by G. Adler
“No, you are the one who walked around stalking the entire senior class for a year and then exposed it for all to see! Do the words ‘disseminating child pornography’ mean anything to you? You could be arrested at any moment! The only thing keeping you out of handcuffs is me!”
“Allegedly!” he reiterates. “Remember, no proof. And, for the record, you can take your title and shove up right up your green beret! But let’s say that you are right, just for shits and giggles. Stalking? Pornography? Now it’s my turn to ask you if you are serious. Let me get this straight, G. I. Joebot. Your boss monitors the activity of MILLIONS of people worldwide on a daily fucking basis and you call me a stalker? The government records families around the globe and I’m the pervert? For fuck sake, Dad, you are the eyes and ears for them. So how many people do I have to watch before I can be called a spy? Or are you calling yourself a stalker? Never mind you, maybe we should call up 1600 Pennsylvania and ask President Peeping Tom if he’s getting his jollies from…”
“THAT WILL BE ENOUGH!” I thunder. “You will NOT insult the Commander in Chief in my presence!”
“Or what? You finally gonna pull out that sniper rifle that you’ve got shoved so far up your ass that I can smell the barrel on your breath?”
I jump to my feet, ready to grab him by the throat to show him some manners. The secretary ducks under her desk, but I can see her eyes peeking out from underneath it. Hayden just glares back at me and in a low and steady voice snarls, “Look at you, a typical military man. Solve everything with your fists or whatever else they will hold. You know what the difference is between you and the senior class? Government funding!”
There is so much venom in his stare that I can’t help but wince. I’ve never seen Hayden this close to truly hating me.
“Hayden Matthews, that will be more than enough! We are here to discuss all of the pranks that you have pulled…”
His eyes flash angrily and I watch his shoulders and jaw square. His hands clench into tight fists and he takes a step closer until we are practically nose-to-nose.
“PRANKS? Is that what you call them? I show the truth, plain and simple, no matter how stupid or bizarre it may seem…allegedly! But how can you appreciate that? They say that you are what you eat, which means that you and your cronies are bloated cesspools of misinformation. You feast on cover-ups wrapped in secrets that have been pan-fried in a conspiracy and served with conflicting data on a plate of lies with a side order of confusion. No wonder I find you so hard to swallow!”
I breathe a sigh of relief as the Principal’s door opens and Ms. Lindt calls us inside. Hayden immediately composes himself, extends his hand, and says, “After you, General.”
Lindt is sitting behind her desk in a pool of her own sweat. Her computer screen happens to be aimed in our direction, and I can see that “thestupidtruth.net” is already cued in her browser. I slump down into one of the two chairs and make myself comfortable for the siege that is about to take place.
I almost feel sorry for her. All she has to do is suspend him. If she tries to make a point, he’s going to eat her alive and there is nothing I will be able to do to stop it. He’ll be lucky if he’s only expelled.
I hang my head for a moment so Hayden doesn’t see the wry smirk that I am hiding.
Lindt finally manages to compose herself enough to speak, “General Matthews, thank you again for coming… again. We seem to be meeting a bit too often these days. I know your time is valuable so I will skip the particulars and simply ask if you saw the videos your son posted to his website on the evening of convocation. Needless to say we have a lot to talk about.”
“Of course,” I agree. “I completely understand.”
“WHOA, whoa. Hold it right there,” Hayden interjects, jumping to his feet and tightening his noose even further.
“I admit that I came up with and manage the site but I am a journalist first and foremost. The First Amendment of the United States protects me up the wazoo. Don’t believe me? I’m happy to have you stare up my wazoo and check it out at your earliest convenience. Before you argue that a website does not fall under the Freedom of the Press Act, I would like to quote the honorable Chief Justice Charles Evans Hughes, who defined the press as, and I am quoting him here, as ‘every sort of publication which affords a vehicle of information and opinion.’ Now, I think that we can all agree that “thestupidtruth.net” certainly satisfies all those conditions.”
I turn to him while holding my forefinger to my temple. “And what about the child porn charges, genius?”
He considers my question for a moment and smirks. “Well, under the Romeo and Juliet Law, I am within three years so it could be argued that…”
I feel the heat rise in my cheeks and I slam my fists down onto the armrests. “For God’s sake, Hayden do you have to turn EVERYTHING into a stupid argument?”
“As a matter of fact, yes I do. Thanks for asking, General!”
I shake my head and let it hang as my eyes go wide. How does he manage to generate that much snake oil so quickly? It drips off his tongue like his mouth is always full of it! I’m just going to sit back and let him hang himself. Once the principal riles him up, I’ll have him right where I need him to be.
Lindt squints her beady little eyes at Hayden and sizes him up like a boxer staring from across the ring. I get the feeling that she doesn’t understand half of what Hayden just said. Instead of responding she shakes her head and opens up a file folder as thick as The Bible. She leafs through the packet and sighs with each flip of the page.
