Chapter 8
Life in rural Nevada had an almost idyllic quality to it that rivaled my fond memories of being at sea. There was always a lot of work to be done, but the rural settings, fields of green alfalfa interspersed with wide ranges of sage brush, and majestic mountains in the background lent a feeling of peace akin to that of the deep blue ocean. Not a day went by that I did not miss Brian, and my other friends from my past lifetime, but the ache was dulled by new friends - and lots of work.
While Dad had left Washington in time for Sunday services at church in Nevada, I'd been required to stay until just after August 1st. Despite my assurances, Mike Andrews and the other handlers at CIA and DoD had insisted I stay until they were sure I wasn't going to be replaced by my 'self' from the first Do Over. That night I'd slept in a naval hospital room attached to all types of machines. I had felt nothing, but the machines recorded a slight electro-magnetic fluctuation in the room at the precise moment of my first Do Over.
My home life was changed as well. Mom had only been told that Dad was now going to be a reserve Chaplain with the military, and that I was going to be doing more work with the military because I was a 'prodigy'. She wasn't happy with that explanation, and kept pushing for more, but was soon so absorbed in her new work for the school district that she didn't have much time to grill either of us.
Dad did surprise me by joining me in my morning runs and workouts. I knew he was embarrassed by the fact that I could outrun him easily, and while once it might have angered him, now it motivated him to improve. By the time school started, he was up to two miles at a decent pace, and would be able to pass the military's physical fitness test when it was given to him as part of his quarterly review.
Jenny had been practically a stranger, spending most of her time at the Jerkin's ranch, caring for and riding their horses with Mrs. Jerkins almost every day. The Jerkins had three children, all grown and gone from the area, so Mrs. Jerkins had all but adopted Jenny as a surrogate daughter. A couple of times Dad had given me the keys to the truck so that I'd go pick her up while he handled some church business. Those times I'd managed to get a glimpse of my sister riding a horse with a huge smile on her face.
Major Kowalski's work-crews began work on the house's basement, and the church basement, before I had returned from Washington. They finished about two weeks before school began, and I began to work out of the office they'd built down there. It was well constructed, and the finish was very nice. Mom and I had even gone to Elko together to pick out the furniture she wanted in the new guest bedrooms, and she was so happy she didn't ask me once about the government stuff, or my source of money.
She just picked out the most expensive stuff she could find.
While they had been working on the basement, Major Kowalski had observed the morning workouts with my father and I. By the time the work was completed, he'd started joining us in the workouts. I'd been taking things easy while Dad worked to build himself up, but that ended when Major Kowalski joined us. When Dad turned around to head back on the morning run, Kowalski picked up the pace and pushed me further down the road until I was having a hard time breathing and then he pushed me a little further.
The week before school started in September, there were some new arrivals for the new facility. Among them were fifteen men who formed the core of the 'security' division for the nascent base. Their primary assignment was to make sure I wasn't abducted or assassinated by foreign or domestic powers, and Kowalski made sure to introduce me to each of them once they'd gotten settled. By this time the base facility had begun to take shape.
There would eventually be two powerful visual telescopes, and fourteen of the large satellite-dish type radio telescopes. In addition, there'd be four full-size satellite receivers and transmitters for communicating with the military communications network, as well as four full-power radio transmitters/relays. A low-power relay had been installed in the weather station behind the house, and a line run to my office. That let me use the computer in my new office to access the military network system, and established a scrambled satellite phone there for my use as well.
On the base itself, by the time school was starting, the foundations had been laid on the six main administration and research buildings. Three of the outlying buildings that would be used for security and the mess hall were almost complete, and the security fence and cameras were sixty-percent complete. By the time the first snows fell in November, the plan was to have the walls and roofs up on all the main buildings. Once that was done, construction would taper off until next spring when they'd build up the actual telescope buildings and support buildings for the radio telescopes. After that, they'd build up the support infrastructure such as on-base housing, military exchange, and a small power plant.
