When I arrived back at school I was given an eerily wide berth. I had been gone for a week. The first few days of this absence was spent at the hospital. The remainder was spent in my apartment. Catalina called it a “time to get cold.”
People would avoid my eye and ignore me in the hall. Overall, it was ridiculous. Basically, from what Catalina and I could put together, during the course of my flight from Alex I had engaged the services of a prostitute. I had then reneged on the deal. The owner of the brothel paid off the police for protection. The police were on the side of the pimp as they were in his pocket. I was therefore arrested. They couldn’t think of anything to charge me with, so after a bit of rough treatment they went through my wallet, figured out who I was, and called the Academy.
The problem was in explaining what I was doing outside of the theatre in the first place. Alex had clearly seen me leave. He was going around and telling everyone that he had gone after me in order to bring me back. Like he was doing a good turn by telling me the error of my ways and trying to bring me back to the fold. Jerk. I can just imagine the kind of oily little worm he would have been in school, the teacher’s snitch, willing to sell out his own for a pat on the head and a cookie.
The official story that Catalina cooked up was that I had gone for a walk and then gotten into trouble with a mugger. The mugger had drugged and beaten me before taking everything I had. Not a bad story and it could have worked.
The problem was that somehow word of a brothel had gotten out. Now the carefully doctored spin was being undermined. It was now whispered and intimated that I had gone out in search of illicit sex while my pre-pubescent charges were left helpless and alone in the theatre.
My new status as pariah and sexual deviant was not without its benefits. Although being shunned by the school population at large was difficult at first, I was left alone by the more obnoxious of the teachers. The kids however, knew that something was up. They as well had heard rumors. They weren’t sure what to believe, but the general understanding was that Mr. Thurlington had gotten himself involved in something nefarious. There were giggles in the hall as I passed and furtive whisperings in the classroom. It made for some miserable teaching. My biggest concern however was with the parent council.
Essentially, the parents owned the school. It was once said by Mavis that you needed a lot of rope to hang yourself at the Medellin Academy. Getting busted while visiting a whorehouse while supposedly supervising young hearts and minds might just constitute enough rope. The parent council was a waiting beast. Mostly comprised of rich women with too much plastic surgery and even more time on their hands, they were quick to pounce on any perceived transgression. They just might be the gallows from which the rope would be hung. Given the statutes of Colombian law, I wouldn’t simply be sent home in disgrace. I would be sent to jail.
“So, like what actually happened to you anyway?” The question in its nasal tone woke me out of an uneasy slumber as our bus lurched down the potholed hill.
“I’m sorry?”
“So, like what happened?”
“When you decided to ask me that question, did you look over at me before it came out of your mouth?”
”What?”
“When you asked me that question, did you see that I was sleeping? That my eyes were closed? That I was unconscious?”
“Well, yeah but…”
“But you just decided to wake me up anyway. What the fuck is your problem? I’m clearly sleeping but you feel that your invasive and insipid question somehow has priority over anything else. If I was awake or if we were having a conversation it would be different. But I was clearly sleeping.”
“Jeez. Soooorrry.”
“You’re not fucking sorry, so spare me the sarcasm. Since you obviously need it spelled out for you, here it is. I’m not interested in talking to you, so shut the fuck up and mind your own business. How’s that? Clear?”
“Asshole.” Red-faced, Jade picked up her beaded bag and other hippy clap trap and moved over to another seat. I felt good watching her do it.
