Jennifer Haigh (14 page)

Rick O'Kane had a doctorate in educational administration from the University of Connecticut but was, constitutionally, a salesman: he'd sold cars, then insurance, before forming Merit with a group of college buddies. He'd outlined the company strategy for Scott in that first interview.
Ruxton parents
, he said with a gummy smile,
are used to paying for things
. They accepted that, in the way that bottled water was superior to tap, a private school education had to be better than what the local school district handed out for free. And because Ruxton was a day school, they were happy to pay its exorbitant tuition, comforted by the knowledge that they were saving big bucks on room and board.

It's like two percent milk
, O'Kane said, without a trace of embarrassment
.

A compromise solution
.

Sitting in O'Kane's office, in the good suit he hadn't worn since his wedding, Scott found himself torn. O'Kane was a con man, that much was clear; but Scott was in no position to quibble. He was desperate to escape San Bernardino, his dire financial straits, the mean concrete bungalow where he and Penny were held hostage by their two hyperactive children. He had sent résumés to every private school in New England. Only Ruxton had offered him an interview.

And there was this: against his will, against all reason, he felt O'Kane's sales pitch working on him. Scott felt sized up by this man, his sterling qualities appreciated and understood. Of all the other applicants for the job—over a hundred, O'Kane assured him—only three had been offered interviews.

He was hired on a year's contract, to teach English and coach soccer. The coaching was a condition of his employment—every Ruxton teacher had to advise an extracurricular activity, at no additional pay.

He'd explained to O'Kane that he'd never coached anything in his life, that he hadn't set foot on a soccer field since Pearse. In that moment O'Kane's face brightened, with the sort of beatific smile worn by saints in Renaissance paintings, and Scott knew he'd said the magic word. He understood, then, that his prep school education was the only reason he'd been granted an interview in the first place. This surprised him more than it should have. He had a General Studies degree from Cal State; for two years he'd taught remedial grammar at an inner-city votech. Even for a fake prep school, he wasn't much of a catch.

The faculty lot was full. Scott circled it twice, then headed for the student lot. Ruxton students disdained the school bus; each morning they or their parents wheeled up in a cortege of expensive automobiles. Scott found a narrow space in the first row and sat a long moment before cutting the engine. To his left was a black BMW convertible, brand new, with dealer plates; to his right a white Lexus sedan. Both had clearly been purchased by somebody's father. It was not lost on Scott that (a) with a blue book value of nine hundred dollars, his Golf was worth 4 percent of the cars on either side of it, and (b) he too was somebody's father. He reached into the backseat for the battered leather briefcase that had belonged to his grandfather Drew.

He continued to use it in preference to the slick new one Penny had bought him last Christmas.

The rain quickened. As always, he had forgotten an umbrella. He would have to make a break for it. He threw open the car door and heard a metallic scraping sound.

"Shit," he said aloud.

He stepped out, rain pelting his head. His door had hit the Beamer's front quarter panel, leaving a two-inch gash. Some spoiled Ruxton kid was going to have a fit.

Quality
, he thought.
McKotch, that was a quality maneuver.

He knelt to examine the scrape, flecked with yellow paint from his own car door. He thought of a time, years ago, when his father had banged bumpers with a red convertible in a parking lot, the manful way each driver had stepped from his car, the sober exchange of phone numbers and insurance information. The other driver was only a kid, a few years older than Scott, and was clearly at fault. Alarmed and delighted, knowing his father's temper, Scott had watched from the passenger window, expecting an explosion; but Frank spoke to the kid in a low voice, nodded calmly, and in the end shook his hand. He had treated the little punk like a man, an equal. Seeing this, Scott had felt a stab of jealousy.

Was that what it took to win the old guy's respect—slamming his car in a parking lot? Wasn't it enough just to be his son?

He rummaged in his pocket for a scrap of paper. The car's owner was nowhere in sight; a note on the windshield would have to suffice.

