Every day at lunch, the three boys would meet behind the Lutheran church. Smoke a little pot. Drink a little beer. On occasion, an eighth or ninth grade girl would be with them to be introduced to the joys of drugs and sex. The old Lutheran preacher never knew the hasp holding the padlock on the gardening shed was broken, let alone that under the shelf in back of the shed was a stash of drugs, booze, and a couple of blankets for a quickie.
Kawalski had followed the boys to their hideout a year and a half ago. Instead of busting them, he used them for information and a source of income. They were more than willing to buy their liquor and pills from him ... at a reasonable mark up, of course.
'Pike, got enough of everything?' The nod in return was enough. 'How about anything for me?' Again a shake of the head was the response. 'You know, it is too bad someone doesn't take care of Makinen. The way he laid his hands on poor Jenny ... and getting away with it! All that will ever happen to him is getting laid off for a day or two.
'Now, boys, you should head back to school soon. You don't want to be late for your next class ... Do you? It would be better not to go back at all if you are late.' Kawalski left.
The boys knew that Kawalski was hinting at something when he mentioned not being late for classes. On that cue, the boys went into the shed. They found a case of beer and a bottle of whisky that they hadn't put there. Party time went through their minds. Arne left to get some girls. John went for his car. Within five minutes, the boys and two girls were driving out of town to a fire trail ten miles north of town. By the time John pulled the car off the highway and into the State Forest, one of the girls had a can of beer in her hands and Pike pounding between her legs. The other girl was pushing Arne's hands away from her breasts with one hand while pulling on a can of beer with the other. She would belch out between gulps of beer, 'You don't get anything till I'm drunk.'
Pike sat by the bonfire John had made, sipping beer. He could hear John and Arne with the girls, back by the car. He liked his life, girls, booze and money. He knew that after high school he would have to clean up his act. He knew that as long as he was careful and only pimped and sold drugs in school he would be safe. He was under age, protected by Kawalski. Besides, no one thought anything bad could be happening in their nice quiet rural school. He wanted the five to ten grand he knew he would make off the students in the area schools before he graduated. He would have Arne set up something for Makinen to satisfy Kawalski. What he needed now was another beer.
Lori Waithe waited as long as she could after the buses left with the students before going to her scheduled meeting with Kawalski. It had been an open secret that he would try to get her to sleep with him. At the noon meeting, the two women teachers who had been hired since he became principal confessed that he had blackmailed them with tenure to get them to have sex.
She had, with the help of the other teachers, developed a plan. She would enter his office with two voice- activated tape recorders. One would be hidden in her handbag and the other would be in her jacket pocket. At least one of the recorders should record Kawalski's blackmail. The faculty would then use the recordings to force the removal of Kawalski and Shermon. To protect her during the meeting, two teachers had volunteered to wait outside his office for her, Bonnie Franklin and Mike Garrison.
Lori knocked on Kawalski's office door. She opened it after hearing a muffled 'come in.'
She started the conversation, 'You asked me to come in for a follow up on my evaluation for tenure?'
'Yes, yes. Sit down. I have just a couple of things to finish up.' Kawalski pretended to file some paperwork. He took his time. He knew that forcing people to wait was intimidating. It immediately set the rules on who was in charge. His next step was even more intimidating. After putting a file in the cabinet across the room, he walked back to his desk. Instead of sitting in his chair, he sat on the edge of his desk. His huge bulk towered over Lori.
'Now, during our last meeting, I listed some problems I felt you had with discipline and communication. I know there hasn't been time for you to develop any changes in your teaching style yet. What I want to talk to you about today is 'Why should we give you more time to develop your teaching skills?' You have been here a year already. Why should I give you more time to learn how to teach? What makes it worthwhile for the school to continue paying your salary while you learn, and not just hire someone else?' At the same time Kawalski said those words, he shifted his position on the desk. His foot now rubbed the outside of Lori's thigh. He slowly drew his foot back and forth across her thigh.
Lori looked up at Kawalski and crinkled her nose. When she was younger, vanity had kept her from first getting glasses and then wearing them. She had learned to squint to see the chalkboard or a friend's face. Her mother had bought contact lenses for her to try, but her eyes wouldn't adjust to the lenses, so another year passed squinting at the chalkboard. By the time she started wearing her glasses, the squinting was an ingrained habit. With the weight of the eyeglasses now resting on the bridge of her nose, the squint had changed to a crinkling of the nose adjusting the position of her glasses. What no one had ever told her was that the scrunching of her face was more than a little distracting, it was down right erotic. Her lips would pout and open slightly. The wrinkling of her cheeks and focusing of her eyes gave her the same expression of someone lost in passion. The reason the arousal was so intense was that the look would flash across her face and then be gone. It was a little like subliminal suggestion, a flash of sex then nothing. She knew that there was something about her being close to anyone talking that would break their train of thought. She had even overheard an old boyfriend describe her as being distractingly cute when she was near. But she never learned what it was.
Unconscious of what she was doing, she looked up at Kawalski crinkling her nose and saw in his face his confusion as he forgot what he had planned to say. She took the opportunity the hesitation caused to quietly, but firmly, say into say into the recorder, 'Please stop touching my leg.' She then gently pushed his foot away.
Kawalski, unfamiliar with being refused and confused at having his seduction interrupted, leaned closer to Lori's face and reached down to put his hand on the inside of her thigh. 'You need to make it worth my while to let you stay.'
'Mr. Shermon won't let you get away with this.'
Kawalski laughed, 'Shermon? He wants to fuck you too. Let's cut this crap. You want to keep your job-you put out. No fucky, no money. Get it?'
Lori reached between her legs and pulled on his hand. 'I get it-but you're not!' she gasped as she pulled at the resisting hand.
Still laughing, Kawalski said, 'And just who is going to stop me, sweetie?'
'I am, dearie, and Bonnie and Mike, who are waiting for me just the other side of that door.'
'What?' Kawalski removed his hand and stood up. He looked at Lori, still sitting but trying to arrange her clothes. 'You're fucking with me. There's no one out there.'
'See for yourself?'
Kawalski opened the door. Bonnie and Mike were sitting at his secretary's desk. They looked up when the door opened. Bonnie said, before Kawalski's opened-faced astonishment, 'Mike, it looks like I was right. We will have time for a meal before the first showing of the movie.
'Hi, Mr. Kawalski. Don't you just hate being stuck working on a Friday
night?'
Lori pushed past Kawalski. 'Goodbye, Mr. Kawalski,' she spit out as they left.
Kawalski stood in the doorway his fingers turning white as he clenched the doorframe as they left.
* * * *
_The door opens. *Click.* The light is on. The hands seem to be slow and deliberate as they turn over the_ next card.
_An angel pouring water between two cups is the figure on the upside down card._
_The shrouded figure gazes for a time at the card before reaching for the light._
CHAPTER 5: Temperance reversed
People who have not taken heat baths cannot believe how good they feel. The Native Americans consider it a religious experience. Finlanders reject that idea for very practical reasons. If it is religious act, then you can only take the bath at certain times or with certain ceremonies. Finns want their saunas whenever they can.
James Makinen was sitting in his father's sauna for his regular Saturday night bath. He loved his father's sauna. His father had worked for years to get the size of the room to match the size of the stove. Too large a stove and the heat could get too intense and ruin the tranquility of the bath. Too small and the room could become cold-
