission by a man, went around and around in Hammerschmidt's mind. The image terribly aroused him, and for days he repeatedly relieved himself. He couldn't stop thinking about her in uncompromising positions; his private name for her was now, "my little bitch".
A week later he was back in the principal's office with several of the school board members and an attorney, reviewing Ms. Minner's pictures.
"Do you feel this is grounds to hold a school board meeting on dismissing this teacher on grounds of too much touching and kissing...too much fondling her students?" Hammerschmidt asked the attorney. The attorney told them they could go ahead; the pictures caused enough suspicion to hold a hearing and a vote on whether Miss Annabelle could continue teaching.
During this informal meeting in Ms. Minner's office, Hammerschmidt gave the child-molestation theory traction; he inflamed the school board members. Hammerschmidt, who had inwardly gone to the point of perversion with his sexual fantasies of physically beating Miss Annabelle, suggested she might be a pervert, which would explain why she had no interest in men.
After the meeting, Hammerschmidt coincidentally passed Miss Annabelle in the hall going back to her room after lunch. She saw him a good 15 yards away and decided to ignore him. Unless he addressed her, she would just keep walking.
Because of this plan, she was extra aware of his every move...in case he did greet her politely, she would want to respond. She watched him closely in her peripheral vision.
Hammerschmidt got very excited as they walked closer to each other, seeing her tiny body while imagining it being hit by a man. Just before he was next to her, he quietly closed his hand closest to her into a fist. It was a subtle, almost disregardful event. But Miss Annabelle quietly gasped. Hammerschmidt detected her quiet yet unmistakable reaction. He turned into the next boy's room, locked himself in a stall, and almost instantly relieved himself at the touch of his hand. As his own perversion grew to a new level, he cursed beneath his breath how this "little bitch" must not inflict her perversions on innocent children.
*
"The final two weeks in February, 27 years ago, were the finest in Miss Annabelle's teaching career," Jessie said, continuing the story. "From then on, everything fell into disarray and then disaster."
Looking directly at Jake, Angie began telling him the beginning of the end:
"Midday, the first of March, Miss Annabelle missed the lunch hour for the first time since her tradition with the kids began. In the halls, she told John Melbourne she wouldn't be there. Instead, she went to see my husband..."
*
"Hi Jessie," the pretty little lady said at the same instance she tapped the busy custodian on his shoulder.
"Whoa!" Jessie shouted as he turned around. "Jenny...I mean Miss Annabelle, you startled me!"
"Sorry Jessie. Didn't mean to sneak up on you. I guess I kinda feel like I need to be sneaky right now."
"Why, what's wrong?" Jessie asked, realizing that Miss Annabelle was disturbed about something.
"This," she said, handing him another summons for another emergency school board meeting. "I just want to know if you've come across anything that can help me...maybe some clue or some papers on her desk or in her trash."
Miss Annabelle was visibly upset. Jessie suddenly felt fatherly feelings toward her as he saw how vulnerable she looked. He put his arm around her and took her to his little room, sat her down, and closed the door.
"Does John know yet?" he asked her.
"Not yet," she said, wiping her eyes. Jessie handed her a box of tissues. She dabbed her eyes with a tissue, then continued, "I haven't had a private moment with him yet to tell him, and I don't want anyone seeing us alone together."
"OK. Let me read this," Jessie said calmly. The summons said:
A Closed-Door
Emergency School-Board Meeting
Wednesday, March 3rd at 5:15 p.m.
To All Parties: Please note that a closed-door meeting is in best interest of
all parties involved.
Subject: Miss Annabelle's Employment
Jessie looked at Miss Annabelle. He felt sorry for her for having to even deal with these attacks.
"What do you think it is this time?" he asked her.
"I don't know," she said, looking lost. "We have not gotten into anything about God or government since the last meeting in January. ...That's what's bothering me so much -- I don't know what this meeting is about."
