| General Fiction posted February 23, 2024 | Chapters: |
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A voice from the past
A chapter in the book What We See
What We See - Chapter 13
by Jim Wile
The author has placed a warning on this post for violence.
| Background A high school teacher wrongly accused of sexual assault reinvents his life. |
Recap of Chapter 12: Alan visits his father, who has had an accident, at the VA hospital, where he lives in the memory care section. His father is in a coma, and Alan leaves after a while when there is no further point in staying. He heads to the Boardmans’, where he apologizes to Ginnie and Tommy for missing the baseball game. They are understanding about it and invite him to a pizza dinner. Alan hosts it at his house because he is expecting an update call from the doctor that evening. After dinner and while watching a baseball game with the others, Alan gets a call from the doctor with news that his father has passed away. Ginnie comforts him and offers to help out in any way she can.
Chapter 13
One week later
I’d had Dad cremated and brought his ashes back to our old hometown. I spread them in the outfield of the high school baseball field, where he used to come and watch me play. Even though the real him has been gone for some time now, I will miss him. He was charming and good-natured to the end. With both my parents gone now and with no siblings, I was alone in the world with no family—not even a living aunt or uncle and no cousins. I tried not to dwell on it.
Business has been picking up, and I’ve begun getting some word-of-mouth customers. The work has been varied and interesting. To make up for the time I’d spent this afternoon with my father’s remains, I worked late this evening until around 8:30. Ginnie was working a night shift this week, and Tommy had come over to put in a few hours of work with me. He left when I finished up for the day.
Archie was still out, so I turned the outside light on and went out in the darkening backyard to call him. I like to get him in at night and will often call him if he hasn’t come back on his own by bedtime.
A 10-foot-high fence runs along the back of my property. It was the border fence of a section of Ridley Park—a county park—and Archie would often scoot under one of several holes near the bottom of it and head into the park. I was just about to call for him when I heard a muffled scream from inside the park. There was a pavilion a little bit north of my house, and the sound seemed to come from there.
Then I heard a female voice say, “Don’t you touch me!” The voice was vaguely familiar and sounded like its owner was in grave distress. In a few seconds, I heard another scream, and the voice cried out, “Help!”
I hollered, “What’s going on there?” as I started climbing the fence.
My foot slipped out of the precarious hold between links several times, which slowed my progress. It’s not that easy to climb a chain link fence. While I was climbing, I heard a male voice say, “This is how we’ll take care of it, you stupid bitch,” and then some blows and further screams coming from the girl.
When I made it to the top, I hoisted myself over and hung down, then dropped the rest of the way to the ground. I ran towards the voices and saw a girl writhing on the ground as a large male was stomping on her belly. He didn’t see me coming because he was busy stomping. I rushed up behind him, grabbed him by the shoulder, turned him around, and punched him as hard as I could in the face. He fell to the ground, unconscious.
The girl was groaning as I bent down to attend to her, and I was astonished. It was Tina Cassidy, and she appeared badly injured and was crying at the same time she was groaning. I could hardly believe it. I glanced over at the male on the ground, and it was Tony Armand, whom I had knocked out. Tony was the star of the football team at Grove Park High. What was going on here?
I turned back to Tina and made a quick inspection of her to make sure she wasn’t bleeding to any great degree. Satisfied that she wasn’t, I said, “I’m going to get help for you now, Tina. I’m going to leave you for a moment to go call an ambulance, and I’ll call your mother too. I’ll be right back. Try to remain calm.” I stood and started back to my house when Tina called out, “Wait. How do you know my name? How can you call my mother? Who are you?”
“Let’s not worry about that right now. I’m going to make those calls, and then I’ll be right back and stay with you until the ambulance comes. I’ll be quick.”
“Please don’t leave me with him there. What if he comes to?”
“He’ll be out for a few minutes. I socked him pretty good. I’ll be back before he wakes up.”
“Please hurry. It hurts.”
I ran back to the fence and climbed back into my yard. Tina Cassidy and Tony Armand! There was a story here, but I had no time to dwell on it. I ran inside and called an emergency number for an ambulance. I told them my name and where Tina was located and urged them to come quickly; I couldn’t tell how badly the girl might be hurt. I then looked up Suzie’s phone number in the phonebook and called her, but there was no answer. That woman never seems to be home! And finally, I called the cops to let them know there had been an assault in the park. I gave them my name, Tina’s name, as well as Tony’s name, and told them my address and phone number if they needed to talk to me further, but that I had to leave right then to attend to the girl.
