Chapter 16 - The Actress' Honor

Han walked out to the schoolyard, dejected.

Jed ran up to him. "What's wrong?"

Han looked around and then moved the two of them away from the others. When he was sure they couldn't be overheard, they sat down with their backs against a tree. Jed looked at Han inquiringly.

"Mrs. Benton's gonna put me in a lower class. She's giving me the same reader as you. Says I'm not where I should be."

Jed felt bad for his friend. "Well, ya did miss a lot of school."

"I know."

At that moment, Bill Evans walked over to them with a couple of his friends. "Hey, Hannah-Belle!"

His voice carried to the other students and they watched with interest.

"Did Mrs. Benton want to know why you had a girl's name, Hannah-Belle?"

The watching children giggled, but Han said nothing. Adam and Joe had been teasing him about his name since they'd first met, and even before that, in the orphanage, he had to endure a lot of ridicule about it.

Bill was annoyed by the lack of response. He didn't like being ignored. "Well, Hannah-Belle?"

Han shrugged and continued to say nothing. The bell rang for class and so he and Jed started to make their way back. The others stood by, waiting to see what would happen.

Mrs. Benton came to the door just as Bill asked, in loud, carrying voice, "Hey, is it true that your ma was a whore?"

There was a sudden silence in the schoolyard.

Bill Evans was a known bully and they expected him to tease the new boy, but this was going too far… to call someone's mother a whore!

Everybody held their breath. Even Mrs. Benton, coming to the doorway of the schoolhouse, found herself frozen in place by the gravity of the insult. They all looked toward the new boy to see what he would do.

In fact, they were so busy looking at Han, they were completely unprepared for what happened next.

Six-year-old Jed Curry let out a yell and flew at Bill, kicking and punching with as much force as he could muster. Like everyone else, the older boy was so surprised that for a moment he simply stood there, taking the blows.

He recovered himself first, trying to push the boy away from him. He didn't have a problem with hitting a younger boy, but this was the brother of one of his best friends and only six years old.

Jed was unstoppable. As he struck the other boy, he yelled, "You take that back! Take that back!"

Mrs. Benton saw that Han was moving towards the two boys and realized that she needed to act before this turned into an proper brawl. Before she had time to act, she was surprised to see Han reach forward and try to separate his friend from the older boy.

Bill, who saw Han approach, struck out to defend himself against the other boy,s and accidentally hit Jed in the nose as Han pulled the younger boy away.

There was a gasp from the watching crowd.

Picking a fight with the eight-year-old newcomer was one thing, but striking six-year-old Jed Curry was quite another. Everybody liked Jed; not only were his brothers and sister popular, but the boy himself was always friendly and his angelic looks made all the girls in the class dote on him.

Bill stared in horror at what he'd done. He saw Han pull out a handkerchief and put it to his friend's nose, tilting the boy's head back as he did so.

Bill felt all eyes were on him. "Hey kid, I'm sorry! I didn't mean to hit you!"

Jed glared at him.

Mrs. Benton stepped forward and cleared her throat. "Children, go inside. Open your readers and start reading from where you left off. If I hear one sound from the classroom, you will all wait behind for an hour after class. Han, you and Jed stay here."

Heads down, the children hurried back inside. Han helped Jed to sit down and hovered over him, worried. In a gentle voice, Mrs. Benton asked, "Jed, are you alright?"

In a voice muffled by the handkerchief that Han was pinching over his nose, Jed answered, "Yeth, Mith."

"Han, please move the handkerchief so I can he how badly he was hurt."

She looked at the boy's nose. The bleeding had already slowed. She'd been a teacher long enough to know that it wasn't serious, although he'd have an impressive bruise there tomorrow.

"Will you be alright to continue with your classes, or would you like Han or one of your brothers to take you home?"

Jed was tempted. He knew that he wasn't hurt badly enough to go back home, but the teacher was offering to let him go. He and Han could play for the rest of the day...

He realized that his mother would soon hear about this. She would not be happy to think that on his first day of school, he'd got into a fight and then gone to play with Han.

He sighed, resigned. "I'm okay."

Mrs. Benton was pleased. She'd guessed some of what he was thinking and was glad he'd decided to stay.

"Alright. Take a few minutes to stop the bleeding and then Han can help you to clean up." She paused for a moment as she thought of something else. "Han, are you alright?"

Han looked up puzzled. "He didn't hit me, ma'am."

"No, I mean about… well, what he said."

Han looked down at the ground. "Yes. I'm fine."

She watched him for a moment, appraising him. Then she nodded. "Alright. Come in when you're ready."

After she'd gone, Han turned to Jed. "Do you have a handkerchief?"

Jed nodded and pulled one out of his pocket.

"Okay. You hold this one here and I'll go and wet this one."

He ran to the small water pump near the outhouse and soaked the cloth thoroughly. Then he ran back to Jed and started to wipe away the blood.

After a few minutes, he asked, "Why d'you do that?"

"He inthulted your mother!" Jed said indignantly through the handkerchief.

"Yeah, but… why?"

Jed pulled the handkerchief away and stared at his friend. "You're my friend. He shouldn'ta said what he did!"

Han put his chin on his knees and stared across the fields. "It might be true."

"Han!"

Han shrugged and tried to keep his voice steady. "I don't know if they were married. She wore a ring, but that don't mean nothin'."

Jed put an arm around his friend. "Doesn't matter. You don't say things like that about someone's mother."

"Even if it's true?"

Often, Han had noticed that Jed had a gift for getting right to the heart of a matter and just saying what needed to be said. That happened now.

Jed stared at him as if he was an idiot and said, with no trace of humor, "Jeez Han! 'Specially if it's true!"

They didn't know what had been said in their absence, but the classroom was quiet when they returned.

Mrs. Benton gave them a welcoming smile as they walked back to their seats. "Feeling better, Jed?"

"Yes, ma'am!"

"Good! Now, the younger children will continue reading quietly while the rest of us begin with our math lessons."

There was a collective groan.

"Enough of that! Now let's begin."