"Neither do I," Jessie said, dropping his eyes. "I haven't seen anything about it, but I'll be looking, you can bet on it."
"Hammerschmidt scares me," Miss Annabelle said in a moment of weakness.
"What!" Jessie was surprised. "You handled that creep both times; you made a fool of him. And the parents like you."
"Why do I feel that won't matter this time?" Miss Annabelle softly asked. "They've got something on me...but what could it be? What could it be? And why do I keep seeing those creepy people?"
"Who?" Jessie asked.
"Minner and Hammerschmidt!"
"Jenny, how are your students coming along?" he asked.
She looked up slowly and her face brightened, "Oh, they're amazing. They're going to new levels, Jessie. If I weren't allowed back to class, my students give new meaning to having a mind of their own. They're going to live with a different mentality than their peers. My students will build new knowledge for the world through building never-before-seen puzzle pictures."
"I know," Jessie said. "I listen to all the general lectures. Some of the projects some of those kids are building just blow my mind. Some of them are becoming geniuses!"
"Jessie, you know what? You've just cheered me up," Miss Annabelle looked up and smiled. "Thank you."
"Jenny...Angie and I, we love you. You're our best friend, and we believe in what you're doing."
"I know," she said while standing up. Then she leaned forward and gave Jessie a kiss on the cheek and said, "I can feel you and Angie giving me strength at these school-board meetings. I wish you could be there this time."
"We'll be there," Jessie said.
"But the note specifically said it's a CLOSED meeting."
"Do you think they'll be able to stop my wife?" They both laughed.
"I'd better get back to class," Miss Annabelle said, looking at her watch and feeling much better.
"Before you go, tell me, how are things going with you and John?" Jessie whispered. No one at Duncan Elementary knew about their romantic relationship except Jessie.
"Oh, it's beautiful...he's beautiful!" she whispered back.
"Angie says your eyes tell her everything...you're in love!" They both laughed again. "Jenny...Angie and I've been wanting to spend a little time with you and John. Let's all get together tomorrow; it'll be good for us to feel like a team going into the meeting Wednesday."
"I'd love that, Jessie."
"See if you and John can come over around seven o'clock. We'll have dinner at our place, and we'll talk."
"I'm glad I talked to you. Thank you. You and Angie are special. ...See you tomorrow."
"See you tomorrow."
*
John Melbourne stayed at Miss Annabelle's home most nights now. Their schedules were very compatible. After completing their school papers, he worked on his book and she worked on her lectures. But the three hours immediately after they left school belonged to enjoying each other. They could do anything they wanted in their fun-time together. They always ate dinner together, and they did a number of other things that included working out together at the gym, going to the mall together, going to art shows, craft festivals, going to movies, to the theater, to the park, jogging together, riding bikes, picnics, playing tennis, visiting Jessie and Angie, grocery shopping...anything to be together. When they got back home, they'd get into their evening work.
Tonight they were going to Jessie and Angie's house to have dinner and talk. Of course, their minds were on the school-board meeting the next day. As they were changing to casual clothes, John said, "I'm coming to the meeting."
"But they'll figure out about us if you come," Miss Annabelle said. She wanted him there; she needed him there. But she also wanted to protect him. She did not want him to become a target, too.
"That doesn't matter anymore," he said calmly. "It really doesn't. You're my woman, and I want to be there."
"And you're my Prince Charming," she said, jumping playfully into his arms. They laughed. ...He was right. To hell with trying to keep their romance a secret. It felt so good, she thought, to be able to laugh with him, even when she faced the worst crisis of her life. They left the house with high spirits. Outside on the steps Miss Annabelle slipped, and he grabbed her arm. "Just like our first date," she said, and they laughed some more. They felt good; they were excited to visit Jessie and Angie.
They arrived at the bright little brick house feeling full of fun and games. Jessie and Angie came out on the doorsteps to greet them. Immediately all four were laughing about something. God, I love this sound of us all laughing, Miss Annabelle thought. I hope it always stays like this.
