“Maybe live with you,” he said correcting her. “If your grandma is willing to have me.”
“Yes,” Ida nodded, “and that’s yet to be decided.”
“I do hope you’ll allow me to rent the room, Mrs. Parker,” he said. “I’m quiet, clean, and pretty much keep to myself, so I assure you I’ll be no bother.” He went on to explain that his parents were killed in an automobile accident two years ago, which left only him and his younger brother, Philipp. “Phil and Ginger are expecting a baby in December, and I’d like to be there for them. That’s why I left Villanova.”
“Villanova University?”
He nodded. “I was an assistant professor at the school of engineering.”
With a look of suspicion tugging at her eyebrow, Ida asked, “Why would you leave Pennsylvania and a job like that to be a substitute teacher in a small-town junior high school?”
“Family,” he said and smiled. “Like many people, I never really thought about how much those relationships mean. Then I lost my parents, and it was devastating. Without Mom’s Sunday dinners and Dad sitting beside me to watch a football game, I felt such emptiness. I realized no amount of prestige or money takes the place of family. So I sold my house, put my stuff in storage, and took this job so I’d be here when my brother’s first child was born.”
His words settled in Ida’s heart as gently as a feather falling to the ground, and she knew what her answer would be. The influence of such a man would be good for Annie and possibly even for Darla Jean.
That thought was still floating across her mind when Gregg asked if her could see the room.
Looking across at Suzanna, Ida gave a wave and said, “Darla Jean, take Mister Patterson upstairs and show him the blue room. It’s bigger and has a nice size desk in there.”
Suzanna and Gregg disappeared up the stairs then returned in a matter of minutes.
“It’s a lovely room,” he said. “I’d be delighted to live here.”
“Then live here you shall,” Ida replied.
As he sat there writing a check for the first month’s rent, Ida invited him to stay for dinner. Not surprisingly, he said yes.
Earl
Searching for Suzanna
ONCE EARL GOT IT IN his head that Suzanna was most likely with the guy who was Annie’s daddy, nothing was going to dissuade him. The Monday after his meeting with Tom Duff he drove over to the high school, determined to find a copy of her high school yearbook. It was after ten when he arrived, and school was already in session.
He came through the door and wandered along the hallway, occasionally peeking into a classroom window then moving on. He figured they’d have copies of the 1952 yearbook at the principal’s office and if not there the school library for sure.
For ten minutes, he walked up one hallway and down the next looking for someone to ask, but other than the people in the classrooms there was no one and no signs pointing the direction to an office or guidance counselor.
“What kind of a dumb ass school is this?” Earl mumbled as he neared the end of the third hallway. “How’s a person supposed to find their way around?”
He took a left, circled past an empty gymnasium, spotted a room marked Teacher’s Lounge, and pushed the door open without bothering to knock. No one inside. He stood there for a few moments looking around, then started toward the bookcase opposite the sofa. The top section of the unit was shelving, the lower portion cabinets with closed doors. Starting with the middle shelf, which was eye level, he fingered through what was there; mostly novels, Advise and Consent, Hawaii, Anatomy of a Murder. Stacked alongside the books was a bunch of paperbacks. He stretched his neck and browsed the top shelf. More of the same plus a few on psychology and health. On the bottom shelf nothing but stacks of papers.
“Waste of time,” he grumbled, then squatted down and pulled the cupboard doors open.
Boxes of stationery, staplers, some coffee cups. He was reaching further back when the bell rang and startled him. Almost instantly, he heard doors swing open and voices echoing through the previously empty hall. He bolted up, hurried out of the room, and latched onto the first kid he saw.
The boy, a head taller than Earl but skinny as a beanstalk, turned with an angry glare. “Who the hell—”
Earl let go of the kid’s arm and held his hands up palms out.
“Sorry,” he said quickly. “I ain’t looking for trouble, just the principal’s office.”
Before he got his answer, two other boys stopped alongside the kid and eyed Earl suspiciously.
The biggest of the three gave a nod toward Earl then turned toward Beanstalk and asked, “This clown giving you a problem?”
Beanstalk shook his head. “He’s looking for Mr. Whisenant’s office.”
The big guy sneered at Earl as if spoiling for a fight. “What business you got here?”
For a split-second Earl considered giving the wise-ass kid a knee, just to prove he was somebody not to mess with, but he let go of the thought before it was fully formed. He wanted the yearbook more than he wanted to teach this kid a lesson. He couldn’t afford to be thrown out of the building before he got what he came for.
Ignoring the kid’s attitude, he said, “I’m looking for a copy of the yearbook from when I graduated.”
The big kid elbowed Beanstalk and guffawed, “They had printing presses back then?”
“Knock it off.” Beanstalk turned back to Earl, motioned toward the side door then said, “Go through there, take the first hallway on the right. It’s at the far end.”
Earl was in no mood for niceties; he turned and walked off without a word.
As the door swung closed behind him, he heard the big kid yell, “Yer welcome.”
The muscle in the back of Earl’s neck twitched.
“Screw you,” he grumbled and kept walking. The kid didn’t