He was standing there fumbling when a car horn sounded behind him. He turned to see Rick O'Kane's Mercedes backing into a space opposite his.

O'Kane lowered his window. "Can you believe this? Some little puke had the brass to steal my space." He stepped out of the car, under cover of a huge green-and-white golf umbrella. He looked freshly barbered, fit and healthy with his year-round tan.

"Jesus, what happened to you? You look like a drowned rat.

Come on." He held the umbrella in Scott's direction. Seeing no way out, Scott fell in step next to him.

"Actually," he said, "I stopped to look at the billboard."

O'Kane beamed."Pretty good, huh? It cost us a bundle, but if it brings in two new students, it pays for itself."

Scott nodded energetically. "That's good. Advertising is good. I just wasn't expecting—" he paused."It's awfully big, isn't it?"

O'Kane laughed, an airy, horsy sound."That's the idea, McKotch.

We want them to see it from the highway."

Scott nodded. "But, well, it's kind of misleading. I don't coach soccer anymore. So, you know, why me?"

"Who else am I going to put up there? Mary Fahey?"

Scott laughed weakly. Mary taught first-year biology, a big, homely girl who'd led the women's field hockey team at Bryn Mawr.

After his dismal 1–9 season, the team had been put into her meaty hands, making Ruxton the only boys' team in the conference with a female coach. When Scott pointed this out to O'Kane, he had merely laughed.
Relax, will you? Female is a relative term.

Scott tried a different tack. "Where did that photo come from, anyway? I don't remember anybody taking pictures at practice."

"Great shot, huh? The candids are always the best."

Scott blinked. Arguing with O'Kane was impossible. He'd lost count of the times he'd shown up at the guy's office with a complaint and left with a smile on his face.

"Actually," he said,"it's a little embarrassing."

"Oh, come on." O'Kane thumped his shoulder, like a jockey gentling a horse. "It's aspirational advertising, McKotch. We're selling these parents a dream. And you're the dream."

Scott was stumped for a response.

"You know, of course, that your likeness can be used for publicity purposes," O'Kane added smoothly."You
did
sign a release."

He charged forward, leaving Scott standing in the rain.

Wetly he made his way to his office, a cramped cubicle he shared with Jordan Funk, who taught history and civics and advised the drama club. By a cruel trick of destiny, Jordan was the least
funky
person Scott had ever known, a skinny kid in round John Lennon glasses—cool ten years ago—and a cardigan sweater that hung from his shoulders like a bathrobe. He had a tendency to stutter when excited; that and his puppylike enthusiasm made him seem younger than the students, who radiated boredom and cynicism. Fresh out of Bennington, Jordan was still plagued with teenage acne. The blemishes came and went in cyclical fashion, like constellations appearing in the heavens.

"Hey, man," said Jordan. A new zit had appeared on the bridge of his nose, red and shiny."You look rough. What happened to you?"

Scott glanced down at his sodden trouser legs."I stopped to look at the billboard. Jesus Christ."

Jordan glared into the distance, squared his jaw, and clapped loudly."Good effort!" he grunted.

In spite of himself, Scott was impressed—by Jordan's effrontery, his skillful mimicry, the fact that his skinny chest could produce such a manly voice.

"Smart-ass." Scott scooped up a shrink-wrapped stack of blue books from a box on the floor.

"Are you serious?" Jordan said in his normal, sophomore-cheerleader voice."You're giving a test?"

"Apparently I am."

"It's pretty c-close to Christmas. The k-kids are going to freak out."

"It's Tuesday," Scott said."Christmas is Thursday. What's the problem?"

"It's Christmas week."

"Christmas
week
?" Scott repeated. "What's next: no tests in December because it's
Christmas month
? Which comes right after, oops,
Thanksgiving month
?" Irritation washed over him. In spite of its pretensions, Ruxton stuck to the standard public school schedule—short afternoons, no Saturdays. Instead of Greek and Latin, it offered test-prep classes: Vocab Builder (for freshmen and sophomores), Math and Verbal Intensive (for juniors), and Senior Refresher (last chance, kids, before we give up and send you to a good trade school).

