Fire, The (20 page)

He also thought of two women. As he leaned back in his chair and watched his last-period students finish an assignment, he thought of the woman he wanted and appeared to have and the one he no longer wanted but couldn't quite purge from his mind.

Kevin couldn't have asked for a better start with Sarah. In three weeks, they had gone from acquaintances and colleagues to something that approximated a couple. He had taken her to shows, on walks, and even to church picnics. He had not yet mustered the courage to kiss her, but he would soon. He understood that 1910 was a different time. Gentlemen proceeded slowly with gentle ladies, and Sarah Thompson was most definitely a gentle lady.

Kevin couldn't have asked for a worse finish with Sadie. In three weeks, they had gone from affectionate friends to fellow boarders who exchanged pleasantries at breakfast and supper. He had not handled the transition in their relationship well. He had tried to mend the rift caused by Easter but had failed miserably. He had hurt her deeply and had come to the conclusion that there was probably little he could say or do to make things better.

When the final bell sounded, more than twenty science students placed papers on Kevin's desk and filed out the door. Several wished the new teacher a nice weekend. One asked for help on a problem. Another, Josie White, flashed a mischievous smile and skipped out of the room.

Kevin laughed to himself. What was that all about?

When the last student walked out the door, Kevin assembled the papers and placed them in a folder. He was tempted to start grading them immediately but decided to hold off. He had nothing planned for the weekend and figured that the papers, on what students thought the world would be like in the year 2000, might make interesting reading on Sunday.

He got up from his chair and walked to the far front corner of the classroom, where he had placed his Stan Laurel jacket on a hook. He grabbed the jacket, straightened a desk in front, and returned to pick up the file of papers. When he looked at the door, he saw a familiar smile.

"Please tell me you're not in a hurry to start your weekend, Mr. Johnson."

"What if I am? Would that pose a problem, Miss Thompson?

"Actually, it would."

"Why is that?"

"It would pose a problem because I have scheduled some fun for us this afternoon."

Kevin smiled. He didn't know what she had up her sleeves and wasn't sure he should ask. Sarah had already pushed him out of his comfort zone once by insisting that he make a special guest appearance at the Wallace Sewing Council.

"Does this fun involve leaving town?"

"No," she said. "It doesn't even involve leaving school."

"Now you have my attention. What would you like to do this afternoon?"

"Come with me. I'll show you."

Kevin put his jacket and the papers on his desk and followed Sarah out the door and down two hallways to a part of the building he had not visited. When they passed through yet another door, he saw something he had seen many times in his life but never on the campus of an American high school. He saw a bowling alley – or rather two regulation lanes, complete with all the trimmings.

"You have to be kidding me."

"I don't kid, Kevin, though I am working on improving my sense of humor."

He laughed. She didn't need to improve a thing.

"Why haven't I seen this?"

"I don't know. Perhaps you should step out of your classroom more often. This is one of the most popular spots in school. There is usually a crowd here this time of day."

"So where has everyone gone?"

"I don't know. I guess they've gone to wherever they go when a teacher tells them she wants to use the bowling lanes for two hours."

Kevin smiled.

"So we really have this to ourselves."

"We do, for the most part."

"What do you mean by that?"

"Let me introduce our pinsetters. I believe you know the first. Josie, you can step out now."

Josie White popped up from behind a set of pins at the end of Lane 1 and waved.

"Hello, Mr. Johnson!"

"Hello, Josie."

"Our other assistant today is Sally Payne. She will set the pins in Lane 2."

Sally stepped into the open and waved.

Kevin waved back and laughed.

"Did you promise them an A for staying after school?"

"I didn't promise them a thing," Sarah said with a wry smile. "They volunteered. Several girls volunteered when I told them after class yesterday what I wanted to do. I had to pick from several enthusiastic parties."

"Well, you should at least give them something. I can imagine more pleasant ways to spend a Friday afternoon then setting bowling pins for others."