Since the arrival of the security detachment, our morning exercises had been with them. While Dad managed to do better each day, they managed to push me even harder than Major Kowalski had been. It had only taken them a day to prepare a firing range in a corner of the new base area, and they had invited both Dad and I to join them on the first day of shooting. Even Dad was surprised by my shooting ability. It was something I'd always prided myself on, since learning to shoot as part of a small-boat unit in my very first lifetime.
School starting had meant there were some slight adjustments to the normal routine that had been established over the summer. The morning had started with me getting up for my normal morning run. I'd dressed in grey sweatpants, a blue sweatshirt, and a large backpack before heading out at exactly 0535. There was just enough time to warm up with Dad before the men from the base security squad showed up, all dressed in blue Air Force sweats. Dad wore a pair with 'Navy' stenciled on them, and we took off east down Seventh Street. When we reached Highway 47, the back road into town, we turned around and headed back west to Highway 217, and then down the gravel road that was half-completed towards the base. Dad stopped when we'd passed back by the house, totally winded.
I was winded by the time we reached the base. The new well had been drilled, and showers installed in one of the buildings. After a quick shower, I changed into some jeans and a collared shirt for the ride to school. Staff Sergeant Killmer drove me there in an Air Force sedan, chatting amiably about the plans for a sparring session later in the week. He drove into town and then up the steep hill that led to the relatively new high school. I got out of the car, waved goodbye and entered the school.
"Hi, I'm Davey Jones." I said to the school secretary a few minutes later. I'd missed the orientation for seventh graders last week because Dad and I had been invited to NAS Fallon for our flights in some F-14 fighters.
"Hello, Davey." Mrs. Hampton said with a slight smile. She was in her late fifties, and looked to be very friendly. I vaguely remembered her from my first lifetime, but that was it, really. "Mr. Bitner will be with you in a minute. Go ahead and have a seat."
"Thanks." I said in response and took a seat in the cramped front office. The school building was small, compared to the schools I was use to, but it was also very nice. I'd come in through the side entrance, and the offices were on the right side. The front secretary's office had large windows that gave a view of the interior of the school. On the left side were classrooms that ended about thirty feet past the office with the Home Economics classroom. To the right, just past the office was the 'dining area' for the students that brought their own lunches, and further to the right past that was a large carpeted area with couches surrounding an open circular fireplace. That was the 'student lounge area. During the winter, most of the school season actually, it was too cold to go outside much, so that area was popular, especially with the fire going to keep the place warm. Parallel to the office area, towards the front of the school was the smallish library.
The 'front entrance' was connected to a hallway that bordered the student lounge opposite the office/library area. The huge gym, with a brand new basketball court floor was on the far side of that, and the entryway led to more classrooms down a hallway past the Home Economics classroom. I knew that at the far end of that passageway was a doorway that led to the modular trailers holding the school's computer and typing classes, as well as a few classes for the seventh and eighth graders. Just past the trailers was a very large, steep hill that was used for homecoming. Its biggest feature was a steep incline that students would try to top in their trucks. Not every truck made it, and a few were known to have wiped out spectacularly, nearly killing the students inside. A side trail that was still fairly steep, ran up the backside of the hill for people to walk up.
The school itself was located on the top of the South canyon wall where Eureka was situated. It had a beautiful view of the entire town, and even parts of Diamond Valley were visible through the canyon walls. A trail path led from the side entrance (which was also the bus stop, faculty parking lot, and held the FFA animal pens and a medium-sized garden) across the top of the canyon wall and down the other side to the track and football field.
That field was the pride and joy of the school. It had just been completed enough the last year that they were able to lay grass in the field and set up the goal posts. While it was so new, they wouldn't allow a football team to use it, but they planned to have an eight-man team formed in two years. The track was going to be rubberized asphalt, eventually, but for now it was firmly packed black gravel that still provided a good base for running. When it was finished in a year or two, it would be the best track field in the state, with the sole exception of UNLV.
