The Counsel

[JamesSavik]

The Counsel

 

Foster King sat on an uncomfortable, hard-bottomed bench outside Vice-Principal Chuckles’ office. The man tried to be an affable clown, but most of his corny jokes fell flat on the middle schoolers who had to endure them. The man seemed to have a tone-deafness about him that made him immune to the idea that his students were laughing at him, not his jokes.

His best friend, Rebel Stuart, sat in the chair beside him, but they were forbidden to talk until Chuckles was done with them. The rule was enforced by the office secretary, a seemingly humorless old crone. Foster wished he could. Rebel had frequent flyer points in Chuckle's office and knew how this worked.

A man with a company logo on his shirt came out of the back office and said, “I replaced two rollers and the drum. That copier shouldn’t give you any more problems.”

She thanked him, and he hastily departed. Foster guessed being in the principal’s office, with its intimidation by design, even made adults jumpy.

The office secretary stood, picked up a pile of papers, and said, “You two little hooligans stay here. Mr. Tanner will be right with you.” She went into the back office and began making copies.

Foster said, “Hey, when we get in there, what are we supposed to do?”

“Play dumb,” Rebel said. “Grownups think we’re stupid, so show’em what they expect.”

Foster paused and said, “Is there anything I should look out for?”

Rebel considered the question and said, “Yeah. Expect him to lie. We would get in more trouble for lying, but grownups lie all the time.”

“What’ll they lie about?” Foster asked.

“Everythin. There are a few that are ‘specially dangerous. If he starts out saying, ‘tell me the truth, nobodies gonna get in trouble’, you know somebodies gonna get in trouble.”

Foster said, “That sucks.”

“That’s a bad one, but not the worst,” Rebel opined. “He’ll say he knows you did sumthin’ just to rattle you to get a confession.”

Foster said, “Rat bastard!”

Rebel chuckled and said, “Tell me about it. Last time, they accused me of wetting toilet paper and leavin’ big paper mache spitballs on the roof of study hall.”

“What did you say?”

“They had to know it wasn’t me because nothin’ was broken.”

Foster laughed, “Fair point.”

Rebel’s temper has been explosive since his parents' recent divorce. His fuse was short, if not instantaneous. He had been loads of fun to be around, but not so much lately.

Rebel said, “Their worst lie of all is everything will be all right.”

“What if we just told the truth?” Foster asked.

“Try it. They won’t believe you. That’s just how grownups are.”

Exasperated, Foster asked, “Well, how do we win?”

Rebel said, “You don’t get it. We don’t. It’s their game, their rules, and their say. Ours is not to reason why, ours is just to grin and bear it.

 

 

[Rutabaga]

Ah, middle school.  Except that when I went it was called junior high school.  It ran from 7th through 9th grade, except that the year I went it started at 6th grade because the elementary schools had run out of space.  So I was stuck in that hormone incubator for four years.  I was definitely ready to move on after 9th grade.

Goat rope?

R

[JamesSavik]

3 hours ago, Rutabaga said:

Goat rope?

R

Here's the danger of using slang. Not everyone will get it. I eliminated it and rewrote the paragraph to be more clear.

This story is really about Rebel and the adults he's been around, which is why he expects them to lie. 

Quote

goat rope

noun

1. A confusing, disorganized situation often attributed to or marked by human error.
2. A convoluted issue that is contested by many parties.
3. A rodeo event in which competitors attempt to lasso a goat, usually for younger

 

[Cole Parker]

Ah, middle school.  Except that when I went it was called junior high school.  It ran from 7th through 9th grade, except that the year I went it started at 6th grade because the elementary schools had run out of space.

Me too.  I'm afraid that proves we're both really old.  Everyone calls it middle school now.  And I think there's much more difference between 6th and 7th graders than 7th and 8th.  I think our system, middle school being 7-9, made much more sense.  And I sure woudn't have been ready for high school when I was in 9th grade in Jr. High.  Not sure I was when I did enter high school, but that's another story.

And apologies for butting in on James fine story.  I love your writing, James.  You know that.

C

 

 

A

[JamesSavik]

12 hours ago, Cole Parker said:

Ah, middle school.  Except that when I went it was called junior high school.  It ran from 7th through 9th grade, except that the year I went it started at 6th grade because the elementary schools had run out of space.

And apologies for butting in on James fine story.  I love your writing, James.  You know that.

C

I've been catching up on Ren's adventures. You had to know a main character from Jackson, MS would catch my eye.

Like you, mine was a jr high that ran 7th, 8th and 9th grades.

I've sometimes thought it would be best for middle school to run 6th, 7th and 8th and high school to run 9-12. The difference between 14 and 15, or 8th and 9th graders, is pretty stark.

[Rutabaga]

It appears that the Los Angeles Unified School District has adopted the plan of making middle school cover grades 6 through 8 and high school cover grades 9 through 12.  Until recently I lived directly across the street from a Los Angeles middle school, which meant that twice a day (morning and afternoon) my quiet little street became clogged with kids and cars.  But there's something nice about seeing the energy of youth.  And when one of my dogs escaped the yard and went missing, the kids were eager to help look for him and put up posters around the neighborhood.   (He eventually turned up at a house several blocks away, where he apparently just showed up and asked, "What's for dinner?")

R