| General Fiction posted February 28, 2024 | Chapters: |
...17 18 -19- 20... 
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Tina's mother arrives at the hospital
A chapter in the book What We See
What We See - Chapter 15
by Jim Wile
| Background A high school teacher wrongly accused of sexual assault reinvents his life. |
Recap of Chapter 14: On his way to the recovery room to check on Tina, Alan crosses paths with Ginnie, who is working the night shift at the hospital. After a somewhat awkward exchange, he arrives at the recovery room to find Tina awake. Later, when she is taken to a private room, an overwrought Tina tells him the entire story of what had happened both three months ago and last night.
She reveals that her boyfriend Tony got her pregnant, and neither had the money to pay for an abortion. They worked out a scheme to extort Alan for the money by seducing him into sleeping with her and claiming he got her pregnant, but Alan foiled that plan when he rejected her. Tony was the one who caused the bruises on her neck when they fought about it. Tina then reveals that she lied to her mother, saying Alan caused the bruises when he tried to attack her. She also relates that Tony was attempting to solve “the problem” last night by getting her to miscarry the baby. Tina feels great remorse and promises to tell her mother the whole story when she finally comes. A passing nurse heard something very suspicious while Tina was relating the story to Alan.
Chapter 15
“Mr. Pinkham? ... Is my mother there? … Yes, I know it’s early, but I need to speak to my mother. Could you please put her on?”
There was a long pause before I could hear Suzie get on the phone. “Mom? … Don’t freak out, but I’m at the hospital. I-- … Just listen, Mom. I’m okay. Mr. Phelps is here with me…. No, Mom, no. It’s not what you think. Just please come to the hospital, and I’ll explain everything. I’m in a room now…. I said I was okay, Mom, but I really need you to come here now…. Okay, I’ll see you soon. Bye.”
Tina hung up the phone then and groaned. “I shouldn’t have said you were here. She thinks you attacked me again.”
“I think I should go.”
“Please stay, Mr. Phelps. I want you here when I tell her the story. What’s that church word for what you do after you accept the blame for something you did wrong?”
“Penance?”
“This is part of my penance. I really want her to see what a good person you are. Please stay.”
I thought it over. Maybe that’s for the best. It might be more believable to Suzie if I could contribute to the story; Tina might leave out a few important details. “Okay, I’ll stay.”
“Thank you,” she said quietly. She looked somber for a while, and then, surprisingly, she drifted off to sleep. Telling me that story took a lot out of her, and now she planned to tell it all again when her mother showed up.
I started dozing off myself as I sat there waiting for Suzie to arrive. Then I heard heels clacking noisily into the room, and there was Suzie with Earl Pinkham right behind her.
“David?” Suzie said, when she saw me sitting there. She searched my face, and recognition came over her suddenly. “What have you done to my daughter?” she said sharply. Tina stirred right then and opened her eyes, and Suzie ran to her.
“What did he do to you, and why is he here, sweetie?” She bent down to embrace her daughter. The head of the bed was raised, but pulling her forward to put her arms around her made Tina cry out in pain.
Pinkham turned to me and said, “David, maybe you shouldn’t be here.”
“No, I want him to stay,” said Tina.
“What happened? What is he even doing here? Did he put you here?” asked Suzie, glaring at me.
“No, Mom. I told you that on the phone. Just listen to me. He’s never done anything wrong. I lied about him before. He never invited me to his house. He never touched me. It was Tony who tried to choke me that night. And it was Tony who put me here tonight. Mr. Phelps stopped him. He saved my life tonight.”
Suzie looked incredulous. “Tony? Your boyfriend? He did this to you? What exactly did he do?”
This sudden barrage of questions took Tina aback for a moment, and she delayed answering.
“Tina, what did he do?” Suzie persisted.
“Mom, he knocked me up five months ago, and tonight he tried to get rid of the baby by kicking me in the belly!”
Suzie was speechless. She was frozen in place. I heard Earl say, “Oh, my God.”
“Mom, I’m going to tell you the whole story now. I’ve already told Mr. Phelps, and I asked him to stay.”
And then she told her mother the entire thing. To her credit, she didn’t try to diminish her culpability in any way; she just told it again exactly how it happened. Throughout this recitation, Suzie stood by the side of her bed and looked shocked as revelation after revelation came pouring out of Tina. Her look softened as Tina related the stomping of her belly, and she realized how injured her daughter was and how dangerous the situation had been. She bent down and hugged Tina, who had sat up despite the pain, and with their arms around each other, Suzie said, “Oh, baby, I’m so sorry he did that to you. You could have died.” Tina started to sob in her mother’s arms, and the tears were streaming down both of them.
Earl stood in place through the whole story with bowed head, which he shook slowly from time to time. At the end, while Suzie and Tina were sharing their moment together, he looked at me and said, “David, we need to talk about this. Could you give me a call sometime soon? I have a lot of apologizing to do.”
He looked very contrite, almost pitiful really, and I told him I would.
After a few minutes, Suzie released Tina and turned to me. “David, how did you happen to be at the scene?” She asked this, not in an accusatory or doubtful way, but in one of awe at the good fortune of it. Tina had not provided any details of this beyond the fact that I was there to pull Tony off and rescue her.
“Incredible as it may seem, I happen to live right there on the other side of the fence from where it happened. I moved to Mason a couple of months ago after selling my house in Grantham and starting a business there. When I heard the screams, I climbed over the fence and ran up to see Tony attacking Tina the way she told you. I didn’t even know who either of them was at the time.”
She came over and looked me in the eye. “I am so grateful to you for saving my daughter. I’ve been so wrong about you every step of the way, and I want to apologize to you from the bottom of my heart. I am so very sorry for my part in getting you fired and for the story I spread about you. You never had a real chance to defend yourself against the charges.”
“Suzie, I’m not going to say that it’s okay because my reputation was ruined in that town, and I’ve had to start over. But I will say that you did what you thought you had to do. I understand how you believed your own daughter over me. Hopefully, everyone will have learned something from this, and more effort will be made in the future to get to the truth. I think Tina’s in good hands, and I’m going to leave now.”
I walked over to Tina’s bed and said to her, “You just concentrate on getting well now. You're going to get through this.”
“Goodbye, Mr. Phelps. Thank you for everything. I just… just thank you.”
I smiled at her and left.
 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.
Tony Armand: Tina Cassidy's boyfriend and the father of her baby. He is a star football player at Grove Park High.
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.
Tony Armand: Tina Cassidy's boyfriend and the father of her baby. He is a star football player at Grove Park High.
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