| General Fiction posted February 12, 2024 | Chapters: |
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Alan and Ginnie talk about their backgrounds
A chapter in the book What We See
What We See - Chapter 10B
by Jim Wile
| Background A high school teacher wrongly accused of sexual assault reinvents his life. |
Recap of Chapter 10A: Alan goes to the Boardmans’ for dinner. While Ginnie finishes preparing the meal, Tommy shows Alan his room. Alan discovers he is an outstanding model builder and artist. During dinner, Tommy tells Alan about his Little League team and invites Alan to watch his game on Saturday, which he agrees to do. Tommy leaves to watch TV while Alan and Ginnie talk about Tommy’s dyslexia, and Alan tells her about his own.
Chapter 10B
By this time, I felt like steering the conversation in a different direction. I said, “So, Ginnie, tell me about how you went into nursing.”
“I got married at a very young age—right after high school when I was only 18—and had Tommy six months later. My husband went into construction and did pretty well, but he would often go drinking with his buddies after work. One night, when Tommy was three, he was in a car accident on his way home and was killed when he hit a tree. When Tommy was older, I told him he’d swerved to avoid hitting a deer, but I don’t know whether or not that’s true. He was probably just drunk and lost control of the car. His blood alcohol level was measured at 2.4. He shouldn’t have been driving.
“That left me all alone, with no education beyond high school and a toddler to support.”
“That must have been difficult.”
“It was. He had a very small life insurance policy that gave us $20,000, but we ended up moving here to Loser Street because that’s all I could afford. My parents helped a little too, so I was able to go to nursing school while my mom sat for Tommy, and in two years I got my LPN. I went to work right away, but I continued taking classes to become an RN, which I did three years ago. We’re finally able to breathe a little because I got a sizable increase in pay.”
“You seem to have managed very well, and you’ve done a fine job raising Tommy.”
“Thank you. I’d like to buy a better house someday and have begun saving for a down payment, but it may be a while. So, what’s your story, Alan? How did you happen to join us ‘losers’ here on Loser Street?”
I had prepared a story for just such occasions. “After high school, I went to work for my father, who was an electrician and had his own repair business. I eventually got my electrician’s license too after apprenticing for him for three years. We lived in a town near Ft. Wayne. But he began developing Alzheimer’s a few years back and eventually couldn’t take care of himself anymore. It was time to move him to a nursing home. Fortunately, there was a new wing added to the VA hospital in Grantham that was a memory care wing, so we decided to move him there. He was a WW2 vet, so he qualified.
“I carried on the business for a few years, but my real love was not so much being an electrician but in repairing electrical equipment. I had some money saved up and preferred not to have a mortgage, so I bought this place outright and set up shop here. I thought the neighborhood wouldn’t count against me too much, especially since I can repair computers. My ads for the store will appear not only here but in Grantham too. Not much competition for it yet because home computers are still quite new, and I figure people will go about anywhere nearby to get them repaired. Until now, I think you’d have to go to Ft. Wayne or Chicago to get one repaired. Hopefully my thought will pay off.”
“Let’s hope so.”
We talked about a lot of things over the next hour as we enjoyed some more coffee and each had another dish of ice cream. She was easy to talk to, and the conversation was varied and pleasant. I told her how much I loved baseball, and she did too, having played softball herself in high school.
“Tommy would probably love to have a catch with you sometime if you still have a mitt. I play catch with him occasionally and even try pitching to him so he can practice hitting, but he always asks me to throw it overhand and harder, and I can’t seem to give him enough of a challenge.”
“Oh, I’d love that. Yeah, I’ve still got my mitt. Maybe Saturday evening or Sunday when I’m not working.”
She sat there in thought for a minute. “You know, Alan, I want to apologize again for our first meeting last evening. You’re really a great guy, and I’m just so sorry I came across the way I did.”