I rushed back to wait with Tina. She was still groaning and sobbing.
“It hurts so bad,” she said to me, holding her belly. I could see a dark patch starting to form between her legs.
“Help will be here very soon. I couldn’t get hold of your mother, though.”
She tried to sit up.
“Tina, just stay put and try not to move. Probably best to just lie there.”
“Okay.” She looked at me closely in the dim light and seemed to be studying my face, but she didn’t say anything else right then.
In a couple of minutes, we heard the distant sound of a siren. Right about that time, Tony began to stir. The sound of the ambulance steadily strengthened, and soon it drew up right in the section of the park I had told them about. Right before it arrived, Tony managed to get to his feet and shuffle off. I couldn’t worry about him right then; he was no longer a threat to Tina.
Two paramedics exited the ambulance and came up to us. “Are you Mr. Phelps?” one of them asked me while the other was unloading a collapsible, wheeled gurney for Tina. I saw her glance quickly toward me.
“Yes, I’m the one who called. This is Tina Cassidy, who was assaulted. The assailant just came to after I’d knocked him out and took off right before you arrived.”
“Mr. Phelps. Is that you?” Tina asked in a weak voice. “What are you doing here?”
The paramedic who had been retrieving the stretcher wheeled it over to her, and the two began loading her on it.
“I live here, Tina. Right next to the park.”
“Mr. Phelps, will you please stay with me? I’m scared. It hurts really bad.” She reached her hand out to me as the paramedics raised the gurney into the ambulance and locked it down inside.
The guy I’d been talking to looked from me to Tina, who said to him, “He’s my science teacher. Please?”
He nodded and told me to get in the back with her, and he would ride in the back too while the other one drove. She was quite pale in the light of the ambulance, and I could see blood on the gurney between her legs starting to pool. I sat on one side of her while the paramedic examined her and asked her some questions. She reached for my hand, and I took it.
The paramedic started an IV with a saline solution to make up for the blood Tina was losing. She looked very pale now, and her grip was weak. She was eventually unresponsive to the paramedic’s questions because she had passed out. After a five-minute ride with lights flashing and siren blaring, we arrived at Sparrow Hospital and pulled up to the emergency entrance. Tina was swiftly taken into the emergency room, and I was called upon by the staff to answer questions about her.
Four hours later, it was 1:30 AM. I was still sitting in the emergency waiting room, surrounded by many others waiting there too. Soon after, a doctor came out, asking for David or Alan Phelps. I signaled him over.
“Are you David Phelps?”
“Yes.”
“The intake form you filled out says Alan Phelps.”
“Yes, that’s me too. David Alan Phelps. I go by Alan, but I guess Tina was asking for David, who she knows me by.”
“She said you’re her science teacher.”
“Yes, I was.”
“She’s in the recovery room and has asked to see you. We’ve tried contacting the parents and got no answer, but we’ll keep trying. Do you know the parents?”
“I used to work with her mother. I tried calling her when I first found Tina, but she wasn’t home then either, and there was no way to leave a message.”
“Mr. Phelps, Tina was severely injured in the attack and lost the baby, I’m afraid.”
“The baby?”
“Yes. She was five months pregnant. Weren’t you aware of this?”
Five months pregnant! I could hardly believe what I was hearing. “Uh, no. I had no idea she was pregnant.”
“I hate to ask this, but could you have been the father, Mr. Phelps?”
“No, but I think I know who is. I overheard a voice saying to Tina, ‘This is how we take care of it.’ I didn't know what he meant at the time. Then I heard blows, and Tina began screaming.”
“How did you happen to be at the scene?”
I told him I lived on the other side of the fence that borders the park and exactly what happened. I finished by saying, “The boy’s name is Tony Armand, and I think he was her boyfriend.”
“Well, if his goal was to get rid of the baby, he succeeded because the baby was dead. She also suffered a ruptured spleen, which we repaired. She’s stable now and has been in the recovery room for a while, but she’s alert for the moment and asked to see you. I have to say, Mr. Phelps, that it was your quick action that saved Tina tonight. She was severely injured and may have bled out if it had been much longer. She’s going to be fine now, but she’s very lucky you were there to save her. I’ll show you the way to the recovery room now. We’ll keep trying to reach her mother.”
 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.
Ida Beeman: Alan's first customer. She is a nice old lady who lives on Loser Street.
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.
Ida Beeman: Alan's first customer. She is a nice old lady who lives on Loser Street.
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