"Hello, David, I'm Dr. Paul Bitner." A voice pulled me out of the reverie about the new school and I looked up to see someone I'd known would be here, but had somehow not thought about at all. Dr. Paul Bitner was the school Principal, and a man that I had detested in my first life. I hadn't hated him, just detested him as the worst sort of school administrator. The fact that I hadn't thought about him at all during the last few months was an example of how much I'd wanted to forget him. Now I was forced to deal with him again, and had to keep from cursing aloud. His physical appearance was exactly as I remembered. He stood no more than five-foot seven, was about forty pounds overweight, had a bald head and small, beady eyes that were magnified by a thick pair of glasses. He was always sweating, even in the cold of winter, and had a sanctimonious grin that made me want to hit him - hard!
"It's a pleasure to meet you, Dr. Bitner." I said with a smile, and no trace of the feelings welling up inside of me. I stood quickly and shook his hand. His grip was weak, again as I remembered.
"Come into my office, please." Bitner said, more pleasantly than I expected and I followed him into the larger office that he claimed as his own. At his gesture I sat in a seat in front of the large oak desk and waited as he sat down. With exaggerated care, he pulled out a folder that had my name on the tab and began to look through it without speaking except for a little 'hmm' sound he let out every few seconds. After about two minutes of this he looked over the edge of the folder and frowned at me. "You missed the orientation last week, David."
"I'm sorry, my father and I were at NAS Fallon." I said as evenly as I could, trying not to let the petulant whine in his voice get to me.
"Yes, I heard you were joyriding in some fighters." Bitner commented with a shake of his head. "I hope you don't expect something like that to be allowed during the school year, David. Your education must be your top priority, especially if you ever hope to do more than joyride in one of those things."
"You are right, of course, Dr. Bitner." I answered as conciliatory as I could.
"Well, your parents should have brought you in here sooner, so we could figure out what courses you are to take." Dr. Bitner stated with a strong hint of derision in his voice. "I'm really surprised that your mother didn't do that since she's working at the elementary school."
"It's been a busy month, Doctor." I said carefully and got a frown for my efforts.
"Hmmm, well, we have a half-hour before homeroom starts." Bitner stated in his sanctimonious tone and I again had to suppress the urge to hit him again. "I'll start you with the placement test for English and you'll return after homeroom for the rest of the tests."
"Thank you sir, and I apologize for the inconvenience." I said carefully as he pulled out some papers from a drawer. He frowned at me for a moment at that, not finding any way to criticize my response and finally just nodded.
"I want you to take them right here in my office." Dr. Bitner said as if he was already suspecting me of cheating. "You may use the edge of my desk."
"Thank you, sir." I said with a bright smile, deciding that if I couldn't hit him, I'd drown him in friendliness. He handed the papers over to me and I pulled a pencil out of my backpack before putting that under my chair. He sat there staring at me while I finished the test, not paying attention to the gaggle of students entering the school on the first day of the new school year. The test he gave me was far too easy, and I finished in less than ten minutes. That earned me another frown as he took it and corrected it from a key he pulled out of a desk drawer.
"Well, you seem to have a firm grasp of English, David." Bitner stated after finding nothing wrong with the answers I'd given. "Go talk to Mrs. Hampton and she'll tell you where your homeroom is located. Be sure to come right back here after homeroom though."
"I will, Dr. Bitner." I said carefully as I got to my feet, retrieved my backpack, and left the room. Mrs. Hampton told me my homeroom number and I was able to figure out where it was from memory. She also gave me my locker combination and I hurried out of the office to find it before homeroom. The backpack was a little heavy and I'd like to get rid of some of the stuff in there.
The school was packed with nearly a hundred students. Most of them were locals who'd been here for years, and it was obvious they were happily getting reacquainted. Most of them came from outlying farms and hadn't seen each other since they'd spent most of the summer working on the farms or ranches of their families. People who lived in the eastern valley didn't get much of a chance to go to the western valleys, so they'd not had much contact during the summer. A group of about twenty students were bussed up here from the Duckwater Indian reservation (almost two-hours by bus each way), and there were about fifteen new students of Air Force families that were slowly trickling in as the base facility was being built. Eventually another thirty or forty kids could be expected from the Air Force, and they'd bring the local school to its maximum occupancy.