That night, Jessie, Angie, and John decided to be at the meeting no matter what was said to them. Miss Annabelle felt they were a team, a strong team. With them there, my lover and my two best friends, she thought, I will not lose.
*
The next morning Miss Annabelle woke up nervous. What are they investigating? she wondered. Her nervousness subsided when she was with her class. But it came back after school let out. Jessie and John came to her room to be with her. They, too, felt nervous but tried not to show it.
"What's the worst that can happen?" she said. "They could fire me, which would end my teaching career. But at least my students are past the point of no return. I have pushed them into the Neothink mentality." That thought, and that thought alone, relaxed Miss Annabelle. She explained her confidence in her students to John and Jessie. They relaxed some, too.
The meeting would start in two hours in the school auditorium, which Miss Annabelle thought was a large location considering it was a closed meeting. John stayed with Miss Annabelle, and soon Jessie returned with Angie. They sat around talking about her students and the progress they've made.
After about 30 minutes of this, Angie said, "Jenny, you're a hero. You are a hero! What they're doing to you is so upside-down!"
"That's because Jenny's a hero," John said while nodding. "Albert Einstein said, `Great spirits have always encountered violent opposition from mediocre minds.' Jenny," John looked into her eyes, "in that meeting, you remember what you've done for those twelve kids. You've led them to the new mind of the future!"
*
At five o'clock, Jennifer Annabelle, John Melbourne, Jessie and Angie Attison walked into the auditorium together. Tension filled the large room. Miss Annabelle looked to the front and saw Hammerschmidt and Minner looking over some papers. Most of the school board had arrived and were already seated.
The four walked down the aisle together; their hearts were beating fast. Ms. Minner glanced up at them and tapped Hammerschmidt's arm. He looked up and saw the four approaching the front. He instinctively attacked, "I'm sorry, you three will have to leave. This is a closed meeting."
John answered politely, "Sir, we're just going to quietly observe the proceedings here today. My name is John Melbourne, and I teach here. Jessie Attison is the school's custodian and this is his wife, Angie. Honestly, sir, Miss Annabelle is entitled to a little support, isn't she?"
Although a rhetorical question, Hammerschmidt snapped, "No, I'm sorry. This is a closed meeting." He did not know Miss Annabelle had a man in her life, and the possibility that this handsome Melbourne was romantically connected to Miss Annabelle sent waves of envy and anger through the stocky superintendent.
"You have your little closed-door meeting, mister," Angie said, "But when those doors close, we'll be right here." Angie leaned over and gave Miss Annabelle a kiss on the cheek, whispered something in her ear, then sat down in the front row. Jessie and John smiled warmly at Miss Annabelle, and they sat down too. Hammerschmidt looked at them for a moment. Before he had a chance to object, John Melbourne said, "You can have us watch -- and we're harmless -- or you can have her attorney accompany her. It's your choice."
Hammerschmidt thought about it for a moment, then gave up the fight. Miss Annabelle took her seat at the solo chair and small table facing the school board, still without a clue as to what this was about. As she sat there, she noticed a man sitting in the vacant audience seats toward the very back, in the shadows. She strained to see who it was, but it was too dark. She put a hand over her eyes to block the glare of the lights. Still, she could not make him out.
"Let's get started!" Hammerschmidt shouted. "Miss Annabelle, we all know each other now. So, the best way to handle this is to start the meeting with a slide show. As they say, a picture's worth a thousand words. We'll talk after the show. Lights please!"
Someone dimmed the lights and the slide projector illuminated the screen at the front of the room. Miss Annabelle looked to her left and smiled as she saw a picture of Sally and herself puckering up for big hug and kiss. Although a close-up, Miss Annabelle knew by the dress, the picture was taken at Sally's birthday party.
