Chapter 2
two
. . .
I didn’t wake up until nine the following morning. The kids weren’t home, of course, because they’d spent the night at Marj’s. She’d drop them off at school with her son, Mike. I felt terrible, groggy, and completely guilty for yelling at my husband last night. He’d left a nice note on the fridge.
Lucy, I’m sorry for taking matters with the boys into my hands without your consent.
Please meet me at La Cocina Roja at twelve-thirty.
I’ve scheduled at least two hours for our discussion.
Afterwards, I made an appointment for you at the spa across the street for a relaxing massage.
Maybe you’d enjoy that more than knitting, although there’s a yarn store around the corner if you feel inspired.
All my love, Hazen
I rolled my eyes, sticking his note in my pocket then grabbed everything for a sensible breakfast of vegetable packed omelet with only a dusting of cheese.
After I ate, I felt a little better, but still tired in spite of sleeping so soundly for so long. I’d meet him for lunch and have our discussion, but first I was going to get the facts for myself. I was my children’s mother. I would decide what was best for them on my own terms.
I parked in the school’s visitor’s parking in front of the massive building.
This part was old, regal and gothic, but most buildings were thoroughly modern and cutting edge.
I walked around to the entrance while my heart beat a little faster.
This wasn’t my comfort zone, and the fact that the principal, Mr. Sanatee, had talked to my husband without my permission made me want to stop at the knitting store for some needles.
Maybe I could use yarn for strangulation.
I shook my head. I had to channel calm concern and respect if I wanted this resolved easily. It took me fifteen minutes of waiting to get into his large and airy office. He greeted me at the door with a smile.
“I’m sorry for keeping you waiting. You haven’t ever dropped in unexpectedly before.” His smile was pleasant enough, but I felt like I was intruding, that I had no business disturbing this important person with my unnecessary complaints.
Screw that. I let my smile turn chilly. “I’m here to talk about Wat. If he’s having troubles in school, I expect you to notify me as well as my husband.”
He gazed at me with his honey brown eyes until he blinked first and I realized that it had been a staring contest. He took off his glasses, rubbed his eyes, then put them back on.
“I apologize. His number was the only one the secretary could find. Did he inform you about matters and what we suggest to facilitate the best opportunities for growth and development?”
“Boarding school? Yes, he informed me.” As though he had the right to tell me what was going to happen to my children without discussing it together as equal partners.
“Mrs. Darnell, I’m not sure why you’re here.”
I stared at him. “I want you to explain to me Wat’s behavior, how long it’s been going on, and exactly what he did to make you come to such an extreme conclusion. My husband wasn’t clear enough for me.”
He triangled his hands on his desk and studied me. “He told you that Wat lit the student in front of him on fire at the fire and safety demonstration?”
I stared at him while my stomach lurched. “No! Is the other student okay?”
He waved a hand away. “Of course. Your other son, Lock, kept his head, knocked the student over, and got the flames out before Lukas was more than singed.”
I stood up and rubbed my throat, pacing behind my chair before I faced him again. “Why would Wat do that?” It made no sense. He was mischievous, but he’d never actually hurt anyone.
He shrugged easily. “They hate each other. Lukas has an unfortunate mouth and was insulting your son and his family. As inappropriate as that was, the way your son escalated the situation is troubling.”
“Troubling? That’s an understatement. I didn’t realize that he lit a person on fire. How long has this kind of thing been going on?” Why hadn’t anyone notified me before now? I was supposed to be responsible, but I couldn’t do anything if I didn’t know about it!
“He’s had trouble with anger management and impulse control from the beginning, but now it is getting out of hand.
He realizes in retrospect that he shouldn’t have done it, but he lacks the ability to partition those emotions when he’s caught up in them.
Lock is much better at controlling Wat than he is, but it’s too much to expect your oldest son to bear the burden of being responsible for Wat when Lock has his own potential to develop.
The school I recommended is very well-known for its gifted program.
Both of your sons are remarkable. With just a little more guidance, I believe that they can do very well. ”
He handed me a brochure for another ancient-looking building with a list of its teachers, the majority PhD’s this and that. I tucked it into my purse absently and walked with him to the door. He was escorting me out with all the finesse of a practiced expert.