I reached across and put my hand down on top of hers on the table. She made no attempt to move hers away. “You don’t need to apologize for that again. It was a natural reaction to a mother coming up and seeing a strange man talking to her kid, and I can certainly understand it in the context of what you had just been through at work. You’ve way more than made up for it with the donuts and coffee, and now the dinner tonight, which I have to mention again, was delicious.”
I circled my hand underneath hers and held it across the table as we looked into each other’s eyes and smiled. “Well, I’m glad we’re good,” she said.
Tommy came running in right then to tell us about a nature show he’d just watched, and we pulled our hands apart, but I think he’d noticed we were holding hands. He told us all about it and asked if we wanted to see the White Sox play the Twins with him, and we all went into the living room together to watch it. He sat between us on the sofa as we watched the game together.
The White Sox ended up losing a close game when the Twins’ Kirby Puckett hit a 9th-inning home run to end it. We were all disappointed, but it was a great game with lots of hitting, and it had been fun to watch. When it was over, I thanked both of them for a wonderful evening, and they walked me to the door. I told Tommy he could come over at 10:00 tomorrow morning for work, and we said goodbye.
When I returned home, Archie was in the house. I like to get him in at night and will often call him if he hasn’t come back on his own by bedtime. He usually comes when I call, but tonight there was no need. It was almost 11:00 PM, so after giving him a snack, I headed upstairs with him for bed. He was waiting on the bed when I was finished in the bathroom, and I told him about my evening as I petted him. He has a very loud purr, which is usually non-stop while I pet him, and tonight was no exception. When I’d had enough petting and we settled in for the night, I began re-playing the events of the day.
I’d have to consider it an excellent first day. Though I’d done only one repair, and a simple one at that, I had the promise of two more jobs tomorrow. But the best part of the day had to have been my time with Tommy and Ginnie. We got along so well together that it almost seemed like a family unit tonight. I’m looking forward to having Tommy work for me and being able to teach him things. My mind kept going back to holding Ginnie’s hand and how good it felt. And now I’ve got an invitation to spend more time together with them at the Little League game on Saturday.
I gave only passing thought to my earlier troubles at Grove Park High, which continue to plague my mind from time to time, but now I’ve got something to look forward to rather than back. I hated fibbing to Ginnie about my past, but I couldn’t tell her about that, at least right now, and maybe I never would. I just hope she doesn’t find out about it from someone else, or that would be damaging to the sense of trust she appears to have in me now. I’m going to have to put some more thought into how and when I might tell her about it.
With Archie nestled against my legs, I soon drifted off to a good, solid sleep.
 Recognized |
CHARACTERS
David (later Alan) Phelps: The narrator of the story. He is a 28-year-old high school physics and natural science teacher in Grantham, Indiana in 1985.
Earl Pinkham: The principal of Grove Park High School where David teaches
Suzie Cassidy: The school secretary and mother of Tina Cassidy
Tina Cassidy: A 16-year-old high school sophomore in David Phelps's class
Bobby Harken: David's friend and fellow teacher
Archie: David's orange tabby cat
Tommy Boardman: Alan's 12-year-old next door neighbor. He is dyslexic like Alan.
Ginnie Boardman: Tommy's mother. She is 30 years old and is an ICU nurse.
Artie Intintoli: Tommy's friend who also lives on Loser St.
Pays
one point
and 2 member cents. David (later Alan) Phelps: The narrator of the story. He is a 28-year-old high school physics and natural science teacher in Grantham, Indiana in 1985.
Earl Pinkham: The principal of Grove Park High School where David teaches
Suzie Cassidy: The school secretary and mother of Tina Cassidy
Tina Cassidy: A 16-year-old high school sophomore in David Phelps's class
Bobby Harken: David's friend and fellow teacher
Archie: David's orange tabby cat
Tommy Boardman: Alan's 12-year-old next door neighbor. He is dyslexic like Alan.
Ginnie Boardman: Tommy's mother. She is 30 years old and is an ICU nurse.
Artie Intintoli: Tommy's friend who also lives on Loser St.
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