ROBERT DAY

1

ROBERT DAY

The sky was clear of clouds and vibrant blue.  It looked like the ocean, or at least what I imagined the ocean would look like since I had not seen it yet.  The blue in the sky seemed to swirl and move in waves and little wisps of a clear like substance that caught the sunlight seemed to float on by right in front of my eyes.  I wish I could hear the leaves rustling in the breeze but I don't remember if there was any breeze at all that day.  It smelled like summer.  Hot, sticky and humid.  My boxers under my cargo shorts clung to my sweaty crotch.  I could feel beads of sweat on my face.  The constant ring in my ears overpowered everything, just one long unbroken high-pitched note.

I laid there on the concrete in front of my high school, my last day of high school.  The ringing started to subside as my hearing seemed to return.  I could hear the chanting of apes.  They may as well been apes but they may not have even deserved that.  I'm even sensitive to the wellbeing of real apes.  I turned my head to the side and Nathan was being held down by Craig's knee and taking hits in the arm that protected the side of his face.  His face, that will haunt me.  I saw real terror for the first time that day.  Blood was on the pavement where his head was connecting.  He was crying, my best friend in that zoo.

He was a little slow.  Probably had some form of autism but his mom was an addict and his step dad didn't give a shit.  They refused to sign the paperwork to have him placed in the special needs program.  They didn't accept his condition so he was thrown in with the rest of the animals in the zoo.   Again, I apologize to the animal kingdom.

The school didn't do him any favors either.  Teachers let him scrape by with D's to get him out of their classroom.  He had spent a great deal of time in detention because he had a mouth.  He talked back, didn't matter who it was, he used his mouth to stand up for himself.  Sometimes, and actually most of the time he was wrong, but few had the patience that went with being his friend.  He was picked on a lot.  I guess you'd call them bullies but that seems unfair to bullies.  These kids were monsters.  A few times Nathan would swing back but he was more like a trash bag in the wind so he couldn't do any real damage.  This got him suspended a couple times.  Zero tolerance for fighting.

I guess I'm the opposite.  I was a ghost and that's how I liked it.  Minimal participation.  The only reason Nathan became my friend was because he opened his mouth and said hi the first day of my Sophomore year and asked to sit with me at lunch.  Which could have been divine influence because I usually spent lunch in the library reading one of the few books kept in this institution of learning.  I must have been hungry that day or maybe they closed the library during lunch that day, I can’t remember.  But him and I sat together in silence in the buzzing cafeteria and from there on if we shared the same lunch break.

He clung to me from there on out and I was alright with that.  I cared about him in a Lennie and George sort of way.  Me being George and Nathan being Lennie.  Just that I was the large one and Nathan on the small side.

I'm pretty tall.  Couple inches over six foot.  Lanky and thin but broad shouldered and I spent my mornings before class in the weight room.  I wasn’t trying to hulk out or anything but I’d usually run a mile on one of the 8 treadmills.  Then do a bit of weight lifting on one of the 20 benches but never more weight than what I could handle without a spotter.  I actually played football my freshman year but I'll go into that later.

So last day of high school for me, Nathan has one more year in the zoo.  I walk out into the heat and sunshine and as my eyes adjusted I saw Nate getting pushed around by a couple of the football players.  Seniors.  One last hurrah before off to college ball.  Usually when I caught the act I tell the guys to knock it off and drag Nate off to cool down but not that day.  I walked right up to Craig, bigger than me and balding due to the roids and clocked him in the jaw.  He fell to the ground on all fours and I got one swing of my sized 13 shoe into his ribs before two other monsters grabbed me.  One swung his free arm into my stomach before Craig got up and wailed on me.  Nathan started hitting Craig in the back.  I wish he had the sense to run but he saw red.  So I got thrown to the ground, on my back with a knee on my chest.  Craig started wailing on Nathan.  I saw his fear and the blood.  Then I saw red.

I don't remember exactly what all happened except when it was over, Nate was bleeding on the ground, Craig was out cold and one of his spineless monkeys was on the ground with my mechanical pencil in his thigh.  I must have missed his artery because he wasn't bleeding that bad.  I was in control again but that's when the head football coach hit me in the face.

I didn’t get knocked out.  More of just stunned.  I guess defending your friend from a roided out monster that lead the school to a state championship will get you hit by the Coach.  I didn’t expect any favors from Coach Knoll but I also didn’t expect him to indent my cheek with the face of his new championship ring.

So I was dragged back inside the zoo.  The principal just stared at me as he sat there on the edge of his desk.  Twisting his college football championship ring on one hand then alternating to his Super Bowl ring.  I’m not kidding about that actually, you can’t make that up.

His secretary was going through a thin folder that read:  Robert Day on the front of it.  I’m guessing all that was in there were my transcripts and maybe a file from my first week of my freshman year when an over inquisitive and eager student teacher recommended I be evaluated for a lack of classroom participation.  Nothing came out of that thank god.  Just my mom having to come in and talk to the student teacher, the real teacher and my school councilor.  I had to talk to the school councilor, but I don’t remember what we even talked about.  It was most likely one sided and she must have written me off after that because the only time I saw her was whenever I wanted to adjust my schedule.  Usually to drop an unrequired math or English class for a photography or a painting class.  She never argued with what I wanted so I guess she wasn’t all bad, just a poor high school councilor and educator.

