Wisps of Snow

by Ross Richdale

  "Hi Karla," he said. "Sorry to hear about all the trouble you've had. Hope Ryan and you are okay, now."

  "We're fine thanks, Ethan." Karla smiled as she glanced around. "Your room looks a hive of activity."

  The tall bearded man grinned. "I swallowed my pride and adapted most of the methods you suggested. Even took those damned national standards tests for those two levels, a while back." He shrugged.

  "And?"

  "They were down on the math but not too bad on the others. I guess kids aren't that motivated by math and need a more formal input. Have a wander around. Nora is made keen to show you her book." He chuckled. "Still have free expression afternoons, though."

  Nora was at her computer. "Look, Mrs Spicer," she said in an excited voice as she brought her page up. "I've finished The Island that is Nowhere and Everywhere. I wrote three more chapters since you were here and I'm now doing the hard part."

  Karla commented on the drawings Nora had done for her new chapters and asked what the hard part was?

  "Editing. Spelling's easy for the computer picks up the words but the grammar check brings up silly things such as passive language. I haven't a clue what it means."

  "So cut it out of the check list."

  Nora screwed her nose up. "How do you do that?"

  Karla sat down and was soon absorbed in showing her what to do. Nora's skill was as good as any of the Year 7s back at Tuckett.

  Ethan came up and stood behind them. "Nora's doing well, isn't she?"

  "Wonderful."

  "When it's all finished, Ethan said we can make it into an ebook and put it on sale." Nora shrugged. "Won't sell many, though."

  "There's an ebook site that encourages Young Adult writing." Ethan said and glanced down at Nora. "It needs to be perfect before it is put online, though."

  "And you help her?" Karla asked.

  "A little."

  "A lot," Nora cut in. "Showed me how to make better sentences and how to paragraph so it's easier to read."

  "Still think Nora is a perfect example of self-motivated kids," Ethan said when they walked back across the room.

  "True but originally she never showed her work to anyone. Your input was also needed."

  Ethan grinned. "I guess," he said. "I must admit the parents don't grumble so much now."

  "And I hope you've stopped quoting educational jargon at them."

  "That too," he admitted. "Anyway, come through and see the huge wall chart we've made about endangered species in the South Island"

  He led her through to The Inspiration Room.

  BACK HOME THAT NIGHT, something woke Kara up and it wasn't Alexis who usually slept all night but would come in occasionally and shake her if she needed comfort. Ryan was asleep across the bed and only the refection of an outside streetlight shining through a gap in the curtains gave any light. Could it have been a dream?

  She sat up but didn't want to awaken Ryan so never turned the bedside light on. There was a knocking sound at the back door. Somebody was there! Her watch showed it was just after two in the morning

  She did turn the light on and gave her husband a shake. "Ryan, there's someone at the back door."

  Ryan awoke immediately, sat up and rubbed his eyes just as another knock echoed through the still house. "I'll go," he said, pulled on a dressing gown and headed out, switching on lights as he went.

  Karla followed, shivering in the cold air and watched as Ryan opened the door.

  Outside stood Thea Phillips. The short dumpy woman looked terrible. Her hair was hanging limp around her face that even in the shadows showed that she had been subjected to some sort of attack. Blood still dripped from her nose that was red and puffed out while her left eye was almost closed. As well, there was another wound on her chin and swelling around her neck,

  She was dressed in a hastily pulled over jersey with what looked like pyjamas hanging out beneath her jeans. There was nothing on her feet that were covered in mud and bleeding from a stubbed toe

  "Can you help me?" she sobbed. "I didn't know where else to go."

  "Oh my God!" Karla gasped. "Come on in."

  "I'll turn the heater on," Ryan said.

  Karla placed an arm around the distressed woman and guided her inside. "Whatever happened, you're safe now. We'll get you cleaned up and help in every way we can."

  In a sobbing account Thea told how Clive had come home drunk and angry because he had not been given the acting principal's position. This had boiled over into their own relationship and even her attempts to give him sympathy were just pushed aside.

