Dark Days at TAC

by Richard Pinkerton

CHAPTER 4:

  An Issue of Respect

  Vanessa Danté made her way to the first class of the day, Biology. She had not seen Rex at assembly and was starting to become a little concerned about him. She had to tell herself not to worry and that as usual there was some good reason why he wasn’t there. However, she could see none of her friends missing, so he wasn’t with any of them.

  She scolded herself for her silly anxieties and joined her group of friends in their usual spot at the back of the room. She told herself that being the first day of the term, Rex intended on making a grand entrance, especially considering their previous biology teacher had left at the end of the last term and they were due for a new one. He enjoyed taking potluck to see whether he could get away with arriving late.

  Her eyes lit up when the tall muscular figure of Rex arrived amongst the final trickle of students. Almost every girl in the class gazed his way as he strolled towards the back to join them, his muscular arms void of any type of educational material. He greeted a couple of the girls with a cuddle and a kiss and slapped the hands of some of the guys. ‘Nice to be back.’

  He shoved a stool between Vanessa and Maggie and put one arm around each of them. ‘What’s new, my bootilicious babes?’

  ‘Hi Rex!’ Maggie beamed.

  Vanessa planted a kiss on his warm soft lips. ‘Dollbaby, did you know the Reaper has been looking for you?’

  ‘No, but I must have done something really bad to have been called to the office before I even got to school.’

  ‘I was thinking the same thing.’ Vanessa laughed.

  ‘I guess he must be anticipating me doing something wrong, huh? He’s getting smart in his old age.’

  ‘I guess he must be.’

  The class became quiet when their new teacher entered the lab. He strode in dressed in a blue suit, with oily hair combed back over his scalp. A “Ned Flanders” moustache made him look a lot like a seventies porn star who was trying to clean up his act. Vanessa picked him to be in his early forties. They had learnt at assembly that his name was Mr Sanders, but he had not been on the stage with the other teachers.

  Mr Sanders came to a halt in front of the whiteboard and frowned at some things that had been scrawled up there. Vanessa hadn’t noticed the words before, but cringed when she saw them: Vanessa is a spunk rat

  Underneath that was written: Don’t disrespect the goddess.

  And underneath that: Praise the daughter of Aphrodite

  And finally: …and may her butt never lose its perfection.’

  Mr Sanders huffed, took a duster and wiped it clean. He turned and faced the class with a look of disdain. ‘We won’t be tolerating that sort of filth and blasphemy.’

  ‘Respect the goddess!’ called out one of the guys.

  Mr Sanders shot him an evil glare. ‘How about some respect for the one true God, Jesus Christ? There is no God above him. Especially not in my class, do I make myself clear?’

  Nobody replied. Vanessa turned her eyes to Rex for some kind of reaction, but his face remained expressionless. There was no doubt in her mind that he was sizing the guy up. Vanessa had a funny feeling that this new teacher probably wasn’t going to have a good time with Rex as one of his students.

  ‘Goddess,’ muttered Mr Sanders. ‘What is this nonsense? Vanessa? Who is Vanessa?’

  All eyes turned in her direction and Mr Sanders did the same. Feeling exposed, Vanessa gradually raised her hand.

  Mr Sanders stared at her for a few seconds before speaking again. ‘Do you err… have any idea why anyone would write such a thing on this board?’

  ‘I have no idea, Mr Sanders,’ Vanessa said. ‘I’d suggest it was written by some very warped individuals who had nothing better to do.’

  ‘Yes, I suspect you are right. The mere idea that any human could compare themselves to God is absurd, wouldn’t you agree?’

  ‘Yeah huh.’

  ‘Let me make one thing perfectly clear,’ he continued. ‘Although this is biology and we have to follow the school curriculum by teaching evolution, I do not believe for one moment that any of it is true. I believe that God created this earth and that it was done in six days as explained by the bible.’

  Rex nuzzled into Vanessa, kissing her jawbone softly. It caused a wonderful tingling sensation down her spine and she smiled. She even allowed herself to close her eyes to enjoy it.

  ‘What the hell are you two doing?’ Mr Sanders exclaimed. ‘Quit that right now, lad. I will not have any of that in my class.’

  Rex stopped what he was doing, much to Vanessa’s disappointment and peered across to the teacher. ‘I’m sorry, Mr Flanders… I mean Sanders, but I’m simply serving my goddess. It’s my duty as a worshiper to pamper her and show my devotion to her.’

  Smiles appeared on many of the faces of those watching. They knew that they were in for a treat. Vanessa knew it too and couldn’t wait to hear what her darling had to say next. She was certain whatever it was would upset this particular teacher.

  Mr Sanders quivered and his face reddened. ‘You would worship a mere human being, rather than the true God, the God of the bible?’

  ‘Of course! I mean look at her, Reverend Lovejoy… I mean Reverend Sanders… I mean Mr Sanders. Have you ever seen such perfection in all your life? If she’s not divine, if she is not a true goddess, then there is no such thing as God.’

  Their new biology teacher’s eyes narrowed. ‘You can’t be serious.’

