by S. B. Cody
Helen Perry almost exploded at hearing this, but at the last moment, she regained composure. “Ms. Benson is the reason that my son is dead.”
With that, it clicked into place who Ms. Perry was talking about, the story having been relayed to her. She could understand why Ms. Perry would be upset, but also knew that she wouldn’t like the response. “Yes, I know who you are talking about, Ms. Perry, and while I can understand why you may feel upset at her, according to district policy and the law, Ms. Benson cannot be held accountable for the deaths of those students. When we train our teachers in the lockdown procedures, we tell them that they are to take whichever steps they feel is necessary for protecting the students. From my understanding of the incident, she did exactly that.”
“If she had, my child wouldn’t be dead right now!” Helen Perry screamed as she finally broke and ran from the auditorium crying. It seemed as though everyone in the room looked down at their shoes, unaware if they could or should continue with the meeting after that. One by one, people began to look up and around again. The proceedings continued when someone at the microphone on the other side of the room stepped up.
“I understand why it’s beneficial to get the kids back in school, but is there no other solution other than sending them right back there? Having students go into that building, seeing where their friends were killed. How can we expect them to learn in that kind of situation?”
“Yes, absolutely. That is a concern that we have had as well,” Sherri began, relieved that she didn’t feel under attack this time around. “We looked into the possibility of moving West’s students into our other schools, or even having them transported out to another district’s school. However, the fact of the matter is that the room simply does not exist in any of those buildings to hold a significant number of our students. So what we are going to be doing during the course of this week is making sure that the building is entirely cleaned of the remnants of the shooting. We are even exploring closing off certain rooms in the building where students may have been killed. We want the students to feel safe in our schools, and we mean that in every sense of the word. We have also discussed doing major renovations during the summer in order to transform the school.”
That speaker left and they switched back over to the other side of the room where another question was ready. “I just wanted to say that I think you and the entire board should resign! We trust you with the safekeeping of our children and you failed! How can we possibly ever trust you again?!” A smattering of applause filled the room.
Sherri had expected this kind of demand be made, so thankfully she came ready with an answer. “I can speak for the entire board when I say that we feel terrible for this incident. I have spent many a sleepless night over the past couple weeks wondering if we did somehow let down our students in not properly preparing for such an occurrence. If there was something that we did or didn’t do that contributed in any way to this horrible tragedy, then I would never be able to express my deep regret and guilt that would come along with that. I can only give you every assurance that we are going to double our efforts in every way possible. We are going to re-evaluate our preparedness for such things. We are going to offer more outreach to students who may be in crisis. And if anyone has suggestions for things that we can do better, then please tell us. We are a community, so we must move forward together.” Sherri paused for a moment when she concluded her speech, pleased with how it had come out. She expected her own round of applause, but it didn’t come. Instead, the questions and attacks kept coming.
“I think that if our children are going to feel safe in school, then we need to arm the teachers. If they had had their own weapons, then this tragedy could have been ended before it really began!” another parent demanded. This was met with a mixture of applause and boos. Sherri put an end to it with a simple declaration that teachers would not be provided with firearms in the schools. The boos and applause happened again, but reversed.
“I just wanted to say that I have no intention of sending my daughter back to that school while these monsters are on the loose,” someone else stated. A flurry of agreement came from the crowd. A series of questions, demands, and accusations were lobbed at the stage for the next hour. Sherri and the other board members managed to answer or at the very least deflect all that the crowd threw at them.
As the lines grew shorter, it appeared as though things would turn out okay, but then a man stood up out of his seat and ensured that all would be ruined. “We all know who’s responsible for this,” he shouted. “It was those goddamn niggers from downtown!” he bellowed. At that moment, the entire auditorium became a vacuum, all sound and air sucked out of the room.
Everyone looked around wondering who would be the first to respond. Not a word was spoken though. Instead, a young black man popped up next to him and without saying a word, reached back and gave a hard jab with his right fist and knocked the bigot on his back. And with the sound of his body hitting the ground, an invitation was sent to the rest of the crowd to erupt in violence. Some rushed to the bigot’s defense while others jumped up and clashed with them.
About half of the crowd rushed to the doors and ran outside. Up on stage all the board members jumped to their feet. Sherri banged her gavel, but even she couldn’t hear it over the ruckus that now filled the entire room. Insults and additional racial epithets were shouted at each other. Punches and kicks to the face landed. Blood splattered to the ground. Many of them didn’t even know why they were fighting each other. They had no quarrel with one another. For many of them, they probably couldn’t even tell you the person’s name. But that didn’t matter. Violence had erupted around them and their instincts demanded that they take part in it.
The moment the fighting began, multiple people phoned the police and within several minutes they had arrived and began the long process of breaking up the fight. People were hauled up out of the crowd and put in handcuffs. In some cases, batons were taken out and used to subdue those who wouldn’t comply.