"Relax," said Jordan.

"What, I'm supposed to wait until January? And make
sure
they've forgotten everything I've said this quarter?"

"I'm having lunch with O'K-Kane," Jordan said abruptly. This was either a boast or a confession; Scott couldn't tell which.

"Oh yeah?"

"He wants to talk about the spring musical." Last year the drama club had mounted a lavish production of
Camelot
, which Scott remembered as the longest three hours of his life. Sitting in the darkened auditorium next to Penny, he'd felt nothing but sympathy for Jordan, who'd done his best with a tone-deaf Guenevere and a fifteen-year-old Arthur, hunched and mortified in his gray beard and baby-powdered hair. But to Scott's astonishment, the play had been a hit. The Parents'

Association loved it, and Jordan was O'Kane's new favorite. Jordan! A sniveling kid whose desk was littered with toys: a plastic Slinky, Silly Putty, nostalgic reissues of items Scott had actually played with as a child. Half a dozen comic-book heroes, rendered in plastic, were arranged along the perimeter. Early on, to be friendly, Scott had feigned interest:
Is that Aquaman?

Aquaman?
Jordan repeated.
How old are you, anyway? Nah, those are the Transmatics.

Sure, the Transmatics
, Scott mumbled, feeling like an idiot even though
he
wasn't the one playing with dolls.

Now he wondered if it was this, his very childishness, that made Jordan so popular with the students—who, Scott imagined, knew all the Transmatics, had watched them every Saturday morning while eating their Cocoa Puffs, or some hipper, more current sugary cereal he was too middle-aged to know about. Every lunch period, and again after the final bell, students lined up in the hallway outside their office, waiting to see Mr. Funk. No one ever came to see Mr. McKotch. It was perverse for Scott to feel rejected, since the mere sight of his students irked him beyond reason.

At the same time, he knew that Rick O'Kane noticed which teachers had developed a rapport ("made the connection") with students.

Scott's own desk was awash in papers. He pushed some aside and sat. Office hours were his only chance to check e-mail; at home, Penny was camped out at the computer all evening—doing what, he couldn't imagine.

His in-box was clogged with spam (Drugs from Canada! Young Danish girls show you everything!), a message from O'Kane—"Holiday Bulletin," undoubtedly bullshit—and a typically brief one from his sister.

Hi, Scotty,

I'm leaving tomorrow, landing in Boston in the afternoon. Wish me luck with Dad. Holly Jolly safe travels! See you at Mom's.

xoxo Gwen.

He was always taken aback by the breezy, affectionate tone of her e-mails. When he saw her at his mother's on Christmas Eve, there would be no
x
, and definitely no
o
; he wouldn't even get a handshake. Only their mother was allowed to hug Gwen, an uncomfortable spectacle: his sister rigid and blushing, as though it pained her to be touched.

Jesus, his family. In twenty-four hours he'd be on the road to Concord, knocking off the miles in Penny's wood-paneled minivan, the humiliating vehicle of his premature middle age. Immediately upon arrival, he would be reminded of his own indecency. Last Christmas, as they'd crossed the threshold of his childhood home, Scott had noticed, too late, the pink wad of Juicy Bubble in Penny's mouth. He had never in his life seen his mother chew gum.

This year, like every year, Paulette would be waiting—nervous as a cat, ready to follow the kids around the house with a whisk broom, reminding them what not to touch. His brother would already have arrived, his silver Mercedes—the same model Rick O'Kane drove—parked in the driveway. It was the cleanest car Scott had ever ridden in, free of floor debris and mysterious, aging-food odors. Conclusive proof that neither the car nor Billy himself—calm, affable, impeccably dressed—ever came within ten feet of a child.