Chapter Nine

Dinner with an Interesting Proposition

Saturday.

Larkin had been ecstatic when Mrs. Olive had dropped by the barbershop and invited her and Jake to supper at her house. She had been looking forward to visiting with Mrs. Olive, but when they arrived, she found that they were not the only ones that had been invited. The Reverend Johnson, Loren and his sister-in-law Dorothy, Dr. Mike, and Colleen and Brian were there.

Not knowing half the people there, Larkin became shy and withdrawn, staying close to Jake's side and clinging to his arm. This alarmed Jake because Larkin had been very independent ever since coming home.

"Why are ya' being so shy?" He asked.

"I'm not being shy," she insisted. "I…, just don't know anyone."

Colleen brought her out of her shell though.

"Wow, you got really pretty earbobs," she said, sitting down next to Larkin. "Ma won't let me pierce my ears yet. Does it hurt?"

Larkin subconsciously played with the silver stars in her ears. They had been a graduation gift from her Papa.

"Not much," she replied. "How old are you?"

"Thirteen."

"Oh well, Papa didn't let me pierce my ears until I was fourteen," Lark told her.

"Very good idea," Dr. Mike commented, overhearing their conversation.

Jake began to relax as Lark became more sure of herself, even moving away from his side for a few minutes at a time.

"Well, Lark, what are ya' planning to do now?" Olive asked.

"I've been offered a teaching position at McLauren. I'm considering taking it. I taught a literature class last semester and really enjoyed teaching."

"You can teach?" Olive asked.

"I have," she answered. "Whether I was any good at it or not, I don't know."

"I bet you was a real good," Brian spoke up.

She smiled, gratefully.

"Well, if it's teaching you want to do, you can do that right here," Olive declared. "We've been needing another teacher. Someone to help the Reverend out."

"I don't know, Mrs. Olive," she replied, honestly. "I don't think I'm the teacher you need. I can teach kids like me, but I couldn't possibly teach the kids here how to even read or write." Then she smiled. "Unless you want them to read Braille."

"You could teach the older ones," Olive insisted. "The ones who already know how to read and write, and that would free up the Reverend to teach the younger kids."

Jake could see that Larkin wanted to accept the offer, but she was struggling with herself over whether she could actually do it. She was also squirming at being the center of attention.

"She ain't hardly been home a week, Olive," Jake said, hoping to take the pressure of Lark to answer. "Give 'er at least two weeks 'fore you go planning her a career."

"Well, I ain't saying she's got to answer tonight," she replied. "It's just something for her to think about. Just think about it. The Reverend could use the help, couldn't you, Timothy?"

"Yes," he agreed.

Lark nodded, thankful that Jake had gotten the attention off of her.

But think about it, she did, all through supper.

Just before she left, Colleen told her, "I hope you'll consider taking Ms. Olive's offer. It'd be fun to have you for a teacher."

"I'll think about it," she promised.

Chapter Ten

Something to Think About

When she got home, she did think about. That is, she thought about it, after scolding herself for being 'overly-disappointed' that Matthew had gone off hunting with Sully and wouldn't be back until late in the night.

The next morning, she was up and dressed for church long before Jake was even awake. He found her sitting in the kitchen, playing with an empty teacup. The dark circles under her eyes told of a night of little sleep.

"Rough night?" He asked, causing her to jump. "Sorry," he placed a calming hand on her shoulder. "Didn't mean to scare you."

"I'm alright, I didn't hear you come in. Guess I was thinking to hard."

"Figure anything out?"

"No," she admitted. "I would really love to teach again, and I could actually do most of the teaching part."

"But," he prompted.

"But, I couldn't grade papers or anything. The paperwork part would be impossible."

"Why don't ya' talk to the Reverend and Olive after church. Maybe ya'll can work something out," he suggested.

That was just what she did, even though it meant turning down an offer from Matthew to walk her home.

After a long discussion, it was decided that she would teach the seventh grade and up, while the Reverend handled the younger grades. Since she, with the use of a typewriter, could make her own test, she needed only give him the answers and the Reverend said he would be happy to grade them. Since he already did, it didn't cause him anymore work.

Larkin was on top of the world when the town council approved their plan. She thought that everyone was just humoring her, but she didn't care. Starting the next morning she would be the upper classes teacher, teaching literature, language, math, science, and basic Latin. The things she had learned at McLauren.