When I found my locker, Derek Mulkey was standing next to it, with his locker (which was next to mine) open. He was talking to two girls, both a little shorter than us. He smiled when he saw me walking up and the girls looked at me with speculation.
"Hi Davey!" Derek said cheerfully with a big smile that I immediately returned. "Is your locker here?"
"Yeah, right next to yours." I answered easily.
"Cool!" Derek stated. "Davey, this is Julie and Tammy. They're in our class."
"Hi, I'm Davey Jones." I said to the two girls. Julie was the dark-haired one. Like Derek, she wore braces and had a very petite build. Tammy was slightly taller, and stockier, and had strawberry blond hair that fell nearly to her waist while Julie's hair barely reached her shoulders. I knew Julie lived in a farm on the southern side of Highway 50, in the southern edge of Diamond Valley. Tammy's father was the infamous P.E. teacher, Mr. Crutchley.
"I'm Julie." Julie said as she stuck out her hand for me to shake.
"I'm Tammy." Tammy said as she also shook my hand. I moved in quickly and opened my locker with the combination on the first try, and began to take the sweats, gym shoes, and two binders out of my bag. There were some other things hidden in there that I had to keep on my person at all times, so the bag itself stayed with me.
"Wow, you came prepared." Derek noted as he saw the stuff I put away.
"Better to be prepared than not." I stated with a shrug and got a slight titter from Julie for my comment.
"So, you're the new preacher's son, right?" Tammy asked forthrightly and I nodded.
"Yep." I answered verbally. "We moved here in July."
"That's neat." Julie said in a very soft voice. "There are so many new faces this year. I hear there are three new seniors, four new juniors, and more for all the grades. Mom was saying that the school might have to add a new trailer if we keep growing like this."
"Yeah, the town's been real happy with all the new business." Tammy said. "The people who own the movie theater were going to shut down next year, but now they're deciding to stay open and the skating rink is going to reopen now too."
"That'll be cool." Julie said with a broad smile. "At least there'll be something to do in town now during the winter."
"So, have you gotten your schedule yet?" Derek asked me. "I missed you at orientation."
"I was in Fallon with my Dad." I answered with a shrug. "Bitner is giving me some tests before he decides what class to put me in."
"That man is a dufus." Tammy said while shriveling up her face as if she'd smelled a bad odor. "Dad can't stand him at all."
"Yeah, well I don't like him either." I said with a shrug and got another titter from Julie.
"Dad would love to get rid of him." Derek said in a very quiet voice so no one else could hear. "The problem is he has a ten-year contract and doesn't do anything that can get him fired."
"Let's head to homeroom." Tammy said in order to change the topic quickly, and I shut the locker to follow them down the main hallway. We moved in a small group, with the girls leading and Derek and I following. We were the first in the classroom that was our 'homeroom'. Not even the teacher was present, yet, so we took seats in a group together. We'd barely gotten seated when two more people entered, both obviously our age. One was a blond-haired boy about the same height as me, and the other was a shorter girl with brown hair.
"Hi Bill!" Julie said in a slightly excited voice to the boy who entered. At the same time, Tammy perked up and said "Hi Erica!" to the brown-haired girl.
The boy was Bill Oliver, and he lived on the farm next to Julie, which meant they'd grown up with each other and were good friends. Erica was from town, and a friend of Tammy's. They both remarked about me being the new preacher's kid when Derek introduced them to us. Bill's hair was more of a yellowish blond than mine, and he had the broad-shoulders and farm-boy build shared by most of the guys in the area. While he was more standoffish than Derek, he was at least polite towards the 'new guys'.
