A Slice Of Life

Chapter 53

He lies on his back in the safety of his crib and awakens from a peaceful sleep. Slowly opening his eyes he stares at the glow-in-the-dark stars that look down on him from the ceiling. They are pretty far away, and with his eyesight not being fully developed yet, they look more like glowing orbs than traditional five point stars. It's quiet in his little room and the silence makes him feel lonely. It's been a good five hours since he's last eaten and his stomach gives a small rumble. He starts to pucker his lips, his tongue poking out between them every now and then. He flails an arm and his hand just happens to reach his mouth. Placing a finger between his lips he gives it a suck. He's expecting the warm sweetness of his mommy's milk, but gets the taste of his own finger instead. This irritates him and he begins to whimper. When his cries go unheard his irritation turns to anger and he lets out with a demanding yell. Not getting an immediate response he starts kicking his legs and yells a little louder, working himself into a tizzy.

It takes a couple of minutes but eventually a dark figure approaches his crib. His eyes are shut tight from his screaming, but if he were to open them he would have seen the familiar shape of his mommy standing over him as she reaches into the crib to pick him up. He has a momentary sense of weightlessness as he is scooped up into a pair of loving arms. As the shape holds him close he picks up the scent he has been looking for and immediately starts to move his face into it and root around. He hears the voice he knows so well and he begins to calm a bit, lowering the decibel of his cries. With a guiding hand to the back of his head his mouth finds what it has been searching for and he latches on in a hungry death grip. He gives a few good sucks and his efforts are finally rewarded with the sustenance his stomach has been craving. He feels himself being rocked as a soft melody fills his ears. He knows this song and it comforts him as he eats.

When he's had his fill he stops his sucking and he looks up into eyes that are darkened from the low light of the room. He stares into them as he coos and is rewarded with the sound of his mother's voice as she answers him back. Again he feels a brief sense of weightlessness as he is re-positioned so he is laying atop his mommy's chest. His head rests above her heart and the rhythm of its beating sends him into a hypnotic trance as the rocking slowly continues. His eyelids grow heavy as he fights sleep, but it is still too early in the morning for him to start his day, so he loses the battle and his breathing becomes slow and steady. Closing his eyes he falls into a sleep filled with dreams that will be forgotten the moment he once again awakens. He is placed back down into the safety of his crib where, if his mommy is lucky, he will stay asleep for at least another four hours.


xxxxx

Arnold's alarm goes off, jolting him awake. He was having one of his childhood dreams of soaring through the air in a small plane, darting in and out of the clouds. Flying off to adventures with parents he hasn't seen since he was but a mere toddler. These dreams don't come as often as they did when he was a boy, and he always finds it funny when he has one now as an adult. He guesses that there are some things you just never really get over and pushes it to the back of his mind.

Rolling over, he faces his wife and he watches her sleep. Her face is partially covered by her tousled hair and he reaches out, brushing it behind her ear. The touch of his fingers causes her to stir and he immediately stops. He fights the urge to press close to her, so he can feel her body soft against his. If he hadn't heard her get up earlier in the morning to tend to Phillip he probably would have done so, but, knowing how tired she must be, he leaves her to her sleeping and quietly gets out of bed.

He takes his time in the bathroom, he's not in any real rush to get on with his day. He used to enjoy his days at the high school, that is, until a certain auburn haired trouble maker showed up. He mentally counts the months until her time at Hillwood High is over and prays she doesn't accept any offers to stay on permanently.

By the time he's dressed and ready for breakfast Helga is already downstairs scrambling a pan of freshly laid eggs straight from Peterson Farms. The smell of crisp bacon fills his nose, luring him downstairs. He walks over to the coffee pot and pours himself a steaming mugful then kisses her on her cheek, eliciting a girlish smile from her.

"You're so cute when you smile like that." He says as he puts his coffee down and wraps his arms around her waist. He gives her a kiss on her neck, sending shivers down her spine. "You know, you could have stayed in bed, you didn't have to get up just to make me breakfast.

She scrapes the eggs she's just cooked onto two plates, placing a couple strips of bacon next to them. "I know that, but when I rolled over and noticed you weren't there I got hungry so I figured I may as well get up."

"I heard you get up to feed Phillip in the middle of the night. Was everything okay with him?"

"Yeah, he was fine, just wanted to fill his belly I guess."

"Well that's good, I'm glad he's finally over his ear infection. That was not fun."

"No, the poor little guy. At least when we get sick we can verbalize what's wrong. He has to just suffer with it until we can figure out what he going through."

"So you still okay to pick me up from work this afternoon?"

"Yep, it's on my list of to do's. Oh, don't forget to remind Gerald he's coming over for dinner tonight, and tell him not to worry, I won't try to cook, it will just be a frozen lasagna."

"Now Helga, your cooking is getting much better, but don't worry, I'll tell him."

He hears Gerald's car horn, signaling that Arnold is out of time and has to get going. Giving Helga a quick kiss he runs out the door to start his day.


xxxxx

They arrive at the school with plenty of time before the first bell. Parting ways at the front entrance, Gerald hits the teacher's lounge as Arnold goes to check his mailbox. He stands alone in the little room and notices a small piece of colored wrapping paper pushed into a dusty corner on the floor. He picks it up thinking that it looks just like some they have at home and throws it into the trashcan. He hears footsteps as he looks through the spam that sits in his box and looks up. Seeing Travis he gives him a smile.

"Hey Travis, good morning."