Chapter Eleven

Her First Day

The next morning, she was up at dawn again. This time, she was excited and a little nervous. She put on her most 'grown-up' dress, pulled her hair up in a bun, and after careful consideration, she found her star-shaped earbobs and slipped them into her ears. She went in the kitchen, but found she was too nervous to eat.

"I've never taught this many subjects before, Papa. What if I'm no good at it? What if the students won't listen to me? What if I forget my lessons?" She vented her fears.

"Relax, Larkin, you'll do fine," he reassured her. "Besides, the Reverend will be there, too."

"Yeah, I'll be okay," she said, not at all convinced. "It's time for me to go, I guess." She started out the door, then came back. "Forgot my books," she said, sheepishly. "And my cane."

"Do ya' need me to walk you?" He asked, trying not to laugh.

"Uh, no, I can do it myself. I walked there and back twelve times yesterday evening. I counted the steps. I know how to get there," she said, quickly. That was all she needed.

She was surprised to find Matthew and Brian waiting for her at the bottom of the steps.

"We came to walk ya to school," Brian said.

Matthew took her books and reached for her hand, but Brian beat him to the quick, grabbing her hand and pulling her down the steps.

"Ma says you're going to be our new teacher," he said. "Why ya' got so many books? We already have lots of books at school."

"Yes, but my books are special," she replied. "They are made just for me, so I can read them with my fingers instead of my eyes."

"How do you do that?"

"I'll show you one day," she answered.

"Really? Thanks!!" He saw one of his friends and ran off to join them in the schoolyard.

"Ya' look real pretty," Matthew said, shyly.

"Thank you," she smiled. He took her hand and walked her the rest of the way to the school.

"Here ya' are Miss Slicker," he teased. "Good luck." He kissed her hand then handed her books to her.

"Thanks, Matthew." She turned and went inside. She knew she must be blushing clear up to her ears.

She got through the introductions and explanation of what she would be doing just fine, but when it came time for her to work with her students, she ran into trouble.

Trouble was six feet tall, seventeen year old Bobby Ray Simpson. Bobby Ray being a farm kid, could only go to school when he wasn't need at home, the result being that he was being the other kids his own age, who had finished school the summer before.

He also didn't like the fact that Larkin, a younger girl, was going to be his new teacher.

Matthew knew this, having heard him talking after church the day before and had stuck around to see if he was going to cause trouble.

"What's a blind dummy going to teach me?" he said. The Reverend, busy with the younger students spelling list, didn't hear him, but Matthew, standing outside, did.

He quietly slipped into the back of the room and leaned against the wall, watching Bobby Ray closely. He had knew Bobby was going to pull some crap.

"Okay," Larkin said, trying to ignore Bobby Ray, said. "Since, I don't know you all and you all don't know me, we are going to take a few minutes to get acquainted."

"I'd like to get a'quinted with you," he snickered, "but not in here."

Larkin pressed on, determined to ignore him.

"I'll tell you who I am and a little bit about me, then you can do the same. Just make sure you tell me your full name and who your parents are. I'll start. My name is Larkin Anne Slicker and my father is Jake Slicker..,"

"And he's a drunk," Bobby Ray interrupted.

This time it took all she had not to give in to temptation and tell him off. "AND we live here in town. I went to McLauren Academy for the Blind in Denver. That is where I learned how to be a teacher. I am really looking forward to teaching all of you and I hope we can make this arrangement work."

She went around the room, letting the students tell about themselves, making mental notes of things she thought were important, like that Lewis Bing lived with his Uncle Horace, and that Becky Binder was Missy Houser's half-sister.

Finally, it was Bobby Ray's turn. Larkin was dreading it, since Bobby had a snide remark for something everyone had said, from Jake being a drunk to Colleen needing to realize that women weren't supposed to go to college.

"I'm Bobby Ray Simpson, and my Pa's Jefferson Ray Simpson, and he ain't no drunk neither. My Ma's Mary Simpson, and she knows where she belongs. We live on a farm, and we do real men's work, not cutting hair or taking telegrams, and we all got better since than to get mixed up with a whore."

At this, Larkin had heard as much as she was going to from him. Picking on her was one thing, she expected at least one of the students to have to try and push her limits, but needling Colleen and Lewis was totally uncalled for.