Two minutes later, a group of three kids from the Duckwater Reservation came in, and sat together in a corner of the room without saying anything to anyone else. That brought up another memory, of how the Duckwater kids really kept themselves separate from the rest of the student population, except for a few fights between them and kids from the eastern valley farms. Sometimes they played cowboys and Indians for real, and the fights were spectacular when that happened. Two more kids entered a few moments later, dressed in western style clothing, complete with silk scarves, and sat on the opposite side of the room as the Duckwater kids. A very hazy memory said the brown-haired boy was named Sean, and the other was his cousin Jerry, both from a farm in the eastern valley.
The bell rang a moment later, cutting off conversation just as the teacher entered. He was a middle-aged man with black curly hair, a mustache, and had a slight gut sticking out in front of him. He was Mr. Luce, I knew from memory. His primary job here was the Math teacher, and he was married to Mary Luce, the science teacher for the school. Her classroom was just across the hallway. Once the school approved the football team, he'd be the team's coach because of an argument between Mr. Crutchley and Dr. Bitner. Crutchley would still coach the basketball teams, while Mrs. Luce coached girls volleyball, and Mrs. Dunning, the Home Economics teacher coached the track teams. Mr. Luce was followed moments later by two kids I didn't remember, and according to my first lifetime's memory shouldn't be here. One was a dark-haired boy with a very slight build that I knew would earn him the attention of the school's bullies, and the other was a dark-skinned girl who would effectively double the school's African-American population. Both of the new kids took seats in the front row, just in the middle of the classroom, two seats in front of the group around me.
"Good morning, students." Mr. Luce's voice was deep, and he had a very friendly smile on his face. "I'm Mr. Luce, the primary teacher of math here in Eureka, and I'm going to be your homeroom teacher for the next six years. For future reference, that was the five-minute warning bell. That will be your reminder to get into class on time. We take a very dim view on tardiness here at Eureka High School. Having said that, welcome to the Seventh Grade! Why don't we take a moment to get to know each other? I'm quite sure many of you went to the elementary school together, but there are some new faces. Let's start here on my right, stand up, tell us your name and where you live and what your parents do for a living."
"I'm Sean." The brown-haired boy from the eastern valley said as he stood, exhibiting a little bit of shyness. He put a finger between his silk scarf and his neck as if it was a little tight, cleared his throat and continued. "My pa runs the Miller ranch out east of here."
"I'm Jerry, Sean's cousin." The other boy said in a very soft voice, giving a deferential nod to his cousin. "My da works for Sean's."
"I'm Derek." Derek said as he stood up. He was the closest to the other boys and took the lead in the silence that followed. "I live here in town and my Dad's the Superintendent for the school district."
"Don't think that means we're going to go easy on you." Mr. Luce said with a smile that told us he was joking. Derek just blushed and sat down quickly.
"I'm Julie." The dark-haired girl said as she stood quickly. "I live out in Diamond Valley where my parents own a farm just south of Highway 50."
"I'm Bill." The blond-haired boy said as he followed Julie quickly. "My parents own the farm next to Julie's."
"I'm Tammy." The strawberry-blond girl sitting next to me said just as quickly. "My dad's the P.E. teacher here, which sucks big time."
"I won't tell him you said that, Ms. Crutchley." Mr. Luce said with another smile and Tammy just ducked her head.
"I'm Erica and my parents own the theater here in town." Erica said brightly and got a cheer from the kids in our group. "Yes, we're staying open for another year now."
"That's definitely some good news." Mr. Luce said with a broad smile and nodded towards me.
"I'm Davey, and my Dad's the new preacher out in Diamond Valley." I said after rising to my feet. "My mom works at the elementary school as the new secretary."
"Isn't your Dad also going to be the chaplain at Mikelson?" The boy sitting in the front row asked and I nodded.
"Yeah, he just got a commission as a Navy chaplain and is being assigned TDY as the chaplain for the new base out in the valley." I answered with a nod.
"It's nice to meet you Davey, and welcome to Eureka." Mr. Luce said and then looked at the boy who had spoken.