  "That was when he attacked you?" Karla asked.

  Thea nodded. "It was just the drink. Normally he is such a kind guy."

  "Has it happened before?" Ryan asked as he handed Thea a steaming coffee.

  "Sort of but never this bad."

  'What do you mean by that?" Karla asked.

  "Well, whenever he is disappointed he drinks too much. The last time was when the Highlanders got beaten in the final minutes of a match, back in April."

  Karla knew that the locals were very parochial when it came to supporting The Highlanders, a professional rugby team that represented this part of the country and played against other southern hemisphere teams.

  "So he took out his disappointment on you?"

  Thea nodded and glanced at the floor with tears dropping onto the carpet. "Said horrible things to me, too; I was just an easy lay and it was about time I went on a diet." She glanced up. "It was how he said it and the vile language he used. It turned worse when I told him to sleep it off in the spare room and we'd talk rationally in the morning. He got a strange look across his eyes and went crazy. There was no stopping him. I screamed and even though I objected, he dragged me into the bedroom and forced himself on me.

  "He raped you," Karla whispered.

  Thea nodded. "I guess you could call it that. He is always quite forceful when we have sex but never like this. He just about choked me and hit me in the stomach with his fist. I was terrified." She wiped her eyes. "I think I passed out for I awoke to find blankets all over the floor and blood on the sheets. All I could think of was to get out of the house."

  "And where was he at this time?" Ryan asked.

  "Asleep on the couch with the television blaring out on a sports channel. I knew that if I woke him it would all start again, so grabbed my clothes and tore outside. It was freezing but I just ran towards school that, for some reason seemed to offer security. Then I thought of you, Karla and how you help everyone, so here I am. Sorry to wake you both up." She sipped her coffee. "I can't go back now."

  "I'll run a hot bath for you," Karla said. "You can stay with us tonight and for as long as you wish. We have a spare bed."

  "Thank you but what about my things? I never even got dressed properly, just pulled a couple of things over my pyjamas."

  "We'll get them in the morning," Ryan looked grim. "I'll also have a few words with the man."

  IF ANYTHING, THEA LOOKED worse in the morning for her face and neck were swollen and one eye was almost completely closed and black. When Karla helped her in the bathroom she saw that her body was also bruised with a massive bruise in the stomach that must have been from a punch, bruises on her breasts and arms and more wounds on the insides if her legs.

  "We will get you to the doctor," she said. "He can give you some antibiotics or antiseptic cream for your wounds and confirm that you were raped."

  "It doesn't matter," Thea whispered.

  "But it does," Karla said. "I'll get you something to wear and phone Doctor Banergee."

  The only doctor in Tuckett was from India. Karla had visited him a couple of times for herself or Alexia. Though his English was hard to understand, he was a confident doctor who was well respected by the locals.

  Thea nodded and a few moments later sat down to a breakfast Ryan had cooked, dressed in Karla's borrowed clothes that weren't too bad a fit and covered much of her bruised body.

  "Can I move back into
my old flat, Karla?" she asked.

  There were two apartments owned by the Board of Trustees for single staff. They were actually detached houses with a double garage separating them. Deanne Waitapu lived in one and the other one had remained vacant since Thea had shifted in with Clive.

  "Sure! That would be wise. Have you got much to shift back?"

  "My kitchen table and chairs, a bookshelf, couch, other smaller pieces of furniture and ornaments as well as my personal things and quite a lot of school stuff. My computer, too."

  "Enough to fit on a large trailer?" Ryan asked.

  Thea nodded. "Oh yes. My car's also there."

  Karla glanced up. "What are you thinking, Ryan?"

  "I phoned Brody and he said he'd help. We'll whip around with the school tractor and trailer while you take Thea to the doctor."

  "No confrontation with Clive. Promise!"

  Ryan grinned. "When he sees Brody and me, I doubt if he'll be a problem. What do you want me to say to him?"