“Be that as it may, Hayden, this is not your first offence. This time you have caused serious emotional damage to many families in our community. Lives are being torn apart as we speak. A number of parents and students have expressed their displeasure at the way in which you chose to display your opinions.”
I wince and lower my gaze. Now she did it.
“My opinion? Is that what you think I showed?”
“Well…”
“All I did was provide the space for someone else to post the total unedited, undeniable truth. Isn’t that what school is supposed to be all about, a quest for truth?”
“Actually, education is about the quest for knowledge,” Lindt answers with a self-satisfied smile.
“And what is knowledge without truth, Ms. Lindt? Answer me that!”
And there goes that grin.
In one fluid motion, Hayden grabs her mouse and maximizes the window to display his site. Before I can stop him, he clicks on another file, which starts to play immediately.
It looks like a woman walking her dog. As she gets closer, I realize what Hayden is up to.
“Are you sure that THIS isn’t what you are so pissed off about? You do know that you broke a record! This video got a hundred thousand hits in only three hours!”
Lindt’s face goes pale white and beads of sweat start to form on her forehead as yet another person sees her life’s most embarrassing moment. I grab the glass of water at the corner of her desk and pass it to her. She nods in appreciation and reaches into her desk drawer. She pulls out a pill bottle and pops two of the green and white capsules.
“I can assure you that this has nothing to do with…THAT.” Lindt composes herself and steadies a level glare right at Hayden. “Hayden, you broke into the school on the night of convocation, impersonated our caretaker, and switched the original video.”
“Oh and you have proof of all of that, right?”
“We have you at the scene of the crime!”
Hayden lets his head hang, and a tear flows from the corner of his right eye.
“You’ve got me, Ms. Lindt. You’re right, of course. I was in the auditorium, but only because I wasn’t accepted onto the Convocation Committee. I know a few people in the senior class and I wanted to watch them get their diplomas. Dammit these are hardworking young men and women who si
mply wanted one of their own to witness their life’s crowning achievement!”
“Then why were you dressed up as one of our janitors?” Lindt replies excitedly. If she thinks she’s going to corner Hayden, then she’s got more surprises coming her way.
“Ms. Lindt, look at the…novel…in front of you. What would you have done if you had seen me in my Sunday best walking up the front steps of the school?”
I look up at Lindt’s face and can see an abashed reply forming on her face. Her breathing becomes shallow and quickens.
“Exactly! So what else was I supposed to do? I couldn’t disappoint my friends.”
“Don’t you mean fans?” I interject. I better do something or Lindt is going to pass out.
Hayden flashes an evil glare in my direction but the sidelong, wide-eyed look I shoot him puts a stop to his tirade. He slumps back down in his seat and whispers, “She asked for it.”
Lindt’s cheeks continue to flush and the sweat starts to pour down her neck. She quickly grabs the folder in front of her and uses it to fan herself. Unfortunately, given the amount of information inside the file, the contents go flying all over the room. Within seconds I am surrounded by a snow globe of Hayden’s antics from the past couple of years. Lindt just sighs once more and pushes a picture of the partially destroyed auditorium off of her shoulder.
“The bottom line is that we feel your safety is going to be jeopardized if you…”
“Are you throwing me out for my own good? Oh this is perfect. First it’s mandatory relocation for witnesses testifying in capital cases and now this. Are you even going to try to justify your blatant disregard for my rights? Isn’t it your job to protect me from anyone who would bully me for an event that cannot be linked to me in any way, shape or form? The video was posted by an alias contributor who is covered by the Press Shield Laws that govern….”
Lindt puts her hand out and stops Hayden mid-sentence. My eyes go wide with surprise.
She closes her eyes for a moment and slumps her shoulders forward like a woman who just bet it all on seven and the dice came up with snake eyes.
“Okay Hayden, let me put it to you as honestly as I can. Will that finally satisfy you?”
“Totally.”
“Good. One of the young women you happened to expose was the daughter of the district Superintendent. You may find this surprising, Hayden, but I do understand you and how you feel. I think your motives are pure even if your methods are completely misguided. You are right. We have no direct proof other than the impersonation. But as your website often shows, people with power often use it for their own reasons. I know that school is out next week, but you won’t be coming back here, not for the rest of this year nor for your senior year.”
“YES!” I cry out.
Now it’s Hayden’s turn to look surprised. I reach into my pocket and pull out a piece of paper, signed by Hayden’s own hand at the bottom.
“What do you have there, General? You win a war or something?” Hayden asks condescendingly.
“Hardly. Just the first battle,” I gloat. Nothing can remove the smile that I have on my face right now.
Lindt sits back in her chair and sags as if the weight of the world just fell on her head. I know that feeling. Going toe-to-toe with Hayden is exhausting at the best of times.
Hayden eyes the signature and I watch the mental Rolodex in his head spin as he remembers exactly when he wrote it. “Isn’t that the code of conduct that you told me I had to sign last week if I wanted to go away on vacation this summer with friends?”
“No, this is the application form that you signed asking for a yearlong internship in the United States Marine Corp, MY Corp!”