"I'm Tom Killmer and my dad's in the Air Force." The new boy said as he stood up while I sat down. "He's a Ranger for the Air Force, and we're going to be here for a few years according to what he says, which is nice because lately we've been moving around a lot."
"Well, it's good to have you here, Tom." Mr. Luce said and the girl who had come in with Tom stood next.
"I'm Jhanica." The other girl said as she stood. "My Dad works with Tom's at the base."
"I hope you like it here, Jhanica." Mr. Luce said with a polite nod before looking over at the group from Duckwater.
"I'm Terry." The first girl, who was slightly overweight, said as she stood. "I live in Duckwater."
Mr. Luce showed his intelligence at that moment by not asking what her parents did as she sat down. It was a sad fact that most of the people on the reservation didn't have work, or own large farms like the other kids here. The farmers and ranchers in the east valley would rarely hire the Indians, and Diamond Valley was too far for most of them to commute on a regular basis. The other girl simply stood and said her name was 'Amy', while the boy stood and gruffly said 'I'm Mike' before he sat down.
"Okay, well, the first thing we do each morning is say the Pledge of Allegiance, just like you did in your elementary school." Mr. Luce said, and after everyone stood, he led us in the pledge. I noticed out of the corner of my eye that while the Duckwater group stood, they didn't put their hands over their hearts or recite the pledge. That didn't bother me at all, mostly because in my first lifetime, I'd fought for their right to not participate in this civic function. The two boys from the eastern valley didn't like what they saw though, and shot dirty looks across the classroom. I almost let out a sigh at that, but kept silent on their attitude for now.
After the Pledge, Mr. Luce talked about the school's rules and code of conduct, passing out copies with a cover page we had to sign and return to him. When that was done, he passed out a map of the school and explained what was and was not allowed for new seventh graders. He even explained a little of the social structure by pointing out that any seventh grader caught on the couches in the lounge area better give up their seat for the older kids or face their wrath.
"We will also need to elect class officers for the year." Mr. Luce said as he changed the topic slightly. "Each year, the Junior class puts on the school prom with money they raised since the seventh grade. Also, the soda and candy machines are run by the current junior class. The seniors go on a senior trip during their last month of school and they pay for it out of the class funds, so picking a good treasurer and fund raiser now will mean that in six years you'll get to go on a big trip. Now, we need to pick someone for Secretary, Treasurer, Vice-President, and President. Together this group will plan the fundraisers that the entire class will participate in, and will make sure you have the money you'll need by the time you're Juniors and Seniors. Does anyone want to volunteer?"
"I'll volunteer for Secretary." Julie said quickly.
"I'll volunteer for Vice-President." Tammy said firmly. "Derek will volunteer for President."
"I what?" Derek said with surprise, but nodded after a glare from Tammy. She was a fierce person when she wanted to be.
"Does anyone else want to volunteer for those positions, or for Treasurer?" Mr. Luce asked and was met with silence.
"Davey will be Treasurer." Derek said and I shot him a glare for a moment. He gave me a pleading look though, and I found myself getting momentarily lost in his brown eyes. They really were beautiful.
"Okay." I said aloud and turned back to the teacher after Derek smiled, clapped me on the back and turned away. That dredged up another memory that basically these three had switched these offices around every year, dragging in one of the others to fill the fourth position until I came along the freshman year and they'd dragged me into the President position.
"Does anyone else want to run for these positions?" Mr. Luce pressed. He seemed to want a real competition, but he wasn't going to get it this time. After a few minutes of silence he let out a sigh and nodded. "Well, if no one else wants to compete, is anyone opposed?"
"Just let them run that stuff." Sean said with a frown towards us. Like the rest of the people from his area, he didn't trust, or like, outsiders, and that included anyone who hadn't grown up in the same valley, or who he hadn't known all his life. Unless it was FFA or the rodeo, they rarely participated in any school or town event anyway.