After a moment, the slide changed, and there was Miss Annabelle again in a tight embrace with Cathy. The next slide showed her hugging Teddy in the lunchroom. Then another showing her hugging Ian at the school's science fair. ...What is this? she wondered. Who took all those pictures? After a dozen more pictures of her hugging her students, the slide show ended and the lights came on.
"Miss Annabelle, you are the only teacher here who does that," Hammerschmidt said.
"Does what?" she asked, quite confused.
"Miss Annabelle, do you realize, you're the only teacher here who physically touches, hugs, even kisses these nine-year-olds."
"I really do love them. I've got no children of my own, and I've become very attached to them. ...What are you saying, anyway?"
"After seeing the complete library of pictures, the school board must review and decided the terms of your employment," Hammerschmidt said, trying to sound diplomatic.
"We must also review the conditions, as they pertain to your teaching license, under these circumstances," Ms. Minner added.
"What circumstances?" Miss Annabelle asked emphatically. Visibly upset and shaking, she said, "This is the most disgusting show of vindictiveness; I couldn't have thought of this line of attack, even in my worst fears of what was going to take place here today! Tell me, how does one defend oneself against this sort of accusation? You have pictures of me hugging these children. I hug them because I care...I LOVE THEM! Everything I do, I'm thinking about them. I feel their pains; I share their victories. Sally's mother is dying, which has brought us all closer together. Since Sally's birthday party, the hugging began. ...What do you want from me? Why can't you just leave me alone to teach these children?" Miss Annabelle knew she was going to cry as her eyes filled with tears. She looked at Hammerschmidt. She could not know that Hammerschmidt was aroused while watching her little body quivering, broken, and about to cry...secretly imagining her this way during "a good beating". But her subconscious picked up something overwhelmingly eerie at the way he was looking back at her. A woman's instinct instructed her from within to get out of there. She stood up and ran out of the room. Crying and disoriented, she could not see well and the entire right side of her torso hit the doorway hard and knocked her back and spun her halfway around. Her line of sight landed directly on the mysterious figure who was sitting in the shadows. She was close enough to see his face, smiling victoriously. It was Burke!
John was running after her and calling her, but she staggered out. Just before John left the auditorium exit, he turned around and shouted at Hammerschmidt, "You'll pay for this, you bastard! I'll personally make sure of that!"
Outside, John caught up with Miss Annabelle. She was leaning face forward against his car, crying uncontrollably. He turned her around and hugged her. She leaned into him and buried her face into his chest. Her hands were shaking severely as she grabbed him and hysterically gasped, "Oh John, Oh John, what have they done! What have they done!"
He hugged her tightly. Her whole body was shivering. What have they done? he wondered. Jessie and Angie came out. "Oh, baby," Angie said as she reached over and rubbed Miss Annabelle's back. Jessie was hot with anger, but he stayed calm. Miss Annabelle could not stop crying. "Let it out, let it all out," Angie urged in a gentle, maternal voice.
All four got in John's Chrysler. Angie and Miss Annabelle sat in the back. Angie put her arm around Miss Annabelle who was leaning forward, still crying into a tissue pressed against her face.
"Please, take me home, John." Miss Annabelle said in a terribly sad voice.
When they arrived, all four went into the living room. Miss Annabelle had regained some of her composure and sat down. Angie went into the kitchen and made coffee. John sat on the arm of the chair next to Miss Annabelle and held her hand. Jessie sat across from them on the couch.
"Is this it? Am I fired?" Miss Annabelle blurted, still in a state of shock.
"No, darling," John said reassuringly, "there's protocol to follow. It will take three months before anything like that could happen. That would get you through the end of the school year."
Miss Annabelle immediately relaxed. She even managed a slight smile. She had told herself before the meeting that her students had their own minds now, but from the moment she ran out of the meeting, she had the horrifying thought that she would not be able to teach her students again. The most wonderful music to her ears was what John had just said: she would be able to finish out the school year.
