Chapter 8
The pace Roy climbed the stairs to Johnny's apartment was slower and more contemplative than he had ever made that assent before. His daughter's hand rested in his, she was too big for him to carry her any more, by her declaration not his. His other arm was around his wife's waist.
After the meeting in Dr. Brackett's office they had taken Jenny up to see her friends. The social Worker Miss Marlow went with them and Jenny had encouraged her friends to tell her everything so that she could help them. While they were there Dr. Brackett and Dr. Bergson, came in to tell the Baldwin children that their mother was out of surgery and 'doing fine', those words he thought would make more sense to the children than to say she was stable.
"We're going to have to keep her here at the hospital for a while to make sure she get's all the way better but I think she'll be alright."
"Can we see her," young Allen asked.
"She's sleeping and still being watched closely, I think it would be better if you waited until in the morning just after breakfast." The Doctor told the children, Roy knew what kinds of tubes and machines their mother would be hooked up to and thought waiting till morning would be better for their sake as well.
While Jenny let Tracy hug her and cry a little under JoAnne's supervision. Roy stepped out into the hall with Dr. Brackett and Miss Marlow and made an offer that he and JoAnne had talked over while they were waiting to see their daughter.
"JoAnne and I are willing to take Allen and Tracy until their mother is better."
"That's very kind of you Mr. DeSoto, but right now I am thinking it would be better to place them somewhere where they won't have to deal with Mr. Bunker. At least until we figure out just exactly what is going on here."
"Are you saying that you don't believe my daughter?" Roy spoke defensively.
"I didn't say that at all but the word of a 7 year old, no mater how bright she is, is not enough to take this to a court of law. We're going to have to gather a little more evidence to back her up and that could take a few days."
Now they were approaching Johnny's apartment to gather up their son, they had an appointment in the morning with a teacher who they now knew was hurting children but had no authority over either of their children, at least not as a teacher. Of that they were grateful. They were also grateful that they would have a Doctor friend as well as a Social Worker, at their side as they discussed the situation.
Roy let go of his wife long enough to ring the doorbell and then reclaimed his hold of her as they waited for the door to open.
When the door opened they saw the relieved look on Johnny's face as he looked over his Jennifer and then they saw Johnny's date sitting on the sofa sharing a book with Chris who jumped to his feet as soon as he saw his parents and ran to wrap his arms around his sister.
After a long tight hug that she had to squirm out of Chris stepped back and took her by the shoulders. "Don't you ever do that again. We should go home and get dad first if anyone needs help."
"But what if Dad's taking a nap or at work?" Jenny came back with.
While Roy rolled his eyes Johnny knelt down in front of Jenny and took her shoulders from her brother. "We get woke up every night we're at the station to go help people, we're good at getting woke up. There is no excuse not to wake up your father if you think someone needs some help. And if he's at work you can call a squad."
"That's what I did, Uncle Johnny, I called a squad and then I made them let me talk to Rampart and told Dr. Brackett everything while we were waiting for the Squad to come," Jenny responded.
"Yeah, well you still scared your mom and dad because they didn't know where you were," Johnny added a little too fatherly.
Remembering something Dr. Brackett had said in his office, Roy added, "You can always ask your mom to help you remember what Dr. Brackett said; your mom knows quite a few things."
Chris wasn't able to add anything to the information base about Mr. Bunker; all he knew was that most of the trouble makers were sent to Mr. Bunker's class once they reached the sixth grade because he seemed to be able to control them.
After thanking John and his date again for watching Chris for them Roy took his family home and managed to get both of his children to allow him to tuck them in.
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The next morning Roy and JoAnne let their children sleep in but they were up and talking over how they were going to respond to the teacher they would be meeting with.
"The first thing we need to do is make sure Jenny knows we're not made at her, she was only doing what Dr. Brackett had told her to do and then we need to somehow make the stand that she shouldn't have to go to anyone she doesn't feel comfortable with or trust. I'm hoping we can use the incident with the pedophile that came to the school last year as an example. Most of all we can not accuse him," Roy decided, "we could end up turning him against our two children and put them in the line of fire until they get the evidence they need to get him out of the school."
"Roy, I just don't understand, Mr. Bunker is acclaimed the best teacher at that school for working with troubled youth and helping them learn to control their anger. I don't want to call our daughter a liar but I know there are a lot of people that will." JoAnne shook her head in frustration as she searched for the words she wanted to scream, "Why would he do anything like that, why would any one hurt a defenseless child? And those kid's mother, being as sick as she is, That boy was watching his mother die all afternoon and he didn't have a clue what to do and the only thing he could think of he was too scared to try."