  "Just say Thea is shifting out and that you are picking up her things. Nothing else!" She glowered. "Don't start a fight."

  "Me!" Ryan shrugged. "I'm the true diplomat."

  Even Thea had to smile. "He'll probably still be asleep. I'll give you my keys that I automatically grabbed when I ran out. Perhaps if one of you will drive my car over?"

  DOCTOR BANERGEE WAS sympathetic and said that he would support Thea with evidence and a medical certificate stating that her physical wounds were consistent with being kicked in the stomach, punched and forcibly penetrated.

  "I can't file a complaint about what Clive did," Thea whispered as they drove away from the pharmacist after having her prescription filled.

  Karla glanced across and nodded. "That's up to you," she replied. "But even if you don't, the medical certificate Doctor Banergee gave you can be shown to him. The knowledge that you are prepared to report him for rape will perhaps make him think twice before he ever attacks you or some other woman in the future."

  "I doubt it," Thea whispered.

  "And why is that?"

  "Oh I don't know. It's just him and his drinking. He's taken other drugs too and laughed at me when I refused to follow. That was probably the start of all of this. If I had left earlier it wouldn't have happened."

  "Didn't you listen to Doctor Banergee? He said it was common for women in your situation to blame themselves and you should not do it. I agree with everything he said."

  "I guess."

  "So let's go home." Karla glanced at Alexis in the back car seat. "Would you like an ice-cream from the shop, Sweetheart?"

  "Can Thea have one too, Mummy?"

  "I'd love one, Alexia," Thea replied. "It's just what I need."

  AFTER BRODY DROVE THE tractor into Clive's driveway Ryan jumped off the back and strutted up to the side door. He knocked and waited. Nobody opened the door so he knocked again, louder this time. There was still no reply so he turned to Brody. "I've got Thea's keys so let's go in?"

  Brody nodded. The interior was freezing and they found Clive asleep on the couch. Ryan turned on a heater and gave him a shake. The man awoke and looked groggy for a moment before he staggered up and glowered at them.

  "What do you want?"

  Ryan explained but the expected confrontation didn't materialise. Clive just sat there and watched as the pair, working from a list Thea provided, shifted her furniture onto the trailer. About forty-five minutes later with everything loaded, Brody drove the tractor away. Ryan was about to follow with Thea's car but decided to check on Clive. He found him inside buttering toast.

  "Why did you do it, Clive?" he asked.

  Clive stared at him and shrugged. "Do what?"

  "Beat the living daylights out of Thea and had forced sex with her."

  "Can't remember."

  Ryan studied him. That could be true but on the other hand that was a typical excuse for someone in this situation. He pulled up a chair and described what Thea's condition was like. "You'll be damn lucky if she doesn't lay a complaint against you."

  "It was exaggerated," Clive muttered.

  "So you do remember?"

  "Only that she nagged me, told me it was my own fault I wasn't offered the principal's position..." He rambled on about what appeared to be their deteriorating relationship and continued on about their jobs at school. In his opinion Thea was just drifting through while he practically ran the senior school himself with little or no help from Don Trow. "Okay, I can see why Brandi got offered the job, she was actually doing Thea's work on top of her own. Still reckon I'd do a better job with the whole school."

  Ryan decided to find out more. "Thea said you'd been dating Brandi and she'd refused to move in with you."

  Clive shrugged. "I never asked her to. Sure, we went out for a while but she's not my kind. Nothing came of it and Thea, oh hell I don't know."

  Ryan nodded. Whatever had happened wasn't really his business anyway. His anger towards Clive had diminished somewhat. That didn't excuse him but something like this was usually just the result of things brewing for months.

  "Okay but I advise you to go and apologise to her. If she lays that complaint I mentioned, your career is shot, Clive. Even if nothing is proven I doubt if you will survive the rumours and innuendos."

  "Yeah right." Clive muttered. "Stuffed it with your wife, didn't I?"

  "Possibly, but Karla is pretty pragmatic. She doesn't talk much about what she does at school."