"I have that worked out."

"You do?"

"I do. I plan to take them out for ice cream tomorrow. I understand that ice cream is an ideal reward for students who go beyond the call."

"I'm impressed, Sarah. You're amazing."

She reached out and grabbed his hand.

"I'm not amazing, Kevin," she said with a smile. "I'm a very ordinary woman who is trying to impress a very extraordinary man. Now, why don't you pick up a ball so we can get started?"

"OK. I'll do that."

Kevin walked over to the left side of Lane 1 and examined his choices. All ten balls were the same size, same color (black), and same weight (eight pounds). He quickly discovered that the holes in the balls had been drilled to the same specifications.

The time traveler, however, was not about to complain. He appreciated this gift as much as any he'd received in twenty-two years. Sarah was not just expressing interest in the new teacher in town. She was staking her claim.

So, for nearly two hours, two teachers threw eight-pound balls at three-and-a-half-pound pins and learned a lot about each other. Kevin learned that Sarah had ridden a horse but never a bike. She loved to swim but feared deep water. Sarah learned that Kevin hated spiders but liked snakes. He also liked cherry pie. She promised to bake him one at the earliest opportunity.

They learned as well that they had many things in common, like a love of impressionist paintings, candy apples, ice fishing, and Mozart. The discoveries reinforced a belief Kevin had held for weeks. He had done the right thing by returning to 1910. He had done a very
good
thing, and he wanted to enjoy this very good thing for as long as he could.

Kevin insisted on bowling until five, when Josie and Sally had to abandon their stations and return to their homes for supper. He gave each three dollars to spend on something they didn't need but always wanted, sent them on their way, and turned his attention to the woman who had beat him three games to two.

"If I didn't know better, Miss Thompson, I'd say you had set this up to show me up."

"I've been practicing," she said with a hint of amusement. "I hope losing to a woman does not cause you unbearable distress."

"If it does, I know a good shrink."

Kevin winced when he saw Sarah's puzzled expression and mentally berated himself for using a modern reference. He had done a fair job of speaking in the language of the early 1900s but knew it was only a matter of time before he backed himself into a corner.

After putting their balls away and turning off the lights, the two returned to the main part of the school building and walked to Kevin's classroom. They found his jacket and the student essays where he had left them.

"Do you need to get anything in your room?" Kevin asked.

"I have everything."

Sarah smiled and grabbed his arm.

The couple walked out of the classroom, waved to a janitor who regularly closed the building at six, and proceeded down the corridor to the exit. When they walked out the door, they walked into a refreshingly warm spring afternoon. They also walked into Preston Pierce.

"Preston," Sarah said. "What are you doing here?"

"I came to pick you up at 3:15, but I was told you were occupied."

Kevin looked at Pierce and saw anger build in his eyes. He could only imagine what he thought of his lady friend holding the arm of a man who had embarrassed him publicly.

"I was occupied."

"We need to talk, Sarah."

"No, Preston, we don't."

Kevin resisted the urge to jump in. He wanted to stand in front of Sarah, get in Pierce's face, and make the diminutive banker soil himself in real time, but he decided to let things play out.

"Yes, we do."

Sarah looked up at Kevin and frowned.

"Can you give us a moment?"

Kevin nodded and dropped his arm. He watched Sarah walk over to Pierce, out of earshot, and begin an animated conversation. Three minutes later, the combatants parted and headed in opposite directions. Pierce scowled at Kevin as he returned to his carriage. Sarah forced a smile as she returned to the school's front steps.

"Is everything all right?" Kevin asked.

"It's as well as it can be," she said.

"What does that mean?"

"It means Preston doesn't consider this settled, even though I told him that I want nothing to do with him. It means also that we will both have to be vigilant. He is vindictive and petty."

Kevin fumed a second time when he thought of what had transpired. He wanted to put the hurt on Pierce, who seemed to relish bullying and manipulating others, but he decided that this was not the time or place.

