Handcuffed

Learn From Everyone

Josephina had recovered, though Diana got her wish without asking for it. Josephina was put into a private room covered with surveillance cameras and she was going to stay there indefinitely. Shirley wasn't going to get the same treatment. The Dean told her the mug seemed to be mistakenly placed in her room. Shirley didn't think he would have accepted her view so she didn't press the issue.

There was no sign of Eugene, but Shirley had not let her guard down. Carlos, who had been his right-hand man, was given the head gardener job without fanfare and the students were only told that Eugene was no longer working for the school.
The weeks flew by with class after class, including their homemaking class with Mrs. Barrymore that came once a week and basic handyman work with her husband. They were taught cooking and baking, laundry lessons including ironing and minor sewing repair and just plain old housekeeping skills. In past years they had learned most of the cleaning agents, but the cooking and baking just kept getting harder.

Shirley felt bad for the guys who still hadn't quite mastered the omelet, while they were trying to figure out the instructions on a funnel cake. Then again, when Mr. Barrymore taught basic plumbing, and handyman work, most of the girls found themselves at odds. As much as they tried to leave the cleaning and cooking to the girls and the plumbing and woodworking for the boys, they were always reminded that until they find their significant other they will be in charge of all the jobs.

There was never any homework, but you had to help Mr. or Mrs. Barrymore on that kind of project till you mastered it, if you couldn't keep up.

"Even when you marry," Mrs. Barrymore told them, "some men will never hold a hammer properly, let alone swing it in the right direction, and some women will burn a pot of macaroni. Just because you don't have parents, doesn't mean you should be clueless around the house."

"I have a secret to let you in on," Shirley told Diana when they had some private time the last Friday before Thanksgiving.

"What's that?"

"Do you want to go to the Mall tomorrow and help me decide on the plot for this years play," she asked slyly? "I think we'll have more privacy in the cafeteria then here."

"I knew it would be you," Diana fairly shouted. "Made a decision on what to make the play on?"

"I discussed two options with the board and they'll accept either one," Shirley answered.

Doing a play of Twelve Angry Men was one idea. A finished product would make her job easier, though some people might not be interested in seeing an unoriginal piece. The other thought was how a few people strike it rich while their friends remain poor or middleclass. The play would show a humorous side to how wealth can be handled or mishandle it. This meant having to work on the details of the play. Spending time and effort on it, rather then her safety was not an easy choice. Professor Flaherty thought she could put the two ideas together but he didn't help her with the details.

Shirley didn't want to tell her about the play earlier, because Diana was never able to hold a secret. Otherwise, she would have told her about The Dean and Godfrey.
"I love her dearly, but how could I blame her for not keeping a secret if I couldn't hold it myself," she thought.

The next morning Shirley took another early morning stroll, trying to see if she could actually finalize on a play, when the gutter pipe got her attention again. Ms. Barker had patched it better. Even if she tried to find the patch she couldn't, and she couldn't hear any sounds from it either. She heard nothing when she approached the right side of The House, so she went farther to the right and looked up at the tower.

"That's a big window," she realized. It was nearly floor to ceiling, starting from the back right overlooking the cliffs and continued around the back of the tower. At the bottom of the large window, on the outside of the tower, was a short ornate gate flush against the wall of the tower. She walked past the chasm and ducked under the brush.