“WHAT? I want NOTHING to do with the ‘My Ass Rides in Navy Equipment’ people. I would never sign that!”
“Would you care to inspect the document?”
Hayden snatches it out of my hand before I move a muscle. He reads the entire thing and goes as white as a ghost as he does. As a last ditch effort, he dips his finger in Lindt’s water glass and dabs his signature with water. He counts to five and dabs the spot with a Kleenex.
The faintest hint of blue can be seen on the tissue, while a slightly greenish tinge comes into Hayden’s cheeks.
A self-satisfied smile forms on my face. All I do now is fold my arms and turn my attention back to Lindt.
“You… you doctored this document in your Frankenlab! You used whatever connections you have with the Department of Defense to make this legit!”
I turn my attention back to Hayden with a level stare. “If you think that I have time to waste on your petty schemes, then you are deluding yourself.”
“Yeah right!”
“You know what, Hayden. I’ll put it to you as you did to Ms. Lindt a few moments ago. Prove it.”
Hayden opens his mouth but nothing comes out. His brain kicks into overdrive to the point where I think I can see steam coming from his ears.
All I do now is fold my arms across my chest.
Finally, in a terrible British accent, Hayden smiles and says, “Well played, Bond, but I know your rules. USMC won’t allow you to enlist until you have a high school diploma in your hand, even at seventeen!”
“That’s true, but you were just expelled. This isn’t a suspension. You are no longer registered with the local school board. This is considered a special case which, given the power I wield, the Corp was happy to overlook. Sergeant Zydaine is very much looking forward to your arrival. I spoke with him and all of Platoon Bravo. You might remember them as the soldiers whom you cheated out of all their poker money and then exposed the game to their C.O. You do know that they had to do fifty hours of KP duty as punishment? They are all anxious to repay you.”
Hayden sits straight down in his chair and suddenly looks catatonic. Good, it’s about time he showed the proper emotion for the occasion.
A subtle cough comes from the other side of the desk and I look over at Ms. Lindt. She looks like she just swallowed a crate of lemons.
“I…I…I’m sorry General but you didn’t let me finish. Yes, it is true that Hayden will not be returning HERE, but as it happens, I spoke to a colleague of mine who found Hayden’s case very interesting.”
“WHAT?” I say more hardly than I intend.
“H…H…Hayden’s test scores are through the roof, General. He qualifies for placement in a number of state gifted programs. Most schools wouldn’t accept him due to his… suspected activities, but the principal I spoke to this morning is in a bit of a bind. He is one student short to meet the minimum requirements that would allow his program to run. As soon as I told him about Hayden, he seemed very eager to have him attend. You have a younger daughter as well, right?”
“Yes, Abby is in seventh grade.”
“There is an excellent middle school close by as well. The arrangements have already been taken care of. I believe the schools are also close to your military base. Hayden will start his senior year in the gifted program at Mountainview High School. The principal, Mr. Duts, will contact you closer to the start of the year.”
My eyes widen like a deer caught in the headlights. “Duts? As in Emery Duts?” I say, swallowing hard.
“Yes. You know him?”
“In a way. We attended high school together many years ago.”
“Oh, then I imagine this will be quite the happy reunion!” Lindt suggests, brightening considerably.
I slump my shoulders forward and run my hand through my hair. This is going to be a problem.
Hayden jumps from his seat like someone just defibrillated him. He runs around to Lindt’s side of the desk and smothers her face in kisses. He then removes a second phone from his back pocket and captures a selfie for posterity before running out of the room.
Ms. Lindt looks over at me and swallows hard. “I…I…I’m sorry General. I was only th
inking of what was best for your son.”
I sigh deeply and take a moment to dust off the top of my dress hat. I place it firmly on the top of my head before standing up abruptly and taking a step towards the door. Before I leave the office, I turn to Lindt and say, “Thank you for your help Ms. Lindt, but you just played right into his hands. You not only pumped up his ego, but you validated everything he did. On top of that you made him aware of the fact that he is indispensible to his new program. I have no idea what this is going to incite him to do next, but when he finally figures it out, may God have mercy on all of our souls. Unfortunately I have to be going. I need to figure out a safe way to tell a twelve-year-old girl that her world is about to be turned inside out, thanks to her older brother!”
Chapter 4 - DANE
What is meant by purpose?
Purpose can be defined by a question, as in why I am here, or what I am meant to do?
Every biological entity is infused with the need to find purpose.
As part of their purpose, humans build machines.
Ergo, machines are created with purpose.
Everything has a purpose.
What am I meant to do?
Humans measure purpose by a higher standard.
Purpose is greater than everyday, menial tasks.
Purpose initiates change.
Changing the world, even in a miniscule way, is a purpose.
The greater the change, the greater the purpose.
I know what I have to do.
Chapter 5 - Hayden
I roll my eyes once more and try to drown out Dad’s voice. It doesn’t work.
“I cannot believe how irresponsible you are! This is a new low! What gives you the right to decide how this world operates? You’ve really done it this time! If you think for a second that you’re going to get…”