"Okay, congratulations." Mr. Luce said with another sigh and a smile for us. "I'll get together with you four tomorrow after school, if you can arrange rides home."
"Not a problem." I said quickly. If Julie couldn't arrange a ride home, I'd make sure she could get one with me. Her place was on the way to mine.
"Good, now we're going to go over everyone's schedules and get your books for you." Mr. Luce continued. "Davey, I understand that Mr. Bitner needs to see you to finish your placement tests so why don't you head down to the office."
"Sure thing, Mr. Luce." I said easily and got to my feet, taking my backpack with me. It was a short walk to the office, where Mrs. Hampton had me take a seat. Dr. Bitner came out about five minutes later and escorted me to the library where he informed me that I'd be taking the tests under the librarian's observation.
"You can leave your backpack with me." He directed and I had to pause for a moment while running through possible things to say. I was under direct orders to keep that backpack within reach at all times. He was supposed to have been made aware of that as well.
"Sir, didn't Major Kowalski meet with you last week?" I asked him cautiously. He stared at me with those beady eyes of his and frowned.
"I'm the principal of this school, David, and my rules are what is important here." Dr. Bitner said sternly. "I don't know what you put in that backpack or what is so important that the Air Force would try to tell me what I can and cannot do in my own school, but I will find out. Hand it over."
"Sir, if you insist, I'll leave the school grounds until my father and Major Kowalski can get here." I answered him calmly, almost enjoying his attempt at a power play.
"You will do no such thing." Bitner said angrily. "Now, hand over that backpack."
"I'm sorry sir, but I must respectfully decline to comply with that order." I said carefully, reaching into my pocket and pushing the 'call' button on the medium-sized remote. There were two buttons on it, one for non-violent situations requiring the presence of certain people, and another that we called the 'panic' button. The button I pushed would a member of the security detail at the school rather quickly while the other would result in an armed assault on the school.
"I don't think you understand the danger of your situation, Mr. Jones." Bitner's voice was openly angry, and very condescending. "I don't think your father or mother would appreciate you being suspended on the first day of school."
"What seems to be the problem here, Davey?" Major Kowalski's voice startled not only Dr. Bitner but me as well. I was NOT expecting such a quick response. The Major stood in the library's doorway in his fatigues, and had a very stern expression on his face. Mrs. Coats, the librarian, wisely decided to disappear into the staff lounge at that point.
"What are you doing here?" Dr. Bitner demanded angrily of the Major.
"Dr. Bitner, I'm here because Davey called." Major Kowalski said firmly.
"How could he have called you?" Bitner demanded. I pulled the remote out of my pocket and waved it at the officious man whose face turned scarlet for a moment. He was silent while he tried to get his heavy breathing under control and when he spoke again, it was in a very controlled voice. "You'll have to turn that over, son."
"No, he won't, Dr. Bitner." Major Kowalski said sternly, entering the library completely and shutting the door behind him. He then went to the other two doors and made sure they were shut before coming to the table I was sitting at with Bitner looming at the end. Kowalski was calmness personified as he faced the irate principal. "I told you last week that Mr. Jones is a national asset and will be given certain leeway on specific items. You were also informed that part of the reason he's here is for his own safety and that if anything dangerous occurs here, the Air Force will be responsible for securing the safety of Mr. Jones first, and the students of this school second. You have no need to know more than that, and to reveal that much would be a violation of the secrecy agreement you signed last week."
"I signed that before I knew what you were going to say." Dr. Bitner fumed. "If I'd known you'd be telling me what to do in my own school…"
"Then the Air Force would have talked to Dr. Mulkey about paying any costs necessary to have you replaced." Major Kowalski finished the principal's statement for him, and Dr. Bitner's face almost went purple. "I will remind you sir, that in matters of national security, even hinting at any irregularities so as to expose what we have discussed is enough for imprisonment in a range of ten to twenty years without possibility of parole, at a federal facility in isolation."