  This wasn't really true but he wasn't about to tell Clive that. He turned down an offer for a beer and left. After Ryan drove Thea's car to the apartment that she was shifting back into, Brody helped him unload the trailer but said little. Karla and Thea were already there and Deanne from next door also arrived to help move Thea's furniture in and get the place aired and warm.

  "So you never had a row?" Karla said later when they were home.

  Ryan shook his head. "Actually felt a bit sorry for him. I know he was violent but there are two sides to every story."

  Karla nodded. "Fair enough but taking everything out on your partner doesn't solve your problems, does it?"

  Ryan grinned. "He reckons he's stuffed it up with you."

  "Okay, I'll try to be diplomatic. I must admit that he has done quite well in the senior school and is a better administrator than Thea." She grimaced. "I still think Brandi is the best for the acting principal's position. That's why I suggested she was offered the job."

  "I know," Ryan replied. "You don't have to convince me. Anyway, are we still going to have our few days in Queenstown from tomorrow?"

  "Yes. The break somewhere completely away from schools is what we both need. Deanne said she isn't going away and will keep an eye on Thea." Karla sighed. "Half way through my time here. I hope the next half isn't quite so dramatic."

  CHAPTER 15

  On Sunday evening, the day before the last term of the year was about to commence, Karla answered the telephone.

  "Brandi here."

  "Hi Brandi. Has something come up?" She had spent the last couple of days with her and thought everything had been sorted out. Elena had accepted the temporary position as the teacher of Brandi's class and all the other administrative bits and pieces had been solved... or so it seemed.

  "Sonya has rung me. Said you had asked her to approach me first on school matters."

  "True. You're the acting principal."

  'It's big, Karla. Clive has resigned and won't be coming back. Nobody can contact him either. He doesn't answer his landline phone or his mobile. I've checked and his schoolhouse is all locked up."

  "Can you get a relieving teacher for his classes?"

  "That's the trouble. With Elena now full time, the only ones on my list won't go into the senior school. Roxanne's still ringing around but has had no luck."

  Karla silently cursed. Did he have to leave it this late? The government NCEA exams for Year 11 to 13 students were only a month away. "Okay," she said. "I'll take his classes until we can find
someone."

  "What about everything else?"

  "You're the principal, Brandi. I'll still be at school and if I remember correctly, Clive had a free hour each day. It won't be too bad."

  The secondary section of the school had five one hour periods each day when the students moved between rooms for different subjects and the teachers taught different levels. Most teachers there had one or two so called free periods during the week when they didn't have a class to take. As DP, Clive also had extra free periods that were used for administrative work.

  THE YEAR 11 STUDENTS were fifteen or sixteen-year-olds who, except for a handful of Year 12s who failed subjects the year before and thus doing the level again, were studying for NCEA Level 1, the first of three levels for the external exam. In most subjects, half or more of their final grade was internally accessed while the remaining marks depended on the exam result.

  Karla had already seen Clive's assessment and evaluation folders and had found that since her arrival, his efforts in assessing the students had improved with now a reasonably accurate record of each student's ability in the subjects he taught. Other teachers did the same, as well as teachers at Correspondence School or OtagoNet who had forwarded their own evaluations of how the students were doing for the subjects not directly taught at Tuckett.

  English was a compulsory subject for NCEA Level 1 and of the seventeen students taking it, four were doing well, about half should pass if they continued to study but five were struggling, either through lack of ability or attitude. At this age level, it was difficult to improve years of apathy with some students just dropping out of school at year's end with no qualifications. This was, therefore a crucial subject, level and time of year for everyone involved.

  The ten girls and seven boys wandered in and hesitated when they saw Karla standing at the front of the room. They included Audrey, Vicky and Caroline, the three girls she now knew well after the fight in the girls' toilets. All three had responded well and their efforts since that time had improved considerably. They now appeared to be friends who worked together. Fighting and arguments throughout the senior school were now rare, even with the boys.