A bit of a scowl sits on Travis's face as he gives Arnold a curt, "Morning."

Noticing the scowl, Arnold can't help himself but to try and help his friend with any problems he may be having. "You okay? You look like something's got you upset."

Travis gives him a hard stare for a moment before speaking up. "Yes, well, actually, Arnold, there is something that's been on my mind and I'm thinking you're just the man to give me some answers."

Smiling over a chance to be able to help, Arnold is just about to say something when their mutual friend Derek comes walking into the small room. Seeing his friends he gives a cheery good morning.

"Well look at what we have here, two of Hillwood's finest. How are you guys on this fine morning?"

Annoyed at the interruption, Travis just gives a grunt while Arnold replies with his patented 'Life Is Great' smile. "Can't complain, Derek. Two days out from Christmas break, life couldn't be better."

"I agree. Oh, before I forget, I have something for that baby of yours, it's from me and the Mrs."

Derek reaches into his briefcase and pulls out a small, brightly wrapped box. It takes all the willpower Arnold can muster to keep himself from blurting out with laughter. He takes the box from his friend, knowing full well what it contains.

"Aw, thanks Derek. I'm sure Helga will be delighted to see what it is."

"It's nothing big, just something the Mrs. Insisted Phillip had to have for his first Christmas."

"Well give her a big thanks from the both of us."

"A big thanks to who for what?" A familiar voice speaks up. Turning to face the doorway, the three men are greeted by a smiling Amanda.

Arnold mentally rolls his eyes as Travis stiffens a bit looking back and forth between Arnold and Amanda. Noticing an almost immediate tension in the air, Derek grabs his stuff from his mailbox and makes his escape.

"Well, I must get going, don't want to be late for class, you know."

Arnold watches Derek leave and takes his que from him. "Yeah, I should get going too. You both have a good day." He walks out, leaving Travis to stand alone with Amanda.

"Are you always that good at clearing a room?" Travis says to her.

"On the contrary," She says, "Usually men flock to me."

"Well Arnold certainly couldn't wait to get away from you."

"Yeah, well, who knows? Perhaps a guilty conscience got the best of him and caused him to flee."

She grabs her mail before Travis has a chance to ask her what she meant by that and once again, leaves him to stand alone in the small room.


xxxxx

They've still got a good fifteen minutes before the first bell so the girls take that time to come together in the library and share any new information they may have. Closing the door to the small study room Tonya turns to face the group.

"Okay, so remember how Denise and I told you that we saw Ms Pearson put something into Mr. Shortman's gym bag?" There's a combined nod from the group. "Well the next day I went and visited Helga to tell her what we saw. She wouldn't let me see what was put in there, she said she didn't want me to be too involved. But, she did promise to tell me what it was once Ms Pearson is no longer around."

"That's a bit disappointing." Abby says, the rest of the girls agreeing with her.

"Hmmm," It's Heather's turn now to speak. "I wonder if it has anything to do with what happened that Monday after school. I was working the attendance desk when Ms Pearson came storming out of the back room. I went back to check things out and found this in the trash can."

She pulls out the box with the torn paper, and shows them the torn up note that she had meticulously taped back together.

"Hey!" Gina yells, "That's the box some lady dropped off the other day for Ms Pearson!"

Tonya's eyes grow wide. "Lady? What lady, was it Mrs. Shortman?"

"No, it was some lady I've never seen before. She looked older than Mrs. Shortman and didn't say who she was, she said she wanted the gift to be a surprise."

Tonya looks to Heather now. "Hand me that note, I want to look at it."

Taking the note from her friend, Heather studies the handwriting as she reads it out loud. "'Dear Amanda, Check.' Check? What does that mean?"

The girls think about it for a bit when Denise's face perks up. "I know what that is, it's a chess term. You use it when you've got the other person's king under the threat of being captured. It's like whomever wrote the note was telling the other person that it's now their move and to just try and escape."

Tonya gives a wide smile, saying almost a little too proudly, "Ha, ha, can you say passive aggressive? That sounds like a Helga move to me."

"Well that settles who the package was from, but we still don't know what was in it." Abby points out.

"I'll bet you a million dollars it was whatever Ms Pearson put in Mr. Shortman's gym bag." Denise says, the other girls agreeing with her.

"I've got a bit of news that I overheard the other morning while I was at the attendance desk." Gina says, gaining the girl's attention. "It was before school and Ms Abernathy and Mr. Cooper were in the back room talking. It sounded like Ms Abernathy was trying to spread some rumor about Mr. Shortman and Ms Pearson. She said something about them coming out of the Travel Lodge, you know, the one out towards downtown."

"What!" Tonya yells, "That's a total lie, there's no way Mr Shortman would ever do anything like that, not with the way he's so into his wife."

"How do you know how into his wife he is?" Heather questions.

"Because, when I was over there that morning I saw the look in his eyes when he looked at her. You can't fake that. That was totally the look of a man head over heels in love. Nope, I don't believe that rumor at all. So Ms Abernathy was just trying to spread gossip. But, I wonder if Mr. Cooper believed her, because I saw him leaving Ms Pearson's classroom one morning and he was looking pretty mad. Oh, man, this whole situation is becoming ridiculous. Something drastic is going to need to be done soon before people's reputations and friendships become ruined."

Denise gives her friend a suspicious look. "Just what are you thinking, Tonya?"

A sinister smile comes across Tonya's face as she speaks to her friends. "You guys don't need to worry about it right now. I have a plan and once I get things rolling, you all will be the first to know about it."