Redemption

Thankfully, it was warmer the next morning. After breakfast, he and Click started out. As they were leaving, the adults told them to have a good day. Once outside, he turned to the image.

“I am so glad that everyone has accepted you,” he said.

“Yes,” she agreed, “It has made my task of improving your life easier.” Then, after some thought, she decided, “I think that it is best as I resume only appearing to you while you are in school.”

“Why?” He wondered.

“We do not want to frighten Miss Thatcher and the other students. I mean they are nice, but I do not know how they will react to me.”

“Okay,” he accepted with a shrug, “But, I hope that they can get to know you eventually.”

“Oh yes,” she promised, “I have every intention of their coming to be aware of me. However, I would like to choose an opportune time to do so. Also, there is the question of Ricky.”

“What about him?”

“Well, I suppose that I am concerned with the way that he behaves. First, he disregarded her suspending him. Then, when she enforced this, he threatened to get the sheriff involved.”

“Yeah, but she wasn’t afraid of that.”

“True. Still, in doing so, he demonstrated an inclination to pursue disruptive behavior in order to gain an outcome that suits his desires.”

“Wait,” the boy grimed, trying to dissect her words.

“In other words, he has shown that he will cause trouble until he gets his way.”

“That’s what I thought,” David laughed as Cathy started out to join them; “Still, I think that Grandpa is right, and that the dictionary should be off-limits to you.” Hearing this, the image laughed.

“At the moment,” she threatened playfully.

As they walked, the little girl gave them the happy news: Dale had told Thelma that it was okay if Ellen bought her medicine for her; which would mean that she would be more of a help to the situation.

“Grammy is really smart, and a hard worker,” she explained brightly, “Except when her stomach is bothering her.”

“Well then,” Click accepted, “It is imperative that she have her medicine. Because my plan is that everyone is to be involved.”

“Even me?” The little girl asked in wondrous surprise.

“Especially you-and David as well. You see, someday, your folks are going to need you to take things over. So, in order to keep the business moving, you have to understand what is going on.”

“But, won’t you be there to help?” He protested.

“I have every intention to,” the image assured, “But, what if I am not? Suppose, for an instance, that my race only lives a year. What would you do if I were not there? We must consider these things.”

“But,” the boy protested again, and even more adamantly, “I don’t want to live without you!”

“Me neither!” Cathy added.

“Nor do I want you to. Just as I am sure that Cathy’s daddy did not want her to be without him. However, we do not always have our choice in these matters. All that we can do is trust in God, hope for the best, but prepare for the worst.” Pausing she looked from one to the other, “I love you both, very much. You make me happy and I never want to leave either of you. Still, I want to know that you are safe and secure if I had to.”

“Still,” the boy countered, “What if you live longer than I do?”

“That is my fear,” the entity admitted, “Because I do not know what I would do without you.”

Although the thought made them sad, the children could understand what she meant. Therefore, they agreed to learn all that they could about the business.

When they reached the school, Click told Cathy goodbye, and that she would see her at the end of the day. Then, she vanished from her eyes, and only David could see or hear her. Despite the little girl’s not liking this, it was none too soon, as Miss Thatcher came walking up a couple of seconds later.

Class was well underway when Ricky and his father arrived. Stomping in, the man told his son to take his seat. He then started toward the front of the classroom.

“What’s this I hear about you picking on my boy?” He demanded through a threatening snarl.

“He does not look very nice,” Click’s image decided, as David looked at the bullish man. When the older fellow yanked his hat off, the boy saw him to be balding on the top of his head, with only the graying brown hair on the side of his head left. He had a hard face, with a curt snip of a mustache riding under his nose. He had as massive build, but much of this was fat.

“Lower your voice, you are scaring my students!” The pretty blond warned in a growl.

“They are about to get scared by a lot worse!”

“Oh?” The teacher challenged imperviously as she slipped her hand into the pocket of her dress, “And, what are you going to do?”

“Why! I’ll-.” The young teacher’s pulling her hand from the pocket robbed him of his words. Because, it was then that everyone saw the small-framed revolver that she held. With the brute’s stunned pause, she replaced the pistol.

“I have already had the children in my charge threatened by one mad dog,” she announced calmly, “I’ll not have them-or myself-threatened by another.”

“And, I’ll be happy to inform the sheriff that you’ve got that,” the man nodded threateningly. To everyone’s amazement, this caused the schoolmarm to erupt into laughter.

“When you do, tell him that he was right about it shooting slightly to the left after thirty feet.” In the face of his uncertain stare, she snarled “Who do you think gave it to me so that I could keep it with me at school?”