"I know this is going to sound funny coming from me but I want to talk to Miss Marlow and see if we can get that boy in to one of the first responder's courses. He is being given the responsibilities of the man of the house he should be give a few of the tools and a little training in an age appropriate manner."
JoAnne took her husband's hand and began to rub with her thumb. "There's a lot of other things those two children should be taught. Not to be afraid to ask for help being one of them. I hope that after all this they realize that people are there to help them and who those people are."
"It would be nice if their mother could get a decent job that included health insurance too," Roy added.
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Slightly early for their appointment Roy and JoAnne walked into the school building with their daughter between them, each of them holding one of her hands. They had already told her that she wasn't in trouble because she was just doing what Dr. Brackett had told her to do and that Dr. Brackett and Miss Marlow would be there to help the school understand that she was afraid of him and to work out some alternatives.
To that Jenny's response was, "What are alternatives?" of course they explained what they meant.
As the three DeSoto's walked toward the office to check in they noticed Dr. Brackett and Miss Marlow speaking with the principal as Mr. Bunker was standing at the side declaring fairly loudly, "This is not something that should be made such a big deal out of, this should be dealt with between me, the child and the parent's. Children need to know who is in charge in their lives and how to properly and respectfully respond to those people."
"I'm afraid I disagree with that philosophy," Dr. Brackett spoke up.
"Oh Yeah, well I get results with this philosophy and kids no one else can work with become good students and positive roll models when I work with them." Mr. Bunker defended his stand, "When you social workers get involved all they ever do is learn to make excuses."
"Mr. and Mrs. DeSoto," the principal took control of the conversation. "Miss Marlow and Dr. Brackett have offered to join in on the meeting that was arranged with Mr. Bunker here. Since you are this young lady's parents and legal guardians how would you like to proceed?"
"For reasons that I'm sure will come out in the meeting I would like Miss Marlow and Dr. Brackett to join in sir." Roy was quick to respond as Jenny gave both of her parent's hands a tight squeeze to feel secure.
"Very well then, Shall we gather in my office? At least I hope you have no problem with me attending also?" the Principal again took charge.
"No problem at all sir, we welcome your insight into this situation," Roy again did the speaking as his wife used the proper body language to make in known that she agreed with her husband.
The group was directed to the office which Roy quickly noticed lacked the needed number of chairs. As the principal asked Mr. Bunker to help him bring in more chairs Roy offered one of the chairs there to Miss Marlow then seated his wife in the other one. Soon more chairs were being handed into the room and Roy took one from the Principle and handed it over to Dr. Brackett, as the principal set the other one in his hands next to the good Doctor. With out looking Roy accepted the next chair being handed through the door only to feel his daughter wrap her arms around his leg and hold on tight. After giving his daughter a quick glance he shifted his view in the direction of her frightened stare. Mr. Bunker was looking back at his daughter using the most intimidating look he had ever seen and the teacher's eyes were locked on Jenny's eyes. Roy was sure this teacher had just made a silent threat.
Roy sat the chair meant for him on the floor next to his wife then gently pried his daughter's arms from around his thigh and pulled her onto his lap as he sat down. Keeping his arms around her in his very best effort to let her know he was there to protect her.
Once everyone was in a chair the Principal sat on the corner of his desk and took control of the meeting.
"Don, let's start with you, tell us why you've asked the DeSoto's here to meet with you."
Mr. Donald Bunker gave the DeSoto's, more specifically Jenny an unhappy glare then turned a angry gaze at everyone else in the room before he squared his shoulders and jaw to speak.
"On several occasions yesterday this child was found wandering the hall ways during recess. Each time I asked her what she was doing she ran from me. I believe she was toying with me."
"I was taking Tracy to the nurse's office," Jenny spoke timidly and in a near whisper but the Principal was listening closely, "I have a pass to bring anyone in that I think needs to talk with her."
"That's right you do." The Principal smiled at Jenny who was trying to melt into her father's chest. "Can you tell me why you ran from Mr. Bunker when he called you?"
Jenny gave her father a glance and Dr. Brackett before answering. "He didn't call me, he called for Tracy, she was really really scared of him and he was hitting his hand with his meter stick. Dr. Brackett told me to stay with my friend and keep lots of people around so we wouldn't get hurt; he also said not to let someone we didn't trust to get us alone anywhere."
Jenny quieted down not sure what more to say and gave Dr. Brackett a pleading look.