"Okay, that's it," she declared. "Come here, Mr. Simpson, you are going to stand in the corner until you can keep your snide comments to yourself."

She stood up and moved towards the sound of his voice, but he met her halfway, moving so close to her that they were practically touching. Bobby Ray towering over his new teacher.

He was so close that he flooded her senses, she could hear him breathing, and could easily smell that he hadn't bathed in a few days. She knew he was easily three or four inches taller than her and stronger than her, and that he was trying to scare her into backing down, but she didn't move an inch.

"I ain't standing in no corner," he stated. "I'm a man and you are going to treat me like one."

"Bobby Ray," Reverend Johnson had finally looked up to see what was happening. "Back off.."

"Good," she replied, without backing away. "Start acting like a man, then. Go stand in the corner and take your punishment like a man."

"Why don't you come with me?" He caught her arm and start to jerk her back as he moved towards the corner.

Before she or Timothy could react, Matthew caught Bobby's eye. Without leaving his place, leaning against the back wall, he slowly shook his head and mouthed the word, "No."

Having tangled with Matthew several times before without winning, Bobby quickly let go of Larkin. "Aw, I's just funning with her."

"Bobby Ray, go home," Reverend Johnson, demanded. "I'll have to speak to your parents before you can come back."

Matthew slipped out as quietly as he had slipped in as Bobby slammed his things about getting ready to leave.

As she was closing the door behind Bobby she smelt a familiar smell.

"Matthew!" She thought. "How dare he interfere?!"

Chapter Twelve

A Grown-up Kiss

The rest of the day went quite successfully and fortunately uneventfully.

"Hey," Matthew smiled as she stepped out to go home.

"Hello," she replied, icily. She moved around him and kept on walking quickly.

"Hey, slow down," he laughed, catching up with her.

"I don't need you to walk me home. I'm quite capable of handling things myself."

"I didn't say ya' weren't," he replied, confused.

She stopped short and turned around to face him. "Oh, really?! Then why did you interfere with Bobby Ray today? I could have handled the problem on my own without you or the Reverend."

"You weren't handling it."

"You never gave me the chance! You jumped in at the first sign of trouble. Why? Do you really have that little faith in me?"

"Did it ever occur to you that I did it because I care about you?!"

"What?" She asked, all the fight gone out of her. He put his hand on her cheek.

"I like you," he replied. "I care about you a lot. I've been thinking about you ever since you got home." He was blushing deep red. "Listen, Lark, you were gone along time. Bobby's not just a kid trying to get on the teacher's nerves. He's big and he's mean. He'd have hurt you just out of spite. I didn't mean to interfere. I just didn't want him to hurt you. Please don't be mad."

"Oh, Matthew, I'm not really mad. It's just that now, it'll be even harder to get him to listen to me as his teacher. Though, it was very sweet for you to be concerned about me. Thank you."

She felt a blush rising in her cheeks again, and ducked her head to hide it.

Matthew caught her chin and tilted her face back up, and gave her, her first real 'grown-up' kiss, right there one the bridge between the town and the church.

Her heart was beating so hard, Larkin was sure everyone could hear it. The hands around her face were rough and calloused, but his lips were soft and gentle. She put her hand over his, feeling the back of his hand, running her hand down to his wrist and held it. Her breathe caught in her throat.

"Matthew's got a girlfriend," Brian ran by them singing.

"I gotta teach that kid when to be quiet," Matthew said, as Larkin pulled away laughing.

Then she let him walk her home. He kissed her hand once again before she disappeared into the barbershop.

"Hey Papa," she said, stopping only long enough to kiss him on the cheek., she headed off to change her clothes. When she came back out, the shop was empty, except for Hank and Loren who were just running their mouths. She rolled her eyes. They gossiped worst than any women she'd ever met.

She walked over to where Jake was sitting, and like a little girl, climbed into his lap and laid her head against his shoulder. She didn't care if people thought she was too old to do this. It was something she had missed while she had been at school and she wasn't going to miss an opportunity for comfort or affection.

"Tired?" He asked.

She nodded.

"Did you have a hard day?"

