“I would challenge you to a battle of wits, but I see you are unarmed.”
~William Shakespeare
“You can’t fix stupid.”
~Romeo Bradley
There was no denying I walked with extra pep in my step that morning nor was there doubt as to why it felt like I was floating instead of walking. Julius. I’d earned a quirked brow from Lily when I dropped Dolly off, but she didn’t ask any questions.
“By the way, your marinara sauce was the best I’ve ever had,” I said when I released Dolly from the leash before handing it to Lily.
“I’m so happy you enjoyed it. Would you like another jar? I have plenty.”
“I will graciously accept your generosity when I pick Dolly up tonight. I’d really like you to teach me how to grow the right tomatoes and make the sauce myself. I’m ruined for jarred spaghetti sauce from the store.”
“Really?” Lily asked. “I’d love to teach you this summer if that’s really what you want.”
“I do.”
After dropping off Dolly, I stopped at Books and Brew to pick up a cup of coffee and a pastry for both myself and Priscilla. She was partial to their blueberry and cream cheese Danish, and I wanted to bring her a treat to get her week started off on the right foot. Milo was working the counter and eyeing me speculatively. I gave him my order and paid for it while Maegan started making our drinks.
“That looks really good on you, Rome.”
“Thanks, this tie is my favorite,” I told Milo, although I suspected he meant the sappy grin I couldn’t wipe off my face.
“You know darn well I wasn’t talking about your yellow paisley tie.” It was said with so much derision I had to study my choice to see if it looked as bad as he implied. I loved the pastel colors in the paisley print and thought it looked sharp against the lavender shirt I’d chosen.
“What’s wrong with my tie?” I asked, scowling at him.
“Milo, we don’t insult our patrons’ clothes,” Maegan said from the espresso machine. She turned and faced me. “Your tie looks as lovely as the glow you’re wearing.”
“Mae, he was being deliberately obtuse,” Milo countered. “I guess we’ll let the man keep his secrets.”
“In this town?” Mae snorted. “Good luck with that, Rome.”
I hadn’t planned on keeping my relationship with Julius a secret; I just wasn’t willing to reveal my feelings to people I hardly knew. Did Julius want us to keep our relationship a secret? If he did, we’d have to be extraordinarily careful and have all our dates away from Blissville, and there could be no overnight stays at either of our houses. That sounded horrible to me, but I would try if it’s what he wanted. If he had a valid reason for denying us. I just wasn’t sure how long I could pull it off. It wasn’t like I expected him to hold my hand or kiss me at the school, but the thought of not being able to smile at him in the hallway or share lunch with him during our break bothered me more than it should.
“Uh-oh,” Milo said. “Mae didn’t mean to diminish your sunny disposition.”
“Me?” Maegan said, placing her hands on her hips. “You’re the one insulting his tie, so you started it.”
That quickly, the clouds parted and allowed the sun to shine bright again. I clutched my stomach and laughed at their antics. “Oh, you two are something else. I bet you kept your folks on their toes.”
“Kept?” asked an amused voice from behind me. I turned and saw a smiling older version of Maegan. “I’m Jackie Miracle, and the mother of these two hooligans. There is never a dull moment with Milo and Maegan.”
“I’m Romeo Bradley,” I said, offering my hand.
“I know who you are, Dr. Bradley,” she replied, firmly shaking my hand. “It’s nice to finally meet you.”
“Likewise.”
Maegan placed a carrier with my drinks and a bag with the pastries on the counter. “Have a great day. Sorry again that we hijacked your good mood the minute you crossed the threshold.”
“You did no such thing, guys. I always feel like I’m getting free entertainment with my coffee and pastries when both of you are working behind the counter. I’ll be back for more tomorrow.”
“See you tomorrow then,” Milo said with a devious smile. It looked like he was already coming up with a scheme to irritate his sister and entertain me at the same time. I had every faith he could pull it off.
“Good luck with them, Mrs. Miracle.”
“Please call me Jackie, and thank you. I’ll take all the luck I can get.”
My phone rang as soon as I settled in my car. I hadn’t started my engine yet, so the call didn’t show up on my display or ring through my speakers. I fished my phone out of my pocket and saw that Priscilla was calling me. I wasn’t late, so there was no reason for her to be busting my balls so early on a Monday morning.
“Good morning, sunshine,” I said, knowing it would rile her up.
She ignored my greeting and didn’t offer one in returned. “You better get your ass over here. We have big trouble brewing.”
“How can there be big trouble brewing already. The day hasn’t started yet.”
“Evil waits for no one.” Click. She hung up without another word.
My mood soured quickly as I made the short drive to my office. I shared a space with the school board officers: president, vice president, treasurer, and secretary; the assistant the four of them had to share; and my secretary, Priscilla. When I walked through the door, I was surprised to find all the school board members present, not just the officers, along with their assistant.
“Surprise,” Priscilla said drolly.