In the back corner of the office was the school’s resource officer.  There was always one police officer at every high school at any given time in Lincoln.  They were called resource officers.  Usually they were cops on the verge of retirement.  Ours was a comically short and fat one, like most Lincoln cops.  To say she was as wide as she was tall would be unfair, but I’d only be stretching the truth just a smidge.  Unlike the other Lincoln high school’s resource officers, she was not on the verge of retirement.  She was in her early thirties and she had a kind face.  Basically, I wasn’t afraid of her.

“We have a zero tolerance policy for fighting,” Principal Riggs finally stated.  He stopped spinning his rings and placed his hands on the desk on either side of himself.  “This is the first time you’ve been in my office for misconduct.”

My attention was focused on the cup of pens and pencils on his desk.  Eye contact made me uneasy with authority figures.  I was usually more concerned with what their hands were doing, maybe because that’s really the only thing I was concerned about.  What came out of their mouth never seemed to affect me.

“Stabbing someone in the leg with a pencil is assault, you could be charged,” said the resource officer.

“On the last day of your high school career as well.  Do you have anything to say for yourself?  Are you concerned how this will affect your college career next fall?”

And there was the assumption that I was going to college in the fall.  I’d actually put a lot of thought into college the last four years.  The idea always seemed sound enough, except I had no idea what to major in.  They’d say don’t worry about that, jump in undeclared.  That seemed like a stupid idea.

My dad had a salary job that made him work 60 plus hours a week.  My mom stayed at home.  Most months they argued on whether to buy groceries or pay the mortgage on the two-bedroom house the seven of us lived in.  Mom, Dad, two brothers a sister and my uncle.  There was no college fund.  I had applied for financial aid but I didn’t qualify for enough to cover each semester.  I had a part time job at one of the grocery store chains that gave me 8 hours a week during the school year and 16 a week in the summers if I was lucky.  Jumping into college undeclared seemed like a stupid idea, even if I could afford it.  I had already seen enough of the older kids in my church jump from major to major and then end up working at Wal-Mart or a bank if they’re lucky.

The last year I’d been telling people I was going to take a year off and save.  Which basically got everyone off my back trying to convince me to do something I considered rash and irresponsible.  They’d say college is expensive and that they understood.  In reality, the idea of continuing school didn’t excite me at all.  Nothing excited me.  I had no clue what I wanted to do.  All I knew was I didn’t want to go into serious debt before figuring that out.

 “Well?”

I had sat there in silence, still focused on the cup of pens and pencils.  I wondered how often any of them actually got used.  I looked out the crack in the doorway.  Craig was out there with his parents.  The school athletic trainer was applying an icepack to Craig’s face where I had connected.  Yes, we had an athletic trainer in high school.  I touched my own bruised cheek and my ribs hurt as I breathed in and out.  Craig’s dad was a legacy and one of the city’s prominent doctors.  He had played football at this same school and had his own championship ring.  He was the one that supplied his son and a few of the other guy’s on the team their supplements.  I assumed the guy I stabbed in the leg was in the nurse’s office.  I just wanted to get out of there.

“I was just stepping in for Nathan.  Didn’t seem like a fair fight.”

“Well, you should have gotten an adult or the resource officer to intervene.”

I thought of Coach Knoll and his ring’s imprint on my face.  I knew better than to even bring him up.  He was bullet proof after that undefeated season and championship.

“Nathan needs to learn not to start fights as well.”

Principal Riggs had really pissed me off by that point.  I really just wanted to get out of there.

“I really should arrest you for assault,” chimed in the resource officer.

At least it would get me out of here I thought.

“I couldn’t reach your parents,” came the small voice of the secretary.  “There’s only one number on file, your home number.  What’s your dad’s work number or cell number?”

Again, an assumption, but she was kind, “they don’t have a cell, I don’t know my dad’s work number.”

“How do you get ahold of them in emergencies?” asked Principal Riggs.

“I call the house until someone picks up.”  I know they want the parents involved but there’s really no point.  What are my parent’s going to do?  Plead and beg not to send their baby to jail?  That wasn’t my parents.  They’re honestly great parents, but as far as high school was concerned, I’m responsible for my actions.  They were available for advice if I wanted it but they hated calls from teachers.

“You’re not giving me a lot of options Robert,” said Principal Riggs.

God, please get me out of here I prayed.

“I don’t think you’ve left us much of a choice under the circumstances.  I have no choice than to expel you.  I can’t tolerate fighting and I can’t let a stabbing go unnoticed.  Would you agree?” he turned his attention to the resource officer.

“Oh I agree, I think it’s best I take you to the station until we can get ahold of your parents,” that’s when she pulled out her handcuffs.
Thank you Jesus.