All in all, it would take fifteen cops and another twenty minutes in order to end the fighting entirely. In total, thirty people would be arrested that evening and face charges ranging from causing a public disturbance to assault and battery.
The next morning, The Stanford Tribune ran a story detailing the events of the previous evening. The headline read, “VIOLENCE ERUPTS AT BOE MEETING.”
Violence has struck Stanford Public Schools again. Last night, the Board of Education held a meeting to discuss the possibility of ending the suspension of classes. After the shooting that rocked Stanford West just a short two weeks ago, the Board decided to cancel classes until further notice in the interest of protecting the students. However, a spike in youth crime in that time has convinced them that classes need to resume.
Last night, the Board held a meeting in order to address any concerns that parents may have about this decision. Over 100 people attended, forcing the meeting to relocate from its usual location to the auditorium of East High School. Tensions were already high as many of those in attendance expressed dissatisfaction with the decision, feeling that no classes should be held until the people behind the shooting were apprehended. Board President Sherri Hill attempted to address their concerns by promising an increased security presence at the school.
Towards the end of the meeting, a man took to the microphone and using racial slurs, placed the blame of the shooting on African-Americans in the community. Presumably, he was referencing reports that police have looked into the Black Lives Matter affiliate, the Stanford Society for Police Accountability as part of their investigation into the shooting. In response to his comments, another man retaliated causing a fight to break out. Many joined in, resulting in a group brawl which the police then had to break up. In the end thirty people were taken into custody. The police have not currently released the names of these individuals.
Tensions have been high within the community since the shooting. Just last week, an unidentifie
d man vandalized the SSPA headquarters with a derogatory statement and flaming cross on the sidewalk. Many seem convinced that the SSPA played a role in the shooting, however, the police have refused to comment on the current state of their investigation. It remains to be announced if the Board will proceed with their plan to resume school.
* * *
People around town read the story. Many of them knew those that had been arrested. The mere fact that this could happen made them fear what would come next. The events of the past month had transformed the town into a place that they no longer recognized. They felt like they could no longer trust even those that sat next door.
24
By the end of last week, all that had been taken from the SSPA had been sifted through and categorized. Kara and Brody went through the report, focusing on the members. The worst they could find for anyone was a charge of assault that ultimately got dropped. And they didn’t find a single connection to West High School. Johnny Lemming’s and Terrance Lipton’s names didn’t appear anywhere. Not even on sign-in sheets for a meeting. For all they knew, Lemming had just found the flyer somewhere. Who knows how into it he really was. And now with the battle royale at the board of education meeting, Barron had called them in for another one of his gripe sessions.
“So what’s happening?” he asked the two of them.
“Coming up dry,” Brody said.
“You’re telling me there wasn’t anything useful from the SSPA?”
“’fraid not.”
“Well you don’t have much longer, I’m afraid.”
“I didn’t realize there was a running clock,” Brody responded.
“There is now. Hate crimes. Public brawls. Mayor isn’t exactly enjoying the headlines as of late.”
“We’re not exactly getting off to it either,” Brody said.
“Yeah, well, it does seem like you’re holding your dick lately.”
“You want to do it?” Brody shot back.
Having little time to waste knocking heads, Barron chose to pull past the comment. “Mayor says that if you don’t bring someone in soon, he’s asking for the FBI to come in.”
“Come the fuck on,” Kara finally piped in. “We’re tracking down every damn lead we can. There’s only so many ways to skin a cat.”
“Well, you better start inventing some new ways. If you don’t have a solid lead by the end of the week, then you’re off the case.” Not another word was spoken. Kara and Brody marched to their desk hoping a piece of evidence would fall out of their ass.
“Seriously, where the hell do we go from here?” Kara half shouted as they left the office.
“Keep looking into those kids. Still haven’t ruled them out.”
“How are we going to do that?”
“Maybe we can get one of them to confess.”
“The likeliest of scenarios.”
“Well you tell me then.” Kara and Brody eyed each other, both of them feeling like they may flare up again at any moment. They both had opted for ignoring their spat from the other day entirely, but it still sat there. And from the look of him, Kara could tell that Brody had yet to climb out of whatever bottle he had found.
They just sat there going back through the report when Kara lifted her face and said, “Hair.”
Brody looked back at her and replied, “Skin. Teeth. See, I can name body parts too.”
“Shut up, smart-ass. We still have hair that the lab collected from the clothes that got left behind.”
“They’ve already tested it. We can’t get anything from it.”
“Maybe we can’t get any DNA, but we should still be able to compare. We bring those kids in and give a sample. By looking at them, we should at least be able to tell if there’s a possible match.”
“Oh shit. I hadn’t thought of that.”
