Horizons

10 Dismay

Reegan sat, hands clasped in a worried knot, pressed against his lips. His mind focused on the events of the past several days.

A sheepish voice broke through his train of thought. "Coyote?  Johnny and Tim aren't working on their math, they're talking about the cougar-man they saw outside of the compound. They're saying that it killed Mr. Miller, is it true?"

Reegan's mind refocused.  Inside the school the children were to be working on some practical applications for mathematics.  He had stepped out after asking how they could use numbers to determine the height of a tree, by simply standing on the ground. He had meant to leave them baffled for a minute or two and then return to a class full of curious minds. They were at the stage now in their sciences that he would be handing their education over to Micheal, one of the engineering apprentices.  But first he had to ignite their interest in the possibilities of trigonometry.  He had made a mistake, he realized now. What had been intended as a couple of minutes of discussion and argument amongst the children, had turned into at least thirty minutes.  The classroom must be near chaos at this point, he thought.

"Sorry Beth, I was lost in thought.  What did you say?"

"Johnny and Tim are saying that the cougar-man killed Mr. Miller, is it true?" The brown eyed girl asked, anxiety written all over her person.

"Cougar-man?" Reegan replied with an eyebrow raised in exaggerated scepticism.

The ten-year-old relaxed and her cheeks reddened as she realized Tim and Johnny were telling stories.

"Come young one, lets get to the bottom of this." He approached the door way and lingered, listening to the exited voices inside.

"You're lying Tim!  You didn't see a cougar man."

"We did!" said Tim.  "We saw it just outside the compound two nights ago, and I'm telling you it's what killed Mr. Miller, maybe you'll be next."  He said tauntingly.

The Coyote stepped in and the class fell silent.  "Did you come up with anyway to measure a tree, children?"

"Nuh uh, Coyote, Tim wouldn't shut up about his stupid cougar-man." One child said.

"It's not stupid!  And we did see it!"

"Okay children, relax.  Tim and Johnny, I'm sure you saw something else and thought it was a cougar man.  Everyone let's..."

"But I did see it!"  Tim complained.

Tim was visibly upset and Johnny looked worried.  "Enough."  Reegan said firmly.

Tim's mouth snapped shut, but it was evident that there was much more that he wanted to express. "Everyone, take a seat."  The children gathered in a semi-circle around their teacher and mentor.  "I know the death of Mr. Miller was scary to you, so maybe we should talk about this." The young faces looked to him with worried approval.  "Mr. Miller's death was a sad thing for all of us, but we don't need to be scared.  He was killed by a man who is being tracked down as we speak.  It was just a normal person who did it and it has been the first time in a long time that something like this has happened.  I can also tell you that something like this won't happen again in your life time."  He wasn't so sure about the last part, but at least it would help ease the children's fears.

"Umm, Coyote."

"Yes, Johnny."

"We did see something though;  it had the head of a cougar but it stood like a man.  What was it?"

Johnny did look frightened.  "It was probably a trick of the eye, a cougar in a strange position, or maybe a normal part of the landscape.  I sometimes see things that aren't there.  It's always just a trick of the imagination.  It happens when someone is a little on edge already, like seeing a person who we knew die. Our minds start to turn normal things into something else, it's part of how we deal with scary things in our lives."