He knew she wanted to hear those words, too. But he said those words with sincerity. In fact, the past two days he did a lot of research on protocol and talked in depth with his lawyer, preparing for the worst. He did not tell Miss Annabelle of his research so as not to worry her. He also had no clue on what the meeting would be about, but he suspected it would be significant as she had twice previously battled and beaten the school board, and they were not going to be embarrassed again.
He let go of Miss Annabelle's hand and stood up. He walked over and put his hand on the mantle over the fireplace and leaned his weight forward. Looking at the ground, he thought for a moment and then said, "We must throw a log on their tracks to slow them down."
He hesitated because he knew what he was going to say next would upset her. After a moment, he turned around and said, "Jenny, we must reveal our love affair to show that you're a normal, heterosexual woman."
Her face crumbled, revealing the pain again that was eating away inside her. Two tears raced down her mascara-stained cheeks, and she struggled to speak. Her words came out in slow motion. Her voice was filled with devastation of a violated soul; a devastation only a woman knows. She had to fight with her mouth to speak and pronounce these words, "I have to be sleeping with a man to be sexually normal?"
John walked over, knelt before her, and took her hand. "My love," he said, "they're going to create this horrible illusion about you. We need to slow them down. It's an unfair, rotten thing to have to prove your innocence, but you have little choice. You must fight back, Jenny."
Miss Annabelle was quiet.
"He's right, Jenny," Jessie said. "This is a war. Your kids can't lose you. If you do what John's saying, there's no way they could take you away from the kids before the school year ends."
Angie walked in with the coffee. They all sat down and sipped, their minds hard at work.
"What about filing a lawsuit for defamation of character?" Angie asked.
Miss Annabelle looked up and quietly said, "A lawsuit centered on child molestation." She paused, gathering her thoughts, then continued, "That'd bring my kids under the type of questioning that'd undermine the one person who must have complete credibility in their eyes -- me. I don't want to undo what I've done for those kids. ...Oh, that Hammerschmidt is a sick man!"
Her pain was turning to anger. "I wish I could make him feel the hurt he's put in me! God, I feel violated!" John sat next to her and rubbed his hand down her hair. "We'll fix this," he assured her.
"I've got an idea," Jessie said, lifting his eyes from the floor to look at John and Miss Annabelle. Angie, who was sitting next to him, put her coffee on the end table, then turned and put her hand on Jessie's lap, giving him her undivided attention as he said, "I think we should hurt him."
"What do you mean?" John asked.
"A man like that has done some awful things; he's proven that by what he's doing to you. He's got no principles. He's also running for public office. We need to dig up some dirt on this scum and make a private little offer: he drops his investigation of you, and we don't take our dirt to the local media."
"I like it, Jessie" John said. "He's darn clever, but if we can find a skeleton in his closet, I'll personally handle it. I'll start tomorrow; I'll meet with a private investigator. I'll also put together an affidavit detailing our romantic relationship. ...How do you feel about all this, love?"
Miss Annabelle looked up at John. "I'll do anything to keep teaching through the end of the school year," she said, obviously worn out emotionally and physically. "And I'm all for finding out whatever we can about Hammerschmidt's past." She looked at John, Jessie, and Angie and said, "Thank you, so much, for all that you're doing for me. I think what I need right now is to think about my kids and how this might affect them. I need to really concentrate for a couple of hours...alone."
"We understand, dear," Angie said, getting up and gathering the coffee cups. When she returned from depositing the cups in the kitchen sink, she asked Miss Annabelle if she could fix her something to eat.
"I'll make a sandwich or something later," Miss Annabelle said, smiling. "Thank you for being there."
John said he'd take Jessie and Angie back to their car at the school, then go home for a couple of hours. He wanted to work on the affidavit. He hugged her and said he'd be back around ten o'clock.
"I love you," Miss Annabelle whispered, and she hugged him tight.
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