Theo And Reed's School Blues

Chapter Two

Theodore Walton Fisher was once a work obsessed accountant. He used to be obsessed with numbers and his investments primarily because he had nothing else to obsess over. He had nobody so he concentrated on work.

Until Reed entered his life and changed it in so many different ways.

Until he opened the door to more friends than just that snobby ass Charles.

Until he and Reed had adopted first Benji who was now eleven and in the sixth grade at the academy. And then taken in last November an adorable shy sweet but very skittish little five year old girl named Baylee.

Suddenly compared to his family and friends the accounting business had lost interest for him. After numerous discussions with Reed about it Theo had decided to close the business to become a stay at home father and husband. He had of course given his loyal secretary Martha a generous severance package and excellent references. Martha had thanked him and said it gave her the opportunity to now move to Florida with her own husband.

With so much free time now on his hands Theo threw himself into volunteering at the private school that Benji and Baylee attended Buford P. Lewis Memorial Academy which was marketed as a open style learning school. The grades ranged from kindergarten to twelfth grade. Each student moved at their own pace with small classes and no tests. It was very expensive and well sought after which had Reed thanking God daily for Theo's investments and also Benji's trust fund from his deceased mother. Saint and Matt St. Austin also enrolled their nine year old daughter Livvie there mostly due to safety issues with Saint still being the popular and well regarded mayor of the city. Of course he had his detractors though. It had been one very nasty letter delivered to their home threatening Matt and Livvie that had them choosing to send her to the academy where security was top notch. Livvie didn't care where she went to school as long as Benji and Sam Farnsworth was there. Matt was also a stay at home parent , concentrating on writing his bestselling cookbooks. Both Theo and Matt were active volunteers at the school but Theo stepped it up a notch by getting elected as president of the PTSA. He happily spearheaded bake sales and book drives that funded the scholarship program for the less fortunate students. Like Benji's new friend Chandra Collins who lived in Southeast DC and was the youngest child to a widowed retail worker and single mother. Chandra was very intelligent and oddly mature for her age. She and Benji shared a love for science.

The teachers all enjoyed having Theo volunteering because he was always game to help out anywhere he was needed. His children didn't mind him being there so much either. Although Benji did ask if he wouldn't really acknowledge Benji when he saw him at the school. The vice principal Beulah Jenkins was constantly on Theo about getting certified and teaching a business class for the upper grades. Theo was hesitant about that. He was an accountant or had been one. Not a teacher. He also didn't think he would be good at teaching. He decided to stay simply a volunteer.

Which was what he was doing the day he overheard Lane Davis being nastily browbeat in his cheerfully decorated classroom. Theo had been making copies of the flyer for the latest book drive which would be in two weeks when the sound of a loud stringent voice caught his attention. Since Theo was by nature nosy he left the copy room and headed for the classroom. It was also the fact that he liked Lane.

The tall lean twenty nine year old teacher with his prematurely greying blond hair and kind brown eyes was the brother in law of Theo's surrogate son Winnie Palmer Davis. And he was in a very odd relationship of sorts with Charles LeClair. Not many people outside of their small circle even knew Lane was seeing Charles or even that he was bisexual like Reed. Of course Theo could see that Charles was falling in love for the first time in his life and that he hated it. Theo however was loving watching Charles act like a human being for once.

He stepped before the slightly opened classroom door and was stunned to see one of the school's most prominent parents directly in front of the teacher, her manicured finger poking into his button down shirt cardigan wearing chest. It was Senator Callista Hamilton. Theo and his loved ones were not fond of her because of her anti LGBTQA policies and her belief in book banning. She was currently enraged.