"Not really," she answered. She told the three men about her day, leaving out the parts where Bobby grabbed her and Matthew kissed her. She knew that if Jake thought she was in danger, even for a minute, he wouldn't let her continue to teach, and the other? Well, she just didn't think they needed to know about that yet.

Chapter Thirteen

Teaching

It had been two months since Lark had moved back home and at least a month since she had made any serious comments about returning to Denver.

Matthew had been courting her ever since that day on the bridge. Even though he worked on Ms. Olive's ranch, he found reasons to be in town at either eight or three, or both everyday.

Her teaching job was working out well, too, and she was really enjoying it.

After a scare with Brian falling out of a tree, and being severely injured, and nearly blinded, they had built the schoolhouse.

Lark was walking around the classroom, helping whatever student needed it, while Reverend Johnson graded papers at their desk.

"Miss Larkin," Brian stopped her. "What does P-A-C-I-F-I-C spell?"

"Pacific," she smiled at him. She walked to the back of the room.

"Don't even think about it," she said to Lewis Bing. "Give me the ink." She held out her hand. "Colleen, I would keep my hair out of their reach if I was you, they were about to put ink in it."

Lewis shrugged at his seatmate, as Colleen pulled her hair over her shoulder and out of their reach. They had quit trying to figure out how Larkin knew when they were up to something, she just always did.

She deposited the inkwell on the teacher's desk. School would be out in a little over a month, and the students were getting restless.

"Does everyone have their assignments?"

They answered yes.

"Good. Be sure to work on them over the weekend. You may go. See you on Monday."

She walked outside to talk to Matthew, who she knew would be waiting.

"Hey, Sweetheart," he said, hugging her.

"Stop it!" She pushed his arms away. "You're going to give me a bad reputation. All these kids are going to go home and tell their folks, 'I saw Miss Slicker kissing Matthew Cooper at school.'"

"I'm sorry," he laughed.

"Ya' are not," she replied, hitting his arm, playfully.

"Yes, I am," he said, more sincerely. "Ya' want me to walk ya' home?"

She shook her head. "No, I have to get my things together and I want to talk to the Reverend. He was grading some of my students tests and I wanted to know how they did. I might be awhile."

"I'll come back."

"That's okay, you really don't have too. I can get to my house alone. Go ahead and take Colleen and Brian home."

"You sure?"

"Yes, I'll be fine, but thank you anyway. She gave him a quick hug. "Bye, Sweetheart. You'll be around tomorrow?"

"Yeah, bye, Lark." He kissed her cheek, then left.

She went back inside and started to gather her own books together.

"Becky made a ninety-four on her geometry test," Reverend Johnson said. "Looks like your tutoring her is helping."

"Yeah, she's a bright kid, she just second guesses herself too much." They discussed a few more students then left.

Chapter Fourteen

The Stage Came In

She stopped at Loren's store on the way home.

"Hey, Mr. Bray. Did my books arrive?"

"They came, but I don't think they're right," he said. "These books got regular writing in them."

"I know, they're not for me, they're for my students." She paid for them, then gathered up her packages and headed home.

"Help!" She said, when she walked in the door. She was trying to balance many books and completely not using her cane too.

Jake jumped up and grabbed most of them.

"Why didn't you wait for help?" He scolded. "What if ya' fell down?"

"I'd have bruised my pride," she replied. She shifted the rest of her books into one pile and set them on the bench.

"The stage must have come in, You got them books ya' been waiting on," he commented.

"Yeah, it's kind of hard to assign reading work and reports when I'm lucky to one copy of a book and I need six."

"How are you going to read it?"

"I've already read David Copperfield, and I have a Braille copy of it too. Besides I'm going to have them read aloud and discuss it." She sat down in the barber's chair. Putting her feet on the counter in front of her and kicked, making the chair spin around.

"Stop that," Jake said. "Yer not three years old. Go change clothes if you intend to. We are having dinner with Dorothy."

At the mention of her papa's 'sweetheart', she made a face. Him seeing someone wasn't something she was used too, and she was very jealous at times.

"Why, pray tell, do I have to go to dinner with that woman?"

"Because I said so," he answered. "You're going to nice to her tonight, too."

"I am?"

"If ya' want to see Matthew tomorrow, ya are," he warned.

"Fine," she huffed. Seeing she wasn't going to win this round, she got up, stomped into the house and slammed the door.