“He’s coming! Quick, he’s headed this way!” Marcie, one of the teachers from the toddler end of the building, called into the office in a loud whisper.
“Oh, God!” Linda cursed under her breath, and she handed off the head count clipboard to me. “Here! Take this, quick!”
With that she dashed out of the office and in the opposite direction from which Marcie had come.
I was dumbfounded, but Marjorie didn’t seem surprised. “What is going on? Who is coming?”
“Shhh. Can’t you smell him? He’s almost here. I’ll tell you in a minute.”
At that moment, I did detect the aroma of some very strong male cologne.
“Hellooooo, ladies!” he bellowed out as he rounded the corner of the office door. I was speechless, and Marjorie hardly gave him a glance as she coolly replied, “Hello, Mr. Varner” and kept on working. He was not an unattractive man, blonde, tall, tanned, muscular, but he instantly gave the impression of a man who, as my grandfather would say, I’d like to buy for what he’s worth and sell for what he thinks he’s worth.
A quick scan of the office and its occupants (only Marjorie and me) and an immediate appraisal and dismissal of me led him to pursue his main purpose.
“Where’s Linda?” he asked.
“Gee, I don’t know,” Marjorie replied. “You know how busy she is. She may have left already to go pick up some things for the school at the store.”
His face dropped. “Oh.” He stood there a moment contemplating his next move. “Any idea when she’ll be back?”
“No, she may be gone a while.”
“Oh,…well, tell her I’m looking for her, okay?”
“Okay.”
He turned and headed back out the way he had come.
“Who was THAT?” I pumped Marjorie for information.
“You know the Varner boy in Kindergarten. Well, THAT was his dad. He’s a big-shot contractor and land developer. He’s done very well for himself, and as you can tell, he thinks very highly of himself.”
“Why did Linda take off like a shot, and where did she go?”
“I’m not exactly sure, but she’s found somewhere to hide. In fact, I’d better go see if the coast is clear and let her know. I’ll let her tell you the rest of the story.” With that, she left the office in search of Varner’s whereabouts and then Linda’s.
When Marjorie and Linda returned, I pumped Linda. “What was that all about? Were you really hiding from him?”
“Yes, and I need your help. If you ever see him coming, warn me.”
“Why?”
“Well, last evening after you left, he came in to pick up his kids. He pulled me aside and said he needed to talk to me privately about something, and before I knew it, he had pulled me into the adult restroom at that end of the building and shut and locked the door behind him.”
“WHAT?! What did you do?”
“I didn’t know what to do, I was so shocked. He started telling me that he’d been waiting for a chance to tell me how sexy and special he thought I was and that he wanted to start seeing me. He pressed me to meet him at the shopping center down the street after work.”
“What did you say?”
“I told him I would.”
“WHAT?!!”
“I just wanted out of the bathroom! He started putting his hands on me, and I thought if I agreed, he’d let me go.”
“Okay, that makes sense, but you didn’t GO, did you?”
“Yes,” very quietly, eyes cast down to the floor.
“WHAT?!!!”
“Well, I didn’t want him to get mad and make trouble for me here at the school, but I stayed out in public and his kids were along and I told him we couldn’t do it, and, and nothing happened.”
Okay, she lost me. She was either one of the biggest idiots I’d ever met, or she loved this, the flattery and attention and drama of it. Either way, she had just completely lost my respect and my support. She was married and had two girls of her own; he was married and had two kids in our school.
“So, now he’s continuing to pursue you, and you’ve just encouraged him by meeting him, but you’re hiding in the building anytime he comes around.”
“Yeah. I guess so.”
Oh, brother!