“Oh, yeah. That’s right. Ricky said that you said that he is your dad.”

“You see, that’s the problem with Ricky: he does not listen very well,” she corrected, “I never said that the sheriff is my dad. I implied that he is my uncle, and-as the brother of my mother-he is!” Hearing this, the big man stood fuming. Then, he loosed an angry sigh.

“Alright!” He accepted in a frustrated growl, “Look, I have a strike to organize. Now, just apologize to my boy and I’ll be on my way.”

“Apologize to him?” She scoffed, “If he is going to resume attendance here, he had better apologize to me, the class, and Miss Planchet!”

“Why should he apologize?” The man denied, “He told me about your-.”

“I do not give a hoot about what he told you!” The blonde beauty roared, leaning forward so quickly that the wire-framed glasses slipped down a little on her nose, “I know what he did here! He was constantly disrupting the class with his acting out! He was constantly bullying the other children! And-to top it all-he needlessly insulted another student about her family’s financial state, which she is quite helpless to!” Relaxing her pose, she reached up and pushed her glasses back on her nose, “In other words, Mr. Greesome, the same troublesome behavior that we discussed last October. And, what it is more-.”

“He’s just being a boy!” The older bully scoffed.

“And what is more, when the rabid dog attacked, he attempted to murder that same student.”

“He what?” The ugly man gasped incredulously.

“Yes!” The young blond assured, with her eyes widened by a cold anger, “I saw him do it! As he ran up with the dog hot on his heels, he pushed little Cathy down! Now, we all know that such an animal will go after the smallest and most helpless target. He certainly knows it, as one of the only assignments that he has completed was an essay on tigers in Africa. In this, he wrote-and I quote: ‘Attacking animals always attack the smallest and most helpless of a herd!’”

In the stunned silence following her words, the children sat watching in shock. Each would take something different from the confrontation playing out before them, as they would later agree. Tina would recall that even pretty women could be tough and brave. Jenny would learn that a properly armed woman has nothing to fear from a big, fat bully. Cathy would marvel that the woman cared so much about her. Zak would remember that, like his son, Mr. Greesome was a loud-mouthed idiot. David would gain the understanding Miss Thatcher did not overlook or forget very much. Ewing would decide that he had yet another reason to beat the bully up. Moreover, although they would never know it, Ricky took a lump in his throat when the bigger boy looked over at him, slowly smiled and nodded slightly.

“That’s preposterous! You can’t blame my son because she fell down!” The man roared after thinking about her words. Hearing this, David lost his temper, because the loud-mouthed brute was calling his teacher a liar.

“I saw him do it!” He snapped, “He ran up, and pushed her down as he passed!”

“I saw it too!” Jenny agreed, “Because I got even by slugging him later!”

“I saw it too!” Tina added, “Because I thought that it was a mean thing to do!”

“I wish that I would have seen it!” Ewing declared in a slightly warning tone, “Because he’d be missing some teeth right now!” Hearing this, the man turned and took a threatening step toward the boy.

“I’ll knock your teeth out-You little freak!”

“No you won’t!” The teacher denied flatly, “Because you are taking your son and leaving-Now!”

“What?” The man snarled.

“Yes!” The schoolmarm assured him, “He is expelled.”

“You can’t-!”

“Oh? Can’t I? I just did! Now, take him and get out! Go find some other class that he can terrorize!” The fat man started to reply. Then, seeing no other avenue, he stopped and began to laugh slightly.

“Listen, tuts,” he finally explained in a calmer tone, “you don’t want to expel my boy-.”

“No, but I am doing it anyway.”

“No you’re not. You see, I have friends.”

“Good for you!” She approved indifferently, “I am glad! You might teach your son how to do that as you are leaving!” Hearing this, the brute looked around the room.

“You know, this place is what-Thirty? Forty years old? I will bet that it is a real firetrap. In fact, I’ll bet that it would not take all too much to set it ablaze. It’d be a real shame if it caught on fire-especially if it did so when class was in session!” Hearing this, the teacher blanched and David’s arm flung straight with the entity’s angry leaving it. Before anyone knew what was happening, Click slammed into the creep’s back, knocking him prostrate. Then she hovered before the amazed eyes of all.

“Mr. Greesome!” A familiar voice roared from the back of the class, as the bully rolled around on the floor in pain, “You have been asked to take your miscreant son and leave! Now, do so!” Looking back, everyone saw the image standing there, glaring at the downed fellow.