Sarah made sure that his anger didn't have the chance to build. She grabbed his arm, lifted her head, and kissed him tenderly on the cheek.

"Let's talk no more of that man," she said. "Let's talk instead of dinner."

CHAPTER 37: SADIE

Saturday, April 16, 1910

Sadie sat on the porch swing facing King Street and watched three children interact in a nearby lot. Two girls, maybe six years old, argued over which of them would get to ride bicycles with a boy their age. There were three kids, two bikes, and one problem.

"You like her, don't you?"

"Yes, I like her. I like you, too, Sadie," Kevin said from the other half of the swing. "I've never
stopped
liking you, but I can't date two women at the same time. I won't. It wouldn't be fair to you, it wouldn't be fair to Sarah, and it would complicate my life beyond measure."

Sadie looked at Kevin and smiled sadly. At least they were talking now. For three weeks they had done little more than offer each other "good mornings," "good days," and "good nights," as if simple greetings would allow them to maintain a friendship that had become the most important thing in the world to her.

"Is it because of who I am or what I was about to be?"

"No, Sadie. It's not about either of those things. If I cared about any of that I would have never come back from Montana. I would have never spent time with you."

"Then what is it?"

Kevin sighed.

"I don't know. Sarah and I just seem to have more in common. We're both teachers. We work at the same place. We have similar backgrounds."

Sadie figured as much. She might be able to overcome the day at the brothel, but she would never be able to measure up to a woman who was just as pretty, just as smart, and a whole lot more cultured and educated. She began to make an observation about the children in the lot when Andy O'Connell walked out the door.

Andy stopped at the edge of the porch, turned to his friends, and laughed.

"Well, aren't you two a sight?"

"Hi, Andy," Sadie said.

"Where are you going?" Kevin asked.

"I'm off to the
Standard
. My editor wants some local reaction to the comet. It's coming next week and the hysteria has already set in."

"What do you mean?"

"What do I mean? You've been spending too much time with that teacher. Half the town thinks it will strike us dead. The other half
hopes
it will strike us dead, or at least create the kind of fear that makes nervous investors poor and cautious investors rich."

Kevin laughed.

"There's even a death watch going for Mark Twain," Andy said.

"Is he ill?" Sadie asked.

"He's as healthy as a horse, as far as I know, but he made a prediction last year that some are treating like a proclamation from the Almighty Himself."

"What prediction?"

"He said that since he came in with Halley's comet, he would surely go out with it."

"You can put money on that one," Kevin said. "It's a done deal."

"Is that so?" Andy asked.

"That's so."

"I may hold you to that, Kevin. Unfortunately, I must run. I'll see the both of you at supper. What's on the menu?"

"I'm fixing corned beef and cabbage."

"I could kiss you now, my dear. You'll someday make some lucky lad a happy man."

Sadie blushed.

"Thank you, Andy."

Andy grabbed a satchel he had placed atop the railing and hurried down the stairs. He ran across the street, past the no-longer-bickering children, and quickly disappeared from sight.

"He's not the only one who likes your cooking, you know," Kevin said. "You have a real gift when it comes to preparing food."

Sadie looked at Kevin wistfully.

"Thank you."

Kevin leaned back on the swing, extended his arm, and stared into space as the two settled into one of those moments where not a lot is said but a lot is communicated. A moment later, he picked up the conversation.

"Have you given any more thought to going to college?"

"I have."

"I meant it when I said you'd be an incredible math teacher."

"I know you did, but . . ."

"But you're still thinking about the cost, right?"

"That's one thing."

Kevin turned toward Sadie and looked at her in a way that made her slightly uncomfortable and decidedly breathless. Was he going to kiss her?

"I've been thinking about this lately, Sadie. I've been thinking about it a lot," he said. "If money is the only thing keeping you from college and pursuing your dreams, then I'll give you some money to at least get you started."

Sadie slid farther away.

I don't want your money. I want
you
.