I stopped and turned with a frown. “Where are they? I’d like to speak with them, if you don’t mind.”
“Now? They’re in classes.”
“Which you want to throw them out of. Would you let me know what classes they’re in, or would you like to send someone to bring them to me?”
He studied me, gauging how determined I was. With a shrug, he smiled almost warmly. “Why don’t you wait on the football field bleachers? I’ll have them out to you in ten minutes.”
I nodded and left the office, heart pounding like I’d narrowly escaped doom. I hadn’t done incredibly well in school, not that the schools I’d gone to were anything like this.
I found my way to the football field and then watched Lock and Wat running towards me down from the building with all the energy and enthusiasm a twelve-year-old and a fourteen-year-old ever have.
They looked happy. Wat didn’t look resentful and angry, just delighted to get unexpectedly called out of class for a mini-holiday. Lock looked more concerned, of course.
“Mom, what are you doing here?” he asked while Wat threw himself into my arms, almost knocking me over.
“Woah, be gentle with your old lady,” I said, wrapping my arms around him and holding him tight. Maybe it was an accident. Maybe he’d been trying to practice fire safety, but things got out of control.
“You are so old,” he said, pulling back to grin at me. “Are you taking us out of school for the whole day?”
I licked my lips and sat back down, patting the bench next to me. “I understand that you had an adventure during the school’s fire safety demonstration.”
His smile vanished, and instead his eyes went hard, defensive, impossible to read. “Dad already talked to me about it.”
I raised my chin. Yes, he had taken care of it without bothering me. “And now you’re talking to me. Tell me what happened.”
His mouth tightened. “Lukas had it coming to him.”
I waited for more, but he was closed off, angry.
Lock elbowed him. “He knows that he shouldn’t have done anything, however much Lukas deserved it.”
“What did Lukas say?”
Wat actually growled. “You don’t need to know. Just keep being happy that you’re oblivious to everything.”
The coldness and hardness pierced my heart. I struggled not to show my hurt. I was the mother in this situation. Maybe Wat was becoming manipulative. “I’m not happy if my children are struggling, and I don’t know anything about it.”
Lock said, “Mom, don’t worry about it. Lukas always says dirt about people. He can’t help it; he was born stupid. It’s Wat’s reaction that’s the problem. He wasn’t born stupid.” He elbowed his brother again.
Wat scowled at him then exhaled and gave me a sweet smile. “I need to learn to control my reactions better. We start at the boarding school on Monday, right?”
My heart beat faster and I struggled to swallow down sudden tears. “You heard about that?”
Wat shrugged. “Dad went there. It’s a good school. It’ll be better than this place.”
“But it’s a boarding school. You won’t come home. You won’t do martial arts, or soccer, or trombone lessons from Mr. Fanucci. You’ll be gone for weeks at a time.”
Wat studied me for a long time. “Do you think that I should stay home my whole life so you can smother me with your love?”
Ouch. It literally hurt my chest for those words to come out of my youngest son’s mouth.
Lock grabbed my hand. “Wat doesn’t mean it like that.
You’ve given us so much love, we’re ready to go out and face some adventures on our own.
I know it won’t be like Harry Potter or anything, but the school does sound awesome.
They have martial arts and fencing, as well as a world-class band and orchestra.
We want to go, not because we want to leave you, but because it’s the right next step in our lives. ”
“You sound five hundred years old,” Wat muttered.
Lock elbowed him again. “We’ll still be home for holidays. We’ll call you every night. I promise.”
He leaned over and gave me a hug, like he wasn’t too old for a mother, but he’d just told me that he was.
He pulled back and gave me a cheerful smile. “Don’t you have lunch with dad? You’d better hurry or you’ll be late.”
“We have to go back to class?” Wat asked, sounding much sadder about that than moving away from home.
“Come on!” Lock jogged back to school with Wat, leaving me sitting on the football bleachers feeling like I was playing that new version of the tetris game where everything inverted without warning, all the pieces of my life floating around without any root or anchor.