After School

[Dr. Calvin LaCoste] September - Tuesday - 7:15 p.m.

[Dr. Calvin LaCoste]

September – Tuesday – 7:15 p.m.

Moist.

That’s what it felt like to be in the boy’s locker room at night. Nothing feels more disgusting than knowing the kind bacteria and fungi that grow in the stone walls of Liberty High School. Calvin always made sure to wipe down his desk and door handles off with disinfecting wipes. Most teenage boys don’t remember to wash their hands after they use the restroom let alone flush the toilets.

After hours, Calvin would always check the locker room to make sure there were no towels or lost jock straps hanging around. It was his way making sure an outbreak of ring worms doesn’t occur.

Again.

The last out break spread throughout the athletic department. About a quarter of the students were infected. Calvin believed that it was lack of response and responsibility, which caused it.

The office phone began to ring as Calvin finished his rounds.

“You ready to leave?” It was Orin; formal greetings were never in his phone etiquette.

“Just let me change my shirt. Head on over.”

“I’m already here,” Orin’s head was peering through the caged window. He was waving as if Calvin was a polar bear behind a glass tank.  Orin then stepped into the office. “Hurry up lets go.”

Calvin just glared at him. “You should have let me taken care of things.”

“Taken care of what?”

“Benny.” Calvin reached into his duffle bag and pulled out a clean white shirt. He then peeled off the grey cut-off tang he was wearing.

“I practically raised her, she’s my responsibility.”

“I know, but what she did was on school grounds and it was related to a school problem.”

“Calvin, I’ll take care of it.”

“There is no tolerance rule on those kinds of actions Orin.” Calvin gripped his dirty shirt tighter.

“I don’t want her being sent to Bishop. She doesn’t belong there. You know her; you know how she can be. A suspension would have been fine.”

“Rules are rules Orin.”

“And not all of them are fair.”

“We don’t have to send her to Bishop.” Calvin couldn’t look at Orin as they talked. Orin’s view of the world was far from different from his own. It was off on another planet. “We could have sent her to Montgomery or Watson. They are both good schools, and they both are fifteen minutes away.”

“Fifteen minutes from Liberty and forty-five from where she lives. At least Liberty is thirty minutes from her house.”

“So? We drive almost an hour to get here. What does fifteen extra minutes do?”

“We drive through morning traffic. It’s always going to take us an hour to get here.”

“Look when it comes down to it, she needs to be punished for what she did. No matter what reason it was, and I –“

“I’ll handle it Calvin.”

Calvin then threw his shirt at the office window. It was a compulsion of catharsis he acquired as a coach. Heavy with his sweat, his shirt caused the metal cage surrounding the window on the outside to shake madly. The thick boom of the glass echoed in the locker room. It echoed with Calvin’s increasing anger.

His friend just stood there. There was no fear or surprise in Orin’s face. Instead, there were those eyes; the same piercing eyes that Benny had, the same eyes Calvin never wanted to see on Orin.

The last time the two friends really argued was over Orin’s brother, an obese man who lived in his own filth. Social services wanted to take Benny away because of the unlivable conditions, and Calvin supported Orin’s decision to fight to full guardianship. However, Orin also wanted to help his brother.

Calvin, in his own kindness for his friend, helped Orin on the little things like teach Orin’s brother healthy eating and small exercises that could be done around the house. But after two months of no progress, Calvin stopped. All he could do after was watch Orin drain himself every day; juggling school, a job, and student teaching. Every free moment Orin had was given to his brother. The worst of it was the ongoing battle between the brothers about everything from the filth that Orin tried hard to get keep away, which took a month of radical and sometimes violent throwing, to little Benny, the little girl that got caught up in the tug of war of paternity.

It was one afternoon that Calvin refused Orin from going to his brothers by taking away his keys. Calvin knew Orin just wanted to help his family, but Calvin didn’t want him to slowly kill himself over a lost cause.

“Lost cause.”

It was those two words that filled Orin’s eyes with rage. At that point, Calvin wished he could have taken back those words. The two began to argue loudly and more words were said that Calvin wish he could take back. As the argument heatedly went on, Orin had suddenly fallenl to the floor; his body limp, almost lifeless. Even with all of his knowledge in the medical field, Calvin couldn’t help but cradle his friend in his arms and blame himself.

“I’ll handle it Calvin,” Orin repeated himself.

“Then I’ll I have no choice. I will meet with Debbie in the morning and discuss what will be done with Benny.”

“You are an idiot.” Orin turned his back to Calvin. “Put a shirt on. I’ll wait for you in the car,” he said before stepping out of the doorway.

Calvin instantly stepped around his desk and reached for Orin. Grabbing his forearm, he spun his friend around. He held on to his arm tightly with one hand and Calvin looked straight into Orin’s fury filled face.

“We are not done yet.”