“That’s because I’m smarter than you.”
“Oh damn. Smalls has been unleashed.”
“Thanks. Okay, let’s check with the lab.” The two headed to the forensics department and checked with the technicians. They were told that with samples to compare, that a match couldn’t be confirmed but could possibly be ruled out of if the samples were different enough. That weekend they had gotten all five students to agree to come in and provide a sample. And now they just needed to wait and see what the results would be.
25
Connor read the story of the board meeting gone awry as he sat down at his kitchen table the morning after. He threw back his cup of coffee feeling exhausted at the account of the fight. He sometimes wondered how the hell his students could show such ugliness in class. If this is the kind of stuff that happened when their parents gathered, it stood to reason.
Brandy came in, having just woken up, and joined him. “What’s going on in the paper?” she asked.
“You should read it for yourself. No way I could do this justice,” Connor told her as he handed over the paper. Brandy took the paper and read about the meeting.
“What the fuck?” she whispered. “Is this real?”
“Unfortunately.”
“Jesus Christ. What the hell is happening? I don’t know that I want to be around here. You know things are only going to get worse before they get better.”
“What are you saying?”
“Maybe we should get out of town until things calm down.”
“Where would we go?”
“Well… we could go down to St. Louis and stay with my parents.”
“Is that somehow supposed to be less hectic?” he said with a chuckle.
“Oh that’s very funny,” Brandy replied with a smirk. “So are they going to restart school?” she said, changing the subject.
“I have no idea. I guess they’ll call if they decide to actually go through with it.”
That call would come later that same evening. Connor recognized the number and answered, hearing the recorded voice of Sherri Hill: “Good evening, Stanford community. After much discussion the school board has come to the decision that classes will resume at all schools, this coming Monday, November 4. In spite of recent events, including those of last night’s board meeting, we think it is in the best interest of our children and our community that we begin the process of getting our children back to work. We understand all the concerns that people have about the possible dangers that this may cause, and I want to ensure everyone that we are fully committed to the health and safety of our students. We are coordinating with the Stanford Police Department in order to make sure that all campuses are properly secured. Thank you all very much for your time.” Connor put down the phone and felt surprised by the sense of relief that he had. It had been quite some time since he had looked forward to going to school, but he had to admit that it would do him some good. He had had little sense of what to do with himself being at home. All day he puttered around the house attempting to make himself look busy. He’d watch TV or read a book but found that his brain wouldn’t turn off. He kept reliving the whole experience and imagining if things had gone just a little differently. Those few shots that the shooter had managed to get off… What if one of them had actually hit a mark? What if one of his students had ended up dead… again? He tried getting out of the house and going around town but everywhere he went people stared. Some would even come up to him, talk about how much they admired what he’d done. But what had he done? He got lucky.
Brandy headed downstairs, taking a break from her writing. “Did I hear your phone ringing? Who called?” she asked.
“It was from the district. They’re starting up school again on Monday.”
“Oh wow. So they’re really doing it. You feel okay about it?”
“Yeah. I think so.”
“Really? You’ll be able to go back there after all that?”
“Well, I’m going to have to eventually.”
“Yeah, but you don’t want to rush that kind of thing. Things will only be worse if you…”
“Brandy, I’m fine. You can take off the kid gloves.”
<
br /> “Is that what you think I’m doing?” She began to bite her lower lip which Connor recognized as the sign that a fight was on its way.
“Well no… it’s just…” he sputtered, trying to take back what he’d said.
“It’s just that you seem content on excluding me from this.”
“I hardly think that’s fair.”
“Really? Because you barely say a word about it unless I ask. You don’t let me be with you for anything. Your interview with the police. The memorial service. You insist on doing all of it alone.”
“It’s because I’m doing fine.”
“No, you’re not. And you know what…” Brandy inhaled and looked to the side, wondering if she should actually go through with this conversation.
“What?” Connor asked, realizing he couldn’t run out on the argument this time.
“You haven’t been fine for a while.”
“What is that supposed to mean?” He wondered why he even bothered asking. He knew what she meant, and he knew she was right.
“When was the last time we had an actual conversation?”
“What are you talking about?”
“For the last couple years, I feel like I’m living with a reluctant house guest. I ask you how your day is and you say, ‘fine.’ I ask what you want to do on the weekend and you shrug your shoulders.”
“We’ve been together all these years. Do you expect us to still act like newlyweds?”
“No. But I’d rather that we not act like strangers. And then there’s the fact that you won’t even discuss the…” She trailed off in hesitation yet again.
Connor shut his eyes as if in preparation for a hit.
“You won’t even discuss having a child,” she continued through a choked sob.
“I… I just… don’t think I’m ready.”
“Not ready? You’ve devoted your life to working with kids, but somehow you’re not ready?”