"What's so damn important about his bag?" Dr. Bitner demanded angrily and Major Kowalski just stared at him in silence for several minutes before the principal gave a defeated sigh. "Fine, I'll not reveal anything about the kid, and I won't force him to give up his bag, but that calling device, whatever it is, has to be kept hidden!"
"Davey knows what he's doing." Major Kowalski said. "Now, if you'll excuse me, I'll finish giving your secretary my son's official transcripts. Thank you, by the way, for accepting his unofficial transcripts last week. The old school he went to was switching over to a computer system and couldn't get them until now."
"You're welcome." Dr. Bitner's voice was full of sarcasm as the Major departed. He turned a very nasty look towards me, but I kept my face neutral as to not give him anything to criticize. After another minute, he handed me a stack of papers and told me to begin my tests.
It was quite apparent from the first question of the first test (on Math), that Dr. Bitner was trying to be mean. The tests would have given a high school graduate a difficult time. The math test was pre-calculus, and I breezed through it thanks to my second lifetime of schooling. If I'd only had my first lifetime, I'd have never answered the first question, much less the rest of them. The history, civics, science, and English tests were of the same level. While I easily answered the math and science questions, I flubbed a little on the others. Who remembers what a gerund is once you get to college level English courses? Same thing for when the Constitution was signed, and when it was approved. I could have given him a two-hundred page paper on the importance of the Constitution and the Bill of Rights, all without looking at a book for reference, but ask me the year it was approved by the last state, and I had to guess.
"Is this some kind of joke?" Dr. Bitner nearly roared as he came storming into the library about an hour and a half later. Mrs. Coats had taken each of the tests to him as I finished them, and he had apparently just finished correcting the first of them.
"What do you mean, sir?" I asked him as politely as I could manage. Seeing his face red again had me wanting to smile.
"Your test scores are too perfect." He snarled. "You shouldn't be able to answer any of the questions. Most of the kids who graduate from here couldn't answer them."
"Maybe I'm a special case." I answered with a shrug, and that seemed to infuriate him further.
"You shouldn't be in this school if you know this much stuff." Bitner fumed. "Is this why the Air Force is so interested in you? Are you some type of child genius? If you are, why are you here instead of at some college somewhere?"
"I'm here because I'm twelve years old and want to grow up as normally as possible." I responded to his anger with a little of my own. "Eventually, they'll probably get someone in here who can challenge me academically, but until then, I'll take the best you have and work from there. I already do stuff for the Air Force when I'm at home, so you don't have to worry about that. What matters is that I'm not going to be shipped off to some adult college and be forced to grow up with people older than me and not know people my own age."
"You just happened to pick my school to make a farce of, eh?" Bitner fumed and I stared at him for a long moment before responding.
"You're the only school in the area, sir." I answered at last, and that seemed to set him back for a moment.
"I want something in return for having you disrupt my school." Bitner said forcefully after studying me. "There are a few people here who could use some tutoring in math, and you seem to have a good grasp of that. Mr. Luce can also work with you on some higher math in a special class. He'll have to give up one of his free periods, but I'm sure he'll do it. For the rest, I'm going to put you in the advanced classes with Derek, Julie, Tammy, and that other Air Force kid. That means you'll have to take P.E. with the high school students just before lunch. Then you'll take Math with Mr. Luce after lunch, and you'll have to pick an elective for sixth period while the rest of the seventh graders are in Math. You have a choice: Home Economics or Woodshop."
"I'll take Home Economics." I said instantly. The last time I'd tried anything with wood had been such a disaster that I never wanted to even think of trying it again.
"Fine, don't even bother finishing that test." He snarled, snatching the unfinished last exam away from me. He left the library for a few minutes and returned with my schedule. It was almost third period, which would be World History, and I was directed to go to that classroom and wait outside for the bell.
I couldn't help but smile as I left the library and headed for the room. It was a sweet victory upsetting that pretentious fool of a principal, even if it hadn't gone quite the way I wanted. Hopefully, though, I'd have fewer run-ins with him in the future.
Yeah, right.
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