"Jenny and I were talking about the injuries sustained by Allen Baldwin." Dr. Brackett spoke up. "She was worried about the number of injuries he had received at school in recent months and asked me what to do to help him and his sister who happens to be in her class. I advised her and her friends to stay away from anyone she thought would hurt her or them."
"Children need to learn to respect and obey those who have authority over them." Mr. Bunker broke in.
"It is my belief that no child should go to anyone they don't trust regardless of the position they hold over that person." Dr. Brackett concluded.
"I have a couple of questions I would like to ask here." Miss Marlow spoke up, "First why does such a young girl have the responsibility to bring other students to the school nurse?"
"I wouldn't call it a responsibility per say," the principal began, "It started last year when Jenny here was frequenting the nurse's office wanting to help out and ask questions about how to help other people and how all her supplies worked. Then there was the incident on the school bus where young Jenny and her brother were very instrumental in taking care of a couple of students that had been injured as the students panicked trying to get off the bus to fast. It really all started when the news media acted aggressively trying to speak with Jenny about that and other cases where she had performed first aid that prompted us to give her an outlet. We were afraid that reporters may try to approach her during recess so we gave her the open pass to go to someone she trusted in case she needed to get away. Then when that known child molester came to the school asking for her we thought it a good idea to continue the policy. I would like to add that there have been many unexpected benefits for this decision. Jenny here has brought a lot of injuries to our attention that used to go unnoticed. The children are much more likely to talk to her than an adult and she has convinced several of them to seek out help that they wouldn't have other wise. Also if they are still too afraid to go to the nurse Jenny here tells her anyway and she can then approach their teachers and see to it that they get the care that they need. There have been several students who have received concussions that would have gone untreated, along with several wounds that were then properly bandaged and she has brought to our attention the possibility of several child abuse situations that we are now investigating through proper channels."
The Principal then paused trying to decide if and what more he should say before he added. "Of course it is not Jenny's responsibility to take care of any of the students she is just a natural at first aid and always so prepared, we know she would take care of them any way and we talked with her parents and we both felt that she needed someone to turn to if she needed more help and we wanted to make sure all injuries were documented for all of the usual reasons. This arrangement has worked well for us and we plan to continue it."
"That sounds like an interesting solution to a rather unusual set of circumstances." Miss Marlow looked impressed. "My next question is if Mr. Bunker is a 6th grade teacher why does he have any thing to do with this young first grader. It seems very unlikely to me that a child in the younger grades would know the older teachers. Especially given the experiences that Jennifer DeSoto has had and the instructions that I'm sure her parents and many others have given her as a result. Isn't there a policy in place were a male teacher can call on a female teacher to deal with a student in this situation. Surely given all that has happened in this girl's young live you can't possible intend that she be forced to submit to anyone she is frightened of."
"That's a very good point, Miss Marlow, No, we don't have a policy as such but I see no reason that one can't be put in place right now. Don, I'm afraid these people are right; you do have a reputation of being a rough and tough teacher just by the students we tend to send your way. I see no reason that some one like young Jennifer here or her classmate should be forced to approach you in the hall way. In the future I expect you to inform our office or the vice principal and let her deal with the younger classes. As far as Jennifer, I do believe you feel you can trust nurse Lilton don't you?"
"Yes sir," Jenny answered still clinging to her father's chest in fear, "She's my friend."
"Very well then, and since you have never abused the privileges that have come with your pass I'm going to allow you to keep it. Now, if Nurse Lilton is not available do you feel you could go to Mrs. Brooks the vice principal? She doesn't frighten you does she?"
"No sir, she's really nice." Jenny responded now starting to peel away from her father.
"Good then, I'll make sure that everyone is informed that this is the plan that we've made in this office and if you have any troubles I hope that you feel you can talk to me."
"Yes sir." Jenny responded again.
"As far as Jenny being in the hall during recess, Miss Lilton has talked to me about the situation and I feel that everything that happened, happened for the best and there should be no repercussions."
"Is there any one here who thinks there is more that should be discussed in this meeting?"
Not a word was said but nearly everyone shook their head, they all felt the meeting had dealt with the concerns that could be voiced at that moment. The one and only dissenting vote was Mr. Bunker who was very clearly unhappy.
As they left the room the DeSoto's walked with their daughter to her classroom and Dr. Brackett and Miss Marlow exchanged brief conversation with the principal. Mr. Bunker returned to his class room determined to do something about the situation he had been dealt. That child had too much power, children should never have power, they were too young to know what to do with it, the power belonged to the adults in their lives and if he didn't get this child in line she could undo everything he stood for and every control he had in his class room.