“You shouldn’t have. It’s not my birthday,” I replied, trying to inject a sense of humor to lighten the mood of the room. Whatever they had to say couldn’t be that bad. My optimism faded when it occurred to me someone might’ve seen Julius walk me to my car at one o’clock that morning and kiss me goodbye. We weren’t talking about a quick peck either. Julius gave me a why-don’t-we-take-this-back-inside kiss.
“Dr. Bradley, could we have a private word in the boardroom?” Caitlyn Simpson posed it as a question, but the look on her face told me she expected me to follow without hesitation.
“After you,” I said to all of them. I stopped by Priscilla’s desk and handed her the coffee carrier and bag of pastries. “Go ahead and enjoy your treat.”
“You’re too good to me,” she said tearfully.
“It’s going to be okay,” I consoled her, wishing I felt as certain as I sounded. “I haven’t done anything wrong.”
She snorted. “That evil bastard doesn’t care who he destroys.”
I wanted to ask who she meant but knew I’d find out soon enough. The school board looked pissed enough as it was, so I didn’t want to keep them waiting. Each of the board members had daytime jobs they were missing to host this impromptu meeting with me.
“Dr. Bradley, won’t you have a seat?” Caitlyn asked, gesturing to an open chair across from her. “We won’t keep you long, but an issue was brought to our attention late yesterday evening that impacts all of us and our students. We decided it was best to get this out in the open so we can devise a plan.”
“Why didn’t you just call me last night, Cait?” I asked. “Maybe it would’ve saved you all the hassle of being late to your jobs.”
“This is too important to handle over the phone,” she replied. I noticed both her posture and tone of voice had softened. “Dr. Bradley, we”—she circled her forefinger in the air to encompass everyone in the room—“really like you and the positivity and experience you bring to our school. We respect all the measures you’ve taken to rebuild the relationship between the faculty and the school board. I cannot express how happy that makes me—us.”
I glanced around the room to see everyone nodding solemnly. “But…”
“There are no buts,” Earl Jenner, the vice president said. “We just want you to know how much we appreciate you before we discuss the matter at hand.”
“Which is?” I prompted.
“You have the board’s full support, Dr. Bradley,” Cheryl Highlander said. “We truly admire you.”
“Thank you,” I told her. If they were so happy with my job performance, then why did it look like they were attending my funeral? “I have to admit, I’ve never received praise like this delivered in gloomy monotones. It kind of feels like I entered The Twilight Zone.”
“It’s because none of us want to be the one to repeat mean, hurtful things to a person who’s done nothing to deserve them,” Cait said.
“Clearly a complaint was filed against me. Can I ask by whom and what their grievances were?”
“Apparently, word has filtered around the county about the play we plan to perform in January,” Cait told me.
“The play the board voted on before I was hired?”
“Yes, that play. The school board has received a signed petition asking us to terminate the production of Inside Out.” Then I realized that most of Caitlyn’s hurt came from the idea of disappointing her daughter. She had to know how much Inside Out meant to Clara.
“No,” I said firmly. “There’s not a single line in that play that is inappropriate for the student body to speak or an audience to hear.”
“I agree with you wholeheartedly, Dr. Bradley,” Cait said. “You have to know how personal this is for me, but I have to think like a mature adult and not the mother of one of the creators.”
“What’s that mean?” I asked her. “Are you even considering honoring the petition?”
“We have to take these things seriously, Rome,” Earl said. “None of us want cancel the play.”
“Okay, then why the gloom and doom?”
“We think it’s best to at least hold a public meeting to allow the parents to speak their minds and let them hear our thoughts in return.”
“Okay,” I said, nodding. “I agree that’s fair, but are there really that many parents upset about the play? How many signatures did they collect?”
“Seven hundred and fifty,” Cait said.
“We only have six hundred and thirty-two students registered at Blissville High School,” I stated. Cait snorted, Earl chuckled, and a few others snickered in the room. “I’m sorry. I didn’t mean to imply you weren’t aware of enrollment numbers.”
“It’s okay, Dr. Bradley. We understand why you’re upset. We are too.”
“I think we need to cross reference the names on the petition to the names of our high school student body,” I recommended.
“Why?” Betsy Jones asked.
“Because I’m not willing to listen to any complaints from anyone outside our school district or anyone who doesn’t have a child enrolled in the high school. If parents of a kindergartner don’t want their kid to attend the play, then they don’t have to drive them to Goodville to attend any of the performances. It isn’t like they can accidentally stumble across the play.”
“You make a valid point,” Cait said. “I’m so irritated I didn’t think of that.”
“I’m plenty fired up about it, but that only makes my thoughts sharper.”
“I’ll ask Sandra to compare names on the petitions to our roster,” Cait said. Sandra was the assistant assigned to the board members.
“Or you can have Priscilla look at it,” I suggested. “She knows everybody in this town. Hell, she’s worked in this district for fifty years.”
“True,” Earl said. “Her mind is quicker than any computer.”