  ‘But I am! I for one would much rather devote myself to worshiping a goddess that I can see, rather than some wrathful undetectable deity that demands blood sacrifices.’

  ‘How dare you speak about my God in that manner?’

  ‘How dare you disrespect my goddess? If you wish me to respect your God, then please respect mine.’

  ‘Does your god answer prayers?’

  Rex’s eyes met Vanessa’s. ‘Oh yes. She's answered all my prayers. She gives me everything I could ever want or need.’ He winked at her and she grinned back.

  ‘She is only a mere human being!’

  Rex turned his eyes back towards their new teacher. ‘If you can look at her and seriously tell me with a straight face that she is a mere human being, then all I can say is that you probably need a serious eye examination. The proof is right here, sitting next to me on this stool, a divine creature with unearthly beauty. Where is your God? I don’t see him.’

  ‘Who are you? What’s your name?’

  ‘My name’s Rex Cassidy. I worship the goddess that is Vanessa, the daughter of Aphrodite.’

  ‘Daughter of Aphrodite? What nonsense. Aphrodite was a false God and probably a made up one.’ Vanessa thoroughly enjoyed the frustration on the face of their new teacher. Although she couldn’t help but think how hypocritical and full of double-standards this man was.

  Rex frowned. ‘How dare you? Should I reject your God as flippantly as you reject mine?’

  ‘Of course not, because my God is real. My God created your God!’

  ‘Ah, at last you admit she’s a goddess and worthy to be worshipped.’

  ‘She is just a human being!’ Mr Sanders straightened his tie and glared at Rex. ‘I’ve heard about you, Rex Cassidy. I was warned about you. Disrespectful to teachers, rude, disruptive, inappropriate behaviour with members of the opposite sex. I won’t have any of that in my classes, is that understood?’

  ‘I do the bidding of the goddess,’ Rex said matter-of-factly. ‘Whatever she asks, I do without question.’

  ‘Nibble my ear,’ Vanessa instructed.

  ‘Yes, my goddess.’ Rex did just that, much to Mr Sanders’ mortification.

  ‘Ooohhhhh..' Vanessa sighed and closed her eyes.

  ‘Stop that! Stop that now!’

  Vanessa replied this time, ‘I’m sorry, Reverend Flanders… I mean Mr Sanders. He must earn his path to paradise.’

  ‘What do you mean path to paradise?’

  She whimpered with pleasure as Rex pulled gently on her ear
lobe with his teeth. ‘Use your imagination.’

  ‘Stop this now!’ Mr Sanders ordered. ‘Or I’ll have you both on detention!’

  ‘Sorry,’ Vanessa said.

  ‘I warn the both of you, if you prevent me from running my classes, there is going to be hell to pay.’

  Rex moved his mouth from Vanessa's ear. ‘Hell to pay? My adorable goddess would never be so cruel as to send anyone to Hell.’ He resumed nibbling.

  Mr Sanders opened his mouth to speak again, when he noticed Pete’s hand in the air. ‘Yes?’

  ‘How is it that you can believe that the world was created in only six days when science says that things took millions of years to evolve?’

  ‘See, this is what I was saying earlier,’ Mr Sanders said. ‘I do not believe the evolutionary teachings. I believe what the bible says. The story in the book of Genesis is the literal account of how the Earth was created and the fall of man due to original sin.’

  Rex stopped nibbling on Vanessa’s ear and peered across at Mr Sanders. ‘Wait, wait. You’re saying that the story of Genesis is literal history?’

  ‘Of course.’

  ‘Ah, ok. So there really was a talking snake then?’

  ‘That was simply Satan disguising himself as a talking snake.’

  ‘Oh…’ Rex’s brow furrowed. Vanessa had no idea where he was going with this, but she knew it would be good whatever it was. ‘Wait… I don’t get it. Afterwards God cursed all snakes to crawl around on their bellies, didn’t he?’

  ‘That’s right.’

  ‘So if this so-called talking snake wasn’t actually a real snake, but Satan dressed up as one, why would God go mental on real snakes? Why curse them at all. I mean that would be a little like me demanding an entire city’s cats be slaughtered because some guy dressed in a cat suit peed on my floor, wouldn’t it?’

  ‘Huh?’ Mr Sanders stared blankly at him. ‘W… what?’ He shuddered and his forehead creased.

  ‘Seems like rather an overreaction, don’t you think? Cursing all snakekind because one dodgy eejit, dressed up as a snake and manipulated a couple of naïve humans into eating forbidden fruit? And don’t forget that God allowed this beasty to run rampant in the first place, not bothering to do anything about it, even though he knew, before he created it, what havoc it would cause. Don’t you think it’s all a tiny, little bit irrational, Reverend Flanders?’

  ‘I…I…’ stammered Mr Sanders.

  ‘My goddess would never do something so cruel and illogical.’

  ‘Nuh ah,’ Vanessa said. ‘I like snakes.’

  ‘You’re twisting the story. That’s what you’re doing!’ Mr Sanders snapped.