“And, let me tell you, right now,” she snarled as she started towards Greesome in a slow, threatening march “You just try to set this building on fire! You just try to hurt these children! I do not care if you have your friends-the union-Or the entire Spanish army standing between us! I will get you!” At this, Ricky sprang from his seat, ran up and grabbed the small sphere from the air. There was a slight hissing sound, and he pulled his hands back with an agonized scream.

“That’s for touching me,” The image explained indifferently as he looked down at the blistered burns on his hands, “And, this is for pushing little Cathy down.” With that, the boy’s feet left the floor, as he flew back and slammed into the wall at the rear of the room. The woman then returned her glare to his father, who was sitting, alternating his stare from the orb to the illusion in total shock.

“Now, Miss Thatcher has been patient enough with you,” she warned, “I will not be so kind. You both have exactly one minute to leave!”

“Who are you?” The fat man gasped.

“I am someone who you cannot scare with your threats. I am someone who can see through the walls of this building. I am someone who can find you with no trouble, no matter where you go, or how deeply you hide. I am someone that you cannot hurt, but can hurt you-or, if I choose, kill you. As well, I am someone that no one can stop. Every union and army of the world could line up before you, and I would mow them down like grass to get to you.” Pausing she leaned forward slightly. “But, most of all, I am these people’s friend. And, anyone who threatens my friends faces grave, grave peril! Now, go!”

“Oh my-!” The fat bully astounded.

“Your minute is up!” She informed him flatly, as the image of the woman shifted, becoming that of the rabid mastiff.

“Gah-ah-ah!” The loud-mouthed jerk shrieked as the dog began to growl.

“Kids! Get out of the way!” The teacher screamed as the creep scrambled to his feet. With a snarl, the dog lunged at him. He turned and ran towards the door with the illusion at his heels as the children stampeded to the far side of the room.

Screaming in a pitch that more suited Tina than a tough boy, Ricky took out the door at a run, closing it behind him. Reaching the portal, his dad collided with it, then yanked it open and ran out, slamming it behind him. In the blink of an eye, the dog was gone, and the beautiful woman stood in its place. She stood, sullenly watching them through the wall.

“You have my most sincere apologies, Miss Thatcher,” she announced gently as she turned to face the teacher, “It is just that I do not like bullies and I do not like threats.”

“Who . . . ?”

“That’s Click,” Cathy explained brightly, “She’s our friend!”

“What . . .?”

“If everyone will please sit down, David and I will explain,” the image smiled.

Over the next half hour, the boy stood recounting the night in the field and all that had occurred up to that time. As he did, the image stood by smiling, as the orb gracefully floated from desk to desk, letting the children touch it. When he reached the part about the entity’s making furniture, Cathy stood up excitedly.

“She made my Grammy a beautiful jewelry box!” She announced proudly, “And, she made me a wonderful chair as well! But, best of all, she is going to teach Pa and Mr. Winston to make these things, so they can have a business!” Seeing the shy child’s happiness, the teacher took on a stunned smile.

“But, I don’t understand. If that is you” the pretty teacher wondered, pointing to the floating sphere as it came to hover over David’s shoulder, “then how are you there?” With that, she pointed at the image.

“This is just an illusion that I project, so that people can talk to me,” the beautiful woman replied, pointing to herself. Then pointing to the hovering ball, she added, “That is really me.” With her saying this, Jerry raised his hand.

“Yes Jerry?” Click replied, surprising everyone by knowing his name.

“Can we come and watch you work sometimes?”

“I would love that,” the image allowed, looking over at David, “But it is really not up to me. I’d have to get the family’s approval before you did.”

“I’ll talk to them,” Miss Thatcher offered, “After all; I would like to see this as well.” Tillems then held up her hand.

“Yes Jenny?”

“Did you mean it when you said that you are our friend?”

“Yes,” the entity assured her, “Of course, you must understand that David is my best friend, but, you are my friends as well.”

“And she is really smart,” Cathy assured them in continued excitement, “She has read so many books!”

“But, that’s what they are for!” The alien laughed. Then she explained, “Only silly people like Ricky and his dad do not like to read and learn. Because they are lazy, and they think that they can get what they want by bullying people. That is silly and wrong, because, no matter how strong or tough you are, there is always somebody else stronger and tougher.”

“I don’t think that there is anyone stronger and tougher than you,” Tina denied in amazement.

“Well there is,” Click replied frankly, “If no one else, there is God.”

“Oh! She has read the bible too,” Fall added, “And she loves Jesus.”