“That’s what she keeps telling me,” I replied. “Who drew up the petition in the first place?”
“Roy Halifax,” Cait replied, disdain dripping from her tongue. “There has never been a more grotesque man to walk this earth.”
“He founded the Preserving Our Society group, and they hold meetings each month to discuss ways they can run off the gays and other minorities who they feel are ruining our way of life.”
“You don’t say?” I asked, sitting back in my chair. My mood had improved for the first time since I arrived.
“Why are you smirking?” Cait asked suspiciously.
“I refuse to fear any group with an acronym of POS.”
“He is a piece of shit!” Cait declared then covered her mouth and burst into laughter.
The rest of us followed her until we were practically crying from laughing so hard at her outburst. I knew in that moment we would take on the piece of shits together and come out the victor.
“We’re set to have the auditions next week,” I reminded Cait. “Do you want me to slide them back a week?”
“No,” she replied firmly. “We’ll schedule a public meeting for Friday and take it from there. Emails will go out to high school parents, and I’ll make sure it gets announced in the Blissville Daily News.”
“Do you think it’s wise to encourage more people to show up?” Earl asked.
“First of all, we don’t do things in secret,” Cait said firmly. “The previous school board, along with the former superintendent who is serving time in jail, operated on corruption and deceit. I promised transparency, and that’s what I’m going to deliver. Besides, if we don’t tell our students and their parents, only the people who want to stop the play will show up. Is that what we want?”
“Not at all,” Cheryl said.
“We’ll need to include the overview of the play in the newsletter and inform the parents that three of Blissville High’s students wrote the play and lyrics for the songs. I would think that most parents would be impressed,” I suggested.
“Agreed,” Cait said. “I’ll also let them know the full board, not just the parent of one of the playwrights, read the play and approved it. I plan to objectively listen to valid complaints, not hateful rhetoric, and hold a public vote in front of those who attend.” The look in her eye said she wouldn’t be swayed to cancel the play because of some ignorant bigot, so I released a grateful sigh.
“Well, I guess that concludes this meeting then?” I asked. “Or was there anything else we needed to discuss?”
Cait looked around the room to see if anyone else had something they wished to bring up, but everyone shook their heads. “Meeting adjourned then. I will email everyone in the next day or so to confirm a time for Friday’s meeting.”
I shook the hands of each member as they left the boardroom then went in search of Priscilla and found her in Sandra’s office. Both of them were sitting behind Sandra’s desk looking at the computer, and I had no doubt they were already scrutinizing the names on the petition list.
“This is ridiculous,” Priscilla said, shaking her head. “It would be easier to point out the legitimate names on this list since there are so few of them. Ha! Gresham Powell died in 2015. Who the hell are they trying to fool with this bullshit list? I’m going to nail their balls to the wall.” Uh-oh! Someone woke up “The Dragon” and they would pay dearly.
“Let me know if I can help in any way,” I said, eliciting a startled gasp from the ladies. They’d been too enthralled with the list to notice I was standing inside the doorway.
“You can help by not giving an old woman a heart attack,” Priscilla told me. “Why are you sneaking around here? It’s unsettling.”
“I’m not sneaking around. You were just so absorbed by your mission you didn’t notice.”
Priscilla conceded with a shrug of her bony shoulders. “Your handsome fella dropped something off at your desk. He looked disappointed you weren’t available.” Just like that, the sun was shining and birds were singing once more. “It’s a good thing he stopped by because I gave your muffin to Sandra.”
“That’s okay. Had I known Sandra would be in today, I would’ve brought her a coffee and pastry too.”
“I know that,” Priscilla said. “You’re a damn good man. Now get out of here so we can save the school play.”
“Yes, ma’am,” I said, quickly retreating toward my office.
On my desk sat a bouquet of sunflowers, a cup of coffee, and a Styrofoam carryout container that filled my room with a delicious fragrance. I smelled cinnamon, butter, sugar, and yeast. I crossed to my desk and opened the container and saw the fattest, gooiest cinnamon roll I had ever seen. The icing dripping down the sides of the pastry made me think of the mess we made on Julius’s stomach. I had to steer my mind away from that image before my body started to react to it.
Beside the coffee was a message written on a Post-it note. Sorry I missed you. Available for lunch? J
I didn’t bother checking my calendar because I never scheduled appointments during my lunchtime. I checked the time and saw classes hadn’t started yet, so I typed out a quick message. Thank you for my lovely surprise. Your place or mine?
Mine.
Great. You want me to bring you lunch from the cafeteria or do you want me to run to the diner? I had a lot more freedom than Jules did.
His reply came back quick. It’s chicken nuggets and macaroni and cheese day. Some things a guy just never outgrows.
I laughed at his reply. I’ll be there at eleven fifteen sharp.
I dug into my cinnamon roll while tracing a finger over the petals of my beautiful flowers, vowing not to allow ignorance to ruin my day.