  ‘Am I? Have you actually read the story properly? Go ahead. What you actually have there isn’t literal history. It’s a “just so” story. In fact, it’s an accumulation of "just so" stories. How did the Earth get here? How did the two people at the top of our family tree get here if we have no record of their parents? How did evil come into the world? Why do humans wear clothes? Why does woman suffer pain at childbirth? Why is life so tough? When man dies he turns to dust, so that must mean he came from dust, right? See what I’m saying Mr Sanders? Even most Jews don’t take that story as factual and really, when you think about it, why does it need to be?’

  Mr Sanders, stared at Rex and tried to speak but couldn’t. He gazed from face to face, each one grinning. Vanessa enjoyed the confusion on his face and simply had to add in her own observation just to add salt to Mr Sanders’ already festering wounds. ‘Mr S, If you want to be taken seriously as our biology teacher, perhaps you should first get your facts straight about what is literal history and what isn’t?’

  Mr Sanders cleared his throat. ‘Before we get started, I’d like to just go over a few details, particularly relating to last terms work. You should all have assignments to hand in that your previous teacher had you working on, which you were expected to finish over the holidays. I expect you will have these assignments here for me now, but if anyone has not finished, I will allow a few extra days. But that is all.’

  Vanessa turned to Rex and spoke to him softly. ‘Did you finish yours?’

  ‘Of course I did,’ Rex said. ‘Spent about an hour on it last night.’

  ‘That long?’

  ‘Yeah, well, I was finding it hard to get motivated, but I’ve gotta get the credits, right?’

  ‘You didn’t bring it with you?’

  ‘Nah, I’ll hand it in late. Can’t have the new teacher thinking I’m a conscientious student now, can I?’

  Vanessa slid hers out from her ring binder. Unlike Rex, she didn’t have it all in her head and she needed to refer to text books and website material. It took her around eight hours of hard slog over the holidays to get it finished, but she was satisfied with her effort. She never wanted to ever again study about X and Y chromosomes.

  Most of the period, Vanessa spent whispering and flirting with Rex. Mr Sanders sometimes peered their way and gave them a dirty look, but said no more. Come the end of the period though, he requested Vanessa to remain behind. She figured he was going to give her an ear bashing for not paying attention the entire class, but then how could he have a go at her and not Rex? Unless he still smarted from the embarrassment from earlier in the period and didn’t wish to have to deal with Rex again.

  Everybody passed by the front bench to drop off their assignments, apart from those few who had not yet finished.

  Pete said to Vanessa and Rex, ‘I haven’t even started mine. Didn’t think we’d have to hand it in so soon. Looks like I’m gonna be doing a lot of work tonight.’

  The class emptied out and Vanessa found herself standing next to the Mr Sander’s bench, alone with her new teacher. It didn’t worry her a bit. She figured she could handle him. She poised ready for the war of words she was sure would come, but Mr Sanders spoke pleasantly. ‘You’ll be interested to know that I know your parents.’

  ‘My poor parents,’ she said, trying to project a light-hearted tone.

  Mr Sanders simply smiled. ‘Actually I think your parents are fine people. I’ve known them for many years. I was sad to find out they had split a few years back.’

  She continued to speak in the same cheerful manner as before. ‘Yeah, I know all about how sad it was.’

  ‘Oh, of course you do, of course you do. I’m surprised though, your father leaving such a stunningly beautiful woman as your mother. I can certainly see where her daughter gets her looks. I can certainly see why the boys here think so highly of you.’

  Vanessa didn’t really care to be admired by a forty year old teacher, but continued to remain civil. ‘Thank you Mr Sanders, but is there some reason you called me to stay behind? I have people who I really need to be in the presence of right now and people who want to be in mine.’

  ‘Of course. I just wanted to let you know that’s all. And I’d like you to know that if there is anything I can do for you, just come and see me.’ He reached out and caressed her hand.

  She jerked her hand away and stared at her teacher, alarm bells ringing in her head.

  ‘Don’t be shy. I really am a nice guy and all I want to be is a friend to my students.’

  ‘How about just being a teacher?’ Vanessa said, no longer wishing to remain pleasant. Suddenly there was something extremely creepy about this new teacher.

  Mr Sanders laughed. ‘Oh of course. That’s my job, but we can certainly make this place much more pleasant, can’t we?’

  ‘That all depends on how pleasant you’re talking about.’ All desire to heckle him and make him feel foolish had left her. All Vanessa wanted to do now was leave.

  ‘Hey, I’m just trying to be friendly.’

  ‘Well please, don’t.’ She forced a smile and returned to her convivial tone. ‘I’d much rather you were up there preaching a sermon from your pulpit than trying to make things pleasant for me.’

  The smile on his face gradually disappeared. ‘Oh well, if you’re going to be lik
e that... I think you may have misunderstood my intentions.’

  ‘I hope so. Now is there anything else?’

  ‘No. You may go.’

  Vanessa eagerly left the room and breathed easy once outside. ‘What a freak!’

 

  CHAPTER 5:

  The Reaper admits defeat